History Characters / CelticMythology

* HeelFaceTurn: Became one of Fionn's allies upon defeat.

* OffHandBackHand: When a king's steward attempted to steal credit for Fionn's act of heroism and claim the latter's reward for himself, Fionn slapped him in the face. Which sent the steward's head flying off his shoulders and splattering on the far wall of the king's throne room.

* SuperStrength: His strength was so tremendous that he was known to reshape the landscape during some of his adventures. He also needed a sword ''forged by the gods specifically for him'' because all other blades would break under the might of his blows.
* WarriorPoet: Yet another one.

[[folder:Oisín]]

* YearOutsideHourInside: After the death of his son, Oscar, Oisin goes to live in ''Tír na nÓg'' with Niamh. After three years, Oisín gets homesick, and requests to briefly visit his homeland. Niamh reluctantly provides him a magic steed to return home, but makes him promise not to set foot on the land. Then Oisín sets forth, only to discover three ''hundred'' years have passed since his departure. The shock knocks him off the horse to the ground, and the years [[RapidAging rapidly]] [[NoImmortalInertia catch up with him]].

An Irish hero with one of the greatest names ever - it is usually anglicised as '''Finn [=McCool=]''' - Fionn was the leader of the Fianna, [[BadassArmy a band of legendary warriors]]. He's most famous for (accidentally) gaining the wisdom of the Salmon of Knowledge when he burnt his thumb while he was cooking the thing for his master, meaning whenever he wanted to access that wisdom all he to do was suck his thumb.

* FamousAncestor: He is often descended from the god Nuada Airgetlam on his mother's side. In some tales, he's also related through his father's side too.

* OurGiantsAreBigger: Some stories depict him as a giant rather than a normal man. These are from later folkloric versions and not the original mythology, however, where he is merelya man with the strength of a dragon.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He didn't like trespassers on his sacred land, but preferred to simply warn people away first rather than punishing them outright.

[[folder:Cú Chulainn]]
!!Cú Chulainn (KOO KULL-lin)

[[folder:Gráinne]]
!!Gráinne (GRAW-nyah)

* ArchnemesisDad: In the folkloric tradition, he [[AbusiveParents locked his daughter away]] after a prophecy that her child would destroy him. When his daughter became pregnant, Balor [[OffingTheOffspring killed]] several of the resulting [[WouldHurtAChild babies]] with only one of them, Lugh, surviving to return to bring him down.

Scáthach was the daughter of Árd-Greimne of Lethra. She lived on an island (thought to be the Isle of Skye) in a castle, the gate of which was guarded by her daughter Uathach. At this fortress Scáthach trained numerous Celtic heroes in the arts of pole vaulting (which was actually useful in the assault of forts), underwater fighting, and combat with a barbed spear of her own invention called the ''gáe bolg'' (literally ''"spear of mortal death"''). Her best-known student was Cú Chulainn, who stayed with her for a year and learned the technique of the gáe bolg.

* EvilTwin: In some versions, her rival, Aífe, is also her twin sister.
%% * TheMentor: To Cú Chulainn and Ferdiad.
* TrainingFromHell: Her method of training, particularly with Cú Chulainn.
* ViolentGlaswegian: She is a warrior woman who lived in Dún Scáith, which is in Scotland. This is especially the case given the above-mentioned TrainingFromHell she subjected Cú Chulainn to.

[[folder:Caìlte mac Rónáin]]
!!Caílte mac Rónáin (KYE-che mack ROW-noin)

* FragileSpeedster

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: In some versions of the war between the gods, he kills Lir, whose not only a god, but a primordial AnthropomorphicPersonification of the sea.
* SurvivorGuilt: Besides Oisin and Fionn himself, Caílte is the only member of Finn's ''fiann'' to survive

Bres was the son of the Fomorian prince Elatha who, thanks to his handsomeness and virility was able to seduce Eriu. Bres himself was very handsome and became king of the Tuatha dé Danann after Nuada lost his arm and was no longer fit to rule. Bres' rule lasted seven years and the other gods suffered from his arrogance, selfishness and lack of hospitality. He forced the other gods into slave labor. The bard Coirpre wrote the first satire of Ireland which was a song about Bres' incompetence. When Nuada was given a new arm by Miach, Bres was overthrown and exiled. He went to his father to demand retribution but Elatha refused saying "if you lost your rule through injustice, you cannot regain it with another injustice". So instead, Bres sought aid from the Fomorian warchief Balor and led a large army during the second battle of Mag Tuired. The Fomorians were defeated by the Tuatha De Danann and Bres was captured by their new leader, Lugh. The latter agreed to spare Bres as long as he taught the Tuatha De Danann the precious secrets of agriculture.

