#conchobar

[incorrect-ulster-cycle]

Conchobar: Do dinner parties always end like that? Fergus: The ones when Bricriu is invited do.

[lovetilltheam]

Here’s the ✨personal opinion✨ that no one asked for: (spoilers)

It was an enjoyable movie, glad we had ot5 content. The first 30-40 min were the drama part with Louis’ losses and his attachment to the band. I lost it when they talked about Jay and Fizzy. The self pity part, inflated to this extent just for the sake of the doc, was a bit ‘meh, I don’t like this narrative. But ofc they have to use this part to get the awww poor lad from people. Don’t even get me started on the parts with the kid cause it was cringe af, especially at the LA concert with the kid holding the sign and all. I mean the kid probably didn’t even learn how to read yet. And if you keep saying he’s Louis double or some bs you clearly refuse to acknowledge everything that happened in the past with the debunked pregnancy and/or you never saw the Clark family. Said that, I love Louis and can’t wait for the upcoming tour.

[rowan-blood]

Deirdre and Naoise

Deirdre

Deirdre (/ˈdɪərdrə, -dri/ DEER-drə, -⁠dree, Irish: [ˈdʲɛɾʲdʲɾʲə]; Old Irish: Derdriu [ˈdʲerʲðrʲĭŭ]) is a tragic heroine in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. She is also known by the epithet "Deirdre of the Sorrows" (Irish: Deirdre an Bhróin).

Deirdre was the daughter of the royal storyteller Fedlimid mac Daill. Before she was born, Cathbad the chief druid at the court of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, prophesied that Fedlimid's daughter would grow up to be very beautiful, but that kings and lords would go to war over her, much blood would be shed because of her, and Ulster's three greatest warriors would be forced into exile for her sake.

Hearing this, many urged Fedlimid to kill the baby at birth, but Conchobar, aroused by the description of her future beauty, decided to keep the child for himself. He took Deirdre away from her family and had her brought up in seclusion by Leabharcham, a poet and wise woman, and planned to marry Deirdre when she was old enough. As a young girl, living isolated in the woodlands, Deirdre told Leabharcham one snowy day that she would love a man with the colours she had seen when a raven landed in the snow with its prey: hair the color of the raven, skin as white as snow, and cheeks as red as blood.

Leabharcham told her she was describing Naoise, a handsome young warrior, hunter and singer at Conchobar's court. With the collusion of Leabharcham, Deirdre met Naoise and they fell in love. Accompanied by his brothers Ardan and Ainnle (the other two sons of Uisneach), Naoise and Deirdre fled to Scotland. They lived a happy life there, hunting and fishing and living in beautiful places; one place associated with them is Loch Etive. Some versions of the story mention that Deirdre and Naoise had children, a son, Gaiar, and a daughter, Aebgreine, who were fostered by Manannan Mac Lir.

A painting of Deirdre in A book of myths (1915), by Helen Stratton.

However, the furious, humiliated Conchobar tracked them down. He sent Fergus mac Róich to them with an invitation to return and Fergus's own promise of safe conduct home. On the way back to Emain Macha, Conchobar had Fergus waylaid, forced by his personal geis (an obligation) to accept an invitation to a feast.

Fergus sent Deirdre and the sons of Uisneach on to Emain Macha with his son to protect them. When they arrived, Conchobar sent Leabharcham to spy on Deirdre, to see if she had lost her beauty. Leabharcham, to protect Deirdre, told the king that Deirdre was now ugly and aged. Conchobar then sent another spy, Gelbann, who managed to catch a glimpse of Deirdre but was seen by Naoise, who threw a gold chess piece at him and put out his eye.

The spy managed to get back to Conchobar, and told him that Deirdre was as beautiful as ever. Conchobar called his warriors to attack the Red Branch house where Deirdre and the sons of Uisneach were lodging. Naoise and his brothers fought valiantly, aided by a few Red Branch warriors, before Conchobar evoked their oath of loyalty to him and had Deirdre dragged to his side. At this point, Éogan mac Durthacht threw a spear, killing Naoise, and his brothers were killed shortly afterward.

