An old woman kneels at a river ford washing armor, and the water runs red. If it is your armor, your fate is sealed. This episode builds a narrative biography of the Morrigan, one of the most complex figures in Irish mythology, drawing on eighth-century glossaries, the Ulster Cycle, and the Mythological Cycle. We look at her contested lineage as daughter of Ernmas and granddaughter of Nuada, her sisters Eriu, Banba, and Fodla who embody the land of Ireland itself, and the concept of the three Morrigna, Badb, Macha, and Nemain, understood as facets of a single entity.

From there we follow her strategic tryst with the Dagda over the River Unius on Samhain, her weaponized poem that drove the Fomorians into the sea at the Battle of Mag Tuired, and her transformation of the cattle-tracking Odras into a pool of water. The centerpiece is her caree ...