The origins of Dagda and what gets adapted into SMTIVA
Colonization, religious syncretism and famine all play roles in this unusual representation.
1) Who are the Tuatha Dé Danann?
There was a series of invasions of Ireland by a succession of peoples, the fifth of whom was the people known as the Tuatha Dé Danann.
They faced opposition from their enemies, the Fomorians, led by Balor of the Evil Eye. Balor was eventually slain by Lugh.
With the arrival of the Gaels, the Tuatha Dé Danann retired underground and eventually became the fairy people of later myth and legend.
A quick overview to situate those unfamiliarized but their tales aren't the subject of this post.
2) Who is Dagda?
Dagda is the chief of the Tuatha Dé Danann, portrayed as a large bearded man in father-figure and druid roles. He is often described as an ideal of masculine excellence (although with a comical tone). He had many mates among female Irish figures.
Dagda possess items that gave him advantage over the Fomorians:
→ A magic club of dual nature: its end could kill nine men in one blow but with the handle he could return the slain to life → A shirt of protection from sickness → A cloak of shape-shifting → A magic harp not only able to command people, but also the seasons → And last, a cauldron which never runs empty. Through these, Dagda becomes able to control life and death, the weather and crops, as well as time and the seasons.
3) Humans or deities?
In truth... The lore of Tuatha Dé Danann being descended from a previous wave of inhabitants of Ireland comes from euhemerized accounts. In non-euhemerized accounts, they are descended from Danu, the mother goddess (lit. "Peoples of the Goddess Danu").
The medieval writers who wrote about the Tuatha Dé Danann were Christians. They described them as neutral angels who sided neither with God nor Lucifer and were punished by being forced to dwell on the Earth. Due to the hesitance in calling them by ‘gods’, they were often stripped of this title and instead lessened as simply ‘humans who had become highly skilled in magic’.
Medieval sources depicted Dagda as “a king of Ireland for eighty years, until turning it over and being killed in battle against the Fomorians”; however, this was an obvious attempt to rationalize his divine nature. Not only Dagda is a leader of gods, it’s not in the exact same sense of a king either.
Thus, it’s fair to assume an intended contrast between the “diminished human form” Dagda depicted in the obviously Christian-biased surviving sources and SMTIVA’s “deity-like” Dagda that doesn’t make use of numerous tools to in order to have the means to display unique powers.
4) The Celtic Otherworld
In Irish mythology, Tír na nÓg ('Land of the Young') is one of the names for the Celtic Otherworld (or part of it).
It’s an island paradise and supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy, where times also moves differently. Besides deities, it’s also a realm for the dead.
Left: "Land of the Ever Young" (Arthur Rackham) in Irish Fairy Tales (1920). Right: the DLC location Dagda takes you for grinding macca, EXP or items
Means of entry
It exists either in parallel alongside our own, or as a heavenly land beyond the sea or under the earth. Despite its elusiveness, various mythical heroes—such as Cú Chulainn and Fionn —visit it either through chance or after being invited by one of its residents. They often reach it by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, or by going under water or across the western sea.
Sometimes, mortals suddenly find themselves in the Otherworld with the appearance of a magic mist, supernatural beings or unusual animals.
Tech Duinn
In Irish myth, there is another otherworldly realm called Tech Duinn ("House of Donn" or "House of the Dark One"). It was believed that the souls of the dead traveled to Tech Duinn; perhaps to remain there forever, or perhaps before reaching their final destination in the Otherworld, or before being reincarnated.
"Who is the Dark One?", you might wonder.
5) Donn, The Irish God of Death
If you’re familiar with ancient Mediterranean polytheistic religions, you might notice that Donn (the Dark one) shares “death god” similarities with Hades and Pluto.
"One is struck here by the resemblance to the Greek lore of Pluto and the ferrying of souls across the river Styx. The similarity may be explained as a common ancient tradition concerning the dead which had come down to both Greek and Celts but… it seems more sensible to regard it as having originated in general Greek influence. Since the emphasis in these death-beliefs was on the imagery of the west, it is not surprising that the lore was further extended to the westernmost island of Celtdom, Ireland itself.” The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland (1999)
Donn is responsible for guiding souls from the land of the living to the land of the dead.
