Cethlenn appears in the literatures that narrate the conflict between the Fomorians and the Tuatha Dé Danann, most notably in accounts of the Second Battle of Mag Tuired (Cath Maige Tuired). In the Romance Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann she is named (as Céithlionn/Ceithlinn) and functions as a prophetess who identifies Lugh and proclaims that his coming will end Fomorian power. Medieval compilations (e.g., the Lebor Gabála Érenn) and later annalistic and historiographic sources (Annals of the Four Masters, Keating, O'Flaherty's Ogygia) preserve a tradition in which she hurls a javelin (gae) that wounds the Dagda; Lebor Gabála adds the detail that the wound proved fatal only after 120 years. Some later local traditions and the Annals of Clonmacnoise associate her with Inis Cethlenn (Enniskillen), and early modern writers sometimes present her explicitly as Balor's wife and Ethniu's mother, though specific attributions vary by source and genre.
Surviving sources give no full bodily description; the consistent descriptive material concerns dentition-related epithets. In the Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann she is called Ceithlion Chaisfhiaclach, glossed as "the crooked-toothed" (from Irish cas 'twisted'), and a Fenian-cycle variant appears as Ceitleann Chraos-Fhiaclach, glossed by one editor as "ravening tooth" (with craos/cráes suggesting gape or voraciousness). English renderings in later writers include "crooked-toothed" or "buck-toothed." Beyond these nicknames, the sources preserved in the supplied material do not describe height, dress, coloration, or other bodily features.
Cethlenn functions primarily as a prophetic figure and as an active combatant in the mythic battle narratives. In the Romance Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann she identifies Lugh as the destined grandson and proclaims the fall of the Fomorians upon his arrival, a role summarized as prophetess/prognosticator. In accounts of the Second Battle of Mag Tuired (notably the Lebor Gabála Érenn and repeated in annals and later histories) she hurled a javelin (gae) that wounded the Dagda; the Lebor Gabála specifies that the wound proved mortal only after 120 years. Genealogically and narratively she is linked to Balor (in some sources named as his wife) and to Ethniu as mother, situating her within the lineage that produces Lugh. The supplied material does not ascribe to her other supernatural powers (such as sorcery, broader curse-making, or immortality) beyond prophecy and the single recorded martial act.
Weaknesses
- otherNone attested in supplied sources
Wards
- otherNone attested
Balor
Balor is a leader of the Fomorians in the Irish Mythological Cycle, portrayed in medieval texts as a formidable war‑champion and in later folklore as a one‑eyed giant/tyrant whose baleful eye causes great destruction; he is killed by his grandson Lugh in the battle narratives and in folktale variants. Scholarly readings link his name to a Common Celtic root meaning 'the flashing one,' which has informed interpretations of him as a personified destructive natural force.
Ethniu
Ethniu (also Ethne, Ethliu, Eithne, Ethnea, etc.) is a figure of Irish myth, presented as the daughter of the Fomorian leader Balor and the mother of the hero Lugh. Her story centers on imprisonment to avert a prophecy and the clandestine conception and rescue of her child, motifs that link her to dynastic and prophetic conflicts in the mythic cycles.
Lugh
Lugh is a prominent figure of Irish myth, a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann variously portrayed as a warrior, king, master craftsman and saviour. Epithets (e.g., Lámfada, Samildánach) stress his long arm and polyvalent skill; medieval texts place him centrally in the mythic history of Ireland (notably the Battle of Mag Tuired) and later comparative traditions identify him with the pan‑Celtic Lugus and, by interpretatio romana, with Mercury.
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abarta (Ábartach)
Abarta (also Ábartach) is a figure of Irish myth who, in surviving accounts, tricks Fionn mac Cumhaill's warriors by giving them a supernatural grey horse that bears them into the Otherworld. Sources variably identify him as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann or as a Fomorian; after the incident he is compelled to release the captured warriors and is refused entry to the Fianna.
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abhean
Abhean is a named poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann in medieval Irish literature, described as a poet in particular of Lugh and recorded as having been killed by Óengus before Midir in a poem by Fland Mainistreach preserved in the Lebor Gabála Érenn.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
Accolon
Accolon is a mortal knight of the Arthurian court, presented in the Post-Vulgate Merlin tradition and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as Morgan le Fay's paramour and instrument in a plot to supplant King Arthur; his tale centers on enchanted weapons (Excalibur and its scabbard), love-manipulation, and a tragic duel with Arthur.
Achall
Achall is an eponymous mortal woman in the Ulster Cycle of early Irish literature whose grief-induced death is given as the origin of the hill-name Achall (identified with the modern Hill of Skryne). She appears as a genealogical and etiological figure tied to Tara and later legendary events at the hill, rather than as a recurring supernatural agent.
Achtland
Achtland is a figure from Irish tradition who, according to the surviving account, was a mortal woman famed for rejecting mortal suitors who married a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and crossed into the síde to become immortal as his wife.
Adar Llwch Gwin
Legendary large, intelligent birds from Welsh tradition said to understand human speech and obey their master's commands; best known for tearing their master Drudwas ap Tryffin to pieces when bound by a literal order in an Arthurian battle narrative. The term later came to be applied to raptors and metaphorically to brave men in medieval Welsh poetry.
Adar Rhiannon
Adar Rhiannon ('birds of Rhiannon') are a set of three magical birds in medieval Welsh narrative (the Mabinogi) whose song can 'wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.' They appear as otherworldly song‑beings tied to the figure Rhiannon and function within tales as providers of enchanted music that sustains and consoles characters.
Aderyn y Corff
Aderyn y Corff (literally 'bird of the corpse') is a bird-like death-porter in Welsh folklore said to call outside the door of a person about to die. Described as an avian portent that may lack feathers or wings and as existing on another plane when not manifesting, it is treated in Welsh ghost lore and sometimes naturalized as a screech owl in modern accounts.
Adhene
A class of Manx fairies (Cloan ny moyrn) described in Isle of Man tradition as a social people of beings said to be "fallen angels cast from heaven but too good for hell," who interact with human livelihoods and families, sometimes benevolent but often mischievous.
Community Record
- [1]Cethlenn (Wikipedia). Wikipedia: 'Cethlenn' article (summarizing attestations in Lebor Gabála Érenn, Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann, Annals, Keating, O'Flaherty, local tradition)wiki
- [2]Wikidata: Cethlenn. Wikidata entry for Cethlennother