The Morrighan
Warfare in the history of Ireland was frequent, and according to some of the earliest Irish folklore, there was at one point a goddess of warfare, or a goddess of the fallen on the battlefield. However, the Morrighan is not explicitly described as a goddess in most of the literature she is featured in. The popular belief was that she was something like a banshee, or a phantom. Some sources say that she was but one form of a triple goddess. The other two were the Badb and Macha. The Morrighan is most often depicted much in the same fashion as a valkyrie. Some historians and experts in Irish mythology have claimed that the Morrighan was a patron deity or at least a guiding spirit to Irish männerbund groups. The männerbund were something like what most of us know as guerilla war groups, except eventually the youthful warriors involved came into their inheritances, and left off.
Other experts claim that warfare was not the Morrighan’s primary function, and though the battlefield may have been her favourite haunt, she was not limited to it. Instead, she may have been representative of the spirits of sovereignty, cattle, and fertility as well. In Ireland, located in County Tipperary, there is a burnt mound site, known as the “cooking pit of the Morrighan”, or Fulacht na Mór Ríoghna. Other similarly known goddesses or crone like spirits have had similar hills or mounds, such as the goddess Danu or Anu, who has her own hills in County Kerry. The Morrighan also has two hills, called Dá Chich na Morrigna or “the two breasts of the Morrighan” in County Meath. Grian has similar hills as well, in County Limerick. Some attribute the hills to groups such as the Fianna, which were outsiders, and mainly a group of mercenaries, or the bands of männerbund. Others believe that the character of Morgan Le Fay from the stories of King Arthur is related in some way to the Morrighan. However, experts on the subjects say that the Morgan from the Arthurian lore is from Welsh origins, and is related to the sea, while the name Morrigan is related to either terror, or the word for “greatness.”