Balor
Balor , also Balar [ 'balar ], is a hero of the early medieval Celtic mythology of Ireland and the Irish saga, who is also known as "the evil eye". Like Indech and Elatha, Balor is one of the children of the god Domnu and a king of the demonic people of the Fomori . Since he secretly observed the druids of his father Buareinech brewing a poisonous potion as a teenager , he has only one eye, which, however, when opened, offers such a terrible and destructive sight that anyone who looks at it no longer offers any resistance. However, Balor was so huge that he could hardly move and four formors had to lift his eyelid with the help of a hook.
Since, according to a prophecy of his wife Cethlionn, he should once fall by the son of his daughter Ethniu , he locked her up in his tower Dún Bhaloir on Toraigh . But after Balor stole the magical cow of the young Tuatha de Danann sorcerer and druid Cian , in disguise, he invaded Ethnius' prison in disguise and fathered a son with her: the later sun god Lugh , whom the druid Birog before the murder by Balor protects.
In the second battle of Mag Tuired , Balor was finally defeated, true to the prophecy, by his grandson Lugh, who shot Balor's eye out of the head with a slingshot or a spear, so that his evil eye destroyed his own ranks.
Balor is often interpreted as the god of the dead or as the embodiment of a destructive scorching sun, but others also associate him with the North British god of war Belatucadros , whose name also appears as "Balatocadros" or "Balatocairos".
Balor is considered to be analogous to the Cymrian mythical figure Ysbaddaden Pencawr.
Primary sources
- Cath Maige Tuired , translated into English: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired , handwriting Harleian MS 5280 in the British Library , London , text as part of the CELT project
- Annals of the four masters with the entry M3330.1.