The Morrígan was a shapeshifter who took many forms she would often appear in multiple forms throughout a single story. The Morrígan’s association with the raven stemmed from the bird’s constant presence on the battlefield. Her appearance to royalty and warriors also represented the side she favored in a battle. Her prophecies were never wrong and her wordings were exact, if somewhat poetic.
She was all-knowing, and would occasionally share her knowledge with others (for a price). She was also the goddess of prophecy and fate, and as such saw the future of all things, including the end of the world. The Morrígan was first and foremost a goddess of war and death. The Morrígan was often called “Phantom Queen,” a title acknowledging her relationship with the dead. These scholars referred to such spirits as morrígna, and used the term morrígna to describe beings as diverse as the Middle Eastern lamia and the demon-goddess Lilith from the Latin Vulgate Bible. The Morrígan was seen by medieval Irish writers as an archetypal figure in her relation to spirits, particularly malevolent female spirits and monsters. Mór has been linked to a Proto-Indo-European word meaning “terror” (which appears in English as part of the word “night*mare*”) and Ríoghain, meaning “queen,” bears similarities to the Latin regina. Scholars have disagreed as to the exact etymology of this name, but have linked it to similar words across Europe. The Morrígan, sometimes known simply as Morrígan or Morrígu, was the anglicized form of the Gaelic Mór-Ríoghain. She is associated with several sacred and natural sites across Ireland. Her husband was the Dagda (or the Great God), who came to her for prophecy before major battles. She was at once both a single deity and a triple goddess, made up of Ireland’s most powerful goddesses. As the Phantom Queen, she circled the battlefield as a conspiracy of ravens to carry away the dead. Appearing before great battles as the goddess of fate, the Morrígan offered prophecy and favor to heroes and gods alike. The Morrígan was the Irish goddess of death and destiny.
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