History Literature / TheHoundsOfTheMorrigan

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

%%* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Pidge and Brigit meet a ''lot'' of people on the road.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Brigit tries to do this with, "Where's that bloody pebble?!" Pidge catches her and gives he a scolding.

Pidge--Patrick Joseph, in full, but everyone calls him Pidge--is an ordinary-if-bookish ten-year-old boy living in the Irish countryside with his little sister, father, and aunt. One day, while biking through the city, he stumbles upon an old bookshop and finds an ancient tome. On one page is a drawing of a horrible serpent, the very image of which itself fills him with dread. Meanwhile, one of his neighbors rents out his spare greenhouse to a pair of beautiful but sinister women who ride around on motorcycles, who claim to be artists. The two are indeed related: That night, Dagda, the God of all that is good, tells him that the book contains the serpent Olc-Glas, a horrible beast [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned there long ago.]] The two old women are Macha and Bodbh, and are part of the Morrigan--the Goddess of War and Discord and Death herself. They are out looking for the serpent themselves, because, if they add his poison to theirs... [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Well.]]

Olc-Glas is too powerful to be dissolved by anything but the Morrigan herself. But there is a way: Long ago, the great hero Cuchulain spilled a drop of her blood onto a pebble. If they can find that pebble, with its single drop of blood, they can use it to destroy Olc-Glas. But if The Morrigan finds it first, not only will she stop them from destroying the serpent, she'll get him for herself.

* VictoryGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler: Although the Dagda takes away Pidge and Brigit's memories, he favors them after. Cooroo comes back as their friend, though he can no longer talk to them, and Dagda sends them rainbows just for them.]]

Pidge--Patrick, in full, but everyone calls him Pidge--is an ordinary-if-bookish ten-year-old boy living in the Irish countryside with his little sister, father, and aunt. One day, while biking through the city, he stumbles upon an old book shop and finds an ancient tome. On one page is a drawing of a horrible serpent, the very image of which itself fills him with dread. Meanwhile, one of his neighbors rents out his spare greenhouse to a pair of beautiful but sinister women who ride around on motorcycles, who claim to be artists. The two are indeed related: That night, Dagda, the God of all that is good, tells him that the book contains the serpent Olc-Glas, a horrible beast [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned there long ago.]] The two old women are Macha and Bodbh, and are part of the Morrigan--the Goddess of War and Discord and Death herself. They are out looking for the serpent themselves, because, if they add his poison to theirs... [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Well.]]

'''This book contains examples of:'''

Despite its great (almost 700 pages!) size, the book is told in a lyrical fairy-tale style generally geared at children (and anyone who loves a good yarn). It contains NightmareFuel and SweetDreamsFuel in equal measure, though it remains firmly on the "idealistic" scale of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.

* BilingualBonus: A great many if you happen to speak Gaelic. If not, the back of the book provides a handy glossary and pronounciation guide which explains the name meanings, as well.

%%* BilingualBonus: A great many if you happen to speak Gaelic. If not, the back of the book provides a handy glossary and pronounciation guide which explains the name meanings, as well.

* DeliberatelyCuteChild: [[spoiler: The Morrigan conjures one in order to capture the Seargent.]]

%%* TheHecateSisters: the Morrigan

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: this is done to Pidge and Brigit at the end, as a kindness to them, so that they can walk completely in the human world without being troubled by memories or wanting to return to Faerie. They meet the red fox again and even give him saudsages to eat, and are troubled by an odd sense they've met him before, but Cooroo doesn't let on.

* QuickNip: The Seargeant tends to nip into his stores of confiscatched hootch for... less-than-professional reasons.

* SortingAlgorithmOfThreateningGeography: Two children living in modern Galway are drawn into the other Ireland of myth and legend. As their quest progresses, the mythological landscape is at first funny, absurd, Disney-Oirish, even, with hints of something deeper beneath. It gradually becomes darker, bleaker, more sinister, as the life-or-death nature of their quest asserts itself, and the final showdown with the forces of Not-Good takes place in a Mordor-like bleak and barren place. It's like going from a leprachaun Hobbiton to a Mordor ruled by the Morrigan.

%%* WeirdnessCensor: The Seargent attempts to maintain his for quite a while, blaming poteen, before he finally realizes there's nothing he can do.

* The SugarBowl: The land in the hidden valley. The more [[{{Oireland}} Disney-Oirish]] aspects and locations of the quest.

* ForTheEvulz: All three Morrigan sisters. However, they ''feed off corpses,'' so causing as much havoc still does serve them.

%% * TheHecateSisters: the Morrigan

* IrishNames: Unless you ''are'' Irish, we recommend giving this page a good once-over before reading this book.

* DevelopmentHell: The book took ''ten years'' to write. The author even tried to write a sequel, but it never quite materialized.

