[Celtic](celtic-religion) # Balor --- [[p-lajoye2014]] [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balor) #### Etymology "Balor of the Baleful Eye #### Def - Leader of the [Fomorians](fomorians.md) - The gaze of whose single great eye caused instant death, and who could not be slain by any weapon. Balor dwelt on Tory Island, in constant dread of the fulfilment of a prophecy, namely his eventual destruction by his grandson. Despite his attempts to forestall this end (by keeping his daughter Eithne away from men) she became pregnant and have birth to triplets. Balor cast them into the sea, but one survived: this was Lugh, who grew up to lead the Tuatha Dé against the Fomorians and who himself killed Balor with a slingshot through the eye. [Like Cronos, Ymir, etc? What about Polyphemus?] - He represents the forces of evil who power can only be neutralized by the light-force of Lugh...The Tuatha Dé and the Fomorians may represent the archetypal dualism between light and the chthonic (earthbound or underworld) forces, involving conflict but also mutual dependence. This last is demonstrated both the ancestry of Lugh and by the Fomorians' agricultural skills which were necessary to the well-being of the Tuatha Dé. --- # Sources - (m-green 1990)