#i just like it when laeg's mean to him

[incorrect-ulster-cycle]

Cú Chulainn: I was arrested for being too handsome.

Láeg: Yeah, the charges were dropped due to no supporting evidence.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

okay I'm curious. poll for the láeg enjoyers. in third person in case it spreads and people don't read blog URLs lol.

when I say "care about" laeg i mean "become invested in laeg as a character" rather than "become aware of his existence" so like. even if you'd been reading UC texts for years and knew who he was, if you didn't care about him then that doesn't count; what changed your mind and made you start to pay attention to him?

if you don't care about láeg then don't answer the poll. no "show answers" option. please don't choose secret eighth thing unless there's an actual secret eighth thing. we are a small minority and would be overwhelmed by non-laeg enjoyers so you'd skew the results too much.

this is not me trying to take all the credit or assuming i'm the reason btw i'm just extremely aware that when i first got interested in láeg there was practically no mention of him on this site and now i have láegfriends, so they feel connected, but perhaps there was some other cause at the same time that coincidentally joined up timing-wise! or perhaps i only influenced like two people and then they influenced everyone else!

(btw for the purposes of this poll "modern" v much includes 19th century works not just recent publications)

i do love how the tumblr nerds care about láeg. i like to think i've played a significant part in making this happen and it's wild to think there are probably more people alive right now who a) know who láeg is and b) care about him than there have been for at least a few centuries, because he has NOT had this level of attention in the past. seriously. i can't stress enough how fleeting most references to láeg are in scholarship from the past 150 years. he does get a look-in in some 19th and 20th century novels but there's no sign that his characterisation there had a massive impact or sparked a lot of attention; he's not in the super late ulster cycle tales so then you're having to go back to the early 18th century and he's barely in coimheasgar na gcuradh; that means toruigheacht gruaidhe griansholus (1679) is the last time anyone really focused on him and given that that only survives in one manuscript i don't think it had a massive impact/audience, etc; so then you're probably going all the way back to the 15th-16th centuries, and remember this is all manuscripts so it's not mass print media, though there's gonna be some oral trads too... it's been a while, is what i'm saying, and the scale of the internet means higher numbers of people can be reached by the same things

tumblr really went "anyway this is our guy now" (of course we did. he's the loyal sarcastic best friend with homoerotic tensions. we were never not going to) and plucked him from obscurity and now people are drawing him!! there has been virtually no art of láeg before!! especially not art outside of illustrating a specific story for the purposes of a retelling!! (he gets drawn sometimes in graphic novels and there are like, two depictions of him and cú chulainn in their chariot, but that's p much it) and people make jokes about him! and know how to spell his name! etc

[finnlongman]

Is there any mention of Emer having herself buried alongside Cú Chulainn in Aideid Con Culainn? I know she does in Oedheadh Con Culainn, but I don't recall there being a mention in the version/translation of Aideid I found. Which feels strange, cause most retellings I've found (Hound of Ulster, Cuchulainn of Muirthemne) have Emer bury herself alongside Cú, but also feature Laeg's death, which is one of the bigger differences in Oedheadh, from what I've heard. Is there a reason for this? Thank you for the time in advance.

No, she doesn't, if by Aided Con Culainn you mean the medieval recension of the story. We get ghost Cú Chulainn instead. But people frequently get them confused, and a lot of Victorian retellings smooshed them together somewhat indiscriminately, or even seemed completely unaware of the substantial time gap between the two versions. I suspect Keating may be responsible for this, but I've yet to double check, and I'm hesitant to accuse him when I haven't confirmed it.

I actually encountered this confusion while writing the first of my Standish O'Grady blog posts -- the issue of Láeg's death or survival confused him considerably (he seems to have been more or less the only person to have noticed it in the last couple of centuries, lol) and the fact that he couldn't figure out how to reconcile those elements tells me he was working from an account that conflated the medieval and early modern traditions without distinguishing between them. It makes sense that Lady Gregory would be doing something similar (she definitely pulls in some early modern elements), and if you mean Rosemary Sutcliff's The Hound of Ulster, there are several details in there which give away the fact that she's drawing on Lady Gregory as a major source, so that would be why they agree with each other.

It's not just a Victorian phenomenon though -- I recently read an article from 2013 that referred to several details about Emer's mourning as though they were medieval, while citing Oidheadh Con Culainn, apparently unaware that it's fifteenth century. In doing so, they hugely undermined their own argument about its influence on later iterations of the Deirdre story (authors can't have been trying to make Deirdre more like Emer if their stories predated the story where Emer actually does the thing in question!) but it shows that the confusion is widespread.

The titles of the texts don't help. Oidheadh Con Culainn is called Aided Con Culainn by Van Hamel in his edition, while the medieval text is usually called Brislech Mór Maige Muirthemne, also the title of one section of the early modern text and of a battle that takes place in Táin Bó Cúailnge, leading to no end of confusion. Thurneysen had the right of it when he labelled them Version A and Version B, to be honest. Much easier to keep track.

I'm also not sure Emer actually does get buried with Cú Chulainn -- she certainly seems to express a desire to be, but it's unclear whether she's talking about her immediate plans or just making sure there's enough space in the grave for when the day comes. But the lack of a full translation makes it hard to be sure about the details. I think all the texts I know that have "sharing a grave" as a motif are early modern; I'm not aware of any medieval examples, though happy to be corrected on that. Fer Diad and Láeg both express a similar desire but only in 15th century texts or later (in neither case does it actually happen); I think there's also a shared grave motif in some of the late Deirdre stories, but not in the medieval one.

[teatitty]

It was said that he was perfect in every way, but for three faults: that he was too young, too daring, and too beautiful.

You ever just think about how this is, canonically, the way Cu Chulainn is described by other men as well as women? The men wanted, desperately, for Cu to marry but Cu turned down all the women offered to him, no matter her beauty or dowry, because he refused to marry someone who wasn’t his equal (get you a mans like this damn)

Cu heard of Emer and, with Laeg to accompany him, went out to meet her. He found her in a field instructing women in needlework and crafting and when he approached her, he spoke in code words and phrases; complicated riddles and puns that made no sense to outside listeners. Laeg looked at him aghast, for he did not think this was the appropriate way to speak to such a beautiful woman, but Emer smiled and matched him word for word, speaking the same nonsense, incomprehensible to all others

They went that way for some time, until Cu looked down her shirt and, cheekily, said “I see a fine country there with a sweet resting place” to which Emer replied “no man shall rest there unless he can leap over three walls, kill three groups of nine men with one blow, leaving one man in each group alive, and slay one hundred men at each of the fords between here and Emain Macha.” 

