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Badb

Badb was one aspect of the triple Goddess of the Morrigan. Her name in modern Irish is Badhbh, which means vulture, though in mythology she is associated as appearing in the guise of a raven. A Goddess of war and death, she was said to predict the fate of a notable person or foretell of carnage on a battlefield, often washing the clothes of those about to die in war. We see her in the Táin Bó Cuailnge where she frustrates the warriors of Maedbh’s army, and in the first battle of Mag Tuired, she takes the side, of the Tuatha Dé Danann, against the soldiers of the FirBolg. Her screams sent fear into those who heard her thus she is often compared to a Bean-sidhe (Banshee).

Illustration from an original by Margaret McKenna