#ethniu

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Fae, wizards, a Norse god, a dragon, and various other powerful supernatural beings at the summit: o_O

“Gentleman” John Marcone, the only vanilla human representative:

Ethniu is a Fomorian from Irish mythology. The daughter of Balor, she married Cian of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and gave birth to Lugh, who would grow up to be a warrior king and god of truth and law.

The most famous version of the tale tells of how, in order to circumvent a prophecy that he would be killed by his own grandson, Balor imprisoned Ethniu in a tower on Tory Island. Cian, in retaliation for Balor stealing his cow, rescued and seduced Ethniu, who eventually gave bith to triplets. Balor tried to drown the babies, but Lugh survived, and in adulthood killed his grandfather.

Image source.

Monster master list.

I think Quan has 2 distinct origins to his name - Cian and Cu Chulainn. And how does one find this out? His wife and weapon.

Like many names in Genealogy of the Holy War, Cian and Cu Chulainn are both Irish in origin.

So, firstly, let’s talk about Ethniu, or as you may know her, Ethlyn. was the mother of Lugh, one of the most famous figures of Irish mythology. Keep him in mind.

Ethniu is also famous for being the daughter of Balor, a cyclops who led the Fomorians. But why talk about her?

Lugh’s father and Ethniu’s partner was called Cian.

Now, moving onto Lugh’s son and reincarnation- Cu Chulainn. Personally, I think you should watch Overly Sarcastic Production’s video on Cu Chulainn, but for the short of it:

Cu Chulainn - Hound of Chulainn - cursed his life to be glorious but short, got sent to train with Scathach alongside Ferdiad since his love interest’s dad didn’t like it and wanted him dead (classic), fought Aife aka Scathach’s rival/twin sister, took down a huge army nearly alone and dies in combat. Cool. Again, watch OSP’s explanation -it’s better and funnier

Anyway, Cu Chulainn famously wields the Gae Bolg, a spear that is kinda scary. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the character named Chulainn doesn’t wield the Gae Bolg.

So, we have Cian and Cu. Mashing then together, we get Cuan. Now here’s the haziest part: I think the translators decided Cuan was too hard to say so to make it easier, they replaced the C with a Q, since it sounded similar and was easier to pronounce.

A bit more about…

Lugh 

Ethniu