Let’s discover together today who is the demon Balar, one of the most powerful demons inhabiting Celtic mythology with a deadly eye.
Who is Balar?
In Celtic mythology, Balor (modern spelling: Balar) was the tyrant warrior of the Fomorians, a group of supernatural beings. He is often described as a giant with a large eye that causes destruction when opened. He has been interpreted as a personification of drought, plague and the scorching sun.
Background
Balar was a powerful leader of the Formorians; a dark, demonic race who were the terrible oppressors of the Tuatha De Danann. He was killed by his grandson Lugh in the Battle of Moytura, which had been prophesied. So immense was Balar’s size that twenty-seven of his soldiers fell and died beneath him when he was slain.
Etymology
The name Balar may come from the common Celtic Baleros, meaning “the mortal”, related to Old Irish at-baill (to die) and Welsh ball (death, pestilence). Alternatively, it may come from Common Celtic Bolero, meaning “the flashing one”.
Folklore about Balar
In 19th century folklore, Balar was remembered as having a glass through which he would try to destroy a person with his eye. He used the glass to burn and wither all the plants in Moytura, leading one hero to question how he accomplished the feat. The giant, being fooled by the trick, took the glass out of his eye long enough for the hero to extinguish it. The blood flowing from Balar’s eye created a lake called Suil Balra.
Interpretation
The tale is interpreted as a harvest myth in which the god Lugh wins the harvest for mankind by defeating Balar, who represents blight, drought and the scorching summer sun. It also associates the defeat of the cyclops with the festival of Lughnasa and the subsequent story of St. Patrick defeating Crom Dubh.
In a book called The Myths of the Gods: Structures in Celtic Mythology, Balar is interpreted as the god of drought and blight.
The story of the giant is interpreted as follows:
- The god of drought (Balar) seizes the cow of fertility (Glas Gaibhnenn) and locks her in his prison. The sun god (Cian) rescues the cow with the help of the sea god (Manannán): water is the natural enemy of drought.
- The god of the Sun and a Goddess of Water (Ethniu), try to produce a son, the god of the Storm (Lugh), who will defeat the god of Drought. They succeed in bringing the future Storm god to the domain of the Sea god, where the Drought god cannot reach him.
- The Storm god and the Drought god finally meet in battle. The Smith god (Gobniu) forges the lightning bolt and the Storm god uses it to unleash the storm and kill the drought, at least temporarily.
Balar in Irish mythology
Balar is said to be the son of Buarainech, husband of Cethlenn and grandson of Neit. He is a tyrant who oppresses Ireland from his stronghold on Tory Island.
Balar is described as a giant with an eye that causes destruction when opened. The Cath Maige Tuired calls him a destructive and poisonous eye that when opened, allows an entire army to be overwhelmed by a few warriors.
It was said that four warriors had to raise the eyelid, which became poisonous after Balar looked at a potion prepared by his father’s druids. Later folklore says that he has only one eye and describes him as follows:
- “He had only one eye in his forehead, a poisonous burning eye. There were always seven coverings over this eye. One by one Balar removed the coverings. With the first covering the fern began to wither, with the second the grass turned copper-colored, with the third the woods and the wood began to heat up, with the fourth smoke came out of the trees, with the fifth everything turned red, with the sixth it ignited. With the seventh all were set on fire, and the whole countryside was ablaze! “.
Prophecy of his death
Balar hears a prophecy that his grandson would kill him. To avoid his fate, he locks his only daughter, Ethniu, in a tower on Tory Island to prevent her from becoming pregnant. One day, Balar steals a magical cow of plenty, Glas Gaibhnenn, from Goibniu the blacksmith, and takes it to his fortress on Tory Island.
Cian, who was guarding the cow for Goibniu, sets out to retrieve it. With the help of the druidess Biróg, Cian enters the tower, finds Ethniu and has sex with her. Balar grabs Cian and kills him. When Ethniu gives birth to a son, Balar tries to drown the child in the sea or causes the child to drift out to sea to die. However, he is saved by the god of the sea. Manannán, who raises the boy as his adopted son. He grows up to become Lugh.
Lugh eventually becomes king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He leads the Tuath Dé in the Battle of Mag Tuired (Moytura) against the Fomorians, who are led by Balar. Lugh kills Balar by throwing a spear crafted by Goibniu, through his eye. Balar’s eye destroys the Fomorian army. Lugh then decapitates Balor.
Stories of Balar
One day, when Balar was young, he spied on his father’s druids as they invented a death spell. Fumes entered one of the giant cyclops’ eyes as he spied, giving him the power of death to that eye.
While among his own people, Balar always kept his evil eye closed, therefore, his eyelid became so heavy that after a while it took ten men to open it.
However, the giant’s eye proved to be a powerful tool in battle, for it had the power to kill everything it saw. He became the most powerful leader of the Formorians. And, according to the people of Cong Co Mayo, the rocks there, are men who were petrified by Balar’s gaze.
That same day, in Balar’s youth, one of the druids prophesied that he would be killed at the hands of his own grandson. To prevent this from coming true, he imprisoned his beautiful daughter Eithne in a tower and gave orders that no man’s name should be mentioned in her presence. However, it was Balar himself who caused Eithne to meet the man of her dreams.
Although he had plenty of cattle, Balar coveted the wonderful cow called Glas Ghoibhneann, which was owned by Cian of Tuatha De Danann.
He stole the cow from Cian by disguising himself. Cian went after his cow and found the beautiful Eithne. She recognized him as the man of her dreams and they fell in love. Eithne gave birth to a son and named him Lugh. Balar ordered the child killed, but Lugh survived to fulfill the prophecy and killed his grandfather with a slingshot at the Battle of Moytura.
Conclusion
Balar is the mythical tyrant, a sort of evil Goliath character, with enormous destructive power in his “eye”. He is also, unbeknownst to him, the progenitor of a line that includes Lugh and then Cuchulain, powerful figures of Irish Myth. He is obviously best known for the confrontation with Lugh at the Second Battle of Moytura.
