Brian O'Sullivan's Blog, page 2

Cosplaying Irish ‘Mythology’

The site of Cú Chulainn’s supposed settlement at Dún Dealgan (which actually means ‘the Dún of Dalga’) was, in far more recent times, anglicized to Dundalk. When the town opened its first museum in 1901, therefore, it’s no surprise that they harkened back to it’s imagined ‘mythology’ rather than its real history – which involved far less appealing aspects like colonisation, land grabbing, subjugation, etc. – to celebrate its opening.

That opening was marked with a huge outdoor pageant with numerous people dressed up in ‘authentic’ fantasy costumes of the period. To celebrate the occasion four postcards were also produced (two of them attached).

Outdoor pageants of this type were very popular at the time but, obviously, come 1916, people suddenly had a lot more on their mind and the cosplaying abruptly fell out of fashion.

Strangely enough, Irish ‘mythology’ cosplay seems to have returned with a vengeance over the last few years. Nowadays, its not that uncommon to see people dressing up as imaginary figures from an imagined ‘mythological’ past. There’s no real problem with that when its done for fun, of course. Provided everyone understand its portrayal is probably just as accurate as that from 1901.

The Shop Is Open

I’m pleased to announce that the IRISH IMBAS shop is now open. I’m running a few book deals there at the moment but these will return to normal pricing in a day or two.

I’ll also be adding a number of different items to the shop over the next few months.

The Shop link can be found at the top of the home page.

Go raibh maith agaibh.

The Lough Gur Shield

This bronze shield excavated from Lough Gur gives many people a frisson of excitement as they imagine the warriors who used it in battle. The truth, of course, is less violent but just as fascinating.

Contemporary theory is that this was one of a number of votive offerings deposited in the lake and it was probably never used in battle at all. The fact that the shield dates back to over 700 BC is also an eye-opener in that it shows a thriving level of craftmanship in the country well over two thousand years ago. That’s several hundred years before the time period in which the Fionn mac Cumhaill stories are set.

The shield in the image is actually a replica which can be seen at Lough Gur. The original is kept in the National Museum (for obvious reasons).

Reviews for Dark Dawn/

The Irish Examiner

(Thu, 13 May, 2021 – Mike McGrath Bryan)

Dark Dawn: New Zealand-based Corkman draws on Irish mythology for new computer game

While we’re well used to seeing various interpretations of Irish mythos and pre-history in our pop-cultural diet, from music to film and television, it can all sometimes feel a little clichéd or watered-down for some.

One such person is New Zealand-based author Brian O’Sullivan. Originally hailing from Cork, he’s tackled the Fenian Cycle of mythological stories with his Fionn MacCumhaill series of books, rooted in his own knowledge and passion for the area.

The next challenge for his Irish Imbas publishing company, however, lies in reaching people through other media – including the medium of videogames, arguably long-overdue an infusion of Irish legend.

 

The first step for O’Sullivan is ‘Dark Dawn’, an ‘experimental online literary game’ released on Tuesday – a bilingual, browser-based, branching-story affair set before the age of his series’ protagonist.

“Essentially, it’s the story of a sick warrior who’s convinced – against his better judgement – to try and save a tiny settlement,” says O’Sullivan. “During the game, that warrior must make decisions – influenced by events in his own life – that can change the outcome. It’s a very simple story. A very human story.”

While the medium of videogames has been very slowly embracing the Irish language, including Dublin company Dreamfeel’s LGBT* visual novel ‘If Found’, it’s still a relatively new phenomenon to take in a familar medium in a familiar language.

O’Sullivan speaks about making the game available as Gaeilge. “The western publishing market is very much dictated by English-speaking audiences so veering too far outside the established norms can certainly cost you. That said, if you use the language with respect and not as a branding tool, á la ‘Celtic Fantasy’, you can give the reader an authentic cultural experience while keeping it accessible and fun.”

GrimDark Magazine

October 21, 2021 Nate Aubin) Last Updated on May 1, 2025

Brian O’ Sullivan’s “Dark Dawn” is a work of interactive fiction about a dying man and a desperate final stand. Set in the world of the author’s Fionn series, readers/players get to experience a dark and gritty retelling of authentic Irish mythology in first-person. With a fifty-strong raiding party days away from the tiny village of Ráth Bládhma, we take on the role of Ultán, a grizzled scout who’s handy with an axe and suffering from a fatal case of black flux. In the pick- your-own-path tradition of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks or Choice of Games stories, the options readers select lead to different outcomes for the protagonist and the village itself and reveal different sections of the narrative.

In terms of prose, worldbuilding, and characterization, “Dark Dawn” packs a lot of punch for its relatively short length. As a man pondering his imminent mortality, Ultán is a fascinating POV character with a narrative voice flavored by his grim reflections and a gradual acceptance of the inevitable. Having lost his own wife and son to bandits, he has something of a personal stake and a second chance in the survival of Ráth Bládhma. By contrast, however, the author does an equally good job of recognizing the humanity of every character, even the antagonists, with a powerful economy of words and small moments. In this way, I think O’ Sullivan’s done a good job of translating the mythological to the personal and realistic.

One aspect of “Dark Dawn” I really enjoyed was the way even wrong choices led to unique sections of prose. There are some substantial passages, for example, the player only sees through missing the raiders’ scouts and losing the game. The game is a bit linear  (as far as I could tell after a few playthroughs) with one real ending and one set of choices to get there. However, quality writing and characters go a long way to counteract this, and I still thought it was a very enjoyable way to spend an hour or so.

Compared to similar interactive fiction gamebooks, “Dark Dawn” is significantly more book than game. Eschewing the mechanics, character sheet, and rulesets of Fighting Fantasy or Lone Wolf, the focus is purely on narrative. And although I found the story to be enjoyable on its own, it does function more as a prequel than anything else. A successful playthrough concludes before the actual impending raid on Ráth Bládhma and points readers to the Fionn series if they’re wanting more.

While it did feel like something of an appetizer to the main course, it was an exceedingly good appetizer at that. Grimdark Magazine readers keen on Irish myth and/or Iron Age adventure should definitely check out this cool (and free!) little tale at Irishimbasbooks.com and try their own hand at saving Ráth Bládhma from a bloody fate.

Liath Luachra Abú!

This is an element of a side project on the Irish Fenian narratives that I’ve been working on, on and off over the past year or so. It’s still at a conceptual level for the moment so I’m undecided as to whether I’ll commit the time needed to complete it next year.

NAPOLEON and FIONN

Not many people are aware of the fact, but Napoleon Bonaparte was a serious fan of Fionn mac Cumhaill and it was often claimed that he slept with a copy of the Fhiannaíocht tales beneath his pillow at night [but that’s pretty unlikely].

Sadly, much of Napoleon’s interest stemmed from a fondness for a work known as ‘Ossian’ – (a Gàidhlig spelling of ‘Oisín’). This was a controversial work published in 1761 by John McPherson, a Scottish writer and politician) and which McPherson claimed to be a translation of a lost saga he’d discovered among the Gaelic-speakers of the Scottish highlands.

From its initial publication, scholars questioned the authenticity of McPherson’s work and the fact that he was never able to produce the original manuscript or any material on which he’d worked to make the translation.

Despite McPherson’s poem being rejected outright by Gaelic speakers and academics, his influence and connections meant it caught on with famous figures of the day outside of the British Isles, figures such as Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson and Voltaire.

Napoleon apparently liked the book so much, he commissioned an official painting called “Ossian receiving the Ghosts of French Heroes”. He also designated ‘Oscar’ (the name of Fionn’s grandson) as a regal name.

One wonders what he could have done with the genuine article.

Celebrating Seven Years Since ‘Liath Luachra: The Swallowed’

It’s been seven years today since I published “Liath Luachra: The Swallowed” so I celebrated by creating a brief scene from the woman warrior’s adventures.

I’m still being asked when I intend to do the follow up to Liath Luachra: The Metal Men and the simple answer is “Once the Fionn mac Cumhaill Series is completed”. That’s due to the narrative overlap between the two stories that you may – or may not – have noticed.

A Test for Irish Cultural Authenticity

Did you know that:

Irish ‘fairies’ are sexy and like to wear revealing, gossamer-style outfits?Banshees are actually a form of Vampire?Ireland swarms with werewolves?Ireland is awash with proverbs of great wisdom that no Irish person has ever heard of (but which turn up regularly in English-language articles on Irish culture)?

Nope. Me neither.

So what’s actually happening? You might want to read on.

Working in the Irish culture, history and ‘mythology’ sector over the past three decades, I’ve come across some pretty crazy notions and claims on the internet, of which the above are just the tip of the iceberg. Some of the claims made by self-proclaimed internet experts on ‘Irish Mythology’ and/or ‘Celtic Mythology’ can be very amusing but the sheer level of ignorance and intentional misrepresentation of Irish culture (particularly with respect to ‘Irish mythology’) is becoming more and more of a concern.

The key reason it’s a concern is that misrepresentation of Irish culture on such a global scale (the type that occurs over the internet) has the long term effect of diminishing and eroding our culture. In effect, that means that all those sites and all those individuals who post inaccurate or misinformed claims about Irish culture, history, ‘mythology’ etc., are, unfortunately destroying it by a thousand cuts. I don’t believe they’re doing this intentionally (they only know what they think they know) but the long-term impact remains the same.

Much of the main Irish cultural misinformation out there tends to originate from non-Irish writers who use W.B. Yeats as a source of information or who produce fantasy books in the dubious “Celtic Mythology” genre. That said, there’s also plenty of inaccuracies and falsification from mar dhea ‘pagan’ and ‘spiritual’ sites, and from overseas entertainment companies as well.

Fortunately, over the past five or six years, there’s also been an increasing trend of Irish people standing up to criticise and call out the worst offenders. That’s definitely something to be thankful for.

It’s important, therefore, to call out inaccurate cultural representation when you see it. The problem, of course, is that unless you work in academia, cultural studies, or have a very good working knowledge of Irish history and culture, its quite hard to tell when the outrageous claims being made are correct or not.

For that reason, I thought it might be useful to develop a set of basic ‘criteria’ to help work out the authenticity of the Irish/ Gaelic/ Celtic article/ post you’re reading/watching. The criteria are quite simplistic but, hopefully, will go some way to helping you determine if what you’re reading/looking at, is fact or fantasy.

(1) Using W.B. Yeats as a source of information

If you’re reading anything on Irish/’Celtic’ mythology that cites W.B Yeats or uses his work as a reference, you’d be better off edging carefully away. Yeats was a very talented poet and an artist and should be recognised for that, but Irish culture and native cultural beliefs formed only a small part of his overall interests. Predominantly fascinated by mysticism, spiritualism, and occultism, he adapted much of what he came across in Irish folklore/culture to align to these alternative belief systems. As a result, the resulting ‘facts’ he wrote about are more often a complete nonsense than not.

Despite the marketing material of vested interests in the commercial and tourism world, there’s a reason Yeats is not used in university Celtic Studies programmes.

(2) Use of the word ‘Fae’ or ‘Faerie’ or some other such derivative

The words ‘Fae’ or ‘Faerie’ are predominantly derived from old words in Continental European languages. In the English context, these words are found mostly in old books by long-dead writers (because they actually spoke like that) or in the books of more contemporary writers who want to make the word ‘fairy’ sound more ancient or ‘otherworldy’.

Some of the best names in fiction have done this at some stage and as a writing technique, there’s really nothing wrong with it as long as it remains within the realm of fiction/fantasy. If, however, someone is attempting to claim Irish cultural authenticity while using these terms, you really need to take those claims with … well, a pinch of ‘fairy dust’!

In essence, the word ‘fairy’ is just as inaccurate as ‘fae’ or ‘faerie’ in that they’re all words created from a mish-mash of different cultural concepts that have become warped over time and lacking in meaning. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that in the context of fiction/fantasy but be very careful when you see it being used in terms of authentic Irish culture.

(3) Lack of genuine familiarity with the Irish language

To understand a culture, you really have to have at least some comprehension of the language the people of that culture communicate(d) with. Without that understanding, it’s incredibly difficult to appreciate how people in that society thought, how they lived, how they loved, what values they held dear and so on.

Anyone who speaks more than one language knows that there are often concepts in one language for which there’s no direct equivalent translation in another language. These cultural concepts generally have to be explained in a different way (usually involving a lot more words) or the word from the original language is used. Examples of this might include ‘schadenfreude’, ‘déjà vu’ or even a little bit of ‘craic’.

Having some familiarity with the Irish language is an absolute minimum in understanding the full context of Irish history, culture and ‘mythology’. For example, on occasion, because I speak Irish, I find that I often get a better sense from a particular Irish story or cultural piece than a non-Irish speaker might get from the same material. This is not because I’m smarter or more insightful, it’s simply because I have a better cultural context to understand it.

There are limitations to this particular criterion of course. The Irish I speak today is not the same as the Irish spoken by our ancestors (Old Irish or Middle Irish) so my contextual understanding of material from that time is necessarily limited. Having a grasp of the language will not ensure your comprehension of Gaelic/Irish culture by any means – but it will certainly help.

Hopefully these criteria will give you some idea of the traps to look out for when you’re browsing the internet on Irish history, culture, or ‘mythology’. Over the next twelve months, we’ll be releasing some more detailed material on how to recognise Irish culture and better understand Irish ‘mythology’ and ‘folklore’ and how that works (the Irish Mythology 101 project) but, in the meantime, I hope these criteria are useful.

Although I’ve spent thirty years advising on Irish culture and trying to explain Irish cultural concepts, by myself I’m unable to oppose the tidal waves of misinformation currently flowing through the internet. Any help you can offer in that regard would be greatly appreciated however as a starter, please share this article with anyone you think might find it helpful.

Go raibh maith agat.

Share on Twitter Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Facebook

The Battle for Almu

This week I’m scoping out some of the details for the last book in the Fionn mac Cumhaill Series which is provisionally title ‘FIONN: Return to Almu’.

Cnoc Almhain (the Hill of Almu) in County Kildare was the reputed base of Fionn’s grandfather (Tadg mac Nuadat) and the area where his mother Muirne Muncháem was raised. It seemed like an apt place to bring the story of Fionn’s youthful adventures to a close.

Provisionally, I’m looking to write and release this in 2026.

At the moment, I’m working on ‘Beara 3’, ‘Irish Mythology 101’ (a non-fiction work), and another project I’m not going to make any announcements on yet.  

The Beara Series

Just a brief heads up on the proposed Beara Series.

I’m breaking the Beara Trilogy into a series of 6 books (each book in the Beara Trilogy = two books in the Beara Series).

The first book in the Beara Trilogy is Beara: Dark Legends

The first two books in the Beara Series are:

Beara: Dark Legends – Part One

Beara: Dark Legends – Part Two

The third book in the Beara Series (Beara: Cry of the Banshee – Part One) is planned for release towards the end of 2025, although this – of course – may be subject to change depending on workloads.