Cethern son of Fintan
Also spelled: Cethern mac Fintain, Cethern mac Fintain
An Ulster warrior who rides in alone during the pangs, is cut to pieces by the whole Connacht army, and still kills a Maine.
Overview
Cethern rides in alone during the pangs of Ulster, slaughters many men in the Connacht camp, and comes back to Cúchulainn with his guts around his feet. He kills fifty healers, some say, or only fifteen, for telling him he will not survive, and he knocks the healer Fingin across his chariot shafts for saying the same. Cúchulainn feeds him a mash of marrow at Smirommair, his wife Finn Bee brings his weapons, and he goes back at the armies with the frame of a chariot bound around his belly. He pierces the pillar-stone wearing Ailill's crown, splits the Maine who then puts the crown on, and falls at last under the whole army, after which his father Fintan comes to avenge him.
They had no right to give me bad news.
Connections
Related characters
- Ailill (his crown is used as bait)
- Cúchulainn (pities his wounds, fetches healers, feeds him marrow)
- Fergus mac Roich (named him from Mac Roth's description)
- Fingin (healer he knocks across the chariot shafts)
- Finn Bee (wife, brings him his weapons)
- Fintan (father, dies avenging him)
- Itholl (healer who lay as dead and warned the Connacht camp)
- Laeg mac Riangabra (sent to the enemy camp to fetch a healer)
- Mac Roth (saw him coming and described him to the camp)
- Medb (gave him his first wound)
Connected to
- Maine Cotagaib Uli (wounded by him and Ailill)
Places
- Crích Rois
- Cruachan
- Lia Toll (Named for the pillar-stone he pierced)
- Ochtur Lui (Named for his blow to Fingin)
- Smirommair (Where he lies in the mash of marrow)
- Carlaig (His home in the muster)
Appears in chapters
Appears in
- Cethern sleeps day and night in the marrow at Smirommair, in Crích Rois. At Crích Rois. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Cethern drives his sword through a pillar-stone at Lia Toll, where the Connacht camp has set Ailill's crown on top. At Crích Rois. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Cethern describes the armed woman who came against him first, and Cúchulainn tells him that was Medb of Cruachan. At Cruachan. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Cethern drives his sword through a pillar-stone with Ailill's crown on top of it, and the stone takes its name from that. At Lia Toll. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Cethern strikes Fingin with his fist and smashes his chariot, and Cúchulainn says it was a wicked blow to give an old man. At Ochtur Lui. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Fingin, Conchobor's own healer, examines the wounds of Cúchulainn and Cethern after Cúchulainn warns him to watch out for Cethern, who has already killed fifteen healers. At Smirommair. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Fingin offers Cethern a year of treatment and a full life, or strength in three days and three nights to fight his enemies, and Cethern takes the second. At Smirommair. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- The healer asks Cúchulainn for bone-marrow, and he makes a mash of marrow out of the bones of the beasts he can find, which gives Smirommair its name, and Cethern sleeps in it day and night. At Smirommair. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Cethern's wife Finn Bee brings his weapons in her chariot, and he sets off for the armies with the frame of his chariot bound around his belly. At Smirommair. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.