The Morrígan

and The Puppet Master!

First, Happy New Moon! Hope your May is turning out splendidly.

We’ll be focusing on the Irish triple goddess The Morrígan–goddess associated with fate, war, and death–as promised in my latest insta post.

Traditionally, The Morrígan is associated with the number three–she’s considered to have three aspects, being the sisters Babd, Macha, and Nemain (or, Anand). She also appears as three different animals in the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley, 11th century), one of the national stories of Ireland. I’m most familiar with her from the Táin, so my references will largely be from this epic tale.

The Morrígan appears to Cú Chulainn as a young woman washing armor, trying to entice him after watching him fight against Queen Medb’s army (pronounced like Maeve). He rejects her advances, and she declares that she will hinder him in his future battles. She stays true to her word and tries to disrupt him–first as an eel, then a wolf, and finally a cow. He defeats her each time, and accepts a drink of milk from an old woman (guess who!) and unknowingly gives her a god’s blessing. The Morrígan is then healed of her wounds, and the two depart, neither having the upper hand.

Throughout the Táin, The Morrígan also appears as crows over the battlefield, creating chaos and terrifying men to death (slay). She also warns, in poetic prophecy, that many will die. Guess what. Many do die. (All because a king & queen’s pillow talk one night turned into fighting over who is wealthier…)

Part of her triple goddess affinity is the Morrígna, or the trio of sisters. Badb, Macha, and Nemain (Anand)–it’s unclear if they are aspects, or if they are wholly separate figures as they also appear in their own myths. Badb is the aspect of war, appearing as a crow (Badb means crow) over battle fields, speaking prophecy and whose cries can make warriors so fearful that they die. Macha is the aspect of the land, or sovereignty over it. Nemain (Anand) is the aspect of frenzied war, causing hallucinations and slipping into fighters minds.

The Morrígan is also considered the mother of banshees. In legend, they were often seen washing the armor of a warrior fated to die–how The Morrígan first encounters Cú Chulainn, who dies during the battle (tragically, The Morrígan even tries to save him). Babd’s association with wailing cries and death also likens to the nature of the banshee.

Etymology time! For fun, banshee comes from Irish bean síde/sidhe (Old Irish/Modern), which means ‘fairy woman’ or ‘woman by the fairy mound’ (síde/sidhe means fairy).

Friendly reminder that the fae are terrifying, not hot thousand year old warriors waiting to scoop up a damsel. Well, they would… but to torture her, not bed her.

The Morrígan’s name breaks down to Mór/Moro & rígan. There are two trains of thought when it comes to her name. Mór from the Irish word for ‘great’, Moro being the Indo-European word for ‘nightmare/phantom’. Rígan comes from Proto-Celtic rīganī, meaning ‘queen’.

So, her name means Great Queen, or Phantom Queen. Personally, I think Phantom Queen suits her better.

Now! How does she fit in with The Puppet Master?

It was really fun slipping little nods to her in my book! I can’t spill all the beans, *cough, cough, spoilers!* but can fill you in on a few details:

Three crows visit Vanora, aiding her when she is out of answers–bringing food when she’s ensnared, showing her a path to escape, helping by causing hallucinations while fighting… the list goes on! I also have a character refer to Vanora as ‘phantom queen’, as Kieran’s nickname for her is phantom.

That’s all I can disclose for now, but Vanora’s crow friends are one of the only reasons she’s alive by the end of the story. Poor girl.

In writing news, I’ve officially finished my line edit! Now to let my manuscript sit for a lil and get to reading an exciting story with a focus on Ukrainian folklore (squeal!) and continue working on my outline for the second book of my series. It’s been fun to find scenes that foreshadow while editing The Puppet Master.

Next month, we’ll dive into a little known culture’s mythology–Dacia, or, Romania before the Roman conquest.

Catch ya next New Moon! Happy reading & writing 🙂

xoxo,

Carren