Emer
Emer
7 min read
Emer is the wife of Cúchulainn, the central hero of the Ulster Cycle of Irish Celtic mythology. The daughter of Forgall Monach, she is said to possess the six gifts of the ideal woman (beauty, voice, sweet speech, wisdom, skill at needlework, and virtue). Her meeting with the hero is told in “The Wooing of Emer” (Tochmarc Emire).
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- A figure of the Ulster Cycle, one of the four great bodies of Irish mythology
- Wife of Cúchulainn, the most famous warrior hero of Irish mythology
- Daughter of Forgall Monach, who at first opposes her union with the hero
- Heroine of “The Wooing of Emer” (Tochmarc Emire), a tale built on verbal sparring and trials
- Presented as endowed with the “six gifts” of the ideal woman in the Celtic tradition
Works & Achievements
The central tale in which Emer is the heroine: their meeting, the riddling dialogue, and the trials imposed on Cúchulainn.
A famous verbal contest in which Emer displays her wisdom and her eloquence, speaking in coded language to elude her father's spies.
A tale in which Emer confronts the fairy rival Fand and wins back her husband through the strength of her love and her words.
Emer's lament over her husband's body, followed by her own death from grief, which became a model of marital fidelity.
A modern retelling that gives Emer a prominent place and spreads her figure among the audience of the Celtic Revival.
Anecdotes
It was said of Emer that she possessed the "six gifts" of the ideal woman among the ancient Irish: beauty, a fine voice, sweet speech, skill at needlework, wisdom, and virtue. It was precisely because she possessed all six of these qualities at once that the hero Cúchulainn chose her above all the women of Ireland.
At their first meeting, Emer and Cúchulainn conversed in riddles and coded words, so that her father's serving maids and spies would understand nothing of what they said. Emer did not let herself be won over easily: she set the hero tasks to accomplish and reminded him that she could not marry before her elder sister Fial.
Emer's father, Forgall Monach ("the Cunning"), opposed the marriage. In disguise, he came to the court of Ulster and advised Cúchulainn to go perfect his warrior training with the formidable warrior-woman Scáthach, in Scotland, hoping he would die there. The plan failed: Cúchulainn returned more powerful than ever, took the fortress by storm, and Forgall died leaping from the top of his rampart to flee the hero.
In the tale "The Wasting Sickness of Cúchulainn," the hero falls in love with the fairy-woman Fand, who comes from the Otherworld. Emer then arrives escorted by fifty women armed with knives, ready to defend her marriage; but in the end she prevails not through force, but through a speech on the faithfulness and constancy of their love. The gods then pour out a drink of forgetfulness to soothe everyone.
According to tradition, after Cúchulainn's death in battle, Emer sang a long funeral lament over him. Inconsolable, she asked to be buried in the same grave as her husband and died of grief, thus sealing the faithfulness for which she was renowned.
Primary Sources
Such was Cúchulainn's choice of wife: she who possessed the six gifts — the gift of beauty, the gift of voice, the gift of sweet speech, the gift of needlework, the gift of wisdom, and the gift of chastity.
Looking at Emer, Cúchulainn declared: “I see a sweet country where I might rest my weapon.” And she replied that no one rested in that country unless he had accomplished great feats.
Emer said: “What is new is bright, what is familiar is sour; what is lacking seems precious, what one possesses is held cheap.” Thus she reminds Cúchulainn of the worth of a faithful love.
Emer wept over the body of her husband and, unable to bear living without him, lay down at his side and gave up her soul, asking to share his grave.
Key Places
Site of the fortress of Forgall Monach, where Emer lived and where Cúchulainn came to court her and then carry her off.
Cúchulainn's home in the plain of Muirthemne, where Emer settles after her marriage.
Legendary capital of Ulster and court of King Conchobar, the center of the warrior society to which Cúchulainn belongs.
Land of the warrior Scáthach where Cúchulainn goes to train, a decisive stage in his quest to win Emer.
Cúchulainn's territory in present-day County Louth, the setting of their life together and of the hero's final battles.
