Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool)

“Fionn is not dead. He sleeps in a cave beneath Ireland, and when the Dord Fiann (the Fianna’s horn) is blown three times, he and the Fianna will rise and ride out to save Ireland in her hour of greatest need.”

Lore: Fionn mac Cumhaill is the central hero of the Fenian Cycle, the second great cycle of Irish mythology. As a young man, he studied under the druid Finnegas, who had spent seven years trying to catch the Salmon of Knowledge (the salmon that ate the hazelnuts of wisdom from the Well of Segais). When Finnegas finally caught it, he gave it to young Fionn to cook with strict instructions not to eat any of it. Fionn burned his thumb on the fish and instinctively put it to his mouth — and received all the world’s wisdom. Thereafter, whenever he needed to know something, he sucked his thumb. He became the leader of the Fianna, a roving band of elite warriors who served the High King. He was hunter, poet, seer, and warrior. But his most powerful story is his ending: Fionn is not dead. He sleeps in a cave beneath Ireland (various locations are claimed), and when Ireland faces its darkest hour, the Dord Fiann will sound three times, and Fionn and the Fianna will ride out to save their country.

Parallel: The sleeping hero who will return is one of the most potent motifs in world mythology. Fionn parallels King Arthur (sleeping in Avalon, to return when Britain needs him), Frederick Barbarossa (sleeping in a mountain in Germany), and — most significantly — Christ at the Second Coming (the savior who departed but will return in the hour of greatest need). The Salmon of Knowledge parallels the Tree of Knowledge in Eden: both offer total wisdom, both are forbidden, both are obtained through a seemingly minor transgression that changes everything.