Deity · Celtic · c. 1050 CE
The Morrígan
Also called Morrigu, Badb, Macha · also recorded as The Morrigan, Mórrígan (per Wikidata)
War-goddess who appears as a crow over battlefields and foretells the deaths below. Sovereignty and slaughter, held in one figure.
Well sourced
A goddess who decides battles without fighting in them. At Mag Tuired she meets the Dagda at the river before the fighting, promises to withhold the enemy king's blood from him, and afterwards proclaims the victory and prophesies the end of the world; in the Táin she propositions Cú Chulainn, is refused, and attacks him as an eel around his legs, a wolf at the cattle and a heifer leading the stampede, taking a wound in each shape. She then appears as an old woman milking, and is healed by blessings he gives without knowing who she is. Refusal, revenge and a reconciliation obtained by trickery, in one figure — which is a great deal more specific than the label battle goddess suggests.
Identity
Where does the name come from?
Where it was actually worshipped
None identified. She is attached to fords and battlefields in the Ulster Cycle rather than to any building.
A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.
At a glance
Vitals
Vitals
Also known as
- Rank
- Phantom Queen
- Pantheon
- Celtic
- Order
- Celtic pantheon
- Base of operations
- None identified. She is attached to fords and battlefields in the Ulster Cycle rather than to any building.
- Era
- c. 1050 CE
- Traditions
- Celtic
Traits
- Domain
- War, prophecy, sovereignty, death on the battlefield
- Traditional form
- A crow or raven; a woman washing bloodied armour at a ford
Stats
Known connections
Identified with
4 attributed
What is it said to do?
Where these powers cluster
The 4 offices attributed to The Morrígan, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.
A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.
- divination1
- martial1
- transformation2
3 texts
Which texts say so?
When these texts were written
Each dot is one of the 3 texts that names The Morrígan, placed at that text's approximate date.
A wide spread means the figure was carried across many centuries and traditions; a tight cluster means a single period produced the whole record.
3 texts, all inside a single century
Prophesies at the second battle of Mag Tuired; appears as a crow to the dying Cú Chulainn.
Meets the Dagda at the river before the battle, promises to withhold the enemy king's blood from him, and afterwards proclaims the victory and prophesies the end of the world. A goddess who decides a battle by prophecy and by a bargain rather than by fighting in it — which is the office, and the reason 'battle goddess' undersells her.
The full personality: she offers herself to Cú Chulainn, is turned down, and attacks him as an eel round his legs, a wolf at the cattle and a heifer leading the stampede, taking a wound in each shape. She then appears as an old woman milking a cow and is healed by his blessings, given unwittingly. Refusal, revenge and a reconciliation obtained by trickery, all in one figure.
Connections
What is it connected to?
Answered from the sources
Common questions
Which texts mention The Morrígan?
Is The Morrígan the same as The Erinyes?
What rank is The Morrígan?
How else is The Morrígan spelled?
What is The Morrígan said to do?
How old is The Morrígan?
Nearest in the corpus
If The Morrígan is what you came for, these are next
Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.
Balor
King of the Fomorians · Celtic
Fomorian king of Irish myth whose single eye destroys whatever it looks at. He was killed by his own grandson, exactly as the prophecy he tried to prevent had said.
Brigid
Goddess of Poets and Smiths · Celtic
The Irish goddess of poetry, smithing and healing who invents keening over her son's body at Mag Tuired — and whose name, feast and attributes are carried straight over to a Christian saint.
Lugh
The Many-Skilled · Celtic
The Irish god who gets into Tara by being master of every art at once, and who kills his own grandfather Balor with a sling — the Tuatha Dé Danann's answer to the Fomoire.
Nuada
King of the Tuatha Dé Danann · Celtic
The Irish king who loses his hand in battle and with it his kingship, because the Tuatha Dé Danann will not be ruled by a blemished man — and gets both back when a silver arm is made for him.
The Dagda
The Good God · Celtic
'The good god' — good at everything rather than morally good — with a club that kills at one end and restores at the other.
The Fomoire
The Adversary Host · Celtic
The enemies of every group that settles Ireland in the Lebor Gabála, and the clearest case in this corpus of a monastic redactor turning a defeated people into demons.
The books behind The Morrígan
Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. They are public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.
Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Moytura)
Anonymous; Irish monastic compilation · c. 11th c., from older material · Middle Irish
Read Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Moytura) in full ↗Lebor Gabála Érenn & the Mythological Cycle
Anonymous Irish monastics · 11th c., from older oral material · Middle Irish
Read Lebor Gabála Érenn & the Mythological Cycle in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Áed Ua Crimthainn et al (12th century) · Wikimedia file page
Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)
Anonymous; Recension I, Book of the Dun Cow and the Yellow Book of Lecan · c. 1100, from older material · Old and Middle Irish
Read Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) in full ↗
Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.