Donn’s island, Tech Duinn, is in reality little more than a rock (now known as Bull Rock) situated off the coast of the Beara peninsula. But for centuries that rock inspired fear in the minds of the ancient Irish.
"[...] three red horsemen appear as an omen of death, and they announce: ‘We ride the horses of toothless Donn from the tumuli, although we are alive we are dead!’ Donn is here a personification of the elders buried in the tumuli, which illustrates the physical aspect of funerary practice." The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland (1999)
Myth vs Pseudohistory
A purely mythological figure, Donn the death god would later become conflated with the quasi-legendary Donn son of Milesius.
“Medieval Irish texts describe the ‘belief of the heathen’ to the effect that souls go there to Donn, and in the pseudo-history Donn is euhemerised as one of the leaders of the Gaelic people when they came to Ireland. We read of this pseudo-historical Donn, however, that he was not destined to reach the shore of Ireland, but was drowned near the rock which bears his name.”
The Gaelic people are also known as the Milesians, namesake of Donn’s dad Milesius. The Milesians were the final invaders/settlers of ancient Ireland. They were the ones who defeated the Tuatha Dé Danann and sent them underground to their tumuli in the euhemerised version.
Donn was an important Milesian military commander and the eldest of Milesius’ eight sons. He seemed like a character fated for a heroic life, yet in every account of Donn’s deeds during the Milesian invasion of Ireland, he was doomed to fall off to his death in the sea in the island and intermixed his tradition to that of death god Donn.
Pre-Celtic roots
On a following note, some historians suggested that Donn might be actually an iteration of Bilé, Irish god of death who originated in ancient Gaul. Bilé, in turn, is the Gaelic iteration of a much older Celtic god who is often referred to as Bel or Belinos in the Brythonic tradition. He is the namesake of the Celtic feast day Beltane, which was—and among some groups, still is—celebrated on May Eve and May 1st.
In some Irish texts, Bilé is euhemerized as the father of the aforementioned Milesius. Therefore, Bilé is the quasi-historical father of Milesius, making him Donn’s grandfather, and clearly establishing Bilé as the original, more senior Celtic god of death.
"Mistifying" enemy nations
Bilé and the rest of the Gaels who invaded Ireland are described as coming “from Hades.” On a different note, the god of death Bilé is described as also being the source of human life:
The Mythology Of The British Islands: And Introduction to the Celtic Myth, Legend, Poetry, and Romance (1905)
And as shown earlier by what we discussed about Tír na nÓg, the Celts didn't consider the Land of the Dead as being a punishing and oppressive place like hell.
“In Celtic belief the underworld was probably a fertile region and a place of light, nor were its gods harmful and evil.” The Religion of the Ancient Celts (1911)
Totally the same, right? Left: Hortus Deliciarum - 12th century Hell (Herrad von Landsberg) Right: "They rode up to a stately palace" (Stephen Reid) Are you realizing where this is going?
6) Donn = Bilé = Dagda
"Irish god of the dead whose abode is at Tech Duinn (House of Donn) which is placed on an island off the south-west of Ireland. The house is the assembly place of the dead before they begin their journey to the Otherworld. In modern folklore Donn is associated with shipwrecks and sea storms and sometimes equated with the Dagda and Bilé." A Dictionary of Irish Mythology (1987)
We've reached full circle with our representative always being at the boundary between the world of the dead and the world of the living even under different names and locations.
Also, among Dagda's many names, two are relevant both on this discussion and for his SMTIVA portrayal:
-> An Dagda -> Dagda Donn "The Good God" "Dark Dagda"
While 'good' isn't particularly regarding his own morality, the same source mentions that Dagda is charitable, hence the title can be accurate in an altruistic sense as well.
Meanwhile, the possible (combined, even) reasons behind Dagda being called "Donn (Dark)"...
a) Due to having a dun tunic and a dark cloak b) Due to the death and ancestral god Donn (aka Bilé) originally being a form of Dagda thus being the original dark reflection of Dagda c) "Donn Dagda" being also... "Lord Dagda".