* NamesTheSame: Boodie points out early on what a good name Brigit has, because she shares it with a goddess named Brigit. [[spoiler: Boodie ''is'' that goddess.]]

* AmusingInjuries: Puddeneen does not like hammers.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler:Causes Fowler to make a HeelFaceTurn.]]

* BilingualBonus: A great many if you happen to speak Gaelic. If not, the back of the book provides a handy glossary and pronounciation guide which explains the name meanings, as well.

* ButtMonkey: The poor Seargent. Perhaps by nipping into illegal whiskey he's asking for it, but...

* CunningLikeAFox: Cooroo, of course.

* [[spoiler: EveryoneJoinTheParty]]: [[spoiler: The Seven Maines, Maeve and Ailill (the Weeping Woman and her gander, plus her men who were ducks), Finn and Daire, all their friends, Boodie and Patsy, and Cathbad the Druid.]]

* TheFairFolk

* FunetikAksent: A number of characters have them.

* HappyRain
* TheHecateSisters: the Morrigan
* HellHotel: [[spoiler: Castle Durance.]]
* [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn]]: Fowler, [[spoiler: BecauseYouWereNiceToMe.]]
* [[spoiler: InnOfNoReturn]]: The original designs of Castle Durance.

* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: Many characters on the side of good give Pidge and Brigit items in this fashion early on.

* LittleMissBadass: Brigit envisions herself as one.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Pidge and Brigit meet a ''lot'' of people on the road.

* NoAccountingForTaste: Hannah and Corny, but this is noted by Corny as applying mostly on wash day. Any other day, Hannah is a perfectly nice lady.

* NotSoStoic: The Seargent, when his WeirdnessCensor starts to fail.

* PrecisionFStrike: "You're a ''damned'' fool."

* RealityChangingMiniature: The table the Morrigan sisters use.
* RoadSignReversal: The very first trick Macha and Bodhb try to pull on Pidge. It's much eerier than the usual examples, because, of course, they have magic.
* SealedEvilInACan: Olc-Glas. His release is something they want to ''prevent.''
* SealedGoodInACan: [[spoiler: The Irish Elk.]]

* The SugarBowl: the land in the hidden valley. The more [[{{Oireland}} Disney-Oirish]] aspects and locations of the quest.

* TeamPet: Cooroo, once he joins the team.

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The Third Valley, ''definitely.'' And, possibly, [[spoiler: the Morrigan's labyrinth, though Mossie Flynn takes care of that unintentionally.]]
* [[spoiler: VictoryGuidedAmnesia]]: [[spoiler: Although the Dagda takes away Pidge and Brigit's memories, he favors them after. Cooroo comes back as their friend, though he can no longer talk to them, and Dagda sends them rainbows just for them.]]
* WeirdnessCensor: The Seargent attempts to maintain his for quite a while, blaming poteen, before he finally realizes there's nothing he can do.

* The SugarBowl: the land in the hidden valley. The more [[Oireland Disney-Oireland]] aspects and locations of the quest.

''The Hounds of the Morrigan'' is a fantasy novel from 1985, written by Pat O'Shea. It's [[DoorStopper big]], it's [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism whimsical,]] and it contains more references to [[CelticMythology Irish Mythology]] than you can shake a stick at. The very plot itself revolves around the Celtic Goddess of War trying to absorb an ancient demon into her soul so that she becomes unstoppable.

* Oireland: Gets a bit Disney-Oirish in places, begorrah and bejabers.

Pidge--Patrick, in full, but everyone calls him Pidge--is an ordinary-if-bookish ten-year-old boy living in the Irish countryside with his little sister, father, and aunt. One day, while biking through the city, he stumbles upon an old book shop and finds an ancient tome. On one page is a drawing of a horrible serpent, the very image of which itself fills him with dread. Meanwhile, one of his neighbors rents out his spare greenhouse to a pair of wild old women who ride around on motorcycles, who claim to be artists. The two are indeed related: That night, Dagda, the God of all that is good, tells him that the book contains the serpent Olc-Glas, a horrible beast [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned there long ago.]] The two old women are Macha and Bodbh, and are part of the Morrigan--the Goddess of War and Discord and Death herself. They are out looking for the serpent themselves, because, if they add his poison to theirs... [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Well.]]

* RealityAlteringMiniature: The table the Morrigan sisters use.

* SealedGoodInACan: [[spoiler: The Irish Elk.]]

* EvilIsSexy: The "main" Morrigan sister is breathtakingly beautiful.

* HilariousInHindsight: The two twins are a pair of squabbling old twins, with big hooked noses, one of which has flaming red hair and the other of which has icy blue hair. If you've played ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime,'' comparisons to Twinrova will leap to mind.

* HecateSisters: the Morrigan