mine

I fucking love Medb 

To start this post off here’s a crash course of Medb’s history. She’s the daughter of the high king of Ireland, who married her to Conchobar Mac Nessa (the king of Ulster) as compensation for killing Conchobar’s father. They had a kid together, but the marriage was shit and so Medb left him. Her father married one of Medb’s sisters to Conchobar instead to replace her and Medb fucking murdered her. Her father then realized marrying Medb off was a bad idea so instead he deposed the then king of Connacht and installed Medb in his place as queen. The former king became Medb’s lover, but he had effectively jack shit to say in how to rule the country.

Then there was an assembly that both Medb and Conchobar attended and Conchobar assaulted Medb, which caused a war. Medb’s lover challenged Conchobar to single combat but lost, forcing Medb to retreat, and once home she took the commander who made sure they got home safely as her husband. She also had an affair with Ailil Mac Máta, head of the bodyguard, and when the current king found out Ailil killed him in single combat and became the new king of Connacht. From then on Medb had many lovers (including Fergus) and did basically whatever the fuck she wanted all the time. All that happened before the events of the Tain Bo Cualinge, which is the story of how Medb invaded Ulster and Cu fought her armies off on his own.

So, from that it’s clear that from the start Medb’s life was one of extreme political power games. The political climate of ancient Ireland was vicious and Medb started out in a position where she’d be traded off as nothing but a relationship gift. Her life was one of either using others or being used by others, and so she decided to use others.

That wish really puts things into perspective. It was specifically to make him a king wicked enough to match her.

good question! and one that I have spent a lot of time thinking about so this might get a little longer than you bargained for. the thing that stands out the most to me regarding this topic is this exchange from chapter america

which leads me to think that cu alter is supposed to look a lot more monstrous, but he purposely limits himself in order to keep a form that’s still approximately human. I briefly mentioned it in these posts from the other day but the key here is that while cu does’t necessarily mind being a monster, he doesn’t want to be nothing but a monster. cu alter is forced to act somewhat out of character thanks to medb’s meddling but even so he is cu chulainn and he will retain the dignity of a hero even as a warmongering beast.

this is something you can spot in the tain too: before riding out to his greatest slaughterfest he took precautions so that he could keep his sanity even as he exploded into a mass of flesh and murder, and afterwards he did his best to make sure the image that stuck was the one of him as hero and not as monster. cu chulainn is a figure that exists on the interstice between monster and hero but what I think is important is that while he is man and beast alike, he chooses to be a hero. he is by definition ulster’s greatest hero yet continuously has to prove himself as such throughout his various tales. he is a monster but never lost himself in that monstrous nature and re-establishes the image of himself as hero again and again, by choice, even after the most brutal displays of bestial slaughter. as siegfried granblue put it: “unfortunately for you, I’ve decided to side with people over beasts”

even though cu alter was summoned as a berserker he refuses to act like the beast he is expected to be. he is merciful to his underlings, he withholds his own monstrous form as much as possible, his mad enhancement is ranked at EX(C) because he’s perfectly lucid, just stubborn to the point where he seems insane. even though he is a monster he refuses to be a monster. and I believe it is specifically this quality that makes him cu chulainn berserker alter. 

cu chulainn does not like his berserker self, and I think this is because the real berserker cu chulainn is nothing but the monstrous side of him. heroic spirits are merely individual aspects of the hero as a whole so it’s quite possible that the berserker version of him is one that doesn’t keep establishing himself as hero, doesn’t choose people over beasts. during the riastrad cu chulainn is invincible, but he only ever transformed when cornered into it and for him to even enter the berserker class requires either a forced alteration or to leave behind the part of him that would object to it. if this assumption is correct it would mean that cu alter is in fact closer to lancer cu than the unaltered berserker cu because despite everything he is still closer to cu chulainn’s heroic ideal than his true berserker self, and stubbornly clinging to his heroic pride (despite claiming to have discarded it) is what makes him a berserker cu that would not exist under normal circumstances. 

Little bobble heads! Transparent under the cut

(゜∇^d)!! Speed paint below sjjsjsjjsjsjjs

Before everything went wrong; pt 2