#ulster cycle

[aodhan-art]

Tír na nÓg / Ulster cycle Hatsune Miku

[gay-laeg]

Despite having so many fathers, Cu chulainn is still unsupervised at all times

[sissiarte]

Cú Chulainn no! Don't fight Cerberus!

This took me so long not only because I went crazy with details but because I couldn't decide what to write on the text box fdkas

At first I was going to place him in Elysium at Patroclu's room but I think this is funnier

[incorrect-ulster-cycle]

is your child texting about the ulster cycle? know the signs!

brb = bitches require bulls lol = láeg owns, losers smh = smashing my hurley tbh = táin bó hcúailnge stfu = support the feeble ulaid tfw = tochmarc ferbe wins rofl = revenge (y)our father, lugaid idc = idh da charioteer btw = behead the warriors

[queer-ragnelle]

list of medieval literature with links to read.

i’ll continue to update with more texts, better scans, & different editions. enjoy!

[alternativeulster]

more people need to know about irish mythology. it's just balls to the walls insane. if you thought greek mythology was wild let me introduce you to:

nessa and her 12 gay dads

queen medb cheating on everything and everyone, starting a war over a cow, ruining innumerable lives and then getting killed by cheese

fionn gets raised by 2 random lesbians

fionn kills a guy for stealing his girlfriend, drops the magic healing water several times on purpose

oisín goes to live in the immortal fairy land with his immortal fairy wife, misses ireland, comes back to visit, falls off his horse and fucking dies (may or may not have gotten in a fight with saint patrick before dying)

fuck them kids, they're swans now

guy accidentally gets job of "being the king's dog" at age 5, changes name to dog

[riseupriseupandcomealong]

hi more ulster cycle art based on this passage: “From the Monday after the feast of Samain at summer’s end to the Wednesday after the feast of Imbolc at spring’s beginning, Cúchulainn never slept — unless against his spear for an instant after the middle of the day, with head on fist and fist on spear and the spear against his knee” - táin bó cúailnge tr. thomas kinsella

[queeringclassiclit]

Cú Chulainn

from the Ulster Cycle of Celtic Mythology

submitted by anon

[finnlongman]

"And his hand in the hand of Láeg mac Ríangabra..."

My previous posts about the variants of Oidheadh Con Culainn were getting very long with all the reblogs and ramblings, so I thought I would do a summary.

Last week, I was idly paging through NLI MS G113 to check the terminology it uses for Láeg. This manuscript was written in 1703, in Co. Cork, by poet Uilliam mac Cartáin. I discovered that in this version of the text, Cú Chulainn dies "with his back against the standing stone and his hand in the hand of Láeg mac Ríangabra".

Although Láeg is usually present in this scene, I had never seen this particular detail before, and being the #1 fan of Láeg mac Ríangabra, I was obviously extremely intrigued and emotional. (Code for: I cried and then I screamed about it to everyone I knew.)

Not only this, but after Cú Chulainn's death, Láeg went back to kiss Cú Chulainn's body, hold him, and grieve for him, which is something he isn't given the opportunity to do in any of the versions that I knew. Wow.

Yesterday, I decided to check for other digitised manuscripts of this text, and I found RIA MS 23 M 25, a slightly earlier manuscript written probably in Co. Cork in the late 17th century -- probably 1684 for this section. To my amazement, it also contained this line:

Further investigation found it in two more Cork manuscripts -- a late 18th century one (RIA 23 G 21) and a 19th century one (Newman College O'Donnell II), both by scribes of the Ó Longáin family. The 18th century one isn't digitised, but I was able to read a transcription of it produced by Julia Kühns in her 2009 PhD thesis; the 19th century one is now held in Newman College in Melbourne, Australia, and looks like this:

All four of these manuscripts contain the detail that Cú Chulainn died with his back against the standing stone and his hand in the hand of Láeg mac Ríangabra.

All four of these manuscripts were written in Co. Cork, though chronologically they're quite dispersed.

There are two more manuscripts that Kühns groups alongside these in her study, one which has a strong Cork connection and one which doesn't. These aren't digitised and she didn't transcribe this passage, so I can't be certain it's there (her grouping is based on other elements, and she doesn't discuss this detail), but I would imagine it must be. I hope to go to TCD at some point and view them.

On the basis of the evidence I've got, though, it seems to me that this was a Cork variant of the story. The wording of this line is identical -- if they're not all copying from each other (and there are some other variations that might suggest they're not), they're definitely copying from a shared source. What that source was and how far it predates the 1684 manuscript, I don't know yet.

But so far, only G113 contains the scene where Láeg grieves and says goodbye to Cú Chulainn. Given that this MS was written by a known poet who wrote a lot of laments and emotional works, it may be that he added this to heighten the emotional experience. To my admittedly inexpert eye, it shows some strong signs of Munster Irish, which lends credence to the idea that it was locally composed, and since it's not in the other MSS, there's no reason yet to think it's not Uilliam's addition for the sake of feelings. In which case, it worked. Thanks, Liam, you made me cry 221 years later.

And now you're caught up!

[notacluedo]

Cú Chulainn could be taken out by a single sunburn

[amylouioc]

Part One of a new illustration series focusing on the tragic tale of Deirdre and Naoise.

Fedlimid gets some bad news, a baby is born and Leabharcham heads away for safety.

This is my March Postcard Club illustration! If you’re interested in getting a print in the post (along with new postcards each month) then you can sign up here!

[sunshinemoonrx]

What was the cause of the death of Kyros, and what first began the destruction of the Gordians?

Not hard to say, that.

Presenting THE EXILE OF MORGAN RED-MAW, a story inspired by Shotaro Ishinomori's Kamen Rider and the Irish legendary Ulster cycle, and written (as best as I can manage) in the style of the latter.

Highly recommended for fans of scary morally-dubious women with gender, sick as hell anime fights, and the tragedy wrought by over-the-top honour-codes.

(As you can tell by the title in the link, this is intended to be the first of a series of stories. We'll see! I certainly had a lot of fun with this one.)

[denndrawings]

Jesus Christ if he slayed (Ferdia warmup sketch)

Credits for the character design as always to my dearest @sissiarte 💙

[sissiarte]

Did these Láegs with horsies some time ago and I forgot to post them sorry

[incorrect-ulster-cycle]

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

Fer Diad: seven what now?