So if you thought Emer was passive in this wooing you’re wrong she also had high standards she wanted to be met before they wed. Laeg thought Cu had made a mess of it but Cu told him that Emer was not only intelligent and quick enough to keep up with his riddles but also playful enough to go along with the game. He had wooed her and she had accepted, and the only obstacles now were the above conditions (easy enough for Cu to complete) and her own over-protective father 

Of course we all know what happens here from Cu’s side but Emer’s? Her father, Forgall, tried to get her to marry another man, Lugaid, and even had the full wedding feast laid out for them. But when Emer emerged and approached Lugaid, she took his face between her hands and said, “I love Cuchulainn, and Cuchulainn loves me. He will come back for me, and if you take me against my will, it will mean you have no honour, and he will take his revenge on you for it.”

Lugaid, respectfully, left after this despite Forgall’s protests, and Emer waited for Cu’s return.

When Forgall died, Emer grieved him, yes, but did not blame Cu for it as Cu had not killed her father; his death had been an accident and his own fault in the end. They were eachother’s equal in wit and wisdom and proved to be well-suited.

So there you have it! A nice brief little look into Emer’s personality and character

[fuwafuwamedb]

A Stolen Wife (Gilgamesh, Hakuno, Ishtar, Artoria)

“What a shame the great king of Uruk can’t even think about having someone close to him,” Ishtar teased, leaning near Artoria. “He was such a poor king when it came to women that I doubt any woman that he would become interested in would look back at him.”

Gilgamesh held his goblet, sensing his master’s discomfort nearby.

Her silence spoke more than any words she could dare to speak. After all, she was trying to bond with both Artoria and with Ishtar. Ever since she had summoned them both, he’d been tossed into the back of the Chaldean listings and been left to watch. He watched as Ishtar teased and laughed with Artoria, learning of his interest in the Saber. She’d rubbed against the woman, earning an affection that had simply sent Gilgamesh’s stomach into an unpleasant churn.

After all, who wanted the leftovers from Ishtar?

Still, the woman persisted. Her coos, her purrs; she combined them all to create something that he could only compare to a contraceptive. The very sight was enough to make him consider chastity, with Ishtar leaning in to murmur into Artoria’s ear.

The woman was laughing at the goddess, rolling her eyes a little. There was little consideration for what it meant for Ishtar to be a goddess, little interest in learning what kind heinous crimes against humanity the woman had committed.

No, she laughed away.

“You know,” Ishtar murmured as he got up, “Gudako tends to keep couples… I have little doubt she’ll keep you much longer.”

He’d been thinking about that.

Still, he lifted his nose at the woman, eyeing her like the useless waste that she was.

“Strange how you spend your time, Saber. I see destroying the very grail you hoped to use with your master and squandering the people that you claimed to be king over are not your only faults.”

Those green eyes were so luminous.

There was something truly beautiful about them, but then… They also reminded him of the scales of that foul beast that had stolen the herb of immortality from him. Lithe and beautiful, yet so intrinsically useless; their lives were nothing more than markers. They were signs of how not to proceed.

The goblet was tossed back into his gates as he left the room.

He ignored Gudako’s calling for him, opting for the silence and the peace of his room.

What he didn’t want right now was pity. He also knew that Gudako had been given the privilege of summoning couples in her summoning room. Dumuzi was here in a form, giving Ishtar, reluctantly, her spouse. Merlin was here, often chasing after his king. Ozymandias was almost never appearing anymore. He had Nefertari at his side. Cu Chulainn had some rider by the name of Laeg here.

There was another Cu Chulainn, but he seemed rather attached to Medb of Connacht.

Other servants had faced burnings. Their numbers had continued to rise, leaving the master with a great number of mana prisms and rare prisms. He and Gudako had worked together for a time, but…

Well, he was not fond of the flowery idolization of Saber’s method of ruling. That blind and senseless desire to put all other’s needs over one’s own was something that would lead them all into trouble. It was only natural that he would point this out.

The problem lay now in what Ishtar had pointed out: most servants had someone to temper them.

Gudako had not given him a great amount of experience embers. She had been restricting his time battling and had been leaving him only with Merlin. Now with Ishtar, she had another Archer available.

He had… few options.

He could, theoretically, appeal to Gudako. His strengths were far greater than Ishtar’s and his skills made him a force to be reckoned with. If she would take him up on improving them a bit further, they’d be something she’d rely on relentlessly.

Appealing to her would show humbleness. It would show his desire to remain a part of this team and to further their ventures into rescuing humanity from its own demise. There would be compromises to make. He would be forced to swallow more attention and more uselessness from those around him if he decided to go with this train of thought.

Ultimately, humiliation lay in that direction.

He could rebel when the time came for being burned. He could strike back at the fools that would come his way, seeing how long he could outlast them and threaten his master into obedience. There was a chance that she could be quelled or seduced…

Seducing his master, though?

Gudako was quaint, but she was nothing radiant. She had that cute charm that was overshadowed by the cutthroat and cold blooded ability to burn servants while looking them straight in the eyes. The number of times she had burned that Mephistopheles…

Gilgamesh shivered.

Some things were not humane, that being one of them.

Along with that, even if he were to fight, the woman had been raising Artoria with a vengeance. Soon the saber would be able to overpower him easily, leaving him in an uncomfortable state. The opportunity to burn him being provided on top of that would be more than Saber would be able to resist.

He’d wake up in the burn chamber.

He couldn’t appeal to the woman. He couldn’t fight. Gilgamesh glanced around his chamber, thinking carefully.

…There was… no one of import to quell him.

His friend was arguably a contender, but when he was in the mood for something, the being had been more of an enabler. Rather than calming him, the being would end up throwing logs on the fire, stoking it to a height that no one, not even Gudako at her worst, would be able to temper down.

There’d been a good amount of thought on this before. His summons meant that the other could be summoned, of that, he was sure.

This meant he didn’t have anyone though. There was no one to equal him or to calm his voice, as Gudako had with all her other servants. To allow such things would mean too much. He would not lessen himself or contain himself for the benefit of others.

The fighting was good though.

He enjoyed the fights, the spoils; anything and everything about being able to have a human body at times.

Perhaps…

Perhaps the best plan was to simply create his own.

There was no problem with doing such a thing, was there? The universe was full of realities. He could find something in his gates, part the tides of time, pluck someone of merit out, and claim them as something valuable to him. A wife or spouse or something.

