Nuada Airgetlám- Celtic GodDeity"King of the Tuatha Dé Danann"

The First Battle of Mag Tuired

Nuada led the Tuatha Dé Danann to Ireland, where the Fir Bolg held the land. He sent ambassadors to offer terms: the Fir Bolg could surrender half of Ireland or fight for all of it. They chose battle, and the two races met on the Plain of Moytura in western Connacht. Before the main engagement, the two sides exchanged weapons to inspect each other's arms. The Fir Bolg carried heavy, broad-bladed swords designed for chopping; the Tuatha Dé Danann bore light, sharp-pointed spears and long shields. Each side marveled at the craftsmanship of the other.

The combat lasted four days. Sreng, the mightiest champion of the Fir Bolg, wielded a broad-bladed sword with devastating effect. On the final day, Nuada faced Sreng in single combat. Sreng's blow cut clean through Nuada's shield and severed his right arm at the shoulder. Despite this catastrophic wound, the Tuatha Dé Danann carried the field. The Fir Bolg lost their king Eochaid mac Eirc, and their survivors were granted the province of Connacht as a settlement. Nuada had won Ireland, but a king with a severed arm could not rule. The land would sicken under a blemished king.

The Tyranny of Bres

The Tuatha Dé Danann chose Bres mac Elatha as Nuada's replacement, a man of remarkable physical beauty whose father was secretly Fomorian. Bres proved a disastrous king. He favored his Fomorian kin, invited them into Ireland, and allowed them to extract crushing tribute from the Tuatha Dé Danann. He showed no generosity: the knives of his guests were never greased at his table, their breaths did not smell of ale, and no poet or entertainer was rewarded for their art.

The great Dagda was reduced to digging ditches, humiliated and half-starved on meager rations. Ogma, the champion, was set to carrying bundles of firewood from the islands of Clew Bay, and the sea washed away two-thirds of his burden before he could reach the shore. At last the poet Cairbre visited Bres's court and was lodged in a dark, bare room without fire or food. In response, Cairbre composed a glam dícenn, a blistering satire: "Without food quickly served, without a cow's milk on which a calf can grow, without a dwelling fit for a man under the gloomy night, without means to entertain a bardic company, let that be the condition of Bres." By its magic power, boils rose on Bres's face. Now blemished himself, Bres was compelled to abdicate.

The Silver Hand

During Bres's reign, Dian Cécht, the divine physician, crafted Nuada a replacement arm made entirely of silver. The arm moved like a living limb, with articulated joints in every finger and a wrist that bent and turned as if it were flesh. His craftsman Creidne helped with the metalwork, and Dian Cécht animated the arm through incantation. With the silver limb in place, Nuada was whole once more. The Tuatha Dé Danann accepted that the arm satisfied the requirement for an unblemished king, and Nuada Airgetlám was restored to the throne.

Miach's Flesh-and-Blood Arm

But Dian Cécht's son Miach possessed even greater healing skill than his father. Working alongside his sister Airmed, Miach caused true flesh and blood to grow over Nuada's stump, chanting incantations for nine days and nine nights: three days with the severed arm set against Nuada's side, three days held against his chest, and three days bound with white bulrushes blackened by fire. When the work was done, Nuada had a living arm once more.

Dian Cécht struck his son three times on the head with a sword. The first two wounds Miach healed himself. The third split his brain and killed him. From Miach's grave grew 365 healing herbs, one for every joint and sinew of the human body. Airmed carefully sorted them by their medicinal properties, but Dian Cécht scattered them in a jealous rage, and their order was lost to the world forever.

Ceding the Throne to Lugh

With Bres rallying the Fomorians for war, a young stranger arrived at Tara: Lugh Samildánach, who passed the doorkeeper's challenges by demonstrating mastery of every art and skill simultaneously. Nuada tested Lugh by setting him against Ogma at feats of strength and against the court's best players at fidchell. Lugh surpassed them all, then played the three strains of music upon the harp, putting the court to sleep, bringing them to tears, and restoring their joy. Nuada rose from his own throne and seated Lugh in the place of the king for thirteen days, then ceded the kingship altogether. The coming war demanded a greater champion, and Nuada gave him the throne.

Death at the Second Battle

At the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, the Tuatha Dé Danann faced the full might of the Fomorians under Balor of the Evil Eye. Nuada, no longer king but still bearing his Sword of Light, fought in the vanguard alongside his queen Macha. When Balor's terrible eye was opened, four men straining to raise its massive lid with a polished handle, its gaze destroyed all living things before it. Nuada fell. His queen Macha perished with him. The battle was won only when Lugh drove a sling-stone through Balor's eye from across the field.