MIDER
Real Name:
Midhir (original Celtic spelling)
Occupation:
Lord of Tir na Bhog, god of the underworld and rebirth, former lord of Connacht
(c. 1870 BC)
Legal Status:
Citizen of Otherworld
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Mider except as a mythological deity.
Other Aliases:
None known
Place of Birth:
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives:
The Dagda
(father), Morrigan
(mother), Bodb, Oghma
(brothers), Oenghus
(half-brother), Badb,
Brigid, Epona (sisters), Eriu, Fodhla, Banbha
(half-sisters), Fuamnach (wife, possibly deceased), Llyr,
Gwydion,
Amaethon, Delbaeth, Bres
(uncles), Arianrhod,
Penardun (aunts), Arawn (son), Maev (daughter, alias Titania), Etain
(second wife), Bria
(daughter), Morgen, Glitea, Glitonea, Cliton, Moronoe, Mazoe, Thitis, Tyronoe (granddaughters),
Group Affiliations: The Tuatha de Danaan
Base of Operations:
Momur (Tir na Bhog) in the Otherworld Dimension, formerly Bri Leith (located
somewhere in County Longford of modern Ireland)
First Appearance: Mider has not yet appeared in Marvel or DC Comics.
History: Mider is the son of the Dagda, ruler of an other-dimensional realm of beings known as the Tuatha de Danaan, a race of beings who were worshipped as gods by the Ancient Celts and Gaels of Western Europe, and Morrigan, the goddess of war and death. The Tuatha de Danaan are eternal enemies of the Fomore, the ancestral spirits of Ireland. The Danaans eventually defeated the Fomore after two attempts and seized Ireland for themselves. They were worshipped as gods throughout Ireland, Britain and Western Europe with the Dagda as King of Eire, but when the Dagda retired from rule to depart Earth, he split Eire up among four counties among his sons with Mider acquiring Connacht and his brother Bodb Derg acquiring Munster. Bodb as the eldest son also acquired the title as King of Eire which irked Mider as well as Llyr the sea-god. During the Milesian invasion, the Danaans departed Earth for the realm of Otherworld connected to the Earth's dimension by way of countless sidhs or faerie mounds throughout Eire. Mider's sidh was located at Bri Leith in Connacht where he once ruled.
Mider took Fuamnach, the daughter of a Fir Bholg chieftain as his wife. They had a number of children including Donn mac Midher, also known as Arawn, who became god of the dead, and Maev, the Queen of the Faeries, known as Queen Titania in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Mider and Fuamnach, however, did not have a happy marriage, and he soon fell in love with Edain Echraidhe, a princess of Connacht, and departed Fuamnach for his new wife. Fuamnach used magic she had learned from Mider to transform Edain into a worm that turned into a beautiful fly. Mider was still content to keep Edain in her new form, but Fuamnach cast a wind that blew her away. Mider pursued Edain to recatch her, and she was caught by Oenghus who returned her. Fuamnach, however, created another wind to blow Edain even further away. Mider pursued her , and she eventually reached the court of Ulster where she was accidentally swallowed by the daughter of Edar, a hero of Eire. Edain was reborn in human form as grand-daughter of Edar. Ironically, she reassumed her old name, and as an adult, she was taken as a wife by King Eochaid Airemh, heir to the throne of Ireland.
By time Mider and Oenghus found Edain, some time had passed, and Eochaid Airemh had gained the throne. Edain had conceived Eochaid Airemh a daughter named Etain Ess (or Mess Buachalla by some accounts). Mider claimed Edain as the reincarnation of his lost wife, but she refused to depart her new husband without his permission. Eochaidh at first refused, but he then offered to relinquish her if Mider could beat him in a game of chess. Mider allowed Eochaidh to win the first game, and as a penance to this loss, Mider had to build a causeway across the bogs (marshland) of Meath near Tara.
Once having finished the causeway, Mider returned to Tara to once again reclaim Edain. He challenged Eochaidh to another match. Assured of his victory over the wily god, Eochaidh accepted the challenge, but this time Mider won the challenge and the right to reclaim his wife. Promising to return to reclaim his bride, Mider returned a month later to discover all the doors of Tara barred against him as Eochaidh and his warriors sat inside partying and feasting. Undeterred, Mider mystically appeared in his midst seized Edain and her daughter and again mystically teleported the same way out of Tara.
Eochaidh and his armies gave pursuit to reclaim Edain and her daughter, trailing Mider to the sidh of Bri Leith in Connacht, which they then began excavating for the entrance to Otherworld to invade. Mider finally appeared to Eochaidh and once again bargained with him. He mystically conjured fifty duplicates of Edain, promising to return her if Eochaidh could identify his own wife. Although Eochaidh chose carefully, the Edain he chose was in actuality his own daughter, although he did not realize his error until several years later. Through this incestuous relationship, Eochaidh fathered a daughter named Mess Buachalla, the mother of Conaire Mor, another King of Eire. (In later myths, Eochaid is the father instead of the grandfather of Conaire Mor.)
Mider and Edain lived a life of perpetual bliss afterward;
Fuamnach either departing Otherworld or passing away under unrevealed
circumstances. They lived in the land of Tir na Bhog, one of the realms of
Otherworld, which was largely populated by faeries and elves. In later myths, it
became known as Momur. Mider's later activities are unrevealed.
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 425 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red
Strength Level: Mider possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift
(press) 30 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Mider possesses the conventional physical
attributes of the Tuatha de Danaan or Celtic gods. Like all of the Danaans, he
is exceptionally long-lived, but he is not immortal like the Olympian
gods: he has aged at an exceptionally slow rate 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, her godly life
force would enable her 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
significant power, such as the Dagda, Gwydion or Llyr or for a number of Celtic
gods of equal power working together to revive him. Mider 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.)
Mider also has the ability to tap into and manipulate the energies of Earth for various powers resembling magic. He can teleport at will, mentally creating access points in space in locations he has visited, linking those two areas and then falling or jumping the linked distance between those two points. He can also teleport up to two other people with him. He is not adept as teleporting between dimensions since it takes a bit more of his energies to do so, but he can reach Otherworld through the enchanted access points in the sidhs of Eire due to the confluence of mystical ley lines on the island, even into modern years.
Mider can also cast and conjure hexes of psychokinetic force to cause probable but not improbable events to occur. He can cause certain individuals to be surrounded by positive energy for "good luck" or he can inflict other individuals with negative energy for "bad luck." He can alter his form, conjure any device of his own choosing, create duplicates of any person or object and mentally move and levitate matter. Despite his extent of magic, Mider is not as powerful as the majority of the Celtic gods, namely the Dagda, Llyr, Morrighan and Arianrhod, but he is more adept than most Earthly mystics.
Abilities: Mider is a wily yet beneficent god capable
of great cunning and trickery to attain his goals. He is a capable warrior with
a sword and archer.
Comments: Mider has yet to appear in Marvel or DC Comics.
Last updated: 09/27/08