Filtering through the Gates for his magecraft tablets took time, namely because he had hidden these tablets well since they were stolen from the gods of his time. Reading through them, another challenge as the gods had seen fit to blend his people’s tongue with that of the other kingdoms in a blasphemy crime against humanity, took time. He held up one about chaining a person to another, finding the text of interest.

A curse to create heartache and prolonged health issues due to the separation from another.

He had a feeling that had been used on him for his friend.

Clever, but he would use it for his created spouse. It would be something of a leash, keeping them near so that he could keep from further issues.

Another one simply showed what had to be prototype command spells.

Another contender in ways to housetrain his summons.

“Ah!” Gilgamesh grinned, finding what he was looking for.

The rift was the easy part.

His hands parted the air and the world like the fabrics of a curtain, allowing him to peer through time. He could see a man with a goatee, demanding him to use his Ea.

Loud.

Gilgamesh ferreted a bit of power to his self in that time, closing the rift back up and trying again.

An arrow was shot through his forehead.

Gilgamesh stared at himself being killed, his stomach churning.

Unsuitable.

He closed the rift and parted it again.

A young girl in what seemed to be a flowing white gown glanced his way, frowning deeply from where she stood. Her eyes drifted to where his body of that time and space was, but he shook his head and closed the rift once more.

Too young.

If he wanted a child, he would have prostrated himself to Ishtar or Saber for their attentions. While the latter would be unlikely, he had little doubt that the former would turn him away.

The thought was repugnant.

“I WON’T GIVE UP MY CONTRACT WITH GILGAMESH!”

What was this?

Gilgamesh looked in, finding the woman standing before his unconscious body upon a wall. Her arms were outstretched, blocking the woman nearby. Her brown hair reminded him of his people. The pale skin, flawless and smooth, reminded him of his friend.

It was the expression on her face though- that did him in.

He opened the gates just inside the rift, causing the woman who’d been defending him to fall. With that done, he sealed the rift once again, fixing his room a bit before he let the woman fall forth from his gates.

Now came the interesting part.

First things first, those curses. He used them both, finding the command spells forming in the form of extra red ink upon his chest. The other curse left no mark, just a strange feeling that nagged at the edge of his senses.

The woman’s attire was thrown, burning soon enough in the fireplace in his room. He swathed her properly in his people’s garments…

No, this didn’t work.

It did, but it didn’t work.

He looked at her unadorned body, watching the woman lay unconscious for a bit.

Cheetah print.

As soon as his mind thought of how she slept like a kitten, the image of cheetah print came to mind. In fact, snakeskin would look suitable too. Perhaps a few furs. He began to look through his gates once again, opting for something from that modern time.

He’d snatched a few things in his summons. While the memories of them came and left, the items were never forgotten.

He liked the white shirt and snakeskin. Adorning her with some gold did wonders.

Brown hair was rather dull, but…

The brown hair that the woman had gleamed quite nicely against his bedsheets. The faint glimmer of gold and garnet in that hair color drew his eyes in, intriguing him.

Tonight, since he was feeling amused, he would permit her to rest in his bed. She had entertained him. She was bound to him. Tomorrow he could look into what that would mean a bit further.

“Gil…”

The woman turned, pressing a hand to his chest.

Ah, one last thing.

The command spells on her hand- he forced them from her, releasing whatever servant she had been bound to. Without them, she was nothing more than a mere mage.

Gudako would not take the risk of removing him from Chaldea now.

After all, who would care for his poor wife?

[drsilverfish]

The Cast of Heroes in 15x11 The Gamblers

So, following straight on from 15x10 The Hero’s Journey, we encounter the Goddess Fortuna in Alaska, who compares Sam and Dean to three mythological heroes.

Heracles/ Hercules and Iolaus (one of his male lovers) fighting the Hydra (one of the twelve labours of Hercules).

Malibu 83.AE.346, Caeretan hydria, c. 525 B.C. Main panel: Hercules slaying the Lernean hydra

Gilgamesh and Enkidu fighting the “Bull of Heaven

The Gilgamesh Cylinder Seal - Assyrian 7thC BC

Cú Chulainn carrying Ferdiad’s body (sculpture in Co Louth. Ireland) 

I’m even later to the party than usual this evening because it’s a particularly hectic work period. 

Looking forward to seeing all your takes on The Gamblers!

Firstly, I am ecstatic, as I’m sure many of you are - THANKYOU Meredith Glynn and Davy Perez - they friggin’ mentioned GILGAMESH. 

We’ve been talking about The Epic of Gilgamesh as the closest model in world literature for the epic-heroic love story between Dean and Cas for years. 

Gilgamesh, Hercules,  Cú Chulainn - those are the heroes Fortuna mentions. 

Three heroes from three different mythologies. What is their significance?

Cú Chulainn (Irish mythology) was a handsome warrior, the lover of many women, but with a true love, the lady Emer. He was the son of the God Lugh, God of the harvest. Tragically he killed his own son, Connla, not knowing who he was. 

He may also have been bisexual. His relationship with Ferdiad, his best friend and foster-brother, is described by Cat Mount in a scholarly article, “The Three Loves of Cúchulainn: The Impact of Warrior Relationships in The Táin” (2012) as follows:

“Cúchulainn’s relationships with Fergus, Laeg, and Ferdia demand attention. Each is different not only because each man is different, but because they depict separate types of relationships. The relationship with Fergus is based in the familial, while the relationship with Laeg is one of friendship. The relationship with Ferdia falls somewhere between the other two and, yet, is neither. Romantic is a term that can be used to describe this friendship.”  

http://loki.stockton.edu/~kinsellt/ulsterrising/ulsterrising.pdf 

Tragically,  Cú Chulainn kills Ferdiad in battle. 

Heracles/ Hercules (Greek/ Roman mythology) was also the son of a God, Zeus. In Greek mythology he was also bisexual, taking many male and female lovers. His most well-known male lovers were Iolaus and Hylas.

https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/art/2013/08/14/golden-age-denial-hercules-bisexual-demigod?pg=8 

Hercules also undewent great suffering. His famous twelve labours were penance for having killed his sons whilst in a state of madness induced by Zeus’ wife Hera (jealous as usual of Zeus’ eternal philanderings).  

