Rowan the Brave

Rowan the Brave, or simply Rowan, is a small part of the epic poem The Song of Rowan. The complete poem is presented in a series of seminars at the College of Singers as lessons in virtue that resonate with audiences. Too long for a performance, the Order condensed the major events in Rowan and Gwendolyn’s lives, making the story more digestible to the laity.

Main Characters

Rowan, a peasant boy who becomes a king by his own hand

Gwendolyn, a peasant girl who becomes a queen

Circe, goddess of magic and seduction

Cernunn, a sorcerer who uses magic to elevate himself to the god of the hunt and battle

Felix, king of Fennrock

Setting

Our play is set in the highlands of Mimm, just over the hills. Here, the old gods of nature and wonder have fallen, and new deities are rising from the mix of cultures as societies intermingle. These new gods are petty, vicious, and ambitious, just like the people who venerate them, and they compete for the love of worshippers. But the greatest challenge to the gods is yet to come.

Within this conflict, two gods fight for prominence: Circe, the goddess of magic and seduction, and Cernunn, the god of war and the hunt. Both are competing for the worship of humans.

The Story

Act 1

The tale begins with Rowan and Gwendolyn, both sixteen years old, walking hand in hand—childhood friends in the bud of romance. Gwen is a talented weaver and hopes for the freedom denied to her family by their peasant status. The peasant girl kisses the young farmer and runs home to her neighboring farm.

The stage splits into two scenes: Rowan training a horse on one side and Gwendolyn weaving a tapestry on the other. He confides his desire for Gwen to his horse. She discusses Rowan’s strength and handsomeness with her cat. Between the two scenes, Cernunn enters, rubbing his chin.

“What a ripe opportunity avails itself to me,” Cernunn says in a stage whisper. “Both have such passion! Passion I can exploit like the gods of old. But I must intervene before they bond.”

Cernunn schemes to use Rowan to gather worshippers, and in trade, he promises the farm boy the woman of his choice—Gwendolyn. Rowan does not know she already loves him. Cernunn sees no cost in this game and only needs to string the boy along.

The god arranges a scene with Gwendolyn and a handsome weaver to make Rowan jealous. He tells the boy he can guarantee Gwen’s love by demonstrating his selfless virtue through building a temple—to Cernunn, of course. He spirits Rowan away and hints to goddess Circe that Gwen is available as a protégé, thinking the girl is dumb and lazy and a tool for him to exploit Circe.

Like Cernunn, Circe plots to reclaim a place as a major goddess by winning more converts. She listens to Cernunn and takes Gwendolyn as her protégé. Her strategy is to parlay Gwen to a position of influence where she can advocate for the worship of Circe. When Rowan is away building the temple for Cernunn, Circe lies to Gwen that he cannot love her unless she learns to weave gold. The peasant girl objects, knowing the boy has no need for wealth. But he is away and unable to speak for himself. Circe arranges for Gwen to be spirited off to a patron in another village where she can learn to weave gold. Gwen continues to send messages to Rowan. But the goddess intercepts and destroys them, substituting other messages saying Gwen does not love him.

Gwen still pines for Rowan and plans to return home to find him. To prevent her from rejoining Rowan, Circe attempts to kill him, but Cernunn intervenes. Enraged, Circe kills Gwen’s parents to make sure she has nowhere else to go. Unable to communicate with Rowan, Gwen believes he has forgotten her and cannot return her love. She quickly learns to become a successful weaver and attracts people to the stories of Circe she depicts in lace and fabric. But the stories are images of Gwen’s romantic ideals of love and virtue. Circe’s followers grow.

Rowan completes the temple for Cernunn. However, the small temple becomes a sore in the side of the local villagers, who come to destroy it. Cernunn expects Rowan to fight them and girds Rowan with special weapons to defeat them. But Rowan’s virtue stops him from harming innocents. Instead, he enjoins them to worship in the temple as they choose. They must only promise not to damage it, and instead maintain it as a refuge for the needy. He asks only that they consider Cernunn as a worthy god for providing them a place to worship.

Thinking of Gwen, Rowan says, “Worship as you choose, but remember the one who built it for love of you, and protect it.”

 

Cernunn is angry with Rowan’s open-mindedness and enchants some local thugs to attack him. Rowan defeats them, and his fame as a defender of freedom of religion and speech spreads. Worshippers come to Cernunn and build more temples.

Rowan cares little for fame and instead pines for Gwen. To prevent him from returning home to find her, Cernunn tells him Gwen has left for a distant village to build a career without him. To make sure Rowan remains ignorant of Gwen’s fate, Cernunn destroys his family’s farm and banishes his parents. Cernunn continues to endanger innocents, so Rowan must grow in power to protect them. Cernunn’s name grows along with each of Rowan’s victories.

