Fomorians

After Nuadu lost his hand to the Fir Bolg warrior Sreng mac Sengainn, the Tuatha Dé Danann defeated the Fir Bolg at Mag Tuired. Their king, Eochaid mac Eirc, was killed. Nuadu could no longer rule because he was blemished, so the Tuatha Dé chose Bres as king. His mother was Ériu and his father was Elatha, king of the Fomorians. Bres was half-Fomorian and remarkably beautiful.

Elatha had met Ériu beside the ocean. Before leaving in his boat, he gave her a golden ring and told her to keep it until she found the man whose finger fitted it exactly. Nine months later, she gave birth to Bres. He grew twice as quickly as an ordinary child until he reached manhood. When Ériu placed the ring on his finger, it fitted perfectly. Bres then received the kingship of the Tuatha Dé Danann and sovereignty over Ireland.

Bres soon showed his Fomorian nature. He imposed excessive taxes on the Tuatha Dé and took control of the necessities of life. The gods were forced to work for food and warmth. Bres hoarded his wealth and spent nothing on feasts or public entertainments. He later failed to provide sufficient rations for Cairbre, son of Ogma and the principal bard of the Tuatha Dé. Cairbre answered with a satire so severe that boils appeared on Bres’s face. Because he was blemished, Bres had to abdicate.

Nuadu’s hand had meanwhile been restored through the spells and medicines of a son and daughter of Diancecht. Nuadu returned to the kingship. Bres went back to his home beneath the sea. The Fomorians then held a council and decided to make war on the Tuatha Dé. During the fighting, Balor killed Nuadu, while Lug blinded Balor with a prepared magical sling stone. The Fomorians lost heart and were driven back towards the sea. Bres was captured, and Fomorian rule over the Tuatha Dé was broken.

Balor entered the battle at Mag Tuired after the fighting had continued for days. The Fomorians and the Tuatha Dé Danann had suffered heavy losses. Blood made the ground slippery, and fallen warriors were struck down in the mud. Dian Cécht and his children restored wounded Tuatha warriors in a magical well, but the Fomorian dead did not return. Balor was brought forward when the Fomorians sought to end the battle. His single great eye caused instant death when its gaze was exposed. He killed many of the Danaans, including Nuada of the Silver Hand.

Lugh fought for the Tuatha Dé Danann. His mother was the Fomorian Ethlinn and his father was the Danaan Cian. Balor was Lugh’s grandfather. A prophecy had foretold that Balor would die at the hand of his grandson, so Balor imprisoned Ethlinn in a tower on Tory Island. With help from the druid Biróg, Cian reached her by disguising himself as a woman. Ethlinn bore three sons. Balor ordered them thrown into the sea, but Lugh survived and was raised in secret.

When Balor met Lugh in the battle, he ordered his servants to raise his great eyelid. As the eye opened, Lugh struck it with a sling stone. The blow drove the eye into Balor’s brain and killed him. The deadly eye was turned against the Fomorian side. Balor’s death fulfilled the prophecy. The Tuatha Dé Danann defeated the Fomorians, and Ireland was wrested from Fomorian control. Lugh, who had led the Danaans to victory, was made king at the end of the battle.

At Cnamros, the Fomorians defeated Nemed’s forces. The defeat completed a series of battles between the two peoples. Nemed had come to Ireland from Scythia with an armada, but the sea destroyed most of his ships. He and his four sons settled on the island. The Nemedians cleared plains and added new lakes to the land. The Fomorians later came by sea and fought them across Ireland.

Nemed died during the struggle, and the Fomorians prevailed. They forced the Nemedians into servitude and imposed a yearly tribute. The Nemedians had to surrender two-thirds of the children born each year, together with their grain and milk. The people eventually rebelled and attacked the Fomorians by land and sea.

One account places the rebellion at the Fomorian stronghold on Tory Island. The Nemedians captured it and killed Conann, one of the Fomorian kings, with many of his followers. More, the other king, avenged the defeat. Another account says that the Fomorians called upon the winds and seas, which overturned all but one of the Nemedian ships. Few survivors remained. Most of the Nemedians later died in a plague, while others fled Ireland.

The surviving groups scattered across distant lands. Macha and Fergus Lethderg, Nemed’s son, were said to have escaped in the surviving ship and settled on the next island to the east. Some sources say that Fergus’s son Britán became the ancestor of the British people. Others connect the island’s name with the goddess Britannia. Another descendant, Semeon, travelled to Greece and became the ancestor of the Fir Bolg. Other descendants went north and became the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Fir Bolg later returned to Ireland. The Tuatha Dé Danann returned as well and defeated the Fir Bolg and the remaining Fomorians at the battles of Mag Tuirid.