I always read Connla's story less as "Cu forgot he had a kid" and more "hey, King man said to kill this kid, so it doesn't matter if he's mine or not, I'm going to follow orders." I mean, his wife is begging him not to go this one time (almost as if they might know that something is up). At the end of the day its no different than killing best friend Lizardman because they stood on opposite sides of the battlefield.
well yeah, I just got it mixed up with how I wrote it in connlaâs profile haha
in the versions I read the whole situation is very much overlaid with the sense that everyone present knows who is related to who here, but because everyoneâs honour depended on fighting each other it ends with connla dead anyway. iirc when emer tried to convince cu not to go she even explicitly tells him not to do it because thatâs his son but cu goes anyway because heâs not in any position to refuse a direct order from the king
a lot of ulster stories actually have an undercurrent of âif youâd just listened to your wife instead of your own pride none of this would have happenedâ and I think thatâs neat
