Lugh- Celtic GodDeity"Master of All Arts"

Divine and Fomorian Parentage

Lugh was born of both divine and monstrous blood. His father was Cian of the Tuatha Dé Danann; his mother was Ethniu, daughter of Balor of the Evil Eye, king of the Fomorians. Balor had imprisoned Ethniu in a crystal tower on Tory Island after a druid prophesied that his own grandson would kill him. The tower stood on the Atlantic cliffs of Tor Mór, and Ethniu was kept there with twelve handmaidens, none of whom were permitted to speak of men in her presence, so that she might never learn such beings existed. Despite these precautions, Cian gained access to the tower with the help of the druidess Biróg and lay with Ethniu. She bore triplets. Balor ordered them cast into the sea, but one child survived: Lugh.

Fostering and Gifts

The infant Lugh was fostered by Manannán mac Lir and by the queen Tailtiu. In Manannán's Otherworld beyond the western sea, Lugh mastered every skill known to gods and mortals. Manannán gave him the horse Aonbharr, which galloped over sea and land alike, and the sword Fragarach, which cut through any armor and compelled truth from whoever felt its edge at their throat. Tailtiu raised him on the Plain of Teltown in Meath, where she had labored to clear the forests for agriculture.

Arrival at Tara

Lugh came to Tara, seat of King Nuada, while the Tuatha Dé Danann suffered under Fomorian tribute. The doorkeeper challenged him: none without a needed skill could enter. Lugh named himself a carpenter, but the court already had one. A smith? Already had one. Champion, harper, poet, historian, sorcerer, healer, cupbearer, brazier: each skill already represented. Then Lugh asked whether they had anyone who possessed all these skills at once. There was none.

He entered and proved himself. He hurled a flagstone that Ogma had struggled to move. He won at fidchell against the court's best players. He played the three strains of music on the harp: the sleep strain that put the court to slumber, the sorrow strain that made all weep, the joy strain that set them laughing. Nuada rose from his throne and gave Lugh the seat of the sage.

The Fate of the Children of Tuirenn

Lugh's father Cian was murdered by the three sons of Tuirenn, who beat him to death with stones after he had transformed into a pig to evade them. Cian declared with his dying breath that the stones would tell the tale. When Lugh discovered the killing by questioning the earth itself, he demanded an éric that seemed light at first naming: a series of quests to distant lands for magical objects. The sons of Tuirenn accomplished each task through extraordinary courage but were mortally wounded on the last, giving three shouts on the Hill of Miodchaoin against warriors sworn to silence them. They begged Lugh for healing. He refused. They died.

The Second Battle of Mag Tuired

Nuada ceded the kingship to Lugh for the duration of the war. Lugh assigned each deity a task: Goibniu forged spears that never missed, Dian Cécht prepared the Well of Sláine to restore the wounded, and the Morrígan promised destruction upon the Fomorian host.

The Tuatha Dé Danann met the Fomorians on the Plain of Pillars. Nuada fell to Balor, whose enormous eye killed all who looked upon it; four men were needed to raise the heavy lid. Lugh had been held back by his kinsmen, but he broke free and advanced across the battlefield, circling his army on one foot with one eye closed in a ritual posture of power. As Balor's attendants raised the terrible eye, Lugh cast a sling-stone that drove it clean through the back of Balor's skull, turning its killing gaze upon the Fomorian ranks behind him. Balor collapsed. The Fomorians broke and were driven from Ireland.

After the battle, Lugh captured Bres, the half-Fomorian former king, and spared his life in exchange for agricultural knowledge: when to plow, when to sow, when to reap.

Lughnasadh

Lugh established Lughnasadh on the first of August in honor of his foster-mother Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing Ireland's forests for cultivation. The Assembly of Teltown featured funeral games and horse races, and communities gathered from across Ireland to settle disputes and arrange marriages. The festival survived Christianization as Garland Sunday and hilltop assemblies across the country.

Lugh and Cú Chulainn

Lugh fathered Cú Chulainn on Deichtine, sister of King Conchobar of Ulster. During the Táin Bó Cúailnge, when his son was near death from defending Ulster alone against Medb's armies, Lugh appeared at the ford, healed his wounds, and held the crossing for three days while Cú Chulainn slept.

Death

Mac Cuill, Mac Cécht, and Mac Gréine, the three grandsons of the Dagda, drowned Lugh in Loch Lugborta in revenge for their father Cermait, whom Lugh had killed for lying with his wife. The lake was named for him: Loch Lugh-bhorta, the Lake of Lugh's Drowning.