The Black Cauldron
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Non-matching laser copy background
Although the Disney version of this story was entertaining, it has only a passing resemblance to the original children’s (junior high school age) books by Lloyd Alexander. I absolutely loved the books and was very excited when Disney produced the movie. I was rather confused when I finally saw it though. The movie attempts to combine the first two books into one story. The problem is that they really are two very different stories that take place a year apart from each other. In the movie, the main villain is the Horned King, who is using the Black Cauldron to create an army of the undead. In the books, the Horned King is a general under the command of the evil sorcerer Arawn. There is also a second villain named Achren, who is Arawn’s former teacher and lover. Arwan betrayed Achren, and she hates him with a passion. Both of these sorcerers are the main evil powers in Prydain; not the Horned King. The Horned King dies in the first book, while the search for the Black Cauldron does not occur until the second book. In the Disney version, Gurgi destroys the Black Cauldron and then is himself saved. In the book, although Gurgi is present from early in the series, he has nothing to do with the destruction of the Black Cauldron. The person who destroys the Black Cauldron never appears in the movie, and when he destroys the Black Cauldron he stays dead. The Five books in the series are
The cel above is of Hen Wen, the oracular pig. She is able to tell the future and communicates her predictions to the wizard Dallben by pointing to a series of rune sticks, which he then interprets. Dallben also owns a mysterious book called “The Book of Three”. The book will burn and even kill anyone who tries to read it other than Dallben. The other people living on the farm are Coll, a middle-aged farmer/retired military veteran, and Taran, a boy adopted as an infant by Dallben. In general, the story is about how Taran grows up from a typical self-centered child into a compassionate young man and eventually becomes ruler of Prydain. Obviously, there is a lot more to the story, and needless to say, Taran starts off somewhat less than heroic. In fact, it is one day after annoying Coll about wanting to be a hero and not having a title that Coll bestows the rank “Assistant Pig-Keeper” on Taran just to shut him up. As time goes by, Taran matures and grows comfortable if not proud of this title. I do not want to give too much of the story away so I will just direct those who are interested in these books to read the series for themselves.
This cel comes from when Taran is bathing her. Even though you can’t tell from the cel, she is supposed to be partially covered with soapy water.