Queenie + Percy’s Top Ten Heroes of all time – Number 10

Cuchulainn (the hound of Culann)

Hero of ancient Irish mythology. Great hurler. Formerly known as Setanta. Was named Cuchulainn after he killed Culann’s guard dog with a perfectly aimed sliotar down the neck. When he was four.

Not to be confused with that other great hurler, Setanta Ó hAilpín. People from Cork think this fella is a hero, but Queenie is not, so she doesn't reckon he could choke a wolfhound with a sliotar.

Cuchulainn grew up to be the greatest warrior in Ireland. As such, he was useful to powerful people, and so was manipulated by various, nefarious rulers, such as Conchubhair of Eamain Mhaca (Armagh) and Queen Maedb of Connaught. Ended up killing his best friend Ferdia in battle as a result of her deviousness. Auld bag.

And of course, we’re still killing each other over small, boggy patches of land that wouldn’t feed a warrior, never mind a host – Queenie.

Fought the entire forces of Connaught single-handedly, after Maedb put a spell on the rest of his comrades, and when finally overcome, tied himself to a pillar and fought on. When he died, nobody would go near him to check his pulse until a raven settled on his shoulder and drank his blood.

Had a vicious temper, known as a paroxysm, or distortion. In fact, Queenie reckons he’s a forebear of the Incredible Hulk:

“he became a fearsome and multiform and wondrous and hitherto unknown being. All over him, from his crown to the ground, his flesh and every limb and joint and point of articulation of him quivered…. His mouth was twisted awry till it met his ears. Flakes of fire streamed from it…. The sounding blows of the heart that pounded within him were as the howl of a ban-dog* doing his office, or of a lion in the act of charging bears.” – The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p 333

He makes it into Queenie + Percy’s top ten, but his bad temper loses him the top spot.

If anyone has any submissions to make on the top ten heroes of all time (well this week anyway), Queenie would be interested in receiving them. But she is not interested in building a consensus here because she has to do that for a living and that’s bad enough. So the final decision is hers. And Percy’s.

* Ban-dog means female dog btw, unless Campbell meant bán, which is white in Irish. Queenie is a pedant on top of everything else.