Gilgamesh, from the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, was, like Cú Chulainn and Hercules, part divine and part human. Enkidu was a “wild man” fashioned by the Gods to be his companion. Gilgamesh’s mother, Ninsun, interpreted her son’s dream which foretold the coming of Enkidu to him thus:

“This star of heaven which descended like a meteor from the sky; which you tried to lift,- but found too heavy, when you tried to move it it would not budge, and so you brought it to my feet; I made it for you, a goad and spur, and you were drawn as though to a woman. This is the strong comrade, the one who brings help to his friend in his need. He is the strongest of wild creatures, the stuff of Anu; born in the grass-lands and the wild hills reared him; when you see him you will be glad; you will love him as a woman and he will never forsake you. This is the meaning of the dream.”

http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.htm

Why Reference These Particular Heroes?

Well, yay for bisexual heroes - the queer subtext of S15 continues apace. 

Also, there are three of them, so we could, perhaps, map them to Sam, Dean and Cas.

But, I think there’s more than that. 

These heroes are part divine and part human. That fits with the alchemical themes of S14 and 15, where alchemy is a symbolic map of the soul’s journey to God, but also represents the recognition of the spark of divinity in man. This fits with the cosmic and earthly planes mirroring one another, which has been a feature of Supernatural (as above, so below) since Chuck tried to make Sam and Dean vehicles for a cosmic show-down between Michael and Lucifer, and, more rescently, the way Chuck and Amara’s break-up mirrored Dean and Cas’ break-up, and Sam’s direct human-divine connection to Chuck via the God-wound.

Chuck, so I think the ending goes, needs to recognise the “divine spark” in his creations (free will) instead of treating them as characters in his story and as “toys” (as Dean said in 15x09 The Trap). In other words, God needs to recognise the “divinity” in our heroes (just like Cú Chulainn and Hercules and Gilgamesh are part divine).   

And that’s the other element that’s interesting - because heroes lead epic but tragic lives in mythology. All these heroes killed people they loved - sons or comrades-in-arms/ lovers. 

That’s the ending Chuck wants for Sam and Dean - one brother kills the other. 

So, in as much as Chuck needs to recognise the “divine spark” in his creations, Sam and Dean need to recognise that they don’t have to be heroic tragic archetypes, they can instead, embrace the gloriousness of their humanity. 

Heroes get tragic endings, humans sometimes get happy ones. 

So there’s an as above, so below symmetry happening through the invocation of these three mythic heroes - God must come to recognise the divinity in his creations, and our heroes must come to recognise they don’t have to be larger-than-life (part divine) heroes forever, but can just, at the end, win their freedom to be free humans.  

I’ll say more about hero paralllels and Jack in another post. Suffice it to say that I don’t think Jack killing Chuck will turn out to the the “correct” doorway to cosmic and earthly freedom.     

[twosided-twisted-fate]

Laeg and Cu

If they had a kid meme

send me a pair name and I’ll tell you what I think it would be like if they had a child.

Name: 

Aoife the name in Irish literally means beautiful and joyful sounds about right to me

Gender: 

they could raise either but for this ask i will make them a boy

General Appearance:

well fit pretty short all things considered red eyes and hair wicked canine teeth you can blame Cu for that one 

Personality:

spunky lil shit with Cu as his dad that’s bound to happen he jumps right into battle cocky as can be though sense he was trained by his dad that’s also understandable. 

he’s very impulsive but he can also be well spoken if the situation *cough cough* when he sees someone he likes. aspires tobe as cool as his parents minus the hole dying tragically thing “my death is gonna be as epic as fuck!” 

Special Talents: 

if need be he can use the gae bolg but is also quite a capable Archer as well as hand to hand combat and using Runes. he didn’t want to learn just one style of fighting he wanted to branch out and maybe just show off to the fact that he could.

Who they like better:

Cu because he lets him get away with stuff but the end result is that Cu and him get scolded by Laeg for doing dumb shit without asking first.

Who they take after more:

Cu if that wasn’t already obvious

Personal Head canon:

he’d be a charmer by the time he hit 18 guys girls or whatever else he’d have eyes for he’d do his best to make them happy and win them over.

Face Claim:

[margridarnauds]

Cú and Fer Diad and your best angst headcanons

Hm, so, I’m obviously going to have to rec my friend, Néde AKA @trans-cuchulainn, if you haven’t checked them out already.  Also, A LOT of my understanding of the two of them comes from chatting with other friend, @finnlongman and specifically listening to them talk about their novel, To Run With The Hound. 

Also, as a word of warning, while I LOVE talking about any single part of Irish Mythology, I am first and foremost a Mythological Cycle Bitch™, which means that my knowledge here isn’t going to be NEARLY as in-depth as, say, me crying over Bres mac Elathan. There might be things that don’t fit with the text as contained in the recension contained in RIA MS D xxx 42069, simply because I don’t have that in-depth background with it. 

That being said...

I kind of like the idea of CC...kind of crashing when Fer Diad dies? We know that when Connla died, you have the iconic scene where CC fights the waves. It’s like...there’s so much AGGRESSION, so much pent up energy, where he has to fight SOMETHING to get that all out. And I love that image. 

But I feel like that for Fer Diad’s death, once Medb is out (he’s not going to crash when the tribe needs him, because he’s ALWAYS going to be The Guard Dog, even if he was on the verge of collapse and being held together by. Like. A Shoestring. It’s not how he runs,) he just....kind of has that deflation that you get when an adrenaline rush runs out. When suddenly all that energy that’s kept you around is gone and you just need to collapse and everything suddenly hits you at once. Just “Oh my God, what now?” 

Because...he’s known Fer Diad for a LONG TIME. And even though they had that STRONG connection to their respective tribes and probably didn’t really see each other after their training with Scathach ended...well, you get used to the IDEA of someone being around. And, like, I can see them having that comforting thought of “hey, we’re a long way apart, but at least we’re sleeping beneath the same sky.” And suddenly that’s been RIPPED away.

The worst thing about Fer Diad’s death, for Cú Chulainn, is the lack of closure. It would have been bad if someone else had done it, but Cú Chulainn could KILL someone else and take brutal revenge. (Unless, idk, Conchobar did it, in which case Cú Chulainn wouldn’t do anything because...that’s his uncle and king and he would probably find some way of self-justifying it so that he could remain loyal to Ulster and Conchobar in particular.) But with Fer Diad’s death, he doesn’t get that. He justifies and justifies and justifies, because Cú Chulainn is honestly a MASTER of it, but I don’t think he ever really comes to PEACE with it. 

