Lir (or Llyr) was God of the Sea, like his son, Manawydan (Manannan). He was represented in medieval Royal pedigrees as Llyr Marini (of the Sea), though completely misplaced in time. Whilst, mythologically, he was Llyr Llediarth (Half-Speech), possibly indicating a foreign origin. He was married to Lweriadd, daughter of Belenos, the Sun-God and his other children included Bran the Blessed and Branwen.
According to the Welsh, he was chief of the gods; but the Irish tell how, when the Tuatha De Danann were driven underground by the sons of Mil, Lir was rejected as chief in favour of Bof. As a measure of reconciliation, the latter offered him the choice of his daughters in marriage (perhaps Lweriadd had died). Lir chose Eve, by whom he had three children; and, when she died, he married her sister, Eva. Unfortunately, Eva became jealous of Lir’s offspring and she lured them to a lake where they were turned into swans! The children were thus forced to spend three hundred years each at three different locations until Christianity overran the land. When finally freed, they were so old that they died soon afterward.