* ArchnemesisDad: In the folkloric tradition, he [[AbusiveParents locked his daughter away]] after a prophecy that her child would destroy him. When his daughter became pregnant, Balor [[OffingTheOffspring killed]] several of the resulting [[WouldHurtAChild babies]] with only one of them, Lugh, surviving to return to bring him down. Averted in the medieval text, where Ethniu's marriage to Cian is an arranged marriage that Balor is privy to.
* BigBad: Possibly. In the folklore, he's generally made one to Lugh, as opposed to Indech, the Big Bad of the medieval text.

* DeadlyGaze: His trademark power and the source of his namesake, his eye (or one of them) when opened would kill everything he looked at.
* EvilOverlord: Was a tyrannical warlord during his life. Folklore variations sometimes have him taking advantage of young women by invoking his [[DroitDuSeigneur rights as a lord]], stealing cattle, and enacting high taxes on the population. Possibly averted in the medieval text, where he doesn't become involved until Bres asks for his help.

* ScrewDestiny: In the folkloric version of the legend, he heard about the prophecy of his descendants slaying him, he decided to kill them all. However, in true ironic fashion one of them survived and eventually got Balor killed.

God of the sea, ruler of the Otherworld, and keeper of the magic tools the the Tuatha Dé Danann. He is said to own a boat named ''Scuabtuinne'' (literally "wave sweeper"), a sea-borne chariot drawn by the horse ''Enbarr'' (literally "water foam") and a powerful sword named ''Fragarach"" (literally "the answerer").

* CoolSword: His signature weapon was the sword Son of Waves. It was forged by the god Lén and had a signature blue scabbard. It was unbreakable and every blow delivered by its blade was deadly.

* LockedIntoStrangeness: Fionn received his signature white hair when a curse [[OvernightAgeUp turned him into an old man]]. The curse was soon broken, but his hair stayed white.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: In a similar way to Cu Chulainn. Fionn's real name was Demna, while he named named "Fionn" (meaning "fair of hair") because of his white hair.
* OurGiantsAreBigger: Some stories depict him as a giant rather than a normal man. These are from later folkloric versions and not the original mythology, however.

* WhatTheHellHero: Fionn's ''fiann'' is appalled by Fionn's very passive aggressive murder of Diarmuid. When Fionn confides to his son Oisin that he fears Diarmuid's children will take their revenge on him, Oisin flatly tells him he deserves it.

The goddess and namesake of the River Boyne (''An Bhóinn'') in Leinster. According to the ''Lebor Gabla Érenn'' and ''Tan;in Bó Fraích'' she was the sister of Befind and daughter of Delbáeth, son of Elada, of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Her husband is variously Nechtan or Elcmar. With her lover the Dagda, she is the mother of Aengus. In order to hide their affair, the Dagda made the sun stand still for nine months; therefore, Aengus was conceived, gestated and born in one day; elsewhere, the Dagda kept hunger, thirst, and darkness from Elcmar during his journey, so that it only seemed to be a day for Elcmar.

* FaceHeelTurn: If you think that the prequel text, written about 600 years after Cath Maige Tuired, shares continuity with it. There, Bres is a wise ambassador, loyal to his half-brothers and Nuada. However, as soon as the throne is vacant do to Nuada's maiming he manipulates his way into being chosen as king of the gods, then enslaves his own kin and people to the [[AbusivePrecursors Fomorians.]]

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: After escaping capture after his ousting, aligning himself with the Tuatha De Danann's greatest enemy and starting a war that ended in countless dead (including Nuada) Bres is finally captured after the second Cath Maige Tuired. In another text, potentially set later (if it shares continuity with CMT), he is forced/tricked by Lugh into drinking poison (which might have contained [[Main/{{Squick}} sewage]]) and dies.