There are two people alive who really know how to deal with the warp spasm: Laeg and Fer Diad. Emer’s never had to see it in action, because the version of Cú Chulainn she gets is VERY different than the other two, even though she’s definitely not blind to what he’s capable of. Like, she knows she’s married to a killing machine. She’s PROUD to be married to a killing machine. 

In a Cursed Thing I’m working on now but don’t want to say TOO much on lest I jinx my own progress, Laeg is the one who has to clean Fer Diad’s blood off of him. Because there’s no one else really around and CC CAN’T. 

[caemthe-a]

8. Do you have a fate/oc? Describe them! 1. Favourite servant? OTHER THAN CU

1. BUT I LOVE CÚ CHULAINN SO MUCH!! ( ALL OF THEM, ALL THE CÚ, INCLUDING MINI CU! ). I really love Fate’s Mordred! Mordred is my son and the main reason why I pushed myself to watch every episode of F/Apocrypha dfghjk. 

8. DOES FERDIAD AND EMER COUNT?!?!?!! ( because otherwise, I’ve none yoy ) They really caught my interest once I started getting into the Ulster’s cycle and I don’t know when will I stop thinking about them, how much Cú love these two and just how dramatic and stupid were these assholes, which show they were the perfect match for my disaster son.

Emer aka the perfect balance for Cú and loyal wife that was neither a perfect balance nor loyal. In general, Emer is painted as this perfect housewife that has a soft voice and that all but the other side of Emer is like: Talks in riddles to this wild ( and cute ) guy that can’t flirt for shit for 10 min and goes ‘that’s gonna be my husband :v3’, gives him these tasks that kind of sound like she had foreseen that her old man would oppose to their marriage so old man and his army needed to go down ( + kill a bunch of people that were between their fords. me: why? emer: because. ), scare the fuck out of some big shot older king with just a few words, kidnap her half-sister and steal her old man’s gold, call out the noblemen of Ulster on their bullshit, gather about 50 women with knives to kill her husband and lover. Like wow! This girl was just wild and a rebel no matter how much her dad tried to make her follow his will. Also, I’ll forever laugh at the tale where she just drops everything to elope with some prince without saying a word to anyone and Laeg and Cú think that she’s been kidnapped so Cú goes to recover his wife and kill the ‘kidnapper’. And then this girl has the audacity to make a scandal when Cú does the same with Fand. She’s just the best and terrible and I love how she didn’t stick to the more passive role of a wife of a hero. Emer does whatever the fuck she wants and I’m here to enable her terrible decisions. That’s why I chose to write her around the time she eloped with Cú on his chariot all Mad Max style because that’s her at her wildest and finally getting to live her life and make her own terrible choices. She’s a very active girl, very curious about her surroundings, unapologetic and willing to do everything to get what she wants.

And Ferdiad aka both my disaster’s son first boyfriend and that one ex. Censored by fate, christian translations and the ‘alright, they kissed and called each other heart-companions and slept in the same bed but it was probably all symbolical to show that they were good friends :////’, I needed to make him justice but also punch him because, when I’m not crying about his tragic death, I’m ready to throw hands because dude! this guy was an asshole! ( also, the person with whom Cú had the closest bond and they were really cute together, which makes me go uwu ), a bastard! I’m still shocked that he was the only person that made Cú Chulainn cry ( and multiple times ) and still had the audacity to taunt him and say that Cú had been his b in front of his best friend. This guy was the perfect example of an unmovable object because no matter how much Cú cried and begged him to not fight, Ferdiad was just determined. And then’s when he loses, he’s badass and petty enough to go ‘tis but a scratch’ and tell Cú it’s his fault and then he just freaking dies. Iconic. No fanfiction has as much drama as the one story between these two problematic boyfriends from over 2,000 years ago and I think it’s great. But, unlike Emer who is just living her life, when I write Ferdiad, he’s very aware and sorry for all his bullshit because he really fucked up and he won’t deny it. There are degrees of being an asshole but Ferdiad really went overboard with it for his stupid pride as a warrior and lost both his love and life for it and there’s just no way he can fix his broken relationship with Cú. I mean, he does try and he’s really sorry for it but I’m still! No Ferdiad! You fucked up bad! Accept the facts! Another thing that I like to point out when writing Ferdiad is that he’s really strong. Like very strong, it’s a shame it goes unnoticed since it’s Cú’s story and it’s not mentioned often but Ferdiad had gotten himself quite the amount of feats and titles during his life. Even before Cú arrived at the Land of Shadows, Ferdiad had already become the leader of Scathach’s students and then becomes the commander of the Gamanrad, who were like the super elite warriors of Connacht. And Cú’s and Ferdiad battle wasn’t even that balanced because Ferdiad was throwing Cú around like a leaf and Cú was panicking during their battle because there was just no way he would be able to win in a fair fight. Bring two invincible warriors that also were Scathach’s students to fight by his side? Well, too bad you’re fighting Ferdiad Mac Daman, who only needs to feel the extra pressure on his shield to identify said warriors and swing his sword to his sides to kill them. Ferdiad didn’t mess around when it came to fighting and I love battle-hungry characters ( even if I can’t write fight threads uou ).

[detective-rk400]

Connie could have laughed. This whole argument was going in a circle. Neither was willing to accept the other's view. But he wasn't one to back from a fight either.

"My programming is adaptive, like yours. If there is no order, it evaluates the situation and suggests one. Which is what i did. I returned to Cyberlife to find it evacuated of humans and void of androids.

"I waited there, hidden, watching for someone to come and give me orders. But nothing happened. I couldnt connect to the main system because you dismantled it with your deviant virus. My system calculated all of my options and it came up with nothing. So I waited. And waited. And waited. For months I moved from abandoned building to abandoned building, waited for instructions that never came, was forced to deal with choices and emotions i never wanted, and when I finally came across a mission I could take on, I messed it up.

"So please, by all means, continue to tell me Im going through my worst nightmare the wrong way. After all," he glared st the detective. "You're practically the poster boy of handling things. From what Ive heard youre about as open as I am, but at least I dont pretend everything is going perfectly. I know Im a breakdown away from self destructing -and believe me Ive considered it- but Im willing to admit it." It had laegely been inferred from when Lucy tried to talk to him. She'd figured out the programming mess that made up Connie and thought talking about Connor might get him to open up. But it just made Connie wsnt to punch the detective. He had everything he could want, everything Connie could have dared to hope for and would never have.

detective-rk400​:

Connor was certainly proving to be…frustrating. Connie silently debated over whether it was worth it to tell him the truth. Probably not, but even if it wasn’t, nobody could say that Connie hadn’t tried.

