In early Welsh and Celtic literature, Guinevere played a significant, if small, role. Occassionally she seems no more than an incidental character, as in the oldest surviving Arthurian tale, Culhwch and Owen, where she is named bu t twice. Yet much of Guinevere's nature was determined by the Welsh and the attention they paid her.

The name by which she was known, Gwenhwyfar, means "White Phantom" (Lacy 356). Several of the Welch triads, or stories told in groups of thre e, feature her--sometimes even without her illustrious husband. The triad "Three Unrestrained Ravagings" features Medrault's (later, Mordred) raid on Arthur's hall in Cornwall. One of his men strikes Gwenhwyfar in the battle, and Arthur retaliates with a raid on Medrault's hall in revenge. This feud, according to the triad, led up to the Battle of Camlamn.

Another triad tells of Arthur's "Three Great Queens" all named Gwenhwyfar, a triptych that may have resulted from the Celtic tradition of "ancient portrayals of such deities as the Great Mother in triple form" (357). The popular n ovel The Mists of Avalon stresses Arthurian legend's Celtic roots, playing upon this triad, and upon Guinevere's association with the Goddess, although Guinevere herself is not Celtic in the novel.

In other triads, Gwenhwyfar's plight is not so noble. In "Three Faithless Wives" Guinevere is counted as a fourth "more faithless than the three, because she deceived a better man." We are to understand that Arthur himself car ried on with "implied loyalty" (357). Before she even became a major player in Arthurian legend proper, before she could chose Lancelot over Arthur, before she would become the premier figure of adultery in the Western world, Guinevere was destined for romantic treason. As the British inherited her from the Welsh, Guinevere was a girl with a "dubious" reputation (357).

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