Fergus and his men arrived after the battle. Fergus was outraged by this betrayal of his word, and went into exile in Connacht. He later fought against Ulster for Ailill and Medb in the war of the Táin Bó Cúailnge (the Cattle Raid of Cooley), sometimes referred to as "the Irish Iliad".

Deirdre's Lament, drawing by J. H. Bacon, c. 1905

After the death of Naoise, Conchobar took Deirdre as his wife. After a year, angered by Deirdre's continuing coldness toward him, Conchobar asked her whom in the world she hated the most, besides himself. She answered "Éogan mac Durthacht", the man who had murdered Naoise. Conchobar said that he would give her to Éogan. As she was being taken to Éogan, Conchobar taunted her, saying she looked like a ewe between two rams. At this, Deirdre threw herself from the chariot, dashing her head to pieces against a rock.

_________________________

Naoise

In Irish mythology, Naisi, Noíse or Noisiu (modern spelling: Naoise [ˈn̪ˠiːʃə]) was the nephew of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster, and a son of Uisneach (or Uisliu). He is mentioned in the tale known as the Tragic Tale of the Sons of Uisnech, or Exiles of the Sons of Uisnech, usually found within the set of stories in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, part of the Ulster Cycle. In the tale he becomes the lover of Deirdre, a woman of great beauty, who is also desired by the king of Ulster Conchobar mac Nessa, and so the lovers go with Naoise's two brothers into exile in Scotland (Alba). Eventually, Conchobar seeks to get them to return, but a series of unfortunate events (including a geas placed on Fergus mac Róich their protector and escort, as well as Naoise and his brothers' repeated disregard for Deirdre's prophetic warnings) and the treachery of Conchobar brought on by his desire for Deirdre, leads to tragedy. The tale climaxes with battle at the Red Branch house at Emain Macha, with many dead including Naoise, his brothers Ainle and Ardan, and Conchobar's son Fiacha. Ultimately the sons of Uisnech are killed in one blow delivered by Maine Red Hand son of the King of Norway (or by Éogan mac Durthacht depending on source). The whole event leads to considerable strife between Ulster and Connacht, the disinheritance of Conchobar and his descendants to the title King of Ulster, and the destruction of Emain Macha.

Naoise's and Deirdre's story appears in the Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle raid of Cooley), in the story part sometimes entitled "The Tragical Death of the Sons of Usnach". The following summary is based on the translations of Whitley Stokes and O'Flanagan edited in (Hull 1898), Naoise here rendered as Naisi in the text :

When Deirdre was born, Cathbad the druid named her, and prophesied that she would cause much trouble and strife - on hearing this the assembled lords would have had her killed then, but king Conchobar prevented it and decided to have her brought up in seclusion, and that when she was old enough, he would marry her. She grew up to outshine other women of the time in beauty.

One snowy day when she saw her foster father kill a calf, on which a raven fell to drink the animals blood - she said she wanted a husband who had in him the three colors she saw - hair the color of the raven, cheeks red like the calf's blood, and skin the color of snow. She was told that such a man existed in the house of Conchobar - named Naisi (Naoise), son of Usnach, son of Conall Flatnailed, son of Rury the Great. She asked that she might speak with him, in secret. Naisi met with her, and she declared her love for him, and asked to elope, which he agreed to, though he was tardy to carry out, for fear of Conchobar.

Naoise carrying Deirdre, along with his two brothers. Illustration by John D. Batten in Celtic Fairy Tales (1892).

Thus Naisi and his two brothers, Ainle and Ardan, together with and one hundred and fifty warriors, went to Scotland and entered the paid service of the King of Scotland. The Scottish King heard of Deirdre's great beauty and too tried to get her for himself, on which Naisi and his brothers left for an island in the sea, after many battles with the king's men.

