#cu chulainn/fer diad

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

sometimes i think i'm okay about láeg/lóeg literally meaning "calf" but figuratively being a term of endearment meaning "beloved" or "favourite" and i'm like. that's fine. totally okay for him to be called that. i'm normal about it.

and then i consider that in cú chulainn's lament for fer diad when he directly address fer diad as "beloved", that is the word he uses. a lóeg.

and on the same page: a lóeg, a phopa láeg, help me cut the gae bolga out of him, take this message for me, be there with me, be the only person i trust in this moment when i am falling apart,

and his name is fucking beloved

and fer diad is beloved and fer diad is fucking dead and láeg is fucking culpable because he helped and i don't even know where i'm going with this it's just something about being loved as an act of violence i think. beloved as a weapon. a bloody favourite and a mirror and a double and

[finnlongman]

Dá scaraind gan troit is tú, gidar comaltai, a cháemChú, bud olc mo briathar is mo blad ic Ailill is ac Meidb Chrúachan Should I part from you without a fight, O gentle Hound, though we are fosterbrothers, my word and my name would be held in ill esteem by Ailill and Medb of Crúachu.

(TBC LL, ll. 3207-3210)

A cháemChú.

Hard to gauge for sure whether it was intended as a compound in the manuscript, since the Book of Leinster isn't big on word-breaks, but if it were a regular adjective, it would come after the noun, so I guess whacking it on the front like that -- while probably for metrical/rhyme reasons -- does have that effect.

Cool, well, I'm fine about that.

[incorrect-ulster-cycle]

Cú Chulainn: I had seven dads and two moms and I turned out fine

Fer Diad: seven what now?

[riseupriseupandcomealong]

i love to be normal about the táin bó cúailnge

[sissiarte]

Cú Chulainn and the three people who want to be buried with him :) I'm very happy that I'm finally settling their designs !!!!!!

[revisionlightning]

Art of Cú Chulainn and Ferdiad. I couldn't decide on a bg so have both.

[riastrad]

Medb: Could you do me a favor and kill your boyfriend?

Fer Diad: No.

Medb: please

Fer Diad: No.

Medb: I’ll let you marry my daughter.

Fer Diad: what exactly about the whole boyfriend thing makes you think I’m into women

Medb:

Medb: Cú Chulainn called you a pussy ass bitch and said he didn’t think you had the balls to fight him.

Fer Diad: I am going to end him

[isathetiefling]

"They were brothers of one blanket" and "Loeg needs to help him prepare his special weapon" are two quotes that only make sense in Celtic lit class

[an-ruraiocht]

oh yeah i wasn't really suggesting anyone should like. write fanfic of coimheasgar na gcuradh. although that would be funny. i just like to take details from different texts and smush them together to make the worst of all worlds :) :)

shipping cú chulainn/fer diad but specifically from the eighteenth century text that has fer diad being twenty years older than cú chulainn, because i want to watch the world burn (think it's funny when discourse mongers get mad about things that are absolutely not the main issue here)

[aliaoftheknives]

ff loves to name a bunch of its weapons after weapons of mythological legend which every game since the beginning of time has done this but it's often very funny because it'll be like ah the storied spear Gae Bolg, whose name means Spear of Mortal Pain, with which the great Cu Chulainn struck down his brother Fer Diad. It's from the base game released in 2013 and is a level 50 weapon now only acquired for fashion purposes

[finnlongman]

That feeling when you're absolutely certain you've read an article on a topic but you can't find it, or anything quoting it, or any reference to it, and you're beginning to think you imagined it and it never existed in the first place.

[incorrect-ulster-cycle]

Cú Chulainn: You want what I have.

Fer Diad: A stupid name and a death wish?

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

LOOK AT THIS

MY CHILDREN

DOING BALLET

incredible

😍

modern AU fanart of cú chulainn and ferdiad dancing! - with no effort to show realistic anatomy and v little dancing knowledge! based on a v good fanfic by @trans-cuchulainn

[riseupriseupandcomealong]

definitely one of the more cursed táin memes i’ve made

[sissiarte]

THEY ARE HERE!!! I'm very excited to finally share the full designs hope you guys like them <3

These are only like a base, they'll wear more layers on top and have more weapons and armor some times (and like, wear other clothes) but I wanted to have at least one reference for myself that I can use and later on work on top of and give them more outfits (playing dolls with them basically)

I had a lot of thought behind the designs so if you're interested, there's an infodump below the cut. It's very long and messy so read at your own risk

I tried to have some sort of historical accuracy (even if it's a fictional story and the exact time period when it happens is ??) mainly bc I'm tired of how celts are portrayed in media (they wore tacky colors please stop with the grey brown leathers fur), and a bit bc I'm a nerd and I can't do anything if I don't do some research before.

On the other hand I wanted to make good character designs that told things about the characters and stuff, so I had to juggle a bit both things. Plus there's not much variation in clothing styles, so I had to do what I could.

I wanted to use colors, jewelery and styles to group or distinguish the characters. So Láeg and Emer wear a very similar color palette, Cú Chulainn has some blue in his mainly red outfit (and also the under tunic thing resembles Emer's) and Ferdia has some red in his mainly blue one.

Láeg and Cú Chulainn wear the same kind of thing, but I gave Cú Chulainn more layers in reference to the 34683 shirts thing. I went no pants wider belt for Ferdia bc honestly I didn't know how else to make a clear distinction as "this one character is from a different place", there's only so much you can do with the few styles there are.

Jewelery choices! This was a lot bc I really like torcs and I wanted to use them again to give Ulster characters and Connacht characters different kinds of torcs. My first instinct was to give Connacht those very heavy ones that have rings at the ends, but then I did some research and those were only found in england so. Then I went to look what kind of torcs were found in each place and I found that they were the same!!! Obviously!!! Bc they are next to eachother!!!

So I took creative choices and as I found some bracelets in Ulster that looked like torcs I went okay those done (plus they are way easier to draw) And I gave Ferdia the spirally one and Cú Chulainn the "bracelet" one. Plus gave a matching bracelet to Láeg. Emer wears a lunula bc her father is described as wearing one in The Hound of Ulster and I liked it.

(some pics for reference: from left to right the torc Ferdia wears, the bracelet Láeg wears and from were I based Cú Chulainn's torc, and the lunula Emer wears)

Also important, the headpiece Láeg wears. I used to draw Cú Chulainn with a similar one just because I liked it, but then after reading I liked that Láeg is the only one wearing it. At first I was going to give Emer a similar one but in the end decided against it to make it exclusive to Láeg and to not give her more jewelery than to Ferdia. I wanted Ferdia to wear a lot and be like, more stylish I guess bc I feel he cares about that stuff (I mean part of the bribe to fight Cú Chulainn was a brooch so)

And I think that's it! Sorry it was a lot hfasjkd but I wanted to share it. If there's something I have missed and you're curious to know about feel free to ask! I might have a long ass answer like this or it might be just because XD And if you have comments or opinions they are also welcome! I'm no expert or anything (just a big nerd) so I apreciate any insight.

And if you've gotten this far thank you for reading my yapping <3

[revisionlightning]

Cú Chulainn and Ferdiad art. The first one from two years ago, the second one from a couple nights ago. I will continue the work on the new one. Ferdiad is on the right in each pic.