FIR BOLG: Giants of the Earth (Celtic Mythology Explained) 

It's my theory that, the Fomorians are to the Tuatha De as the Jotnar are to the Aesir, the Fir Bolg are to the Tuatha De as the Vanir are to the Aesir. A more primitive, chthonic tribe that, at first, make war upon the gods, eventually become reconciled combatants.

The Fir Bolg are a playable race in Dungeons and Dragons. I’ve loved them for years. Very interesting to hear the original mythos.

thank you , we know very little about the Fir Bolg , the search for knowledge is the path to freedom , very interesting indeed . stay safe from Dublin , Eiru .

I love this explanation emphasizing the metaphors in these tales for our relationship with untamed natural forces.

Man I love this guy's videos they're so detailed. I've been reading this book about Celtic mythology and he's filling in all the gaps perfectly.

I think we can learn something about the relationship between the Tuatha Dé and the Fir Bolg and the Fomhóire by comparing it to the Titanomachy and Gigantomachy of the Greeks. A lot of the details are different, but I think the symbols underlying the struggles, of budding civilization versus primal forces of nature, are the same.

Fir Bplg sound a lot like the Cyclops. The Cyclops were not the single-eyed people that are shown in the movies. The term Cyclopean means "round eyed". They were also reported to have the "third eye" and were used (by the Greeks and Romans) to create massive stone structures that exist to this day.

Thank you! Very well researched and presented! These stories go to support other stories from other civilizations worldwide. The battle to form civilization from the chaos of nature. AKA the "Order out of Chaos" scenario that repeats in cycles. Into an ice age, then out of an ice age. The growth, maturation and subsequent failure of civilizations. For something to be born here, something else has to first die. Just the "nature of this world".!

Outstanding! Well done research and interpretation, good sir. Providing profound insights.

Thank you so much for sharing these stories. They matter.

Glè mhath, admitting when wrong is a part of standing tall, being honorable, as well as a sign of a good journalist and scholar. 🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Fascinating. The story I heard was much more fanciful. The thin and fair De Dannen fought the dark and stocky Fir Bolg over control of the land resulting in a draw. They split the land between them. De Dannen ruled above, Fir Bolg ruled below, coming down to us in fable as fairies and trolls respectively. I married a woman of pure Irish descent (her parents were said to be born on the boat over or just after landing). She described herself as 'Black Irish'. She had jet black hair and was very stocky, the very definition of 'big-boned' (her wrists were larger than mine) and she was very strong. I used to muse that she was descended from Fir Bolg.

Im interested in the connection between the Tuatha da Danaan and the Scythians. Not just the Milesian connection but one that may date to early inhabitation of both Ireland and Northern Britain. Possibly originating in the Haraapan culture of the Caucus Mtns.

Book Recommendations on Celtic myths and History? Fantastic work Sir.

You are filling in a whole lot of blank spaces for me. I'm loving this channel!

Thank you for this video! I don't know much about Celtic mythology so it's really interesting to hear :)

At its most basic description I always assumed these tales describe the conflict between earlier inhabitants of Ireland who worshipped the forests and its species (an early hunter gatherer type people ) with proto indo Europeans who brought with them agriculture and began clearing the forests to grow crops and keep livestock thus transitioning Ireland from the dark underworld of forests to the bright open planes full of livestock and crops. Also what strikes me is the references to "bag people" in ancient sites such as globeki tepe and as depicted on the hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt. I really enjoy and appreciate your work

Its like the war between the Vanir and Aesir in norse myth. The war also ends with a truce and some Vanir are brought into the fold of the Aesir.

Amazing research man! Clears up so many confusing things 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I love your stories i learn so much new things from them

Fantastic work Kevin, well done.

Great video, thank you.

Thanks for sharing that 🙏 listening from Ireland ☘❤

OMG! I am so glad I found your channel. This is my favorite mythology, being Irish and all

I practice germanic paganism because I'm mostly of germanic decent but have Irish and Welsh ancestors as well. If it wasn't for your channel I'd know nothing about my celtic ancestors Thank you again for another great video as usual

Have you considered the Fir Bolg as representative of the animistic world view and the Tuatha Dé as representative of the arrival of polytheists? In this case the "gods of the earth" would only be forces requiring subjugation from the more religious, possibly liturgistic polytheists. Rather, the Fir Bolg would represent the direct integration of mankind's actions with the natural forces.

