Brân the Blessed

In the Second Branch of the Mabinogi (Branwen ferch Llŷr) Brân is presented as a son of Llŷr and Penarddun and brother to Brânwen, Manawydan, Nisien and Efnysien. He rules Britain as a giant-king and receives envoys such as Matholwch of Ireland in the course of a marriage alliance. Following insults and escalating violence (including the mutilation of horses and the death of Gwern) a war erupts; Brân is mortally wounded on Irish soil. Before he dies he instructs his companions to cut off his head and return it to Britain, where the head continues to act as a sacred, protective object when buried on the White Hill facing France.

Brân is repeatedly described as a giant who could not fit into ordinary houses and whose stature required specially erected tents for accommodation. In life he leads vast hosts and even wades the Irish Sea with his warriors. After his mortal wounding his severed head remains animate: it speaks, entertains the survivors for years at Harlech and in Gwales, and is finally buried on the Gwynfryn (White Hill) facing France as a protective relic.

As sovereign he marshals the island's forces, receives envoys and negotiates compensation. He offers a magic cauldron as compensation—an object that can restore the dead to life (with the limitation that the restored cannot speak). After his death his severed head continues to speak and entertain, preserves a liminal sanctuary-state for survivors (they remain unaware of eighty years passing in Gwales while entertained by the head), and when buried on the White Hill functions as an apotropaic guardian oriented toward external threat. He is also described in sources as being associated with the sea and with poetry and bards.