Gwendolyn hears of Rowan’s exploits and thinks of him often, but Circe deceives her again. The goddess tells her Rowan has forgotten her, but she can attract him even from far away if she becomes a weaver for the local duke of Evandell. There, her weaving will become famous, and Rowan will hear of her. Gwen complies and becomes attached to the noble family, including their young daughter, Sophie. Sophie is betrothed to their gentle but older neighbor, the benevolent King Felix of Fennrock.

Through Gwen’s influence, the family begins to worship Circe and spreads her faith through the dukedom. At each step, converts build larger and larger temples to Circe that become very popular and raise much money.

On the other side of the land, Rowan becomes the leader of a troop whose mission is to defend the temples that foster freedom. Word of Gwendolyn sweeps the country, but Cernunn tells Rowan that to be of any interest to her, he must have a bigger reputation.

Another split stage ensues, with Rowan and Cernunn on one side and Gwen and Circe on the other. In echoing soliloquies, Rowan and Gwendolyn lament that life has taken them far from the things they loved most. They wonder if they have the strength to go back and face rejection from their one true love. Fearing the threat to their influence, Cernunn and Circe rush to manipulate their protégés and protect their new worshippers.

Act 2

In a tragic accident arranged by Circe, young Lady Sophie dies. Gwen becomes closer to the royal family, who adopts her and pushes her to marry the neighboring King Felix to complete the alliance. The goddess has already planned Felix’s downfall and a new marriage to one of her own evil priests. From there, Circe can command worshippers from the throne. Gwen moves to Fennrock so Felix can court her. Soon after she arrives, the people learn to love Gwen and support her marriage to their king. Circe’s plans appear secure.

At Circe’s connivance, Gwen begins to tell herself that the arranged marriage to Felix is her fate. She tells herself that she is talented and worthy in her own right and need not cling to her childhood fantasies. Unaware Circe has killed or manipulated those she loves, Gwen reasons she should exploit her new opportunities. In her heart, she knows she still loves Rowan and must give him a chance. She hears tales of him in battle and conquest, but each step in his career takes him further from her. Gwen is demoralized and questions her choices, ready to succumb to chaos.

Cernunn eyes Fennrock and the weak King Felix. He sees this as somewhere he can project his influence beyond Circe and increase his standing in the pantheon of gods. Knowing how much Rowan loves Gwen, he calculates that he can redirect Circe’s followers. Cernunn arranges for the neighboring baron to attack Fennrock and overthrow Felix. The baron invites Rowan and his men to join them, offering him whatever he wants from Fennrock—which would be Gwen. During the dinner, Cernunn offers the baron’s resources to Rowan, but he must kill the baron to get them.

Rowan is only twenty-five years old but is now hardened and disillusioned. He knows King Felix of Fennrock is a good man and believes Gwen loves him. To betray the baron, his host, would be dastardly. Rowan declines both offers and defies Cernunn. Instead, he pledges his warriors to King Felix to defend Gwen and Fennrock against the baron’s troops. Rowan retires to become a lone warrior and fights for hire, famed for his virtue without naming Cernunn as his benefactor. Cernunn becomes enraged and kills King Felix, which also benefits Circe.

The death of Felix clears the way for Circe’s evil priest to command Fennrock with Gwen as his queen. With Gwen ready to accept the crown, Circe thinks she has won. But Gwen is despondent, tormented by marrying only for power, and pines for Rowan.

Circe has another deception in mind. “Now that the king is dead, invite Rowan back.”

“Rowan does not love me.”

Circe shakes her head. “All that he has done, he has done to win your love—but a god has manipulated him.”

Gwen is hurt and then enraged. “Are you that god?”

“No, of course not. I care for you.”

“Another like you, then?”

“I have always acted in your interests.”

“And in your own.”

“I never asked you to compromise your virtue,” Circe says.

“Of course not. If I acted without virtue, my vice would attribute to you. Again, you leave me little choice how to act now.”

“Then accept the crown.”

Gwen now understands Rowan did not attack the king because he had learned of the god’s betrayal and denied his patron. She must do the same.

“No,” Gwendolyn says. “Free me. Find another protégé. We are done.” She stalks out in search of Rowan.

Circe gives the kingdom to the evil priest, but the people of the kingdom despair and reject him and Circe.

Circe and Cernunn are both powerful with many worshippers due to Rowan and Gwen, but are enraged that their protégés have abandoned them. But gods are resourceful. They make a bet: if Rowan defeats a dragon of Circe’s choosing, he will win Gwen, and Cernunn will become the god of the lands. If Rowan loses, Circe will rule. But they allow each other one spell. The gods are both proud of how they have manipulated their humans and each other.

