Fomorians

In Irish mythology, the Fomorians, Fomors, or Fomori (Irish Fomóiri, Fomóraig) were a semi-divine race who inhabited Ireland in ancient times. They may have once been believed to be the beings who preceded the gods, similar to the Greek Titans. It has been suggested that they represent the gods of chaos and wild nature, as opposed to the Tuatha Dé Danann who represent the gods of human civilization. Alternatively, they may represent the gods of a proposed pre-Goidelic population of Ireland.

Characteristics

They are sometimes said to have had the body of a man and the head of a goat, according to an 11th century text in "Lebor na hUidre" (the Book of the Dun Cow), or to have had one eye, one arm and one leg, but some, for example Elatha, the father of Bres, were very beautiful. Bres himself carries the epithet "the Beautiful."

History in Irish Mythology

The followers of Partholon were said to be the first to invade Ireland after the flood, but the Fomorians were already there: Seathrún Céitinn reports a tradition that the Fomorians, led by Cíocal, had arrived two hundred years earlier and lived on fish and fowl until Partholon came, bringing the plough and oxen. It is possible that this is a memory of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers giving way to Neolithic farmers. [Morris, J. (1992) The Place-names of Lancashire. Phoenix Giant, page 148.] Partholon defeated Cíocal in the Battle of Magh Ithe, but all his people later died of plague.

Then came Nemed and his followers. Ireland is said to have been empty for thirty years following the death of Partholon's people, but Nemed and his followers encountered the Fomorians when they arrived. At this point Céitinn reports another tradition that the Fomorians were seafarers from Africa, descended from Noah's son Ham. Nemed defeated them in several battles, killing their leaders Gann (1) and Sengann (1) (note that there were two Fir Bolg kings of the same name), but two new Fomorian leaders arose: Conand son of Faebar, who lived in Conand's Tower on Tory Island, County Donegal, and Morc son of Dela (note that the first generation of the Fir Bolg were also said to be sons of Dela).

After Nemed's death, Conand and Morc enslaved his people and demanded a heavy tribute: two thirds of their children, grain and cattle. Nemed's son Fergus Lethderg gathered an army of sixty thousand, rose up against them and destroyed Conand's Tower, but Morc attacked them with a huge fleet, and there was great slaughter on both sides. The sea rose over them and drowned most of the survivors: only thirty of Nemed's people escaped in a single ship, scattering to the other parts of the world.

The next invasion was by the Fir Bolg, who did not encounter the Fomorians.

Next, the Tuatha Dé Danann, who are usually supposed to have been the gods of the Goidelic Irish, defeated the Fir Bolg in the first Battle of Magh Tuiredh and took possession of Ireland. As their king, Nuada, had lost an arm in the battle and was no longer physically whole, their first king in Ireland was the half-Fomorian Bres. He was the result of a union between Ériu of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorian prince Elatha, who had come to her one night by sea on a silver boat. Both Elatha and Bres are described as very beautiful. However Bres turned out to be a bad king who forced the Tuatha Dé to work as slaves and pay tribute to the Fomorians. He lost authority when he was satirized for neglecting his kingly duties of hospitality. Nuada was restored to the kingship after his arm was replaced with a working one of silver, but the Tuatha Dé's oppression by the Fomorians continued.

Bres fled to his father, Elatha, and asked for his help to restore him to the kingship. Elatha refused, on the grounds that he should not seek to gain by foul means what he couldn't keep by fair. Bres instead turned to Balor, a more warlike Fomorian chief living on Tory Island, and raised an army.

The Tuatha Dé also prepared for war, under another half-Fomorian leader, Lug. His father was Cian of the Tuatha Dé, and his mother was Balor's daughter Ethniu. This is presented as a dynastic marriage in early texts, but folklore preserves a more elaborate story, reminiscent the story of Zeus and Cronus from Greek mythology. Balor, who had been given a prophecy that he would be killed by his own grandson, locked Ethniu in a glass tower to keep her away from men. But when he stole Cian's magical cow, Cian got his revenge by gaining entry to the tower, with the help of a druidess called Biróg, and seducing her. She gave birth to triplets, which Balor ordered drowned. Two of the babies either died or turned into the first seals, but Biróg saved one, Lug, and gave him to Manannan and Tailtiu to foster. As an adult Lug gained entry to Nuada's court through his mastery of every art, and was given command over the army.

The Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh was fought between the Fomorians under Balor and the Tuatha Dé under Lug. Balor killed Nuada with his terrible, poisonous eye that killed all it looked upon. Lug faced his grandfather, but as he was opening his eye Lug shot a sling-stone that drove his eye out the back of his head, wreaking havoc on the Fomorian army behind. After Balor's death the Fomorians were defeated and driven into the sea.

The Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians are closely related. Neit, a war god, is an ancestor of both.

The word "fomóire" is believed to derive from Old Irish "fo muire" (Modern Irish "faoi muire"), "under the sea". This, combined with their association with glass towers in the western ocean, suggests a connection with icebergs. However the "mór" element may derive from a word meaning "terror", whose Anglo-Saxon cognate "maere" survives in English "night"mare", but not in "morbid" which instead comes from the latin, all from the Proto-IndoEuropean word *mor : "to rub, pound, wear away". However, Mac Bain holds that there are phonetic inconsistencies with both these theories that would prevent derivation of the long ó in the morpheme "-mór" from "muire, mora" ("sea") or from "mor, mar" (terror, death). His educated opinion leaves the conclusions of Zimmer "fomóiri > fo-mór" "sub-magnus" (giants, small"?" giants, nearly"?" giants, huge people"?"). [http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/index.html]

In later times any settled pirates or seaborne raiders were labeled Fomorians and the original meaning of the word was forgotten.

Fomorians in other media

Role playing games and Trading Card Games

In the turn-based-strategy role playing game "" by "Koei", Balor is an end-game boss.

In the fantasy role playing game "Dungeons & Dragons", the Fomorians are one of the Giant Kin Races.

In the fantasy/cyberpunk role playing game "Shadowrun", Formorians are a breed of Troll (known for being large and hairy rather than covered with bone deposits), and Wild Formorians are a type of vampiric creature.

In a character named King Balor is said to lead a race of beings that used to rule the world before humans, similar to the Fomorians in name and role.

In the fantasy role playing game "Rifts", the Fomorians are an extra-dimensional race that has overrun Scotland in the England worldbook.

In White Wolf Game Studio's ' (a part of the World of Darkness), Fomorians are described as "great cthonic entities whose evil was beyond human ken." They may be related to the Fomor (World of Darkness), which are humans transformed into creatures of the Wyrm in the World of Darkness game '. A magical power available to Werewolves in this setting takes the name "Balor's Gaze".

In the MMORPG "Final Fantasy XI", Fomors are undead or "shadow" versions of the five playable races. They appear as black skinned versions of the player models with glowing eyes. Some Fomor Notorious Monsters include Balor and several others.

In the MMORPG "Dark Age of Camelot", the Fomorians were added to the game with the release of the expansion "Shrouded Isles", where they inhabit the Island of HyBrasil, led by their king Balor, who is an end-game boss.

In the "Celtos" wargame, by Brigade Models, Fomorians are orc-like beings and distinct from the other four races of the game (Vanir, Sidhe, Gaels, and Fir Bolg).

In the "Albion, Land of Faerie" wargame published by SPI in the now-defunct Ares magazine (number 11), the Fomorians fought the Sidhe in the Third Fomorian War of 2680. Fomorians are described as larger than men and the source of the legends of Trolls.

The design of the Fimir of First Edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay are heavily influenced by some descriptions of the Fomorians.

In the role playing game "", Fomor appears as a demon, coming in the form of a giant, humanoid, goat-headed being with shaggy fur all over its body.

Fomorians also appear in the game "Nethergate", set during Roman Britain.

Fomori Nomad is a creature in Future Sight expansion of

In the Alternative Armies table top war game Erin The Fomorians are one of the available warbands.

In the Fantasy Strategy game Dominions 3 the Awakening the Fomorians are a playable nation.

In the MMORPG "Mabinogi", Fomors are what controls the monsters and makes them evil. In Generation 1 of the game, the mainstream quest is about saving the world called Erinn from the evil intentions of the Fomors.

Books and Comics

The Fomorians are featured as enemies in a "Sláine the King" series in the comic "2000 AD".

In Mark Chadbourn's trilogy "The Age of Misrule", the Formorii return to present-day Britain in an attempt to resurrect Balor and finally defeat all humans. They are described as considerably larger than the average human, totally immune to 'modern' weapons (firearms, explosives and such), and shapeshifters. Capable of taking on any humanoid appearance they choose, their transformation and true form are particularly traumatic to witness.

In K.A. Applegate's Everworld series, the Formorians appear as giants, protecting the Everworld version of Éire from Saxons and Vikings, and later the Sennites.

In Darren O'Shaughnessey's series of books "Bec" the formori are a race of demons. The book is the 4th in the Demonata series.

In Patricia Kennealy's "Keltiad" [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/patricia-kennealy-morrison/] " series, the Fomor are an alien race who were called "Fomor" by Kelts fleeing Earth in the Thirteenth Century, in whom they recognized characteristics of their old foes. The Kelts called them "Fomor" for so long and so insistently that they eventually adopted the name themselves, to the point where they forgot their original appellation.

In Diane Duane's "A Wizard Abroad", the fomori are central villains.

In Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl", the fomorians are the name for the demons at the battle causing the Giant's Causeway 10,000 years before.

In Juliet Marillier's "Sevenwaters" trilogy the Fomorians (in the book known as "Fomhoire") played a vital role with the Tuatha Dé Danann.

In Michael Moorcock's Chronicles of Corum the Fhoi Myore (led by an individual known as Balahr) are depicted as an enemy race.

A Fomor under the name Glomach who claims to be deformed by having 2 eyes, 2 arms and 2 legs (and is still grotesque) appears in Pat O'Shea's book "The Hounds of the Morrigan".

The Fomor have appeared in Marvel Comics.

In P.C. Cast's "Divine By Mistake", the Fomorians are an evil race with light, almost translucent bodies and black wings that are not used to fly, but to assist them in gliding over land in long strides.

In Kenneth C. Flint's "Sidhe" series, the story of Lugh and Balor is retold.

Music

The French Celtic black metal band Aes Dana released an album called "Formors" in 2005.

The American Thrash/Death metal band Usurper released a song entitled "Conquest of the Grotesque", based on the story of the fomorians on their album Cryptobeast

Other Media

The Fomorians were referenced several times in the musical radio programs Celtic Hero (based on events from the Tochmarc Emire, or the “Wooing of Emer” story from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology) and Lord of the Celts (based on the “Fionn and Sadbh” story from the Fenian Cycle). It is implied that the character of Forgall Monach from the Celtic Hero program is of Fomorian ancestry. The programs were produced by the Radio Tales series for National Public Radio.

ee also

Fomorians not previously mentioned:
*Buarainech
*Cethlenn
*Corb
*Tethra

References

Donnelly, Ignatius L.. "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World". Dover Publications. Page 406. ISBN 0-486-23371-5.