Lir

Also known as: Lir of Sidhe Fionnachaidh · Family: Tuatha de Danaan · Role: Manannan's father · First appears: The Gods · The Coming of the Tuatha de Danaan · The Fight with the Firbolgs · Part 1

After the battle of Tailltin, Bodb Dearg was chosen king, but Lir left the gathering without acknowledging his kingship. Bodb Dearg offered him a foster-child as a wife if he would accept his lordship, and Lir chose Aobh. They had four children: Fionnuala, Aodh (son of Lir), Fiachra (son of Lir) and Conn (son of Lir). After Aobh died, Bodb Dearg offered her sister Aoife (wife of Lir) as a wife, and Lir married her.

At Loch Dairbhreach, Lir found his children transformed into swans. Fionnuala told him that Aoife (wife of Lir) had destroyed them through jealousy, and that their forms could not be restored until nine hundred years had passed. Lir and his people stayed by the lake listening to the swans sing.

In later adventures, war broke out between Lir and Ilbrec, and Caoilte fought and killed him. Manannan was his son; in the tale of the hunt of Slieve Cuilinn, Cuilinn was said by some to be Manannan.