Conchobar was at another feast with his people, and asked them if they wanted for anything. They replied they had no want, except the loss of their kinsmen Naisi, Ainle, and Ardan - because of the woman Deirdre. Having heard this Conchobar decided to send an envoy. However Naisi was prohibited from returning to Ireland except with either Cúchulainn, Conall Cernach, or Fergus mac Ross. Conchobar chose Fergus to go fetch for them.

Fergus journeyed to Loch Etive in Alba (Scotland), and found the hunting lodges of the Naisi and his two brothers, but there was no recent sign of them. Fergus then went to the harbor and made a loud call for them, which was heard by Naisi and Deirdre. Naisi said he had heard an Irish voice, and so had Deirdre, but she lied and said she thought it was a Scottish voice. Fergus called again, and the same happened; and then a third time, and Naisi became sure it was Fergus' voice and asked Ardan to go and meet him.

Deirdre confessed that she had recognized the voice, but concealed the truth as she had a vision the previous night, of three birds from Emain Macha bringing honey in their beaks but returning with blood in their beaks - she interpreted this as meaning that the messenger came with a false promise of peace. Nevertheless, they greeted Fergus warmly, and he then told him of his task as envoy, to make them return to Ulster. The exiles spoke of their missing Ireland, but Deirdre still did not wish to go out of worry - Fergus promised he would give them his protection against any in Ireland, and so Naisi agreed to return.

On the way they came to the fort of Borrach (son of Annte). Borrach welcomed them, and offered a feast (as Conchobar had instructed him to do), but placed Fergus under a geasa not to leave the feast until it was finished. Fergus became flustered, telling Borrach that he had promised to bring the three back to Emain Macha on the same day that they returned to Ireland. Fergus decided to stay at the feast and send his own two sons with the returning exiles back to Emain Macha.

The exiles left Borrach's place. Deirdre counseled Naisi to stay at the island of Cuilenn, but Fergus's sons (Illann the Fair, and Buinne the Ruthless Red) spoke against it. Then they went to the White Cairn of Watching on Slaib Fuad, but Deirdre fell behind, and fell asleep. Naisi turned back and found her as she awoke from a dream. She told Naisi of her dream - in it she sees Naisi and Illann headless, but Buinne not with them. Next the party went to Ard na Sailech. Again Deirdre had premonitions, envisioning a 'cloud of blood' over Naisi, Ainle, and Ardan's head. She counselled that they should go to Dún Delgan (Dundalk) and stay until Fergus could join them, or seek Cúchulainn as escort, but the brothers were not worried, and did not follow her advice.

They then went straight to Emain Macha. On reaching it Deirdre foretold a way they could tell whether or not Concobar would do them ill - if they were invited into Cochobar's house they were safe, but if they were invited into the house of the Red Branch without Concobar then evil was intended for them.

At Emain Macha they knocked, and on telling the doorman who it was Concobar said to send them to the Red Branch house. Deirdre suggested they leave, but the men would not, lest they be called timid. They entered the house of the Red Branch, and were served with great food and drink - all the servants drank and ate and became merry, but the exiles would not eat or drink. Naisi then called for Concobar's chessboard (the Cennchaem) to be brought so they could play - at the same time Conchobar inquired of Deirdre, asking if she was still so beautiful. Concobar's envoy (Levarcham) returned and told him who was there, and that Deirdre was changed from when she left.

Conchobar sent messengers to tell him of Deirdre's appearance twice more. Then he spoke to Tréndorn saying "do you know who killed my father (and three brothers)?" - Tréndhorn replied it was Naisi - then Conchobar sent him report on Deirdre's appearance. As he spied through a window he was spotted, and Naisi threw a chess piece at him so well he lost an eye - he returned to Conchobar and told him "The woman whose form and feature are loveliest in the world is there, and Naisi would be king of the world if she were left to him." Conchobar became enraged and ordered an assault on the Red Branch house.

