THE DAGDA

Real Name: Eochaid Ollathir

Occupation: Chieftain of the Celtic Gods, God of the Sky, Magic, Wisdom and Abundance, former god of Eire (c. 1830 BC)

Legal Status: Citizen of Avalon 

Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the Dagda’s existence except as a figure of mythological origin.

Other Aliases: The Daghdha (alternate spelling), Sucellos (Gallic name), Taranis (Roman Name), Ruad Rofhessa (Red One of Perfect Knowledge), The Good God, Father of the Gods

Place of Birth: Somewhere along the Danube River in Ancient Europe

Marital Status: Married

Known Relatives: Elathan/Belenus (estranged father), Gaea (mother, alias Danu); Gwydion, Leir, Amaethon, Delbaeth II (brothers), Arianrhod, Penardun (sisters); Eochaid Bres (half-brother); Morrigan (wife); Oghma, Mider, Bodb Dearg (sons); Andraste/Badb, Brigit, Rhiannon/Epona (daughters); Oenghus/Anghus (son by Boann); Diancecht, Finbair, Nuadhu II (sons by an unknown goddess); Eriu, Banbha, Fodhla (daughters by Anu/Aine), Lugh I, Dylan (nephews); Boann, Be Find (sisters-in-law); Luchtine, Creidne, Goibnu, Cernunnos, Arawn/Donn, Anpao (grandsons); Niamh/Nimue/Lady of the Lake (grandniece); Delbaeth I (grandfather); Net/Nuadhu I (great-grandfather);

Group Affiliations: The Tuatha de Danaan (Gods of the Celts), The Council Elite

Base of Operations: Avalon in the other-dimensional realm of Otherworld

First Known Appearance: (name only) Savage Tales I#4, (actual) Thor I #398

History: The Dagda is the son of the Fomore King Elathan and Gaea in her role as the Celtic earth-mother, Danu. It is not sure the consequences of his birth, but the Dagda was nurtured from the great oak tree called Bile and from the waters from the earth so that he would grow up to be tall and powerful (later myths claim he sprang from an acorn from the tree, but many of these tales may be apocryphal or based on inaccurate translations from the original Celtic orals). The Dagda and his siblings were raised by Gaea in order to rise up and overthrow the Fomorians who had been for millennia before the primeval gods of Ancient Eire. Gaea raised the Dagda and his other siblings on Earth and, as adults, they led many attempts to oust the Fomore hold from Ancient Eire. At Magh Tuiredh on earth, the Danaans managed to defeat the Fomore and claim Eire as their own with the help of Nuadhu, the son of the Dagda. Nuadhu, however, lost his hand in battle. Unable to rule Eire due the loss of his hand, Nuadhu placed his nephew, Bres, on the throne of Eire in his stead. Bres made a vow that if he ever did anything to displease the Tuatha de Danaan that he would willingly abdicate the throne.

Although the grandson of the Dagda, Bres was the son of the Fomore king, Elathan, and he turned over Eire back to the Fomore. Unwilling to live to his vow, Bres subjugated the Danaans and took Brigid, daughter of the Dagda, to be his wife. The Danaans were relegated to menial chores and the Dagda was forced to dig ditches. The Fomore wounded Goibniu who created the weapons of the Danaans and damned the spring which provided them their vigor. Taken captive, the Dagda was fed a vast porridge of milk, meat, fat, veal and pork in a vast cauldron. Eating so much, he fell asleep and awoke later to find himself guarded by Nindech, daughter of Indech, a Fomore leader.

The god Lugh, however, escaped his protective prison from where he was hid from the Fomore and lead the Danaans once more to victory against the Fomore. Bres and the Fomore were exiled from earth to another dimension and the Dagda became ruler of Eire following sending the Fomore into exile. The Dagda meanwhile took the goddess Morrigan as his wife and equal, and together, they had several sons. He also seduced Boann the river-goddess and became the father of Oenghus. He divided Eire into four provinces known as Ulster, Munster, Connacht and Leinster to be shared equally among his sons and kept Meath around Tara as his own. This division of Eire angered his brother Llyr kept from ruling part of Eire and he retreated to the Sidh Fionnachadh before claiming all the sea as his domain. Worship of the Tuatha de Danaan as gods spread from throughout Ancient Ireland and Briton into Gaul and parts of Eastern Europe.

The Danaans established hostilities with the Olympian gods worshipped by the invading Greeks and Romans as well as with the Asgardian Gods worshipped by the invading Vikings and Germanic tribes of Europe. The invading Romans considered the Dagda the equal of their god Zeus and called both gods Taranis. However, in the early Eighteenth Century BC, the Milesians invaded Eire and refused to honor the worship rites of the Danaans. The Milesians dominated the throne of Eire from then until about 1000 AD when Brian Boru unified Eire under one ruler.

