The Dagda

(Art by Sigo Paolini)

### Aliases

Eochu, Eochaid Ollathair, Ruad Rofhessa, Dáire, Fer Benn, Cerrce, Eogabal, Aed, Cera, Easal, Dagda, Chief God of Celtic Pantheon, High King of the Tuatha De, Forefather of Sorcerers, Leader of the Thuatha De Danann, Celtic God, Odin

## Physical Description

### Spirit of

Father-figures, Kings, Fertility, Agriculture, Manliness, Strength, Magic, Druidry, Wisdom, Life, Death, the Weather, Crops, Time, the Seasons

## Relatives

### Consorts

The Morrígan, Dʰéǵʰōm, Boann, Englec, Echtgi

### Offspring

Aed, Aengus, Bodb Derg, Cermait, Midir, Brigid, Ainge

**The Dagda** is the Chief and first born of the Tuatha Dé Danann, serving as both its leader and greatest weapon. He was worshiped by the Celts before the Christianization of Europe and made his presence known despite his obscurity.

## Overview

The Dagda or simply Dagda is the Chief god of the gods of Celts. Considered to be the father of the gods his reach was prolific throughout Ireland, with many stories of his exploits and adventures being told.

## Appearance

The Dagda takes the form of an extremely tall man who, though stout, is extremely strong. He's almost always depicted with a red beard and a friendly smile. One unique characteristic of the Dagda is him being well-endowed, to the point where it drags across the ground.

## Personality

His epithet of the father of the Gods isn't meant to be literal (though he did father many of them) as he acts as the Father of the Tuatha Dé Danann and humanity, he's gentle and kind to those he calls his children treating them as like a father should with their children. Despite this Dagda is well known for being violent, this isn't without merit as he does enjoy combat, but what it truly means is that when he feels that one of his children had been hurt or wrongly abused he flies into a rage completely annihilating the perpetrator responsible.

The Dagda believes that the best way to remove humans from the tyrannies of the gods is to make humans into gods, so that each one would be independent and would need less of each other and, consequently, would not even need their gods anymore. This is very unique among the gods, as most would rather humans not be able to challenge their authority.

## History

### Early Life

The Dagda was born to Elatha and Ethniu, two gods that were obscure even as their son gained worship. Despite his parents' obscurity, the Dagda was charimatic and powerful enough to gather together a group of gods to form the Tuatha Dé Danann. He wasn't the only leader of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Dagda was smart so he knew that multiple chiefs would allow for better organization than just one. Lugh, The Morrigan, and Nuada Airgetlám were some of the gods that were picked by the Dagda to help rule.

There was a short time where the Dagda lived in Atlantis before it was sunk by Poseidon. Why he was there is unknown, though he was surprised when the island was sunk.

### Ireland

It had been decades since the sky god Dyēus had been overthrown and God told the deities where they would be worshiped. Both the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomoire were told that they would gain veneration from Ireland though it hadn't became a nation yet so the Tuatha Dé didn't consider settling down there yet. Eventually however, Nuada had noticed there had been nine generations of kings that ruled without them, and he had asked the other gods if they could finally gain worship their. The Dagda and the other gods allowed it, so they all took mortal form an went down to Ireland.

There was a great war between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the at the time inhabitants of Ireland, the Fir Bolg. The Dagda didn't take much part in the war, though he did help by healing his allies with his magic. The Tuatha Dé Danann managed to win, however due to the fact that Nuada had lost an arm in the conflict, the ruler ship of both Ireland and the Tuatha Dé Danann went to Bres. Bres was of the Tuatha Dé Danann but was also half Fomorian and seemed to have prefered his Fomorian side. Under Bres's rule, the Dagda was forced to build him a fortress and ringforts.

### Second War

Nuada had come back from his self imposed exile with a shiny arm made of the finest silver. This is what brought hope to the Tuatha Dé Danann, they could finally fight back against the Fomoire. Lugh went to the Dagda and asked what he would bring to the army. The Dagda, being incredibly angry that he was turned into a mere slave under the Fomoire rule, promised to kill them with his wizardry and to break their bones with his club. The Dagda was an integral part of the war, proving that if he had contributed more to the previous war that they would have won easily.

The war was eventually won by the Tuatha Dé Danann, though Nuada was required to return to the spiritual plane, so the crown of the earthly Tuatha Dé Danann went to Lugh.

### Various other ventures

The Dagda became entranced with the beauty of Boann, a river goddess, and wanted to sleep with her; however she was already married to another deity, Elcmar. The Dagda sends Elcmar on an errand that lasts an entire day so that he would be able to court his wife. After they were finished, the Dagda was forced to cast a spell on Elcmar that wouldn't allow him to feel the passage of time in order for the pregnancy to be hidden. In that time, Boann gave birth to Aengus, and when he found out his father was the Dagda he asked him if he could take ownership of Brú. After Aengus answered a riddle he was able to inherit the land.

Later when the Dagda's son, Cermait, slept with Lugh's wife Buach, Lugh took vengeance upon Cermait by killing him. Cermait's children (Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht, and Mac Gréine) then took vengeance upon Lugh by killing him in return and took ownership over Ireland. The Dagda then revived Cermait using his staff.

### Milesians

After one hundred and fifty years of rule, the Tuatha Dé Danann were challenged by a new set of invaders, the Milesians. The Tuatha Dé Danann were able to keep them away for a while by telling them to sail away from Ireland before covering it in a giant storm. Unfortunately, the Milesians were able to convince Ireland itself (possibly Dʰéǵʰōm acting under an alias) to let them take shore. The Tuatha Dé Danann were unable to argue with this, and so gave Ireland to the Milesians, who eventually became the Irish.

Most of the Tuatha Dé Danann returned to the spiritual plane, the Dagda included, they shed their mortal forms and became gods once more.

## Myths and Legends

The Dagda is a figure of worship from Irish and Celtic mythology, venerated as a king of gods or at the very least a very powerful member of the deities. He, just like the rest of the Irish gods, were eventually downgraded to sorcerers and humans when Christianity conquered Ireland around 431 CE.