A the house Conchobar and his men, and the Naisi and his exchanged words, then fighting began. Buinne slew many of Conchobar's men, but Conchobar asked his price, and bribed him with land, and he deserted his companions. The Illann came forth and killed many of Conchobar's men, and would not take a bribe like his brother. Conchobar asked for his own son Fiacha, born on the same night as Illann. He gave Fiacha his arms, but after a hard fight, Illann won. Conchobar's shield made a great sound when its wielder was in distress, and Conall son of Amargin heard it, thinking Conchobar was in need, and came - seeing the scene of the battle he took his spear (Culghlas) and killed Illann. Wounded, Illann asked who had done it, and told them he was there to guard Naisi and his brothers - on hearing this Conall was sorry, and killed Fiacha in revenge. Illann called Naisi to the fight, then died.

Ardan defended the Red Branch house on the first night, slaying many; the next night Ainle defended; on the third night Naisi defended, also killing many attackers. The three then formed a shield around Deirdre, and leapt outside the walls of Emain. Concobar told his druid Cathbad to put an enchantment on the escapees, stating that if he did so he would not harm the. Cathad conjured water to prevent them. Concobar then called for someone to kill Naisi but none from Ulster would. However one Maine Red-hand from Norway, whose father and brothers had been killed by Naisi, was willing to do the beheading.

Ardan said he should die first, as the youngest, but Ainle offered himself; Naisi gave his exceptional sword, which was from Manannán mac Lir himself, to Maine, and Maine killed all three with it, in one blow. Deirdre kissed her dead husband and drank his blood, and sang a long lament. She then flung herself into Naisi's grave and died.

Cathbad cursed Emain Macha because of the evil of that day, and said that neither Conchobar nor his descendants would ever possess it again. Fergus came the next day, and saw the disaster, and (together with Cormac conloinggeas and Dubhtach daelultach) gave battle to Conchobar, brought the destruction of Emain Macha, together with Conchobar's women. Fergus then sought aid from Ailill King of Connacht, and Maeve the queen. Much of Ulster was raided or destroyed, with hostilities continuing for several years.

[vegasporschetruther]

Louis at sunglasses hut in la that's what happened lmaoo

WHAT LMAO DHDHHDHXHXHDH

[eltiempoyloeterno]

TRAVELLING: “THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN”, ENTRE EL TIEMPO Y LO ETERNO, ¿MORIR COMO UN ARTISTA O VIVIR COMO UN HOMBRE INSULSO?

TRAVELLING: “THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN”, ENTRE EL TIEMPO Y LO ETERNO, ¿MORIR COMO UN ARTISTA O VIVIR COMO UN HOMBRE INSULSO?

“Nuestro tiempo es tan excitanteque a las personas sólopuede chocarnos el aburrimiento”—Samuel Beckett “La gloria es un venenoque hay que tomaren pequeñas dosis”—Honoré de Balzac Llegamos a las 500 entradas de “El tiempo y lo eterno”, justamente, con un texto discordante dedicado a una película bellísima que se hermana con este blog, y es que trata la preocupación central de este registro de…

[fat-spatular]

Ahhhhhhh now I understand!

What is conchobar?

Oh man. Okay. So right after Briana was in the hospital and “gave birth” there was A TON of speculation about if/how Louis would announce, and most especially what the baby’s name would be. (We found out Briana was in the hospital on January 21, I think? And we didn’t learn Freddie’s actual name until January 27th)

In that gap of time someone here posted a photoshopped article from People magazine saying that Louis had lost a bet with Niall and was naming his son Conchobar. Obviously it was passed around here and we all had a good laugh, but then Twitter got ahold of it and it some people believed it and thought it was real. I think it even started trending, if I’m remembering correctly.

So now some people use it to refer to Louis’ whole… situation.

[amylouioc]

Part Three of my Deirdre & Naoise Illustration Series

Humiliated and lovestruck, King Conchobarr receives word of Deirdre's escape and Naoise's betrayal. He commands his faithful aide Fergus mac Róich to track the couple down and invite them back to Ireland, promising a safe return for both.

This is my May postcard for my Monthly Irish Folklore Postcard Club! If you'd like to join the fun and receive a mini print in the post, you can do so here.

