Balor

In Irish mythology, Balor or Balar was a leader of the Fomorians, a group of malevolent supernatural beings, and considered the most formidable.

Balor takes part in the Battle of Mag Tuired, and is primarily known from the tale in which he is killed by his grandson Lugh of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

He has been interpreted as a personification of the scorching sun, and has also been likened to figures from other mythologies, such as the Welsh Ysbaddaden and the Greek Cyclops.

[4][3] Balor's eye wreaked destruction when opened, unleashing some "power of poison",[c] but it took the strength of four warriors to lift the eyelid, by grabbing the ring (handle) attached to it.

[4][14] Lugh shot a sling-stone (Old Irish: cloch as a tábaill, "stone from the sling")[d] at the eye, which came out the other side and harmed the Fomorian army.

[16] In one account of the battle, Lugh also killed a Fomorian leader named Goll (meaning "one-eyed"), who may be a duplication of Balor.

[17] The CMT says that Balor's eye gained its baleful power from exposure to the fumes from the magic potion[18] his father's druids were brewing.

[4][19] O'Curry tantalizingly stated he was in possession of a manuscript with an alternate explanation on how Balor got his power, but does not elaborate due to lack of space.

[20] Another description of Balor's death, dating from at least the 12th century, says he survived the loss of his eye and was chased by Lugh to Mizen Head.

This is said to be the origin of the headland's Irish name, Carn Uí Néit ("cairn of Nét's grandson").

Balor goes to the mainland and steals the magical cow of abundance Glas Gaibhnenn belonging to MacKineely (Cian mac Cáinte)[23][24][f] MacKineely/Cian learns he can only get the cow back when Balor is dead, and with the help of his female familiar spirit (leanan sídhe) named Biróg, enters the tower, finds Ethnea and impregnates her.

[30] In another variant, the child is called Dul Dauna,[25] which has been explained as a corruption of Ildanach "master of all knowledge", Lugh's nickname.

"[2] According to a lay in Duanaire Finn, after he was slain, Balor's severed head was set in the fork of an oak, and the tree which absorbed the venom became the timber-wood made into the shield of Fionn mac Cumhaill.

The Irish text does not specify location, but Curtin's tale in English names Gweedore Loch (in County Donegal, local to the storyteller).

[2][46] Both Ó hÓgáin and Máire MacNeill believe that Lugh's slaying of Balor was originally a harvest myth associated with the festival of Lughnasa and the later tale of Saint Patrick overcoming Crom Dubh.

[35] James O'Laverty noted the parallel with Acrisius, the King of Argos who was fated to be killed by his grandson, the hero Perseus.

[52] Krappe drew parallel between Balor with the supposed Serbian vy mentioned by W. R. S. Ralston,[56] but unfortunately Krappe misreads Ralston and utterly confounds this "vy" with what is actually the "Aged One" character (or "old, old man", the witch's husband) in the Russian skazka Ivan Bykovich ("Ivan the Bull's Son").