Excellent presentation. I always come away from your videos with new and better information than what I had, and the Fir Bolg have been a curiosity of mine for some time now. Your expertise is always very helpful for filling in gaps. If you ever feel inclined, it would be wonderful to see a video about Goibhniu of the Tuatha De Dannan, a man of many talents and particularly interesting for his role in the immortality of the tribe. I've always thought he's been underappreciated. Also, I would love to see a presentation about Lugh's mythology in chronological order, as a biography (as well as an overview of the literature). I'm sure there are stories and tidbits you know as a Lugh scholar that the rest of us haven't seen. Anyway, thanks for being here on RU-vid. You're a fantastic resource on so many topics.

There are carvings of giants carrying what looks like leather bags.... Now I'm on a mission to find them.

The bag? So they are the being, shown in art all over the globe, holding the bag for on temple reliefs?

Excellent. I was not aware of Pryderi as a parallel to Bres. Blodeuwedd, the Maiden Made of Flowers, might be more clearly understood by such parallels as a Fomori. In fact, that is quite similar to Odin marrying Frigg/Freya, settling a peace between the Æsir and Vanir by marriage.

Good video. A lot of great (new to me) details. I became interested in Celtic Mythology around the year 2000 when I first read about it in D.J. Conway's book "Celtic Magic" (first published in 1990.) There was very little information (widely) available about the mythology given the time. Of course, since then there has been much more information coming to light via the internet and general world-wide sharing of information in other forms. D.J. Conway points out that many aspects of Arthurian Legend are Christianized versions of Celtic Mythologies. My own observations and learned knowledge has found that aspects of Celtic Mythology can be found in J.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" stories. I've also noticed similarities in the video game series of "Soul Calibur."

God I love the Xenogears music in the beginning

So interesting, I really enjoyed this, and to put things clearly I can say the first bolg represent the primordial gods and primordial forces of nature just as in Greek myth with the primordial gods, the titans, their children and then the 3rd generation of olympians

If the Tuatha De had to travel North to learn magic, that implies that the ancestors they shared with the Fir Bolg didn't know magic, and that when they left, those who would become the Tuatha De were not gods, and thus those who would become the Fir Bolg weren't either. So, did both groups achieve apotheosis separately? It's also interesting to me that (the ancestors of) the Fir Bolg were enslaved while the Tuatha De were taught.

Love these videoa You live your work and it shows

I loved this video! Thank you so much!

So the Fir Bolg and Fomorians are but two different sides of the same coin? How intriguing.

I’m sorry I’m a late to the party and probably missed any discussion on the topic. The vid is very well executed and the thesis is intriguing. I agree that there is an agricultural myth embedded in these legends. I think it may have survived in a more general sense? The Tuatha Dé themselves appear to have been enveloped in this theme. In the 8th or 9th c De Gabáil in t-Sída it says the descendants of Mil of Ireland had their crops destroyed until they made peace with the banished síd folk under their king Dagon, a name which implies “wheat”. In Tochmarc Étaíne the same tale is told but with An Dagda replacing Dagon. In Togail Bruidne Dá Derga we find the hero Mac Cécht has taken three chieftains of the Fomóire as hostage in a pact to preserve fine weather and crops in Ireland. The hero’s name would mean “son of plow” and is also a name shared with a Tuatha Dé king. Do you an amazing job chronicling the overlap between the Fir Bolg and the Fomóire, and I agree again that you are on to something. There is also a lot of overlap between the Fomóire and the Tuatha Dé and the Tuatha Dé and the sons of Míl. In Baile in Scáil Lugh is called a descendant of the sons of Míl and in the Cóir Anmann Nuadu Airgetlám is likewise called one of the sons of Míl. Just a couple examples to further the argument that all the invasion myths relate the same story involving the origins of agriculture. Great stuff looking forward to more!

very good work

You are doing great work.

💚💙🤗Content like THIS, Makes my heart SING! 🌈🌞🖖🏽🎶

Have you considered a video(s) on the Welsh Mabinnogian?

It seems there is a parallel between this version of gods of the underworld being intertwined with the seasons or harvest and Greek Persephone spending half the year in Hades. (At least I think it was Persephone. )

Hail King Nuada

Skyrim music + mythology 👌🏾💯

According to Seumas MacManus, the Formorians were the gods of darkness and chaos being replaced by the Tuatha De Danann who were the gods of light and order. According to some books that I've read, the Formorians' leader was Balor of the one eye, one arm and one leg. Balor was slain by his grandson Lugh, child of Lie and Balor's imprisoned daughter. Her offspring was prophesied to be his killer.

interesting info on the bags, could it be that they brought seeds in bags/sacks as in the farmers digging in the earth?

Awesome vids, thanks

I HAVE SOMETHING TO INTRODUCE IT’S A SUGGESTION IDEA THAT INVOLVES THE CELTIC MYTHS: I think it might be interesting to have a (CELTIC MYTHOLOGY) cartoon show series get created. Now I genuinely want to see the many different types of Celtic magical beings, and magical creatures; From the good magic beings, and good magic creatures, to the wicked magical beings, and the evil magical creatures. In addition have it show the many different types of races, tribes, to the ways they live their lives, and to the different types of conflicts that later led to battles that had happened in different eras.

Lugo and Lugh. Very close proximity and wording.

Giants of the earth? They were an offshoot of the Belgae in Gaul, and ended up settling the west of Ireland after the Gaels took over most of island. Their descendants still live in Connemara and the islands.

A couple things 1st of all excellent video. I too have had the experience of doing research to present something I thought I knew just to be thorough, and discovering something new and contrary to what I believed. It speaks well for someone to note It and in effect perform a mea culpa. I agree with many of your conclusions if not all. But I wonder if both interpretations are not possible. That is to say the overarching meta that you here presented represents the truth of mythic story. But it is expressed In the context of the events I believe to be a distant memory of the defeat and suppression of the early pre Indo-European anatolian derived agricultural inhabitants of Ireland and Great Britain by the Indo-European western Bell Beaker people. Food for thought. Lastly as someone earlier suggested I would greatly enjoy reading or seeing your treatment of the Morrigan, and even more, Manannan Mac Lir similar to what you did a short time ago on the Dagda. Stay well!

Now my understanding based on a 60's translation of The Book of Conquests, the Fiirbolg were crafts people so skilled in stone, that Alexander The Great hired(?) them to travel and build palaces and temples as their buildings were beyond compare. The Fir Bold they carried contained their magically exceptional tools. When they return they find other tribes have taken their fields and lands.

Make me appreciate the ones from DnD much more

could the distinction between formorian and fir bog be equivilant to the distinction in the north between troll and dwarf: With the tuath de danann being personifications of creative energy entering into 'ireland' (the uninitiate self) and splitting the primal material of the land between formorian (pure evil / chaotic) and firbolg (satisfactory). this might suggest a christianisation of older myths with the danann folk standing in for the creative will of god (the creator) splitting the fires between lower and upper fire, before retiring from creation like a dwarf turning to stone in the light of day.

so interesting!

The 20th century fantasy and science fiction author Michael Moorcock wrote a series of novels based upon Irish mythology called collectively "The Chronicles of Corum". The books are an excellent read and give an interesting, albeit purely fictitious, "history" of the events later told in Irish mythology and folklore.

Fir Bolg = Men of the Bags. Celts wore trousers = bags. Roman always whinged that celts wore trousers.

I think what happened is that as the human groups fought, the outsiders were spoken of as monsters. Thats why in one story a member of a group might be a monster, and in another story a member of the same group might be an evil inlaw. The problem is that modern people are reading things far too literally. People in the past often used overly exaggerated speech to get a point across. Alternatively in modern times any exaggeration is treated as ignorance or as an excuse to derail the conversation. It makes it difficult to understand the writing styles of the past. People in the past probably didn't think members of these other groups were literal monsters. Just like how in old stories the human protagonist could have an evil troll as a parent, but the protagonist was not considered half troll themselves.

My brother waited 25 years to tell me he saw a Sasquatch not far from where we saw a grey thing float in front of us. I don't know but stuff is real.

i think if these tails are literal at some level the must refer to the overlapping of ages and the relative stability of the island during the geologicaly tumultuous time between ages. the goal of ogham was to preserve against the confusion on languages. we can guess that this is a clash of different races of man, the survivors of the 2nd age fight the refugees of the 4th all have some level of interaction or crossover with the 3rd

History is often found in ancient myths

As a descendant of Mug Ruith of Fermoy, Druid of the Fir Bolg, I approve of this video.

Where do I fibd this family tree of the gods?

Sounds like the Tuatha de have something to do with the seasons or perhaps light is more accurate and that the Fir Bolg are the weather or elements

Music from skyrim playing gently in the backround. Lol

the Fir Bolg is a collective name for mythical creatures, not just giants!

How accurate is lady Augusta Gregory’s book of gods and fighting men in your opinion and from all you have learnt? Is it an accurate representation of the source?

I think it was Micheal Tsarion who suggested the Tuatha de Danann may be linked to the "tribe of Anu" and hence the Annunnaki - bringers of art and culture etc. There are alot of tribe and place names the world over that contain " Anu" or "An" or "Ana" - I think I saw some in one of the geneology tree diagrams in this vid. I did see " Og" and that has nearly the same regularity around the world. So what I'm getting at is- do you think the Tuatha were connected with the Annunaki, and do you suppose the Fomorians/Fir Bolg were giant in stature? Or connected with the biblical giant king Og of Bashan? Thanks Great Video

Yessss! Skyrim music!

The story of "the beginning" of God and its children and the roles they played with Celestial entities within our Galaxy and here on Earth are often done by personification using relatable names to the particular race of beings whom have adopted the knowledge of the origins of the Gods in an easy and fun way to remember as well as teach as well as learn this particular story. This videos story is teaching the hierarchy of the Gods starting with AUM/om as the point source sound emanator of frequency and it's octaves of creation. From the one come Abba and Amma (Abraxas); sound wave abrasion from AUM which half its waves turn to an axis and form expansion of "space". That's when Lillith claims Space as her brother Samuel claims Counterspace and thus creates Father Dielectricity, Mother Magnetism, Baby Electricity. Now you can create atoms and plasma or The Creator of All and one of the Bible Gods. Then Allah (cymatics) is born to form Plasma and Atoms with the divine power of sound/AUM. Then Evil pressure mediation comes along and does all kinds of stuff, from condensing light into grabable (hard light) matter to turning the gasses that form water into heavy water and so on. (Order may not be exact and may act like branches on a family tree if you attempt to do a graph. In fact, the family tree graph in this video is extremely telling) Someone eventually has to understand Science and Religion are from the same pool of ancient Knowledge. Us people now may have come out of caves after some world changing event but we were never idiot Cavemen like the mainstream would have us believing. The Ancients that birthed us here gave us this knowledge like any parent wants to do for their children and it's been passed down thru the eons like a game of telephone ever since thru stories like you read in this video. In fact iv'e heard a few stories here that were actually dedicated specifically to certain "Gods", of course in a personified manner relative to these particular people. Don't give the names of the stories a face. Instead give them purpose of importance with creation itself and how this Earth has transformed thru and due to these scientific understanding's own transformations and manipulations.

I good video. Although It would be helpful if the sources of research would be listed. 😊

I think to tell a folkstory of a culture its goid practice to make the effort to learn the lanuage (in this case gaelige) of that culture!

I also see a loose (more political) identification between the firbog / formorians and the pre-celtic peoples of ireland with these being enslave by the invaders and then disappearing through assimilation: that they reappear later (having been in spain / greece) suggests that the new religion has appropriated this trace political historical tradition as a mystical tradition: the two ethnicities becoming mystical quantities as opposed to retaining their political / ethnic associations?

