Balor

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For the locality in Mangalore. see Bolar (Location).

In Irish mythology, Balor (Balar, Bolar) of the Evil Eye was a king of the Fomorians, a race of giants. His father was Buarainech and his wife was Cethlenn. According to legend, he lived on Tory Island.

Balor was notable for his one eye, which could kill anyone it looked upon. He gained this power as a child when watching his father's druids preparing poisonous spells, the fumes of which rose into his eye. His eye was normally kept closed, only to be opened on the battlefield by four men using a handle fitted to his eyelid, or, in some versions, a system of ropes and pulleys.

According to prophecy, Balor was to be killed by his grandson. To avoid his fate, he locked his daughter, Ethlinn, in a tower made of crystal to keep her from becoming pregnant. However, Cian, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, with the help of the druidess Birog, managed to enter the tower. She gave birth to triplets by him, but Balor threw them into the ocean. Birog saved one, Lugh, and gave him to Manannan mac Lir, who became his foster father. He was called Lugh Lamhfada and became a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Lugh led the Tuatha in the second Battle of Magh Tuiredh against the Fomorians. Ogma disarmed Balor during this battle, but Balor killed Nuada with his eye. Lugh shot a sling-stone which drove Balor's eye out the back of his head, where it continued to wreak its deadly power on the Fomorian army. In other versions Lugh blinded Balor with a spear made by Goibniu, or decapitated him and used his eye against the Fomorians.

One legend tells that, when Balor was slain by Lugh, Balor's eye was still open when he fell face first into the ground. Thus his deadly eye beam burned a hole into the earth. Long after, the hole filled with water and became a lake which is now known as Loch na Suil, or "Lake of the Eye", which is to be found in County Sligo.

The folklorist Alexander Hagerty Krappe (1894-1947) ^[1] discusses the Balor legend in his book Balor With the Evil Eye: Studies in Celtic and French Literature (1927). Krappe believes Balor comes from a very ancient myth, perhaps, he suggests, going back to fertility rites at the time of the introduction of agriculture, of a woman (the earth) shut away by an old man (the old year), impregnated by another man, whose child (the new year), then kills the old man. Other versions of this myth: Gilgamesh, Osiris, Balder, Danaë, Balor in Ireland, the "May Count" in Sweden, and "it has even penetrated to Uganda, where it is told of a local chief."^[2] Moreover, according to Krappe, Balor is related to Janus, Kronos, the Serbian monster "Vy,"^[3] the Welsh Ysbaddaden Pennkawr [1], and other versions of a two-headed god with an evil eye. Krappe also suggests that the woman may originally have been a cow goddess, such as Hathor, Io or Hera.

[edit] Balor in other media

[edit] Books & Comics

• In Pat Mills' Slaine comic-book series in 2000 AD, Balor is depicted as a giant general of the Formorian sea-demons, with a red energy beam emanating from his eye.

• Balor is the nickname of a cross-eyed bursar in Breandán Ó hÉithir's novel Lig Sinn i gCathú.

• Balor is an incarnation of the Lone Power, the creator of all evil, in A Wizard Abroad, the fourth book in the Young Wizard series.

• In the book The Chronicles of Corum a member of the Fhoi Myore is known as Balahr, who has one large eye, similar to Balor's, that is opened by wires and then freezes its foes.

• In the manga called Arms, Balor appears as the final form of Keith Violet, a woman that work for the Egregori organization. In the story, which is full of references to Alice in Wonderland, Violet is the incarnation of March Hare.

• In the books The Once and Future King and "The Godstone and the Blackymor" by T H White, one of the hawks is named Balor.

• In Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile series (based on Celtic myth), the Firvulag champion Pallol Battlemaster wears an eyepatch over one eye: when he raises the patch, he is able to project an intense beam of psychic energy from that eye.

