Cian

Family: Tuatha de Danaan · Role: father of Lugh · First appears: The Gods · The Coming of the Tuatha de Danaan · The Reign of Bres · Part 1

When Ethlinn saw Cian, she said he was the face she had seen in her dreams and gave him her love; soon afterward, a blast of wind carried him away. After Birog of the Mountain brought Lugh to his father, Cian gave him to Taillte to be fostered. Cian was one of three brothers living together at Druim na Teine with Goibniu and Samthainn, and was also a son of Cainte and brother to Cu and Ceithen.

When Lugh sought help against the Fomor, Cian and his brothers promised to keep a hundred enemies from him and agreed to gather the Riders of the Sidhe. At the Plain of Muirthemne, Cian tried to escape Brian and the sons of Tuireann by taking the shape of a pig, but Brian recognized him. Brian speared him, then, with his brothers, stoned him to death. The sons of Tuireann buried Cian’s body seven times before the earth kept it.

The earth told Lugh how his father had died. Lugh found the grave and ordered his people to dig it up so he could learn the manner of Cian’s death; afterward they buried him again, keened over his grave, and raised a stone bearing his name.