History YMMV / CelticMythology

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: This is standard, thanks to Christianity.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Celtic paganism can be considered this for modern neopaganism as a whole, being among the most popular new age spiritual movements.

* HoYay: The interactions of Cú Chulainn and Ferdia, his childhood friend seem to invoke this at times. It is difficult to tell as if it were the case that the two had any sort of relationship, later retellings would have downplayed or removed any explicit reference as homosexuality as it became taboo (There is little to no reliable record of how Pagan Celts viewed homosexual relationships). Though any Neo-Pagans are willing to take the subtext and run with it.

** Dagda has gained a lot of popularity because of his NiceGuy nature in comparison to [[TopGod top gods]] like Zeus and Odin, being an utter bad ass in mind and body, and for being both a BoisterousBruiser and a [[TricksterGod trickster]] all in one.

* CreepyAwesome: Cú Chulainn.

** When Emer finds out that Cú Chulainn is sleeping with some random sídhe girl called Fand, she marches over with a knife to cut a bitch. What does Fand, this supposedly superior-in-all-ways woman, do? ''[[DamselInDistress Stand there and cry.]]'' Meanwhile, Emer starts ''challenging Cú Chulainn to a fight''--if he wins he can leave her for Fand, and if SHE wins he stays with Emer. Does Emer care that Cú Chulainn [[CurbStompBattle outclasses her]] and doesn't want to put his own wife in horrible danger? No. In fact, she ''[[RefugeInAudacity calls him a pussy]]'' for being afraid to answer a woman's challenge.

* TearJerker: ''Literature/TheChildrenOfLir''. As children, they were turned into swans for nine hundred years, and when their curse was finally broken, they were so old and withered that they died almost immediately. All that they could request was to be buried together (and, in some versions, to be baptized as Christians).

* NightmareFuel: The Irish hero Cú Chulainn is a scary guy at the best of times, but his ''rístrad'' (a [[UnstoppableRage battle madness]] taking the form of some sort of convulsion brought about in moments of extreme indignation) is another matter (see [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cu_chulainn#The_Cattle_Raid_of_Cooley this description]]). Anyone watching this would no doubt have so pretty nasty nightmares - providing Cú Chulainn doesn't kill them before they have a chance to get to sleep again.

** The murder of the hundred Irish warriors in the tale of ''Branwen'' is pretty horrifying. They hide in sacks of flour and wait to ambush the British. Efnisien, a British chieftain, grips each bag individually and squeezes until he can feel his fingers ''sinking through their skulls into their brains''.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Celtic paganism is in general this for modern neopaganism as a whole, being among the most popular new age spiritual movements.

** And when Math ap Mathonwy [[HumanityEnsues turns human]], he adopts the children of his villainous nephews after their BalefulPolymorph.

* WhatAnIdiot: For someone whose epithet is "the Wily," Emer's father King Forgall isn't particularly bright. He disapproved of Cuchulainn for some unmentioned reason, so he tried to marry Emer to someone else. Repeat: ''He tried to force '''{{The Chosen One}}'s''' intended bride to marry someone else.'' Luckily, the other "suitors" were too terrified of Cuchulainn's potential retribution to accept. On the other hand, he ''still'' locked her up and started guarding against Cuchulainn's return, which resulted in Cu Chulainn going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to save/elope with Emer.
** King Pwyll of Welsh mythology. The poor guy catches one IdiotBall after the other.

* CreepyAwesome: Cu Chulainn.

** Emer, Cu's wife, is a surprisingly popular woman, what for being a pacifist with an iron will and sharp wits. She's arguably more tough than the warriors!

* MagnificentBastard: Lugh, thought by some myth-tracers to share a concept-God with Loki of Myth/NorseMythology. The key difference here being that the Celts didn't have anything against tricksters and so Lugh spends his life a badass rather than being tortured.
** It helps that Lugh was TheAce.
** Medb/Maeve of Connaught, who raised an army and invaded Ulster just so that she could steal a magic bull to match the one her husband owned. Some say the story is about the primacy of female or male lines of inheritance. Others say it's about Medb and Ailill being irresponsible ''jerks''. (For [[MagnificentBastard certain values]] of "jerk.")