• Balor appears in T. A. Barron's The Seven Songs of Merlin, the second book in The Lost Years of Merlin series . He is the guardian of the Otherworld Well that provides passage into the Dead without losing your life.

• In William Sarabande's "Wolves of the Dawn", the story of Balor is told in a different light following him through his younger years to when he becomes king.

• Balor is referenced in Seamus Heaney's poem "Hercules and Antaeus" (from NORTH, 1975).

• Balor also appears in the series Erec Rex.

• In Diane Duane's A Wizard Abroad in a different time in Ireland's past, where he and the Fomori are fought by an army of Irish wizards, Nita, and Kit.

• Balor appears in Mark Chadbourn's fantasy series The Age of Misrule.

• Balor was also the main antagonist along with his Fomorian army in the final book of The Hollow series.

• Kenneth C. Flint retells the story of Lugh in his Sidhe series.

[edit] Games

• In the fantasy role playing game Dungeons & Dragons, Balor is the name of one of the most powerful types of demon, considered the equivalent of J. R. R. Tolkien's 'balrog'.

• Balor is the name Connacht the Wolf adopts when he becomes the new Leveler in the Myth computer game series. During the seventeenth year of the Great War, he interrogated the hero Alric, who was previously captured by one of Balor's six Fallen Lords (The Deceiver). During the interrogatory Alric learned by chance that the Fallen Lords were bound to Balor. Near the end of the war, Alric and the Legion went to Rhi'anon, Balor's fortress, and to enrage Balor planted the Myrkridian standard they had found inside the Tain. During the Last Battle, Alric immobilized Balor with the aid of the Eblis Stone, thus allowing the barbarians of the Legion to behead the warlord. In the end, Balor's head was thrown into the Great Devoid, ending his life and his sway over the surviving Fallen.

• Balor is also the name of Zasalamel's second unlockable weapon in Soul Calibur III.

• Balor appears also in the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot as the final boss in the dungeon of Tur Suil.

• Balor is a fomor notorious monster in the Chains of Promathia expansion to the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI

• Balor also appears as a boss in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. His attacks consist of smashing fists and punches, as well as a beam that is shot from his one visible eye, which can be avoided by crouching. His name is spelled "Balore", but he is recognizable by the energy beam fired from one of his eyes. In Aria of Sorrow, he makes a big entrance, crushing the classic Giant Bat boss that appears in most Castlevania games. This is meant to show how strong the boss is. In Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin he looks noticeably different than he did in Aria of Sorrow and is much easier to defeat in those games.

• Balor also appears as a boss in the strategy RPG Celtic Tales: Balor of the Evil Eye by KOEI.

• In InXile Entertainment's The Bard's Tale (2004), the final flail weapon the player finds is called Balor's Eye. It is found on the third floor of Mannanan's Tower. In addition to its ability to stun an opponent, which all flail weapons in the game do, the weapon has a chance of delivering a 'Sonic Slam' attack. The attack resembles a massive current of wind striking opponents, which enemies are powerless to defend.

• Balor is a weapon for Teo in Grandia II.

• In Vanillaware's Odin Sphere, Balor is the name of Odin's giant mace.

• In the RPG Changeling: The Dreaming from White Wolf Studio one of the Unseelie (evil) Houses of the fae is named after Balor, and his coat of arms depict a lone eye.

• In another game from White Wolf Studio, Exalted: Fair Folk, Balor was the leader of rakshas, being of unshaped Chaos who wanted to destroy the shaped Creation. Balor was slain but his story is still remembered among rakshas and Church of Balor is still carring his ideas.

[edit] Other

• Balor is also an evil, physically powerful immortal from the planet Progron in the science-fiction series Space:1999, who wears a black suit with large, flared sleeves and trousers. Deranged, deceitful, and quite mad, he is the threat encountered by Moon-base Alpha in the episode: "End of Eternity".

• Balor and his son Prince Nuada are the main antagonists of the upcoming Hellboy and the Golden Army movie.

[edit] References