Dubthach
Also spelled: Dubthach Dóeltenga, Dubthach Chafertongue, Dubhthach Doeltenga
The Dark, the black-tongued
The black-tongued Ulster exile who massacres the girls of Ulster, curses Cúchulainn from the Connacht side, and is flung away by Fergus.
Overview
Dubthach mac Lugdach is an Ulster chariot-warrior with a sword called Uathach, who is named with Fergus and Cormac as a pledge for the sons of Uisliu and kept back from them by Conchobor's cunning. When Noisiu is killed he kills Maine, Conchobor's son, and before morning he has massacred the girls of Ulster. He goes with the exiles to Connacht, chants a vision of the war on Trego Plain, and at the ford calls Cúchulainn the Warped One, wishing all the armies would put an end to him, until Fergus says to get him back behind the army, since he has done only harm since the maiden-massacre, and flings him from him. Fergus says there that Dubthach killed Conchobor's son Fiacha and Coirpre mac Feidlimid, which differs from the earlier account, and later Dóchae's javelin hits him by mistake and he talks in his sleep of the armies and the host of Ulster.
If I had my way / all the armies together / would put an end / to this Warped One!
Connections
Related characters
- Conchobor (the king whose sons he kills)
- Cormac Connlongas (fellow pledge and exile)
- Cúchulainn (calls him the Warped One)
- Dóchae mac Mágach (his javelin hit Dubthach by mistake)
- Fergus mac Roich (fellow pledge and exile, who flings him away)
- Maine, son of Conchobor (killed by him on the green)
Connected to
- Fiacha mac Fir Febe (comes with him to Bird Pass and is hit by Dóchae's javelin)
Places
- Emain Macha (where he massacres the girls)
- Gáirech and Irgairech
- Murtheimne Plain
- Ochaine
- River Cronn
- Trego Plain (where he chants his vision)
- Ulster
Appears in chapters
Appears in
- The Ulstermen drink from the vat Ol nguala while the chariot-warriors practise on spearcords, and the women's love for Cúchulainn makes them look for him a wife. At Emain Macha. In Cúchulainn's Courtship of Emer, and his Training in Arms.
- Dubthach Dael of Ulster dreams of the armies at Gáirech and Irgairech and speaks his dream aloud in his sleep. At Gáirech and Irgairech. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Dubthach has a vision of one man, worth a whole host, who comes to guard Murtheimne's herds. At Murtheimne Plain. In Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn.
- Dubthach chants that the river Cronn will bar the way to Murtheimne until the warrior's work is done at Mount Ochaine to the north. At Ochaine. In Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn.
- Dubthach chants that the river Cronn will rise, all clay, and bar the way to Murtheimne until the warrior's work is done at Mount Ochaine. At River Cronn. In Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn.
- The army breaks its march on Trego Plain and gets its meal ready, and Dubthach is said to have chanted a verse about the war there. At Trego Plain. In Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn.
- Before morning Dubthach has massacred the girls of Ulster and Fergus has burned Emain, and they go to Connacht with the exiles. At Ulster. In Exile of the Sons of Uisliu.