Fand

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For the village in Iran, see Fand, Iran.

Fand ("tear", "teardrop of beauty") or Fann ("weak, helpless person'") is an otherworldly woman in Irish mythology. The two forms of her name are not phonetic variants, but two different words of different meaning and the history of her name is debated.[1]

Appearance in Serglige Con Culainn

Fand appears most prominently in the

Manannán.[1]

She enters the story in the form of an

otherworldly sea bird. In her sea bird form, she flies with a flock of enchanted birds, with each pair joined together by a silver chain. Fand, flying with her sister Lí Ban
, stands out from the rest as they are connected by a gold chain.

The hero

Cúchulainn
hurls stones at the seabirds, one of which passes through Fand's wing feathers. Later, Fand and Lí Ban return in the form of "Otherworldly women" and confront him on the shore of the lake. They beat Cúchulainn with horsewhips until he falls ill and lies abed for a year, unable to rise.

Cúchulainn eventually regains his health by the favor of Fand when, via negotiators (Lí Ban, and Cúchulainn's charioteer, Láeg), Cúchulainn reluctantly agrees to travel to the Fand's otherworld island and help her in a battle against her foes. Cúchulainn and Fand then become lovers.

The relationship does not last, as Cúchulainn's wife,

Manannán, who shakes his magical cloak of mists between Fand and Cúchulainn, that they may never meet again. Cúchulainn and Emer then drink a drink of forgetfulness, provided by the druids
.

Other appearances in early literature

According to MacKillop, "her mother is sometimes given as Flidais, the woodland deity. In variant texts she is described as the wife of Eochaid Iúil, one of Labraid's enemies vanquished by Cúchulainn".[1]

The goddess or otherworldly woman,

Cliodna, but as Manannán is known to have partnered with a number of goddesses and mortal women, her connection with Fand is unclear.[citation needed
]

Appearances in modern literature

Fand inspired William Larminie's Fand and Other Poems (Dublin, 1892) and Arnold Bax's tone poem The Garden of Fand (1916).[1]

Fand has also appeared as a recurring character in Kevin Hearne's The Iron Druid Chronicles series.

See also

  • Irish mythology in popular culture

References

  1. ^ a b c d James MacKillop, A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), s.v. "Fand".
  • Serglige Con Culainn, ed. Myles Dillon (1953). Serglige Con Culainn. Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series 14. Dublin: DIAS.; tr. Jeffrey Gantz (1981). Early Irish Myths and Sagas. London: Penguin. pp. 155–78.
  • The Sick-Bed of Cuchulain Archived 8 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine, an English translation of the above
  • The Only Jealousy of Emer
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