OGMIOS
Real Name:
Oghma Grianainech (Ogmios is his Celtic name)
Occupation:
God of eloquence, poetry and speech, former lord of Ulster (c. 1750 BC)
Legal Status:
Citizen of Otherworld
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Aphrodite except as a mythological deity.
Other Aliases:
Ogyren (Welsh name), Grianainech ("Sun-Face"), Ogma (variant name),
Place of Birth:
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives:
The Dagda (father), Morrigan (mother),
Llyr, Gwydion,
Amaethon (uncles), Arianrhod,
Penardun (aunts), Badb,
Brigid, Epona (sisters),
Bodb,
Mider (brothers), Oenghus (half-brother),
Diancecht (half-brother), Nuadhu (half-brother, deceased), Maga, Cerridwen (daughters), Coirpre,
Turenn (sons), Arawn
(nephew), Taliesin, Brennus, Ivchar, Ivcharba (grandsons, deceased), Ecne
(great-granddaughter), Manannan,
Cernunnos
(cousins),
Group Affiliations: The Tuatha de Danaan
Base of Operations:
Avalon
First Appearance: Ogmios has not yet appeared in the Marvel or DC Universes
History: Ogmios 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 with the help of Nuadhu, the mortal son of the Dagda, but in the war, Nuadhu lost his hand in combat. The injury prevented him from accepting the throne, and Bres, the half-brother of the Dagda took the throne. Bres, however, was half-Fomore by birth, and he eventually turned Eire back over to the Fomore. The Danaans were punished cruelly for the war, and Ogmios was forced into subservience by gathering firewood. Eventually, Lugh, the grandson of Balor of the Fomore, lead the Danaans to victory once more and completely ousted Bres and the Fomore from Eire, becoming king himself. Ogmios meanwhile pursued the fleeing Fomore as far as Torach (modern Tory Island) as they tried to make off with the harp of the Dagda and finally rescued it to return to Eire. In his absence, Lugh sought to obtain punishment upon Brennus, Ivchar and Ivcharba, the grandsons of Ogmios. The three brothers had had a long standing feud with Cian, the father of Lugh. While Cian traveling to Ulster to muster an army against the Fomore, the three brothers intercepted him and killed him. Lugh sent the brothers upon a series of increasing impossible tasks expecting them to lose their lives, but each time, the three brothers survived within inches of losing their lives, receiving mortal wounds on their last challenge. Instead of granting their lives, Lugh allowed the three brothers to die of their injuries. It is unrevealed as to how Ogmios responded to their deaths.
Lugh and the other Danaans eventually elected the Dagda as ruler of the Tuatha de Danaan and King of Eire, but when he retired from rule to depart Earth, he split Eire up among four counties among his sons with Mider acquiring Connacht, Bodb Derg acquiring Munster, Oenghus acquiring Leinster and Ogmios acquiring Ulster. Bodb as the eldest son also acquired Meath along with the title of King of Eire which irked Mider as well as Llyr the sea-god, who accepted the other-dimensional realm of Tir fo Thuinn, an undersea kingdom as his realm. During the Milesian invasion, however, 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. They were worshipped as gods throughout Ireland, Britain and Western Europe.
Around 100 BC, Eire was starting to be invaded by the Greeks and the Vikings who brought their own gods with them. The Romans conquered Britain and merged the worships of their Olympian gods with the native Celtic Gods. Lugh and Hermes shared worship rites, and Ogmios was equated with the god Hercules, who gave him the pelt of the Nemean Lion he wore as a gift. Ogmios was afterward often pictured wearing a lion skin.
Relations with the Asgardian gods worshipped by the Vikings and Saxons however remained strained for several thousand years. In recent years, Thor pursued a griffin from Asgard to Otherworld where it slew a Danaan couple, and Llyr accused Thor of responsibility for the murder of the Danaans when in actuality it was the griffin that killed them. Thor's ally, Hogun the Grim, meanwhile, had followed Thor to Otherworld to offer his help. Llyr and Thor soon joined forces to slay the griffin, which had been sent by Seth, the Egyptian god of evil. Llyr, however, believed he owed Thor a debt for helping Avalon against the beast and he rallied Oghma and several of the Tuatha de Danaan to help defend Asgard, from the armies of Seth. Ogmios fought valiantly in the war, sided by the Black Knight, the modern-day descendant of Sir Percival, ally of King Arthur, and was victorious in defeating Seth. Ogmios returned to Avalon with Llyr and the other Celtic gods afterward where he is believed to still preside.
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 475 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Strength Level: Ogmios possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift
(press) 40 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Ogmios 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. Ogmios 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.)
Ogmios has abilities to tap into and manipulate mystical energies to an unknown extent. His full mystical abilities are unknown, but he not nearly as powerful as the Dagda or Morrigan.
Abilities: Ogmios is a beneficent and wise deity with
some creative ability; he is the inventor of the Ogham script involving ogyrens
(the Celtic alphabet) found as far as the Eastern continental United States. He
is a capable archer and warrior.
Weapons: Ogmios carries a club and a bow.
Paraphernalia: Ogmios once owned a cauldron of mystical power, capable of
conjuring mystical spells and producing elixiers, but he passed it on to his
daughter, Cerridwen,
mother of Taliesin.
Comments: Ogmios has yet to appear in Marvel or DC Comics
Last updated: 09/27/08