Yspaddaden Penkawr, Isbaddaden
[Welsh, hawthorn (?); king of the giants]
Father of Olwen in Culhwch ac Olwen who sets the young hero Culhwch on a number of impossible tasks before he will give up his daughter. Culhwch and his companions wound Ysbaddaden in the knee, stomach, and eye, but they cannot kill him until his daughter marries. Caw shaves him, and eventually Goreu son of Custennin beheads him. Counterpart of the Irish Balor.