On a similar note, both Dagda and Donn have also been likened to the Germanic god Odin regarding shared motifs and, as pointed out by their dynamic in SMTIVA, Celtic cultures are the ancestors of Germanic people.
This is also emphasized by many of Dagda's other names:
Eochu Ollathair "Horse Great-Father"--generally taken as his "true" name
Fer Benn "man of the peaks" or "horned/pronged man"; could be a poetic reference to lightning, or could indicate a now-lost idea of the Dagda being horned, a not-uncommon feature in British and Gaulish iconography.
Cerrce It may derrive from *perkw "striker", i.e. lightning
Dagda (n)dur/Dagdai duir "harsh/stern" Dagda, but duir also may refer to the oak dair; the association of duir and dair also appears in the ogham tracts. Comparing the Dagda to an oak would also lend credence to the interpretation of him as a thunder god.
But back to the "Good Dagda" and "Dark Dagda" discussion.... What if SMTIVA took these two titles as two separate selves?
Donn Dagda -> Original dark reflection of Dagda -> The Ancestor Dagda from his Pre-Celtic era -> The "Old Dagda" that Nanashi fights against in Bonds while allies with in Massacre -> Immutable part of himself
An Dagda -> His heroic Tuatha Dé Danann self -> More aligned to how he's written in biased sources -> The "Entity created by Danu" that Nanashi allies with in Bonds -> Continuously reborn as long as Danu exists
Notice Danu's choice of wording. "My wish" Donn starts belonging to Danu as a Tuatha Dé Danann (Person of Danu) "good king" "good god" Donn was forced into a "personified" role over simply being nature itself. "forbidden magic" Danu is being self-aware about her true "pagan" origins, as she serves humans as both Tuatha Dé Danann and as Black Maria.
7) Effects of Christianity on Irish folklore
When Christianity was first brought in Ireland during the 5th century by missionaries, they were not able to replace the pre-existing beliefs in the Celtic societies. However, Irish folklore did not remain untouched.
As we mentioned earlier, the fairy folk, who were previously perceived as Gods, became merely magical and of much lesser importance, thus adapted to enforce Christian ideals.
All in all, the current Irish folklore shows a strong absorption of Christianity, including its lesson of morality and spiritual beliefs.
Most of these manuscripts were created by Christian monks, who may well have been torn between a desire to record their native culture and hostility to pagan beliefs.
The Tuatha De Danann were known to come from the heavens, but that may be from scribes not knowing how to execute their origin. So the scribes borrowed from past religions like the Greek, Roman, and Eastern myth to create an origin story.
Earth was also thought to be a woman at the time, so this was thought to be a metaphorical birth.
The uncertainty of Danu's origins
Danu has no surviving myths or legends associated with her in any of the primary Irish texts.
Danu is a hypothesised entity whose sole attestation is in the genitive in the name of the Tuatha dé Danann, which may mean 'the peoples of the goddess Danu' in Old Irish.
In Cormac’s Glossasy from the 9th century, the goddess Anu is stated as the mother of the gods. Some scholars suggest that Danu was a conflation of Anu and is the same goddess.
in which case Danu could be a contraction of *di[a] Anu ("goddess Anu"). Also cognates with Dana
Left: Mother Earth image, Atalanta Fugiens Right: The Paps of Danu, a pair of breast-shaped mountains in County Kerry, Ireland.
Some later Victorian folklorists attempted to ascribe certain attributes to Danu, such as association with motherhood and agricultural prosperity due to a "general Mother Earth concept".
"Danu herself probably represented the earth and its fruitfulness, and one might compare her with the Greek Demeter. All the other gods are, at least by title, her children." Squire (1905)
As shown by the flimsy lore attempts regarding Danu, whether medieval Irish literature provides reliable evidence of oral tradition remains a matter for debate. This is indicated in SMTIV&A by how fragile and dependent on biased Christian sources her existence is.
"Nativist" claims have been challenged by "revisionist" scholars who believe that much of the literature was created, often in imitation of the epics of classical literature that came with Latin learning, such as the Illiad. They also argue that the materials depicted in the stories generally date closer to those of the time of their composition (such as bows and chariots) than to those of the distant past.
The Mythological Cycle, which comprised stories of the former gods and origins of the Irish (including the Tuatha Dé Danann), is the least well preserved of the four cycles thus many manuscript sources that could have been what later myth writers based on may have been since disappeared, leading to Tuatha Dé Danann eventually becoming forgotten in the current era.
English colonization
During the 16th century, the English conquest overthrew the traditional political and religious autonomy of the country.
The Great famine of the 1840s, and the deaths and emigration it brought, weakened a still enduring Gaelic culture, especially within the rural proletariat, which was at the time the most traditional social grouping.
In the state of things, with depopulation the most terrific which any country ever experienced, [...] together with the rapid decay of our Irish bardic annals, the vestige of Pagan rites, and the relics of fairy charms were preserved, - can superstition, or if superstitious belief, can superstitious practices continue to exist? - William Wilde
Moreover, global migration has helped overcoming special spatial barriers making it easier for cultures to merge into one another.
All those events have led to a massive decline of native learned Gaelic traditions and Irish language, and with Irish tradition being mainly an oral tradition, this has led to a loss of identity and historical continuity.
Dagda's (briefly mentioned in-game) daughter
Brigid ('exalted one') is the daughter of Dagda and "the goddess whom poets adored". She is associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, smithing and domesticated animals.
The goddess Brigid was syncretized with the Christian saint of the same name. Medieval monks took the ancient figure and grafted her name and functions onto her Christian counterpart, Brigid of Kildare.
Saint Brigid shares many of the goddess's attributes and her feast day, February 1st, was originally a pagan festival called Imbolc, the first day of spring in Irish tradition.
Art mural depicting the duality of Brigid the pagan goddess and Brigid the saint.
As the more well-known goddess, and later saint, the legends of numerous "minor" goddesses with similar associations may have over time been incorporated into the symbology, worship and tales of Brigid, including Danu and Dagda's own.
This is subtly brought up in the request she makes for Flynn prior to SMTIVA: she requires the rescue of her (then absent) father's cauldron that could feed crowds of people and wait for the return of Danu, the "representative piece" of their group, to order to turn it back to its original state.
On a following note, Brigid's affectional and protective nature is distinctive as she not only began the custom of keening (traditional form of vocal lament for the dead in the Gaelic tradition) while mourning the death of her son but even her animals were said to cry out whenever plundering was committed in Ireland.
Which leads us to the final topic of this post...
8) Irish and the celebration of death
Long before the rise of Christianity, Celtic druids preached that the human soul was eternal thus in death, one simply moved into a different plane of existence (which is the Otherworld we mentioned earlier!).
Irish myths also emphasized to us that the barriers between the land of the living and the Otherworld are not always solid, which is perfectly displayed in the festival Samhain:
They believed that on the last night of the old year (October 31st) the lord of death gathered together the souls of all those who had died in the passing year [...], to decree what forms they should inhabit for the next twelve months.
The Book of Hallowe’en (1919)
Brigid alongside Dagda are "personified" concepts that show the picture of how intimate the Irish's relationship with death is.
To quote Scottish journalist Kevin Toolis, you’d be hard-pressed to find a country other than Ireland “where the dying… the living, the bereaved and the dead still openly share the world and remain bound together in the Irish wake.”
The oppressive YHVH forced those whose existences contradicted his to step down from being gods. The divided Danu desires to have a seemingly "lost authority" while still respecting the will of people that interprets her as part of Judeo-Christian lore. Meanwhile, Dagda subverts both YHVH and Danu as desiring to go back to being nature itself rather than a personification of nature that continues the cycle of human dependency on gods and viceversa.
Death begets life. And the most fertile soil is that which is rich with the remains of the once-living. Dagda, as the spiritual father to humankind, wishes to become 'fertile soil' for Nanashi and a new world of humans.
The Donn reflection of Dagda, which is linked to the mythological ancestor of the Gaels, is crucial to the circle of life itself.
