The Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh begins, as most stories do, with the traditional setting of time, place, and introductory information. The Tuatha De Danaan lived in the northern islands and studied in the four cities of Falias, Gorias, Murias, and Findias. There also existed a weapon from each of the cities; the Stone of Fal, from Falia, the sword which Lug had, from Gorias, the Sword of Nuadu, from Findias, and Dagda’s Cauldron from Murias as well as a wizard in each of the cities. The Tuatha De made an alliance with the Fomoire by arranged marriage, creating the eventual hero of the story, Lug. The Tuatha De then went to Ireland to take it by force from the Fir Bolg. The Tuatha De were victorious, but Nuadu lost his hand in the battle. Since Nuadu lost his hand, he was no longer eligible for kingship, so it was given to Bres, son of Elatha, in the hope that it would solidify the alliance with the Fomoire.
At this point, it is important to note that as adopted son of Nuadu and biological son of the king Elatha, the assumption is made that Bres would be a good king because of heredity and upbringing in a kingly environment, however, good kings are not necessarily bred, and good kingly behavior must be taught. After Bres had assumed kingship, it became clear that Bres did not have the peoples’ best interest at heart, he only desired to control and belittle them.
Although Bres exhibited more dark attributes than light, he did occasionally show a bit of a light side, in the case of the satirist Cridenbel and Dagda, in which the satirist commanded Dagda to give him three best bits of Dagda’s serving, which was making Dagda ill from malnutrition. Mac Oc devised a plan to end this tirade by giving Dagda three coins to put into the three bits, which would kill the satirist and Dagda would be accused of poisoning him. After the satirist died and Dagda was accused and sentenced to death, Dagda told Bres that he gave the satirist the three coins in his serving because the satirist wanted the best Dagda had to offer. Bres decided that the satirist’s stomach would be examined, and if the coins were found, Dagda would live. This showed a rare lightness to his character, in that he showed the ability to listen and make a fair judgement in light of the circumstances. However, most of the time, Bres exhibited the dark qualities versus the light, as was his Fomoirian side. None of his subjects held him in high regard and they did not offer the benefits of their talents unless it was forced upon them. Bres would not allow hospitality to any person who asked for it, only providing sub standards of the bare necessities, and the people responded with no respect for him as a leader. The people of Tuatha De did not think Bres worthy of the kingship, but he asked them to allow his rule for seven years. They agreed, providing that in that time the people will be provided for and be allowed to keep what they have and not have to pay him tribute until he could prove himself worthy after the seven years. Bres agreed to this as a way to buy himself time to gather up forces against his own people and with the intention of never giving up his position. This not only shows the dominant chaotic side of his nature but also exhibit’s the egocentric notion that he deserves the status of king and no one can or will change that. He went to his mother and asked her to take him to his father and the Fomoirians. Once in the presence of his father, Bres told him what he had done to his people and asked him to provide Bres with warriors so that he could take the Tuatha De by force.
Many times, jealousy figures into things and is usually seen as a negative emotion that precipitates negative actions. As such, in the case of Nuadu and the repair of his hand, I believe the dark forces to have been at work in the form of jealousy or, if not quite jealousy, then a similar emotion. When Nuadu was given a fully working silver hand by Dian Cecht to replace the missing limb, he was very proud of his work; however, Miach felt he could do better and healed the hand in nine days with a spell. This prompted fierce mental conflict between the two, as each resented the other for their actions. Dian Cecht did not like the cure and I believe jealousy to have reared its ugly head here when Miach proved to be able to do what Dian couldn’t, so Dian Cecht hurled a spear at Miach’s head four times in which Miach healed himself every time except the final blow which was too severe for him to survive it. After he was buried, three hundred and sixty five herbs grew through the grave corresponding to each of his joints, and Airmed uprooted the herbs according to their properties. Again jealousy took over as Dian Cecht mixed up the herbs so no one knew their healing properties. However, I do not see Dian as a dark person, as, later during the battle he helped heal the battle warriors by placing them into the well Slaine and chanting spells over it. The wounded were healed and emerged from the well to fight another day. This leads me to believe that Dian Cecht has the qualities of both light and dark as do most people, which surface at different times depending on need and circumstance and instead of it being a negative aspect, it simply describes the conflict within ourselves by creating the balance of order and chaos that we all battle with internally.
With the repair of his hand, Nuadu once again resumed kingship and held a great feast for the Tuatha De in Tara. At this part in the story, Lug is introduced as a major figure when he traveled to Tara and was greeted at the gates by the doorkeeper. We see for the first time, that Lug leans more toward the light side of the spectrum as, when he asked to be admitted inside, Lug was informed that no one enters Tara without a practicing art. Lug professes to the doorkeeper that he is a builder, smith, champion, harper, warrior, historian, sorcerer, physician, cup bearer, and brazier, but after each claim, was informed that Lug was not needed, as the king already had someone for all of these arts. Lug then informed the doorkeeper that he possessed all of these talents and sent him to ask the king whether he had one man that could do all of them. The king was impressed by this and Lug was admitted to Tara as the possessor of all talents. He sat in the seat of the Sage, because he was a sage in every art. In contras to Bres, Lug seems to represent everything good and pure where Bres represents the shadow. For comparison sake, it seems to me that when looking at the idea of light and dark, that perhaps Bres could be seen as the Christian form of devil where Lug could be seen as angel, and perhaps this is where the idea of angels and devils emerged from in the beginnings of the various Christian faiths.
The Tuatha De see Lug as their best hope for survival and independence from the Fomoire, so they decide to not only go to battle but protect Lug from harm as well. Despite the nine guards assigned to him, he slips away from them and ends up leading the battle. Using the talents of all members of the Tuatha De, the battle is a victory for the Tuatha De. Nuada is killed by Balor and then Lug and Balor face each other in a final conflict before the Fomoire are driven back towards the sea. An opportunity to kill Bres arrived, but he asked to be spared. This is a good example, again, of both Lug’s tendency towards order and Bres’ chaotic nature, as Bres cares only for self preservation and will make any bargain necessary to achieve that goal. Lug’s goodness leads him to negotiate on Bres’ behalf, although he will kill him if no negotiation can be reached.
The idea of light and dark and/or order versus chaos is the central theme in many ancient stories as well as modern ones. The characters may change but the theme of light and dark is always present. I believe this to be for the reason that balance in life is crucial to the survival of our world. Supposing that an all-pure world could exist, I don’t think total goodness would last for very long because a natural balance would begin to emerge to balance the purity not necessarily with evil, but more with conflict. The result is, not one over ruling the other but one extreme complimenting the other and vice-versa. I also think that everything in life can be and is, both light and dark simultaneously, as I have pointed out in my discussion of Dian Cecht. As human beings we have both concepts within us that come out at different times to provide balance within thoughts and actions, and I have seen the same in other aspects of life as well. I believe this balance reduces the risk of boredom, monotony, and predictability. I also think that it helps to reduce the amount of chaos and destruction in all things of the Earth. Summed up in musical terms, the melody is nice, but you must also have harmony for music to work.
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