Cú Chulainn
The Hound of Ulster; demigod son of Lugh by Deichtire under the dominant Compert Con Culainn tradition. Birth name Sétanta. Earned the name Cú Chulainn at age 7 by killing Culann's smith-dog with a sliotar through its throat and offering to take the hound's place. Trained by the warrior-woman Scáthach on her island in Alba, where he received the Gáe Bulg (the dread thirty-barbed spear cast underfoot from the water). Sole defender of Ulster during the Macha-curse phase of the Táin Bó Cúailnge — his half-divine paternity exempted him from the birth-pangs that pinned every other adult Ulsterman, allowing him to hold Medb of Connacht's invading army at the fords for three months. The four-day combat with his foster-brother Ferdiad at the ford (Comrac Fir Diad) is the most extended single-combat in medieval Irish literature. The ríastrad (warp-spasm) — battle-frenzy transformation with body distortion, eye-displacement, and the lon láith (hero-light) springing from the head — is among the most detailed transformation scenes in medieval European literature. Killed his own son Connla unrecognized at the ford (Aided Óenfhir Aífe). Died at age 27 strapped to the standing stone Cloich an Ghaill at Mag Muirthemne so he could die upright facing his enemies; identified as dead only when the Morrígan in raven-form lit on his shoulder and his hero-light went out. The Sheppard bronze of this final scene was installed at the GPO in Dublin in 1935 as the Easter Rising memorial.
Parentage
Children
Variant accounts
- paternity-by-Sualtam-not-Lugh
- paternity-by-Conchobar-incest
Domains
- martial supreme young warrior
- fated early death
Powers
- ríastrad warp spasm
- Enter the warp-spasm
- Perform the salmon-leap
Epithets
- Cú Chulainn The Hound of Culann (by-name earned over the birth-name Sétanta)Táin Bó Cúailnge; Macgnímrada Con Culainn (boyhood deeds) (primary)
- Cú na Craíbe Rúaide Hound of the Red Branch (the Ulster warrior-band)MacKillop, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, s.v. Cú Chulainn (secondary)
Relations
- lover: Aífe
- enemy: Medb
- spouse: EmerEmer ingen Forgaill, his wife.Tochmarc Emire (primary)
- lover: Aífe (warrior-woman of Alba, lover of Cú Chulainn, mother of Connla) · IrishAífe, warrior-woman of Alba, sister-rival of Scáthach. Mother of Connla. Aífe entry pending.Tochmarc Emire; Aided Óenfhir Aífe (primary)
- father of: ConnlaAided Óenfhir Aífe (primary)
- killer of: ConnlaKilled his unknowing son with the Gáe Bulg at the ford; recognized him only as he was dying.Aided Óenfhir Aífe (primary)
- mentor: Scáthach (warrior-mistress of Dún Scáith on the Isle of Skye, martial-arts mentor of Cú Chulainn) · IrishScáthach the Shadowy — warrior-woman of Alba who trained Cú Chulainn and gave him the Gáe Bulg. Scáthach entry pending.Tochmarc Emire (primary)
- foster sibling: Fer Diad (foster-brother and martial peer of Cú Chulainn at Scáthach's school, killed by Cú Chulainn at the ford in Táin Bó Cúailnge) · IrishFerdiad mac Damáin, fellow trainee under Scáthach. Compelled by Medb to fight Cú Chulainn at the ford; killed by the Gáe Bulg after four days of combat, their nightly food and physician shared between them. The most extended single-combat scene in medieval Irish literature. Ferdiad entry pending.Táin Bó Cúailnge (Comrac Fir Diad — the Combat of Ferdiad) (primary)
- enemy: Medb (queen of Connacht, antagonist of Cú Chulainn in Táin Bó Cúailnge) · IrishMedb of Connacht — instigator of the Cattle Raid of Cooley. Medb entry pending.Táin Bó Cúailnge (primary)
- killer of: FráechReciprocal of irish_fraech.killed-by — Cú Chulainn killed Fráech at a ford during the Táin Bó Cúailnge.Táin Bó Cúailnge (LU and LL recensions); Acallam na Senórach (primary)
Sources
- existence: Compert Con Culainn (Lebor na hUidre c. 1100 CE); Táin Bó Cúailnge (Recensions I and II); Tochmarc Emire; Brislech Mór Maige Muirthemne; Aided Con Culainn; Aided Óenfhir Aífe; Serglige Con Culainn (The Wasting Sickness); Fled Bricrenn (Bricriu's Feast) (primary)
- parentage: Compert Con Culainn — dominant Lugh+Deichtire tradition (primary)