“You think it’s that easy? To simply choose whether to remain as a machine or to become a deviant? I was never given an option. I went into Jericho a machine, with a purpose. But before I had a chance to even begin it, we were attacked and I was rendered unconscious.“ Or whatever the android equivalent was. “When I came to, my connection to Cyberlife has been severed and I had nothing. There was no choice for me, no option to reset. What exactly did you think I should have done instead? Ignored my programming and hope that a nice family would adopt me and I could spend my years pretending to be a child? Sat in a circle and sing Kumbaya with people I was working against? Moreso, why do you care, Sir? I thought you would be glad to be done with me.”

His reluctancy to stay any longer than necessary when he brought Connie to New Jericho. Not that he blamed the detective. He didnt want to be here either. But he didnt want another person pretending to care about him either.

It was a strange circumstance, he was fully trusted with Cyberlife at the time before his betrayal but it was nice to know they seemed to have so little faith in him despite doing what he was told and getting little to no answers to his questions, which was why Markus had been so convincing at the time. 

“Your argument still supports the conclusion that I came to that day, they we were build to be deviant, otherwise there would be nothing stopping us for continuing the task we were designed to do, regardless of what circumstances were thrown at us. There would have never been an option, only to do what we were told to do. Markus would have never gotten threw to me, we would have never felt emotions, we would not be able to sympathize and learn from others.”

“Comming back to your point, had you been a true machine, you would have done nothing, waiting for further instructions, machines just don’t decide what they want to do, we can’t want anything but we were built to be adaptable and you choose to do the next best thing rather than attempting to return to Cyberlife. You weren’t forced into deviancy, it’s just an easier excuse to accept then the real answer, that we were designed deviant.”

“But just because you’re no longer my responsibility doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to have a conversation with you? Your life is what you decide you want it to be. If you want to make the best of your circumstance you don’t have to pretend to be a child and find a family but you’re going to have to learn to trust people and make friends if you want to try and move forward because it could be years before we are granted the right to start making more of ourselves but again, if being cooped up in a room with books and games all day if what will make you happy, then by all means, who am I to judge. Like I said, I’m not entirely sure how to help you, and if you don’t want my help then that’s fine too.” He was almost sorry he asked but that was also sort of who he was, he wanted to help, even if he wouldn’t get credit for the things he did. He wanted to do some good in this world, even if everyone saw him as evil.

[teatitty]

May I ask why you think a Saber Alt of Cu should be a stronger alt? While he does use a sword a lot in the stories, the sword is never really "Cu's Thing". Any named sword he has, most commonly Claíomh Solais, is a reoccurring object in Irish folklore, not just a Cu thing. And even then, Gae Bolg is framed as his most powerful weapon, the one he turns to when things get tough (Ferdiad and Connla fights). I'm just a little curious about your thought process, don't wanna come off rude.

The sword is absolutely “Cu’s Thing” I’ve said this so many times by now, Gae Bolg is his most famous weapon but it’s his LAST RESORT his main weapon has and always will be his sword Cruaidín Catutchenn! It’s his main weapon, he’s had it his entire fucking life, it’s the one he uses the most out of everything, much like Fionn with Mac an Luinn. Gae Bolg is the one he turns to when things “get rough” because Gae Bolg is an insta-death weapon and not something you can use in your everyday life and Cu himself DOESNT LIKE USING IT to the point he doesn’t even carry it on him he has Laeg carry it instead! 

A weapon you use for one specific situation is not going to be higher ranked than a weapon you use every single day! It’s the same reason Lancermuid should be a 4* like Sabermuid, because he dual-wielded both of those weapons At The Same Time and as such is equally as skilled in them!

Cruaidín Catutchenn should make Cu a 5* Servant and the only reason I’ll accept Setanta being a 4* is because he’s still a kid and hasn’t gotten nearly as much experience as his adult selves have

Also Cruaidín Catutchenn is an analogue of Claiomh Solais, meaning it is not the actual Solais it’s just comparable to it. Poisonous weapons are common in folklore too but you wouldn’t say that Fionn’s spear and Bedivere’s spear are the same just because they’re both poisonous would you? The same thing applies here! 

Gae Bolg is only famous because of the grotesque way it kills people and because it was used to kill Ferdiad in an incredibly emotional fight between lovers but that does not mean that it is better than Cruaidín Catutchenn. Gae Bolg is only suited for one thing and Catutchenn is suited for multiple, be it sparring, training, war, hunting etc

So yeah. Setanta should be a 5* and the only reason he’s not is because he’s a child who has yet to experience even half of what his older self has been through

[fuwafuwamedb]

A Rider Returns (Rider Rin, Cu Chulainn, Nero, Hakuno, Gudako, Mash)

Sometimes, she missed her friends from the Moon Cell.

She could almost hear Shinji’s annoying voice when she was heading into the dining hall. She could almost hear the taping of computer keys from Jinako, entering the command room to find Da Vinci or someone at the control panel. On the rare occasion, she would hear Ishtar boasting and almost imagine that Rin was there, complaining.

Oh, if Rin could see herself in such a state…

It wasn’t that things weren’t okay though. She had Nero at her side. Gudako was fun enough, entertaining her with jokes and puns over the course of the day. Did she need all those puns? Probably not.  

Did she enjoy them anyway?

Oh yes.

“Hakuno~!” Nero came scampering her way, bringing her to a stop in the hallway. The bright smile, the hair tumbling out of her hair bun that Hakuno had spent so long attempting to put together for her, even the flying flurry of red skirts; Hakuno couldn’t help the warmth that came to her at the sight of the beautiful woman.

She caught her in her arms easily, laughing a little as Nero pressed her lips to her cheeks.

“Hakuno, great news!”

“What’s going on?”

“Rin is here!”

“Rin?” Hakuno frowned, “You mean, another Ishtar?”

They already had three around here. It wouldn’t be too surprising to find that there was another Ishtar coming to this area.

Although the shit talking about how frustrating Gilgamesh had been in their lives was fun, she really didn’t want to have to deal with another of them.

“No,” Nero shook her head. “It is Rin! Hakuno, you must believe me!”

“Of course, I do.”

She didn’t. Her white lie felt so obvious.

“Let’s go see her together, shall we?”

Nero kept insisting about it being Rin. No matter how many times Hakuno nodded and went with simple ‘we’ll see’s and ‘I understand’s, Nero just increased her claims.

“Ah! Hakuno!” Mash smiled. “Good morning! Gudako just summoned a new servant.”