* ExactWords: He tricked the Dagda out of ownership of Bru na Boinne (Newgrange) by claiming that he wanted to stay in the Brú for "a day and a night." But Irish has no indefinite articles, so it translates simply to "for day and night," which ''also'' means "day and night" in the permanent sense.

The goddess and namesake of the River Boyne (''An Bhóinn'') in Leinster. According to the ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' and ''Táin Bó Fraích'' she was the sister of Befind and daughter of Delbáeth, son of Elada, of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Her husband is variously Nechtan or Elcmar. With her lover the Dagda, she is the mother of Aengus. In order to hide their affair, the Dagda made the sun stand still for nine months; therefore, Aengus was conceived, gestated and born in one day; elsewhere, the Dagda kept hunger, thirst, and darkness from Elcmar during his journey, so that it only seemed to be a day for Elcmar.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: One of the more consistent details of ''ríastrad''/warp-spasm is that it causes one eye to swell horribly and fall out of its socket; Cú Chulainn's paternal great-grandfather, Balor of the Evil Eye, was a Fomorian king whose epynonymous eye was described in a similar manner.

* DualWielding: Typically wields one sword and one spear.

* {{Geas}}: Along with the geis Grainne put on him to force him to run off with her, he was also fated to be killed at the hands of his foster-brother-turned-wild-boar.

* LivingWeapon: His sword Orna. It is even able to speak when drawn from its sheath. Considering it mostly talks about its own deeds, it's apparently a narcissist.

* TheGreenEyedMonster: He isn't so happy to stand aside for Lugh as Nuada's champion...at least at first. Eventually he and Lugh reach a truce, even though some scholars (not the least Elizabeth Gray, who edited and translated the text) have suggested there's a long-running feud between Lugh's family and Ogma's, so it might be a downplayed example.

* LandOfFaerie: He rules over the elysium-like Mag Mell within Tir na nog.

God of War (one of many). Married to Badb and Nemain, The Morrigan's sisters. Though a member of the Tuatha De Danann, he is actually Fomorian by birth.

* EarthMother: In a single text, Sanas Cormaic, a figure called "Anu" is said to be the mother of the gods, and has certain natural landmarks are named for her or her anatomy (such as a pair of hills called her breasts).

* YearOutsideHourInside: After the death of his son, Oscar, Oisín goes to live in ''Tír na nÓg'' with Niamh. After three years, Oisín gets homesick, and requests to briefly visit his homeland. Niamh reluctantly provides him a magic steed to return home, but makes him promise not to set foot on the land. Then Oisín sets forth, only to discover three ''hundred'' years have passed since his departure. The shock knocks him off the horse to the ground, and the years [[RapidAging rapidly]] [[NoImmortalInertia catch up with him]].

* HeroicLineage

!!!Tuatha De Danann (Too-ah Day Dan-an):

* OppositesAttract: The Dagda is a big, loveable goofball (though still wise and badass) and his wife is The Morrigan, who has a very fearsome and terrifying reputation. Perhaps she likes a man who can make her laugh.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Modern artists portray her dressed in black with black hair, when in the actual myths her hair and clothes were frequently ''red''--red was the ancient Celtic color of death. The former isn't ''wrong,'' though, since it's more of a PaletteSwap than an actual mistake.

An immensely popular figure even today, she is one of the patron saints of Ireland and second only to St. Patrick (yes, that one). A daughter of The Dagda. She presides over [[ComboPlatterPowers healing, poetry, and smithwork]]--some believe that she was [[BroughtDownToNormal originally a goddess]] who had her SerialNumbersFiledOff, as that fits the "triple goddess" concept. Another "coincidence" is that her festival day is February 1, the day of Imbolc in medieval Ireland and in modern pagan communities. St. Brigid's Well is a [[IncrediblyLamePun well-known]] landmark for those who suffer chronic illness or injury.

* CoolSword: His signature weapon was the sword Son of Waves. It was forged by the god Len and had a signature blue scabbard. It was unbreakable and every blow delivered by its blade was deadly.

[[folder:Manannán mac Lir]]
!!Manannán mac Lir

* LandOfFaerie: He rules over Tir na nog.