Llonio son of Llonwen was a gatherer whom Taran and Gurgi met near the Free Commots. The Companions came upon Llonio's peculiar farmhold along the wide, fast-moving Small Avren, where the man employed baskets and nets to catch fish and useful debris.
Physical Description and Persona[]
Llonio was tall and lanky, with bright blue eyes like a bird's. His features and body language reminded Taran of a stork. Llonio wore ill-fitting clothing, such as a jacket with sleeves too short and waist too long; and an array of patches and stitched sections all over his apparel.
Appearances[]
Taran Wanderer[]
Taran, leading Craddoc's sheep with Gurgi, was surprised to find that Llonio had cleared a pasture and built a sheepfold in hopeful anticipation of the herd's arrival. Taran handed the sheep over, astonished at the man'd luck. After observing his life of watchful roaming and gathering, the companions stayed for several days with Llonio, his wife Goewin, and their several cheerful children (one of whom was named Gwenlliant). From a stone that had tripped him in the woods, Taran made a wind mill to grind the grain Llonio had pulled from his weir.
After taking pride in the mill, Taran grew restless and moved on. In parting, he asked for the secret of the man's luck. Llonio explained that he watched for needul things and had the skill and knowledge to make them useful.
"Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer," Llonio called after Taran as he left for the Free Commots. "But don't forget to put out your nets!"
The High King[]
Llonio joined Taran shortly after the Companions had arrived in the Commots under the banner of the White Pig. Llonio, wearing scraps of iron sewn into his jacket, a battered cookpot-helmet and a staff with a scythe blade, assisted the war leader by turning farm implements into weapons, and "found ways to make even the most unlikely objects serve a new purpose". Llonio stayed in Taran's company all the way to Caer Dathyl, and fought in the battle of the frozen valley. After the battle Taran saw Llonio among the dead, and later evoked the fallen man's name:
- "I cannot restore life to Llonio Son of Llonwen and those valiant folk who followed me, never to see their homes again. Nor can I mend the hearts of widows and children. Yet if it is in my power to rebuild even a little of what has been broken, this must I do."
In the end Llonio, and the men like him who willingly joined Taran's forces knowing the risk of death, were part of Taran's ultimate decision to remain in Prydain, when all his other friends and companions were traveling to the Summer Country.