Part One

Part Two

[louisisalarrie]

ohhhh I remember the random babies playing "F" including the one with the pierced ears! that was a time! I think the first year was super big on using dolls and other babies because the real F, that we know now, is actually older than they say he is, so size-wise, he would have looked much bigger than he should have and it would have been obvious. iirc I think he's actually a couple of months older. they're dumb but I think they knew they couldn't pass off a 5 month wold for a 2 month old. once he became a toddler though, those few months aren't as noticeable. but I agree with you that they prob didn't think it would go on this long and felt the need to start photoshopping once he really started to look like brett

100% correct yeah like that kid looks a bit like louis, sure, cool, but they photoshopped him to plant the seed that he was a spitting image of louis real early on to kinda convince people when they decided it wasn’t gonna end then that it was louis’ kid after all. the black and white photo of louis holding him after he was born is wildly photoshopped and it was all such a big deal at the time, you had editors/photographers outside of the fandom weighing in on tumblr because it was so scandalous. then you have TMZ release a certificate of live birth, and then two other media outlets posting a different version, with different bits blocked out and a different hospital address, and louis does nothing about that??? holy hell forget about people not believing it’s my kid - a media outlet obtaining that would be immediate shut down, put the kid away from the public eye, everything. He’s a private guy and people are just blindly believing this!!

The domain names, the instagrams, the articles, the photos, the dolls, the ultrasound legit there are too many things that don’t add up and people blindly ignore so much of it

[finnlongman]

An undoubted folk-tale has been made out of Aided Chonchobair, at least in Donegal. The source, no doubt, is Keating's re-telling, which is closely followed: but there is a sequel in three MSS. When Conchobhar dies, his soul takes up residence in a clump of rushes. St. Patrick, or a priest 1,000 years later, pulls up the rushes by chance and finds the soul lurking there. On hearing its story he offers to put it into a new body so that it can be christened, but Conchobhar refuses when he is told that he would have to suffer death a second time. The saint weeps over him, and the soul, baptized by tears, goes to Heaven.

Alan Bruford, Gaelic Folk-tales and Mediaeval Romances (1966), p. 99

Just came across a super funny folktale about Conchobar.

[stairnaheireann]

The Legend of Cú Chulainn

There are a number of versions of the story of Cú Chulainn’s birth. In the earliest version of Compert C(h)on Culainn (The Conception of Cú Chulainn), his mother Deichtine is the daughter and charioteer of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, and accompanies him as he and the nobles of Ulster hunt a flock of magical birds. Snow falls, and the Ulstermen seek shelter, finding a house where they are…

[riseupriseupandcomealong]

help i’m hanging out with a friend and she pulls out a bag with this pin on it. true haters only in this house

[hood-ex]

Are you normal or are you obsessively reliving all things 1D like me.

[alternativeulster]

thinking of funnier things to call the ulster cycle. the uladhiad

[lornasaurusrex]

Jesus is you only knew how right and spot on you were about the Holivia breakup after the dwd and mp promo. Always so predictable. Miss you Lorna ❤️

I know, right? Fuckin unoriginal losers.

Thank you darling, I miss and love (most of) you dearly. 💕

Also very happy to see Elounope out the fucking window too. Another one bites the dust. Obviously I assume the cycle will restart with new people with the Marvel bullshit but if not then there’s only one more giant problem to go, and maybe they can see my money again one day when that’s the case. There are better ways to maintain a closet if that’s what they have to or want to do.

[finnlongman]

All this detailed research into a phopa and why Láeg never addresses Cú Chulainn this way and I've boiled it down to two possibilities:

There are strict criteria for when the term is appropriate, such as relative age of speaker and subject, which aren't being met; further study will reveal exactly what they are.

Láeg doesn't address Cú Chulainn this way because Láeg does not respect Cú Chulainn.

[amylouioc]

Sneak peek of my May Folklore Postcard! Part 3 of the tale of Deirdre and Naoise.

If you'd like to view the full post as well as join the monthly postcard club, you can do so here!

Part One

Part Two