Bodb Derg

In the medieval Irish narrative corpus Bodb Derg appears as a son—variously given as of Eochaid Garb or of the Dagda—and as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Following the Tuatha Dé Danann's defeat (noted in the tradition after the battle of Tailtiu), Bodb is elected king of the Tuatha Dé Danann on the grounds that he is the Dagda's eldest son in at least one account; his election is recognised by other rivals except Lir. He fathers many deities in the genealogical accounts and appears as a ruling figure of the Munster síd in several tales, including the Aislinge Óenguso cycle and narratives that connect the Tuatha to human heroic cycles.

Primary sources do not give a consistent physical description of Bodb Derg as an embodied form. The name Bodb/Bodhbh is etymologically related to the female war-crow Badb (bádhbh), and the epithet Dearg (red) leads the medieval glossing tradition to render his name as 'Red Crow.' This onomastic link establishes a symbolic association with crow/war-crow imagery and red coloration in the textual record, but the supplied narrative texts do not explicitly depict him taking a crow form or provide detailed anthropomorphic features.

Sources portray Bodb primarily as a political and dynastic figure: king of the Munster síd, elected monarch of the Tuatha Dé Danann after their defeat, counsellor and negotiator (for example, he counsels forbearance toward Lir and offers daughters in marriage to placate him), and an agent who aids other figures of the Tuatha (he helps Aengus identify Caer Ibormeith in Aislinge Óenguso). In at least one saga tradition he leads Tuatha forces in support of human warriors (a Fenian battle tradition), indicating capacity for mustering otherworldly kin in narrative military action. Broader attributes commonly ascribed to the Tuatha Dé Danann in secondary summaries (immortality, superhumanity) provide contextual background but are not direct, individualized power-descriptions for Bodb in the supplied texts.