“You cannot fathom the horror I will unleash,” Circe says.

“And you do not imagine the weapon I have forged,” Cernunn replies.

Act 3

The gods set their pieces near the caves of Merterra. Gwen is bound to a tree with a magic chain. They tell Rowan she is in danger and set him to the challenge. In secret, Cernunn gives Rowan a sword forged by the gods—Seranil—that can cut and kill anything.

Circe invokes a fire breathing dragon, one hundred meters long and sheathed in scales of adamantine. It is invulnerable, able to destroy the entire world.

Cernunn laughs and casts a spell that transforms Gwen into Circe’s dragon, leaving it chained to the tree. He believes Rowan will now kill Gwen by mistake, which will cause Circe to lose.

To counter this, Circe casts a spell so that Rowan appears as a hunter and unrecognizable to Gwen. She tells Gwen he is an evil dragon slayer and to fear for her life.

By this time, the queen of the gods, Frigg, has heard of the deaths caused by the dispute between Cernunn and Circe. But a dragon that might destroy the land is too much, even for a deity. Frigg descends and halts time to chide them.

“You have filled your temples by deceit and set up this cruel contest. You are unworthy of worshippers,” Frigg says.

In unison, Cernunn and Circe complain. “You do not have the power to undo what gods have wrought!”

“You are right, of course. But let’s be clear. Whoever fails in defeating the other will lose their godhead, fall from grace, and return to natural form.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” the gods reply.

Frigg smiles and appears to Rowan as herself and says only, “Remember.” Rowan hears but does not understand, knowing only that he has committed to slaying the dragon to save Gwen.

Rowan stalks the fearsome beast and watches it. The dragon tries to scorch Rowan, but gentle Gwen is within and hopes only to stop him without hurting him. Although Rowan has not seen Gwen for years, the dragon’s eyes and movements remind him of her and her virtue. He remembers Frigg’s words and, having sacrificed everything but his love for Gwen, drops Seranil, his magic sword. The dragon makes no move to attack him but instead opens her paws, claws turned upward. Rowan approaches and caresses the dragon’s muzzle.

Circe and Cernunn first harangue their protégés with lightning and thunder to kill the other to no avail, and then argue with each other.

Frigg descends and confronts them. “You have both failed to defeat the other, and both godheads are forfeit.”

“But she did not defeat him!” Cernunn cries.

“But he did not defeat her!” Circe shouts.

Mimir, the memory of the gods, appears and recites their bet. “Whoever fails at defeating the other . . .” When finished, the Fates come and change Cernunn and Circe into their natural forms. Cernunn, the embodiment of unquenchable lust for power, took the form of a Minotaur. Circe, the spirit of sorcery and seduction, took the form of a tiny, poisonous asp. Gwen and Rowan return to their own forms as well, with Gwen still chained to the tree.

Enraged, Cernunn rushes Rowan. In a battle that sets the forest ablaze, Rowan defeats the Minotaur using Seranil, the sword Cernunn had given him.

Circe aims to bite Gwen and kill her, but Gwen crushes the little snake. With Circe dead, Rowan frees Gwen from her bindings.

“I am yours by right of combat,” Gwendolyn says, not trusting Circe’s words that he still loves her.

Rowan kneels, thinking she still mourns the old king, and acts honorably. “Milady, I accept only what is offered freely and not by obligation.”

They are both free to love each other, but they are tentative and formal. They have not seen each other since they were very young. Frigg helps them by showing them what each has done in memory of the other: Gwen in her weavings that told the stories of them as children, and Rowan in his battles to defend freedom in her name. Then they share thoughts they have had of each other. (*)

Gwen leans over, takes both of Rowan’s hands, and holds them to her heart.

“Of all those in my life, no one has risked more for me than you. Of all the kings and gods who have touched my life, no one has given me more than you. Of all those who have cared for me, no one has loved me more than you. I loved you first as a boy. When you left, I loved you as a memory. Then, when I heard no more of you, I loved you as a wish. But still I loved you. If you leave me now, I will love you as I have my whole life.”

Rowan and Gwendolyn return together to defeat the evil priest of Circe and accept the people’s invitation to rule Fennrock together.

The curtain falls.

One from the audience hears the story and says, “No one is strong enough to give up a crown for a virtuous cause.”

To which a Singer replies, “It happened once. That is why the story is famous.”

(*) In the epic poem, The Song of Rowan, a year passed before the couple wed. During that time, they grew to know and love each other. Within the archives at the College of Singers, the Book of Sonnets contains fragments of their conversations.