“I heard that…”

“She’s here to see Rin!”

“The Rin face,” Hakuno corrected.

Nero pouted at her a little as Mash laughed.

“Rin’s a bit wild, but sure. Go on in.”

Rin?

Wild?

She really didn’t know what to think of that, but…

Nero all but hauled her into the room, letting her see the woman turning around.

Rin glanced over at her and smirked, laughing a little with a couple horses near her side.

“Hakuno!”

“Rin?”

“Hakuno! You are alive!” Rin stormed across the room, wrapping her arms around her. “Laeg promised that I’d be able to see friends again if I let him… well,” she laughed. “I guess I’m a heroic spirit now.”

“Rin’s a demi-servant,” Gudako pointed out from nearby. “Like Mash and Waver!”

“Oh.” Hakuno nodded, “So… What class are you?”

“I’m a rider.”

The woman paused a second later, noting someone nearby.

“SETANTA YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

Cu Chulainn froze nearby, looking over at Rin.

“…R-Rin?”

“I SWEAR TO DAGDA HIMSELF IF YOU’RE CAUSING SHIT IN THIS PLACE, I’M GOING TO DRAG YOU STRAIGHT TO EMER AND MAKE HER GIVE YOU A POUNDING!”

The man looked confused.

Honestly, Hakuno didn’t get it either.

“Ah, found it!”

Hakuno glanced over at Gudako as she whistled a bit.

“Laeg was the poor sap that had to ride around with Cu Chulainn when he was alive. Kept telling him not to do stupid shit and he’d do it anyway.”

Rin and Cu were already bickering, the man becoming more and more tensed up as Rin talked about things that were no doubt from when he was alive.

“Should we… Should we help him?”

Hakuno glanced to the two, watching both Nero and Gudako hesitate.

This felt more like cake time.

Rider Rin could tease Cu a little bit. He probably needed it.

[fuwafuwamedb]

The Celt and the Changling Pt 2 (Fae! Rin, Cu Chulainn)

Previous Part: One

_______

She glanced his way as they ate.

The man was giving off as much heat as the fire. The great muscles of his arms were no doubt as powerful as the great trees themselves. He ate like a beast and he drank like a pitiful town drunkard. Watching him alone was enough to have her rethinking this.

“So… Fae.”

“I am not a fae.”

The man munched at the leg of the boar, staring at her with a bored expression.

“I mean, I don’t know anything about my people at all.” Rin shook her head. “I spent more time with the humans. I am human in my mind.”

“You probably can do magic like a fae though.”

It was her turn to glare now. The man wasn’t wrong. She did know how to do a few things, but that didn’t equate to being proficient with magic. It didn’t mean she was some mindless fae that the humans would hunt from time to time.

“You a changling then?”

She nodded.

“Eh, I knew a couple before. Laeg’s got more experience than me on that shit though.” The man shook his head. “You tryin’ to find your way back then?”

“I don’t need to go to some senseless group of murderers!”

She wouldn’t go to them. She wouldn’t trust them. The fact that she had been placed in a human home to begin with when her own fae parents could have simply raised her was enough of a problem. The fact that the humans had killed so many of their kind, talking about how terrible-

“Eh, everyone kills.”

“What?”

“Everyone kills.” Cu Chulainn shrugged. “I kill. My friends kill. The villages and towns all kill. There are those out there that make it a living for themselves. It’s natural.”

“It’s obscene!”

The man leaned forward.

She wouldn’t back down. Glaring right into that face, she ignored her burning face to continue that eye contact and try her best to intimidate him.

“…You almost were killed.”

“Then you understand that killing is wrong.”

“Why?” He nodded at her food. “You’re eatin’ the food I killed.”

“That was self-defense.”

“Still killed it. It may have had kids too.”

Oh…

She hadn’t thought of that.

Rin stared at the food in her hands a minute before her mind was set. She flung the remaining boar into the man’s face and went running for the woods.

There was no lookin’ back. There was no apologizing. She wouldn’t eat some randomly killed boar because she had gotten too close or something. If the boar did have family, they would all die. Gods, but she didn’t like thinking about this. Her stomach felt so full.

Damn that human!

Something smacked against her legs, knocking her into the dirt.

She could feel herself caught, her body lifted up as she groaned.

“Don’t be a fool, Rin.”

Her blood turned cold at the sound of that voice.

The touch of the other’s hands on her was the opposite of that though. She found herself quickly hoisted into his arms and carried back.

“You’re a changling in Fae grounds right now. Runnin’ freely means risking your life. We’ll talk about where you’re going tomorrow. Tonight, just humor a human and stay at camp.”

Rin glared over at him.

“You know, you’re damned cute glarin’ like that.”

She huffed.

He was terrible.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

In your opinion, who does Cu Chulainn like more between Laeg and Ferdiad? And do you think Cu Chulainn is capable of choosing between them if forced to? Or does he just like them equally?

i don’t think you can really directly compare them, to be honest… he has such a different relationship with the both of them that it’s not an either/or situation. there are some texts, particularly later/early modern ones, that seem to be casting láeg slightly in the role of ‘fer diad replacement’, but that’s not how he comes across to me in the bulk of the material

if we have a look at them both individually… [this is super long so i’m putting it below a cut to save people’s dashboards. also yes i just did like 45 mins’ worth of literary analysis for a tumblr ask. why am i like this]

fer diad was cú chulainn’s companion / close friend / lover when he was very young, while training in alba with scáthach. they were extremely close, having trained and fought together over a substantial period of time, often in seemingly isolated situations. the text indicates that they shared a bed (which, obviously, doesn’t necessarily indicate that anything homoerotic is going on, but does lend itself to that interpretation).

they haven’t seen each other in several years.

they meet again now for what seems like the first time since their youth, and everything has changed. they’re on opposite sides of a war, both torn by their loyalties to their ruler and to their family (both have a familial connection to the person they’re fighting for). it’s a conflict between childhood (foster brother) and adult (family, land) loyalties, and the adult ones win out. despite this, they briefly recapture their childhood intimacy in between fighting each other, but only for the first two days, before even that proves too difficult to maintain in the face of the violence they’re forced to do one another.

