Background
Balor served as a formidable chieftain among the Formorians, a sinister and demonic race that relentlessly dominated the Tuatha De Danann. His life came to a tragic end at the hands of his grandson, Lugh, during the Battle of Moytura, an event foretold by prophecy. The impact of Balor’s defeat was so catastrophic that the sheer weight of his fallen form crushed twenty-seven of his soldiers beneath him.
Tales of Balor
During his youth, Balor secretly observed his father’s Druids as they attempted to cast a spell of death. In doing so, the deadly fumes from the incantation seeped into one of Balor’s eyes, bestowing it with lethal powers. To shield the world from the devastation his eye could cause, he perpetually kept it closed, to the point that his eyelid became so heavy that it required the strength of ten men to lift it. Nonetheless, this eye became a dreadful weapon in combat, able to extinguish the life of anything it gazed upon. Thus, Balor ascended to become the mightiest leader of the Formorians. Local legend in Cong Co Mayo suggests that the stones in the area are, in fact, humans who were turned to stone by Balor’s mere glance.
That same fateful day marked not just the awakening of Balor’s powers, but also a dire prophecy spoken by one of the Druids: he would eventually meet his end at the hands of his grandson. To thwart this foretold fate, Balor confined his stunning daughter Eithne within a tall tower, enforcing a strict rule that no man’s name should be uttered in her presence. Ironically, it was Balor himself who inadvertently set the stage for Eithne to encounter the man who would become her true love.
Although Balor possessed abundant cattle, he was envious of the extraordinary cow known as Glas Ghoibhneann, owned by Cian of the Tuatha De Danann. In a cunning disguise, Balor stole the cow, prompting Cian to pursue the thief. During this pursuit, Cian encountered the enchanting Eithne, recognizing her as the woman from his dreams, and they soon fell in love. Eithne eventually gave birth to a son named Lugh. In an effort to eliminate the threat, Balor commanded that the child be killed, but Lugh escaped and fulfilled the prophecy by slaying his grandfather with a slingshot during the Battle of Moytura.
Conclusion
Balor represents the archetypal tyrant, akin to an evil Goliath endowed with tremendous destructive potential within his deadly eye. Unbeknownst to him, he also became the forebear of a lineage that included mighty heroes like Lugh and Cuchulain in Irish mythology. His legacy is chiefly characterized by the legendary face-off with Lugh in the Second Battle of Moytura.
