Beings

The beings index. Gods, heroes, and creatures, each with an entry of its own, browsable by cycle and theme.

Mythological Balor of the Evil Eye Balor of the Evil Eye is the Fomorian king of Irish mythology whose destroying gaze levels armies, killed at the Second Battle of Mag Tuired by his prophesied grandson Lugh.
Cross-cycle Bile The bile was the ancient venerated tree at the centre of an Irish tribal territory: sovereignty emblem, assembly point and inauguration site, whose deliberate felling by a rival was recorded in the annals as an act of war.
Cross-cycle Brigid Brigid is the Irish goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft, daughter of the Dagda and first keener in Ireland, whose name and February feast became entwined with Saint Brigid of Kildare.
Mythological Crann Bethadh Crann bethadh, usually rendered Celtic Tree of Life, is largely a modern popularisation: the genuine medieval Irish evidence behind it is the bile tradition of sacred tribal trees, and the familiar knotwork symbol has no medieval precedent.
Ulster Cú Chulainn Cú Chulainn, born Setanta, is the supreme hero of the Ulster Cycle: a semi-divine warrior fated from boyhood to undying fame and an early death, who defends Ulster single-handed in the Táin Bó Cúailnge.
Mythological Ériu Ériu is the Tuatha Dé Danann sovereignty goddess who gave Ireland its name, meeting the Milesian invaders at Uisneach alongside her sisters Banba and Fódla.
Cross-cycle Fionn mac Cumhaill Fionn mac Cumhaill is the warrior-seer who leads the Fianna at the heart of the Fenian Cycle, Ireland's largest body of medieval narrative and the most widely told hero-tradition in Gaelic culture.
Cross-cycle Flidais Flidais (epithet Foltchaín, 'beautiful hair') is a goddess-queen of the Tuatha Dé Danann, sovereign over domestic cattle and wild deer alike, and the centre of the Táin Bó Flidhais, the cattle-raid epic of Erris, County Mayo.
Cross-cycle Lugh Lugh is the warrior-god of the Tuatha Dé Danann who mastered every art at once, slew his Fomorian grandfather Balor, and gave his name to the harvest festival Lughnasadh.
Cross-cycle Macha Macha is the Irish sovereignty, war and horse goddess of Ulster, one of the Morrígna, whose dying curse on the Ulstermen sets the stage for the Táin Bó Cúailnge.
Cross-cycle Manannán mac Lir Manannán mac Lir is the pre-eminent sea-god and Otherworld king of Irish mythology, lord of Emain Ablach and the Land of Promise, and the great magical armourer of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
Ulster Medb of Connacht Medb is the queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle, ruling from Cruachan (Rathcroghan, Co. Roscommon) and instigating the Táin Bó Cúailnge, with her legendary grave on Knocknarea in Co. Sligo.
Mythological Ogham and the Tree Alphabet Ogham is the earliest Irish writing system, an alphabet of strokes and notches carved on standing stones from roughly the fourth to seventh centuries AD.
Cross-cycle The Aos Sí The Aos Sí, the people of the mounds, are the supernatural race at the heart of Irish folk-belief: descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann who retreated into Ireland's ancient mounds after defeat by the Milesians, and the 'Good People' of living west-of-Ireland tradition.
Cross-cycle The Bean Sí The bean sí, anglicised banshee, is the supernatural female death-messenger of Irish tradition: a woman of the síd who keens before the death of a member of the old Gaelic families, especially those with Ó and Mac surnames.
Cross-cycle The Cailleach The Cailleach is the divine hag of Gaelic tradition in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, the winter and sovereignty figure said to have shaped the landscape itself.
Folklore The Changeling The changeling is the wizened substitute the fairies of Irish folklore leave behind when they steal a healthy child or a new mother, known in Irish as an iarlais or síofra.
Cross-cycle The Dagda The Dagda is the father-god and king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the 'Good God' of Irish mythology who wields a club of death and life, an inexhaustible cauldron, and a harp that commands sorrow, joy and sleep.
Cross-cycle The Merrow The merrow is the Irish mermaid and merman of folklore, a dweller in Tír fo Thuinn, the Land Beneath the Waves, who crosses between worlds by means of a magical cap, the cohuleen druith.
Cross-cycle The Morrígan The Morrígan is the shape-shifting Irish goddess of sovereignty, battle, fate and prophecy, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
Cross-cycle The Nine Hazels of Wisdom The nine hazels of wisdom are Otherworld trees whose nuts feed the Salmon of Knowledge and carry imbas, poetic inspiration, into Ireland's rivers.
Cross-cycle The Púca The púca, anglicised pooka, is Ireland's shapeshifting night-spirit: a trickster of November and Samhain that appears as a dark horse with fiery eyes, a goat, an eagle or a bull, speaks with a human voice, and carries unwary travellers on terrifying wild rides.