Cúchulainn's Father Scathach And Fergus Lovers Fand

He may have been a solar deity originally. His magical spear was called Gae Bulg.

According to the Compert Culainn, Cúchulainn was born with the name Sétanta, a son of Dechtere and either Lugh, Sualtam or a mayfly; he changed his name after accidentally killing the smith, Culann's watchdog with a sliotar. Cúchulainn took the dog's place as guard of the pass into Ulster — he became known as the Hound (cú) of Culann.

1 Cúchulainn's Father

2 Scathach and Fergus

The warrior goddess Scathach taught him the art of war on the Isle of Shadow . He became the leader of the Red Branch. Fergus, another one of his tutors, became his foster-father.

3 Lovers

He had many lovers including Aife, EmerIn Celtic mythology, Emer was one of Cuchulainn's lovers. She made him perform many difficult tasks in order to sleep with her; she reasoned that she was so beautiful that it was worth it. Apparently, Cuchulainn agreed. Alternately, in Bricriu's Feast (8t, and 'the faery woman' FandIn Celtic mythology, Fand was Queen of the Fairies, and wife of Manannan. Manannan left her and she was attacked by three Fomorians who wanted to control the Irish Sea. The hero Cuchulainn agreed to help defend her as long as she married him. She agreed r. With Aife, he had his only son, ConnlaIn Celtic mythology, Connla was a son of Aife and Cuchulainn. He was killed by his father accidentally, with Gae Bulg. Celtic mythology..

3.1 Fand

Manannan knew their relationship was doomed because Cúchulainn was mortal and Fand was a fairy; Cúchulainn's presence would destroy the fairies. Manannan then erased both Fand's and Cúchulainn's memory of each other.

3.2 Emer

3.3 Aife and Connla

Cúchulainn's received his spear, Gae Bulg, from Aife of Alba. Using this spear, he accidentally killed his son by her, Connla.

4 In Battle

Cúchulainn was almost undefeatable in battle due to his spear (which sang for the blood of its enemies) and his warrior frenzy. It is described in Thomas Kinsella's translation of The Táin this way:

"The Warp-Spasm overtook him : it seemed each hair was hammered into his head, so sharply they shot upright. You would swear a fire-speck tipped each hair. He squeezed one eye narrower than the eye of a needle; he opened the other wider than the mouth of a goblet. He bared his jaws to the ear; he peeled back his lips to the eye-teeth till his gullet showed. The hero-halo rose up from the crown of his head."

This frenzy causes him to turn about in his skin, his eyes to draw back into his head, and his hair to stand on end, capped with drops of blood. In this fearsome state he attacks indiscriminately. The warp spasm of Slaine in the comic book 2000 AD is based on this description.

5 Demise

In Dublin, a statue of Cúchulainn outside the General Post Office shows his demise. He stopped the armies of Queen Maeve of Connacht, his enemy, during the War for the Brown Bull , all by himself while his men were asleep; he tied himself to a tree in order to remain standing. Maeve convinced Cúchulainn's best friend, Ferdiad, to fight against his friend on behalf of Maeve. Ferdiad was killed in the battle with Gae Bulg. Alternatively, Cúchulainn died some time after the War for the Brown Bull after throwing his spear, Gae Bulg, at a satirist; he died without his spear.

In both versions of the tale (and as is usual in Celtic myth), Cúchulainn's fate was sealed by his breaking of the geasa upon him. In Cúchulainn's case, his geasa included both a obligation to accept any meal offered to him, and a ban against eating dog meat. His enemies contrived to force him to break one of these geasa by the simple approach of offering him a meal of dog meat. In this way he was spiritually weakened for the fight ahead of him, and thus met his death.

6 References

The Tain, translated by Thomas Kinsella from the Táin Bó Cuailnge, Oxford University Press, 1969; BooksEnthsiast.com
Simon James, The World of the Celts, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1993; BooksEnthsiast.com

Celtic mythology Solar gods Irish mythology Ulster cycle

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