Heroism in the Fianna Cycle

Fionn became a symbol for Fianna groups, projecting an esoteric image of life in the wilderness.

“There was a king of Ireland named Feradach the Prosperous, and he had two sons, Tuathal and Fiacha. When Feradach died, his two sons made a division of Ireland between them: to the one went the country’s treasures, valuables, goods, herds, cattle-drivings, rings, ornaments, forts, strongholds and towns; to the other went Ireland’s cliffs, rivermouths, nuts, fruits, beautiful speckled salmon, and game…”

“That was not a fair division,” said the nobles of Ireland.
“Which portion would you have preferred?” asked Oisín.

“The portion that includes the feasts, houses, and the benefits that come with them, as opposed to the portion of woods, wildernesses, and game.”

“The portion which they think is inferior seems to us the better one,” said Caoilte.

Fionn’s knowledge was one source of his heroism.

Another story explains how he used his knowledge and wisdom to reveal a trap that an enemy, the King of Lochlainn, had prepared for them.

Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren

The beds of Diarmuid and Grainne from the Fianna cycle stories

Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren

Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren

The beds of Diarmuid and Grainne from the Fianna cycle stories

Enlarge image

But Fionn was no flawless superhero – he had faults, and the capacity for weakness. The story of the elopement of Diarmuid and Gráinne is possibly the most famous in the Cycle. It presents Fionn as an old man who married Gráinne, the young and beautiful daughter of the high king of Ireland, Cormac macAirt. But Gráinne doesn’t want to be with this old man. She falls in love with Fionn’s loyal friend, the warrior Diarmuid. Diarmuid rejects her, so she places him under a geasa (spell). His resistance withered, he elopes with her. Furious, humiliated, and rejected, Fionn sets off in hot pursuit of the lovers, and a game of cat and mouse ensues, with Diarmuid and Gráinne helped by some members of the Fianna. They hide in the dolmens dotted around the Irish landscape; today, these dolmens are often referred to as “the beds of Diarmuid and Gráinne.” There’s no happy ending for the lovers. Fionn is reconciled with Diarmuid, but Diarmuid is attacked by a boar at Fionn’s behest, and a bitter and jealous Fionn lets him die.

The story has parallels in the story of the elopement of Naoise and Deirdre in the Ulster Cycle, and the story of Guinevere’s affair with Lancelot and the fury of her husband, King Arthur, in Arthurian legend, and also the story of the Cornish knight Tristan and Irish princess Iseult.