Background
Balor was a formidable leader among the Formorians, a dark and sinister race known for their brutal oppression of the Tuatha De Danann. His life came to a tragic end at the hands of his grandson, Lugh, during the foretold Battle of Moytura. Balor’s sheer size was so immense that his falling body caused the deaths of twenty-seven soldiers who were beneath him at the moment of his demise.
Stories of Balor
In his youth, Balor had a fateful encounter while secretly observing his father’s Druids who were brewing a deadly spell. The toxic fumes reached his eye, endowing it with lethal powers. Consequently, he kept his malignant eye shut among his people, making his eyelid so heavy over time that it required the strength of ten men to lift it. Despite this burden, Balor’s eye became a weapon of mass destruction, capable of slaying anyone who fell under its gaze. Thus, he established himself as the most powerful leader of the Formorians. Legend has it that in Cong Co Mayo, the rocks standing there are the petrified remains of men turned to stone by Balor’s deadly glare.
On that pivotal day during his youth, one of the Druids foretold that Balor would meet his end at the hands of his own grandson. In a desperate attempt to thwart fate, he confined his lovely daughter Eithne in a tower, forbidding any mention of a man’s name in her presence. Ironically, it was Balor himself who inadvertently led Eithne to the man of her dreams.
Though he possessed many cattle, Balor was envious of a magnificent cow named Glas Ghoibhneann owned by Cian of the Tuatha De Danann. Disguising himself, Balor succeeded in stealing the prized cow from Cian. In his pursuit of the cow, Cian stumbled upon Eithne. Instantly recognizing him as the man from her dreams, they fell deeply in love. Eithne later gave birth to a boy named Lugh. In an attempt to eliminate any threat, Balor commanded the child’s execution, but Lugh escaped and ultimately avenged his lineage by killing his grandfather with a slingshot during the Battle of Moytura.
Conclusion
Balor emerges as a mythical tyrant, embodying an evil Goliath figure with a destructive force concentrated in his “eye.” Unwittingly, he becomes the ancestor of prominent heroes like Lugh and Cuchulain, essential figures in Irish mythology. Balor’s legacy is most famously defined by his confrontation with Lugh during the Second Battle of Moytura.