From the other-dimensional realm of Avalon, the Dagda ruled the Danaans as the gods of the Celts and Gauls. In the Fifth Century AD, King Arthur, a mortal descendant of Llyr had turned away from worship of gods to promote Christianity. In 1000 AD as Brian Boru conquered and unified Eire,  the Dagda had to cease hostilities with Odin, Ruler of the Asgardian Gods, and Zeus, Lord of the Olympian Gods and formed an alliance to defend earth from danger posed by the alien Celestials. The Dagda, Odin and Zeus then met with the heads of of the other races of gods who were or had been worshipped on Earth to discuss the Celestial's possible threat to Earth. The Celestials threatened to seal off the inter-dimensional portals with each of the godly realms with earth unless the gods made a pledge to stop interfering with mortal affairs. As a result of this pledge, the Danaans had to lesson their contact with earth. The Dagda also made a vow to Odin to donate the life energies required to revive the Asgardians slain against the Fourth Host of the Celestials, and when Thor came to Avalon for the life energies required to revive the Asgardians slain in battle by the Celestials, the Dagda provided him the life energies to restore the Asgardians.

In modern years, the Dagda stood by this alliance with Odin and supported Leir's choice to head to the aid of the Asgardians against the Egyptian god Seth after Thor had helped Llyr to vanquished one of Seth's beasts from Avalon. He located Asgard, and sent their best warriors to Asgard's aid, and even conducted the battle strategy from afar. Although Seth was defeated, Llyr savored the challenge of war once again after millennia of peace and once again decided to provoke the Fomore into war. The Dagda tried to assuage Llyr's choice to renew hostilities with the Fomore and manipulated a group of insects to take the idea of war out of them. The Dagda remained loyal to the rulers of the other gods of Earth as part of the Council Elite, but when he was temporarily erased from existence by Thanos wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, his son, Nuadhu, represented him in discussing the threat Thanos posed to earth.  

Despite the vow to non-traffic with mortals, Lugh sometimes appeared on Earth posing as a costumed adventurer named Caber. No one believes Caber to be the god he claims to be, but rather a person with superhuman powers paying homage to the ancient myths of Ireland, Modern Eire. The stag-god, Cernunnos, seeing how several of the other groups of gods sponsored superhuman individuals on earth as representatives of their heritages on earth, such as Captain Marvel and Red Wolf, petitioned the other Danaans to impart their power on a mortal. The Dagda, from behind his visage as Taranis the Thunderer, and Morrigan supported his wish in granting power to the mortal Kyllian in his oath to defend evil as their own representative on earth. However, Killian was corrupted by the sorcerer Mordred (not to be confused with Modred, son of King Arthur) and turned against Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, who had been mentoring him. Just how the Dagda and the Danaans will react to this is as yet unrevealed.

Height: 6' 9"
Weight: 485 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White (Brown in his youth)

Strength Level: The Dagda possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift (press) almost a hundred tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: The Dagda possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Celtic gods. Like all of the Tuatha da Danaan, he is extremely long-lived, but he is not immortal like the Olympian Gods. He has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If he were somehow wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of equal power, such as Zeus or Odin or for a number of Danaan gods working together to revive him. The Dagda also possesses superhuman strength and his Danaan metabolism provides him with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Danaan flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Celtic Gods.)

The Dagda also has exceptional powers to tap into and manipulate mystical forces on par with such gods as Zeus and Odin. The level of his power is unrevealed, but so far, he has shown he can open dimensional portals, hurl forms of energy, erect powerful barriers of energy and to manipulate lower life forms such as bees and other insects. He can also perceive phenomenon on a cosmic scale, such as when he clairvoyantly detected Asgard's location while it was separated from the Celestial Axis. He can also alter his form and can appear as Taranis in a more muscular form similar to the Olympian god, Zeus. He can also grant power to mortals such as Doctor Druid or the hero Jack O'Lantern.

Abilities: The Dagda has exceptional equilibrium, dexterity and athletic prowess. Despite his girth in ancient times, he was a capable warrior and swordsman. He is also an exceptional leader tempered by patience, stragedy and a passion for peace.  

Weapons/Paraphernalia: The Dagda owns an enchanted club with enough power to slay nine men with a single blow or to restore those fallen in battle back to life. When he dragged the ground with it, he created furrows in the earth. His mystic cauldron of plenty could feed entire nations without emptying. His harp could produce music to bend the seasons to his will, extending autumn or hastening spring for summer at will.  

Base of Operations: Avalon is one of several worlds in the other-dimensional realm of Otherworld, which includes, but is not limited to, the worlds of Momur, a faerie world, Annwyn, the land of the dead, and Tir fo Thuinn, the land beneath the waves claimed by Llyr. It is adjacent to earth by a series of portals connected to the ley lines of Britain and Eire which are located underground; as such, several myths claim that the Danaans live beneath the earth. Some of the outer realms of Otherworld have been accessed by portals located at sea, but these points of access seem to exist along space/time anomalies. The hero, Bran (not to be confused with Bran, son of Llyr and ancestor of King Arthur), once returned to Eire after spending only a year in Otherworld, but discovered he had been missing from Eire for three thousand years.  

CLARIFICATIONS: The Dagda is not to be confused with: