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Some more pointing. Part 1

Hello. Welcome back, and welcome for the first time.

Today I bring the long awaited - for like two days, really - of our pointy series.

As I mentioned before, this time I'll stick to things I'm more familiar with, rather than try to research everything in a single day.

For our first pointy fact, I want to talk about a famous Irish hero and, obviously, wielder of a lance. Indeed, I already mentioned him in passing a couple of entries ago: Cú Chulainn.

Cú Chulainn, whose name means "Hound o Chulainn" was the son (and incarnation) of Lugh. Yes, the same Lugh we already talked about. Wait, I can hear you say, haven't you already talked about his lance?

You see, the spear wielded by Cú Chulainn has nothing to do with the Lance of Lugh. Cú Chulainn obtained his weapon, named Gáe Bulg, by his teacher Scáthach, a legendary warrior woman who lived in Scotland. Cú Chulainn appears prominently in the Ulster Cycle, and I could be here all day trying to say a single story of his, so I'll skip to the spear itself.

The Gáe Bulg is described as a barbed spear of terrifying appearance. It's said to be made from the rests of a dead giant monster and was guaranteed to kill what it struck.

Depending of the author, the spear could be either be used like a normal - and extremely efficient - weapon, or it needed an oddly specific ritual to make it work; one tradition says that the spear needed to be thrown using the feet toes at the top of a stream, only then would be deathly.

 

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