Name: Balor
Appearance: The two most important features of balor are the fact that he has a cow face and a powerful eye. Some depict him as three-eyed, some as one. Some believe it's the origin of the cyclops stories. Some see him more as a demon and put wings on him. With the cow-face, he typically has horns and is depicted as standing on two legs. In some sense he can be compared to a minotaur, but typically looks far more demonic than the half-man, half-cow creature people imagine in the minotaur stories.
History: Balor can be found in folklore dating back to the 19th century. This creature is from Irish tales. Similar to how there are different visualizations of the creature, there are different stories surrounding the Balor. These range from how he was killed, what he signified, where he resided, and why and when he died. There are also similarities between Balor and Ysbaddaden from Welsh mythology.
Info: In most stories, Balor is killed by his grandson. He is a giant with a dangerous eye that causes damage when open. In order to be killed, the eye usually has to be destroyed. In one notable version, the eyelid takes several men to left by a ring attached to it in order for it to be destroyed. In none of the depictions I found did Balor seem to be a character of good repute.
Additional Notes: Something interesting I found while researching Balor is that the story has a lot of parallels with Lord of the Rings. When you think about the important element of the ring, and the dangerous eye. It is also a demonic creature that has imagery similar to Balrog that Gandolf battles. Balrog... Balor... coincidence? Perhaps everyone else already knows the parallels and realizes J.R.R. Tolkein borrowed from these myths when writing his story, but it was news to me and I found it fascinating!
Credit and Additional Reading: If you found the above interesting and want to read more from where I got some of my material, check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balor
Keep an eye out for the short story I will write about Balor in the next three posts!
Happy Adventuring,
G.G. Marshall
Read a short story inspired by this creature!
Part 1 (Avail 2/15/24): https://www.ggmarshall.com/post/a-song-of-remembrance-1
Part 2 (Avail 3/21/24): https://www.ggmarshall.com/post/a-song-of-remembrance-2
Part 3 (Avail 4/18/24): https://www.ggmarshall.com/post/a-song-of-remembrance-3
댓글