* CompleteMonster:
** [[EvilOverlord Abhartach]] is a chieftain who once lorded over a kingdom in Derry and may have been one of the original inspirations for Count {{Dracula}}. While specific details on the legend may vary, the constant was that Abhartach was a bloody tyrant who mastered [[BlackMagic dark magic]] and was mercilessly cruel to both his people and others, killing his enemies for any slight whether they were guilty or not. He was so feared and hated by those he ruled over, that when Abhartach died, his people rejoiced. Unfortunately, with his dark magic, Abhartach rose as a vampiric creature, visiting his subjects' homes and demanding a bowl of blood from their wrists to feed his thirst. Eventually a rival chieftain was called upon to kill him, but no matter how many times Abhartach was killed, he would rise again to take more victims. It isn't until the chieftain was advised a specific ritual to bind Abhartach forever with the warning to never tamper with his grave lest Abhartach returns.
** Balor, King of [[TheOldGods the Fomorians]], was a brutal conqueror who was best known for his "[[DeadlyGaze evil eye]]" that could bring horrific ruin and destruction. Sweeping it across entire islands to burn all there, Balor established himself as a brutal tyrant who [[AbusiveParents locked his daughter away]] after a prophecy her child would destroy him. When his daughter became pregnant, Balor [[OffingTheOffspring killed]] several of the resulting [[WouldHurtAChild babies]] with only one, Lugh, surviving to return to bring him down.
** [[TheDreaded Conomor the Accursed]] is a king made infamous by folklore stories that likely inspired the fairy tale of Literature/{{Bluebeard}}. A feared and brutal king, Conomor is also a [[SerialKiller serial widower]] whose wives have a tendency to vanish. Forcing the marriage of the beautiful Trephine by threatening her lands, Conomor is revealed to murder his wives when they either anger him or fall pregnant, depending on the tale, with multiple dead brides in his past. Conomor attempts to murder Trephine for violating his orders, and after his just death, he is [[BarredFromTheAfterlife too evil to enter the afterlife]], becoming a murderous [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]].

** [[EvilOverlord Abhartach]] is a chieftain who once lorded over a kingdom in Derry and may have been one of the original inspirations for Count {{Dracula}}. While specific details on the legend may vary, the constant was that Abhartach was a bloody tyrant who mastered [[BlackMagic dark magic]] and was mercilessly cruel to both his people and others, killing his enemies for any slight whether they were guilty or not. He was so feared and hated by those he ruled over, that when Abhartach died, his people rejoiced. Unfortunately, with his dark magic, Abhartach rose as a vampiric creature demanding visiting his subjects homes and demanding a bowl of blood from their wrists to feed his thirst. Eventually a rival chieftain was called upon to kill him, but no matter how many times Abhartach was killed, he would rise again to take more victims. It isn't until the chieftain was advised a specific ritual to bind Abhartach forever with the warning to never tamper with his grave lest Abhartach returns.

** [[EvilOverlord Abhartach]] is a chieftain who once lorded over a kingdom in Derry and may have been one of the original inspirations for Count {{Dracula}}. While specific details on the legend may vary, the constant was that Abhartach was a bloody tyrant who mastered [[BlackMagic dark magic]] and was mercilessly cruel to both his people and others, killing his enemies for any slight whether they were guilty or not. He was so feared and hated by those he ruled over, that when Abhartach died, his people rejoiced. Unfortunately, with his dark magic, Abhartach rose as a vampiric creature demanding visiting his subjects homes and demanding a bowl of blood from their wrists to feed his thirst. Eventually a rival chieftain was called upon to kill him, but no matter how many times Abhartach was killed, he would rise again to take more victims. It isn't until the chieftain was advised a specific ritual to bind Abhartach forever with the warning to never tamper with his grave lest Abhartach returns again.

* CompleteMonster: Balor, King of [[TheOldGods the Fomorians]], was a brutal conqueror who was best known for his "[[DeadlyGaze evil eye]]" that could bring horrific ruin and destruction. Sweeping it across entire islands to burn all there, Balor established himself as a brutal tyrant who [[AbusiveParents locked his daughter away]] after a prophecy her child would destroy him. When his daughter became pregnant, Balor [[OffingTheOffspring killed]] several of the resulting [[WouldHurtAChild babies]] with only one, Lugh, surviving to return to bring him down.

* CompleteMonster: Balor, King of the Fomorians, was a brutal conqueror who was best known for his "[[DeadlyGaze evil eye]]" that could bring horrific ruin and destruction. Sweeping it across entire islands to burn all there, Balor established himself as a brutal tyrant who [[AbusiveParents locked his daughter away]] after a prophecy her child would destroy him. When his daughter became pregnant, Balor [[OffingTheOffspring killed]] several of the resulting [[WouldHurtAChild babies]] with only one, Lugh, surviving to return to bring him down.

* MartyStu: '''Cuchulainn'''. A [[YoungerThanTheyLook kid]] who has a body of a buff Lovecraftian-human male, who has multi-colored hair, the reputation of being Ulster's most badass champion that exceeds in everything, so hot looking that every woman couldn't resist his charms, and most of all married the world's most beautiful ''and'' smartest woman? The boy has "nigh untouchable" written all over him.

* MartyStu: '''Cuchulainn'''. He is actually [[YoungerThanTheyLook kid]] who has a body of a buff Lovecraftian-human male, has multi-colored hair, the world most badass champion that exceeds in everything, so hot looking that every ladies can't resist his D, and most of all get the world's most beautiful ''and'' smartest woman? ''Fuck yeah!!''.

** Cuchulainn, period. He accidentally killed his only son, accidentally pissed off the goddess of war just because he was too exhausted after a battle to bother with another strenuous activity, and died a slow and agonizing death. (He still died like a badass though. He tied himself to a standing stone with his intestines as he was dying because he wanted to die standing up. No-one went near his corpse for ages because they were scared shitless he might still be alive. In the end they only decided it was safe because the birds had started eating him... and then his sword arm ''coincidentally'' fell and decapitated someone who tried to loot his corpse.)