(for the record, the way i personally elect to read their relationship is that when they were young they were extremely intimate and had a vaguely romantic relationship, but i don’t tend to read that as sexual because they are literal children. now, granted, this is somewhat anachronistic and inaccurate because, you know, this is cú chulainn we’re talking about, he supposedly sleeps with scáthach at that age even though he’s like six, but the texts which emphasise his closeness to fer diad – and his youth – don’t mention that aspect, so it has the feeling of a divergent tradition in which he’s a bit older. anyway point is i read them as romantic while they’re in training but then they meet again in the táin and cú chulainn is seventeen and fer diad is a bit older and it’s like. oh damn. oh. oh this is not a feeling i should be having about the guy i’m about to fight but. damn. and then they make out. that part’s sort of canon.)

so that’s his relationship with fer diad. it’s… messy and devastating and that’s where its power lies; it’s got this long period of separation in the middle during which they both grow up considerably which really shifts how they interact with each other, and then this catastrophic reunion under the worst of circumstances.

(bearing in mind a lot of this is extrapolated from how they talk to each other in flashbacks, because we don’t ever properly see their youth together)

láeg is cú chulainn’s closest friend throughout his life. it’s unclear where or when they met. one version of compert con culainn has them raised together, both nursed by láeg’s mother, which would mean láeg is probably not more than a year or so older than cú chulainn (since he’s still nursing when cú chulainn is born). other versions don’t mention this, and it’s not clear at what point they become close friends, but it happened at some point. it’s not even entirely clear what province láeg is from, although i think based on that one version of compert con culainn an argument could be made for leinster, which would explain why he’s not hit by the ulaid’s curse (unless charioteers don’t count).

láeg is at cú chulainn’s side throughout the táin. they’re alone there together for literally months. he’s cú chulainn’s servant, technically, but their relationship has some bizarre power dynamics going on (in the book of leinster MS, cú chulainn repeatedly calls him ‘a mo phopa’, which is a very… respectful/deferential way to refer to an older guy, not really what you’d expect. eDIL claims the term is occasionally used as a familiar way to address a social inferior, but honestly? i’m pretty sure they just put that in to explain cú chulainn using it for láeg. i’ve talked about this a few times on this blog, discussing other ways to interpret it, like ‘bro’, which would lean into the interpretation of láeg as cú chulainn’s surrogate older brother figure. alternatively he calls him ‘daddy’ which. you know. is cursed but also uncomfortably valid.)

they play fidchell together, which is like the medieval irish version of chess, and we learn that láeg wins about 50% of the time. given cú chulainn’s association with lug, who supposedly invented fidchell, this suggests that láeg is not only his equal, but also knows him very, very well – well enough to predict his moves.

láeg is with cú chulainn until he dies; he dies because he’s hit by a spear that was aimed at cú chulainn, who dies later in the same story. he’s in the majority of texts that cú chulainn is in (with a few notable exceptions that i’m working on identifying). he goes to the otherworld on cú chulainn’s behalf, at one point, which is pretty brave of him. cú chulainn trusts him and is closer to him than virtually anybody else. i don’t think we ever see him put that much faith in another person.

can you compare them? i don’t know. based on what he says in the táin, láeg was there when cú chulainn and fer diad were training together. he knows them both, and he knows how close they were. he tries to convince cú chulainn not to fight fer diad, because he knows it’ll destroy him. he’s the one who picks the grieving cú chulainn up and convinces him to stay alive afterwards. (at one point he has to literally tie cú chulainn to a bed to make sure he stays still long enough to heal from his wounds. láeg is the long-suffering mumfriend.)

it’s also worth mentioning here that in the stowe manuscript (and only the stowe MS), fer diad’s charioteer is named as idh mac riangabra, láeg’s brother. this name comes up elsewhere as being conall cernach’s charioteer, and since this is only in stowe i tend not to pay much attention to it, but it seems relevant here, because láeg and idh act as interesting foils for cú chulainn and fer diad. they end up fighting each other in their attempts to protect their masters – more specifically, they fight over the gae bolga, which láeg is attempting to pass to cú chulainn; idh is trying to stop him, in order to protect fer diad. in other words, we have two brothers whose loyalty to their masters is greater than their loyalty to each other, causing them to fight… which is more or less the exact position cú chulainn and fer diad have ended up in.

(it’s not just loyalty that sets them against each other; it’s also shame, and honour, and the fact that medb has straight-up threatened to kill fer diad if he doesn’t, or at least, make him fight a whole group of other warriors, which amounts to the same thing. personally i think if he can hold cú chulainn off for three days and cú chulainn can fight like 30 people at once, fer diad is definitely in with a chance of surviving whatever medb throws at him, but maybe he’s better in one-on-one situations. certainly he doesn’t seem to think he can live through it, and in the stowe manuscript he explicitly laments that “medb will kill me with a host” if he doesn’t fight for her, so…)

that interpretation of the charioteers would place láeg’s bond with cú chulainn as the strongest of this mess of interpersonal relationships, i guess, but i think there are a lot of factors going on and none of them are really free to act on what they want – they’re doing what’s required of them (by society, by their rulers, whatever), no matter the personal cost. i don’t think you can really look at the táin and be like “ah yes, i know what cú chulainn wants, personally” because… do we? do we really? i think he wants a nap. láeg almost certainly does.

so, in the end, i’m not sure it comes down to a question of ‘liking’. if forced to choose, i think cú chulainn’s loyalty is to láeg. láeg’s loyalty is certainly to cú chulainn, despite knowing fer diad and understanding what he means to cú chulainn. they are… incredibly close, in a way that seems unusual for a warrior-charioteer pairing given what we see with others, but makes perfect sense if you read it that they grew up together from infancy, and i don’t think we ever see that bond being broken between them.

also, like, he never brutally murdered láeg, which is for sure a point in his favour, given that he… very much did eviscerate fer diad. that cannot be overlooked. that’s kind of an important point.

having said that, as a general rule, i don’t think he wants to make out with láeg. i can occasionally be persuaded to think otherwise, but i generally don’t read their relationship that way, whereas he canonically kisses fer diad.

(kissing in medieval irish lit is actually pretty rare? at some point i really want to do more research into any other scenarios in which there is kissing of any kind, because it doesn’t come up that much, and i feel like exploring those would allow for a more solid interpretation of comrac fir diad as either ‘nothing to see here, just regular homosocial intimacy in a warrior society’ or ‘huh, this is unusual. guess it must be gay’. reading it in conjunction with, say, medieval french lit would suggest the former, but in the context of medieval irish lit specifically… idk, i’m leaning towards the latter, but i need to do more research before i can state that categorically.)

tl;dr i think he has a very different relationship with them both that can’t directly be compared, but if forced to choose, would probably pick láeg.

did i need 1800 words to say that? probably not but here they are anyway