Модрон: Уэльс аңыздарындағы ана құдай фигурасы

the creature from Dungeons & Dragons
Modron ("mother") is a figure in Welsh tradition, known as the mother of the hero Mabon ap Modron. Both characters may have derived from earlier divine figures, in her case the Gaulish goddess Matrona. She may have been a prototype for Morgan le Fay from the Arthurian legend.

Modron largely features in the Welsh tradition as a supernatural mother figure. She likely derives from the Celtic goddess Matrona, known to have been worshiped in Gaul. Similarly, Modron's son, Mabon ("youth"), appears to derive from the youth god Maponos. Both Matrona and Maponos were worshiped in the area around Hadrian's Wall, which may account for the prominence of Modron and Mabon in literature connected to the Brittonic Hen Ogledd (Old North) of Britain. Certain elements of Modron's story – specifically that her son Mabon was stolen from her in the night as a baby – suggest a connection with Rhiannon in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, whose son Pryderi was similarly stolen. William John Gruffydd suggested that Modron and Rhiannon were the same in origin.

The first reference to the name Modron may be in the poem Pa Gur yv y Porthaur, in which "Mabon am Mydron", a "servant of Uthr Bendragon", is listed as one of King Arthur's warriors. A "Mabon am Melld" or "Mabon fab Mellt" (Mabon son of Lightning) also appears in Pa Gur and elsewhere; this may be a different character, but it is also possible that "Mellt" is Mabon's father (perhaps related to "Meldos", an epithet of the lightning god Loucetios). The Welsh Triads giver her father as Afallach, a figure evidently connected to the island of Avalon. The triad seems to be connected to a story found in MS Peniarth 147 describing Owain and Morfudd's birth to an unnamed otherworldly woman. Here, Urien investigates a mysterious ford in Denbighshire where dogs went to bark. He find a washer woman, and has his way with her. She reveals that she had been condemned to wash at the ford until she conceived a son by "a Christian", and bids Urien to return at the end of the year to receive the child. On returning, Urien finds the twins Owain and Morfudd. Modron is connected with Euron in the poem Cad Goddeu (The Battle of the Trees), which associates her with characters known from the Third Branch of the Mabinogi. Euron may an error for Gwron; John T. Koch suggests the name may ultimately derive from an older form *Uironos, meaning "divine man, husband, hero", implying he is Modron's spouse. Modron's name (connected to Mabon) also appears in Englynion y Beddau (Stanzas of the Graves).