Look up “missing 411 David paulides” if you want to hear some modern accounts of fomorians.

I would rather learn Celtic mythology from you than any academic scholar. You are really good at this. Although my main interest lies with the myths of my own Slavic & Armenian pagan ancestors, I’ve always loved Irish mythology

Fear the bolg

The Fir Bolg are symbolizing mortal man.

Isn't the image at 1:25 Heliod from Magic the Gathering?

The romantic version is fun to imagine, but the truth is, almost all current Irish and Irish descendants are related to the Fir Bolgs, who were a neolithic people who lived on what we now call Ireland before the Tuatha de Danann arrived. The peoples merged. Later on, the Milesians arrived and conquered the Tuatha de Danann. The peoples merged. I admit I like the mythical stories, but Fir Bolgs were just people, and my distant ancestors.

This is possibly a lot closer to truth than one might beLIEve.

yes and we are so out of balance with nature that sorry, the gods of intelect are wrong as they should never subjugate nature rather be in harmony with her.

People in general think that the Ancients were Brutish and Ignorant. Even the generations that preceded them. Yet it is an eye opener when you go into these Ancient Myths and discover that they basically knew the pitfalls of Nature and Human Nature and how to combat it. This shows me that Humans didn't change much. Externally yes, but internally no. The Fomorians and Fir Bolg are eternal, being reborn in and around us throughout the Ages. The same with the Tuatha....

Hi, whats the music at 0:40?

Nebe = sky - in bulgarian :) Fir Bolg came there from Thrace = modern Bulgaria 👍

Are Lud and Lugh regional variations of the same god? Both are sun gods

I like the story I really want to dive deep into the history of the (formorians ) then again one thinks the formorians they're probably mythical human species but the form some are large bag of iron lone wolves, discarded, damaged the criminals so what are you doing with that butter and they all came together through struggle maybe they were captives of their own darkness who knows they weren't Vikings

6:31 hahah that’s a magic the gathering card xd

Someone likes the music from Xenogears....

should pay attention to the environment Look 👀 up ⬆️ check the cloud out

I know the history books say Neanderthals were never in Ireland but I started to think thats what the fomorians were

I dunno. they paint Ireland as this place like European feudal japan where the city states were warring and some joe or roger was assembling a crew to unify Ireland every decade or so. Fomore painted as a loose collection of proto deities worshipped or revered by the natives of Ireland before the Tuatha De (not gonna use accent marks) came from the north to pick a fight which might be symbolism for a unified change in belief systems for everybody but the hardcore hold outs. and native Irish seems to be a loose term because there were a lot of questing ship born folk coming to plant a flag in Ireland but not many stayed on mass.

any chance Fir Bolg and Tolkien's Balrogs share a connection, at least etymologically?

You mention the "Wasteland of Greece" and it sounded like "Gone." What is the actually English spelling?

So the Dagda was in the land before the Tuatha De Danaan?

2:16 Which map is this?

Fir Bolg, Belgae a pre gaelic p celtic European and british tribe. Demonise and belittle your enemy. before you destroy them. Fir Domnann, Dumnonii also in Britain, became the Leigin, worshipping of Lugg. Brigantes became Hui Bairch.

Great video as usual! :D really enjoyed it! Also! Irving finkle has a really nice video here on youtube where he talks about how Noah's ark was round! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s_fkpZSnz2I.html Irving works for the british museum on the mesopotamian(?) Department. He deciphered a tablet about the ark. His presentation is pretty fun to watch too! Anyway, my point with that was that the boat you showed in the beginning looks like a mini version of what Irwin Finkle was showing and talking about! :D I wonder if there's something in that? :o Aittle annoying to bring up I guess since noahs ark is an abrahemic religion "connection". But Irving finkle comes from a mesopotamian(?) Point of view, so maybe thats more appealing? (Edit for misspellings)

who the Fir Bolg really were:- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ONGCHSDDIe4.html & the Tuatha Dé Danann:- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ymGsUp5xiMk.html & the Nemed:- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-C4JPMYHTZis.html

I first found this name in researching my last name.