Nemain

Nemain

ALSO KNOWN AS:

Nemhain

ORIGIN:

Ireland The name Nemain means “frenzy.” She is the goddess of battle fury. Nemain is the least known of the Irish battle goddesses. Nemain does not fight in battles; she has other methods of influencing the outcome: • Like a supreme, cosmic cheerleader, Nemain exhorts her favourites to victory. • She intimidates the other side with her shrieking and terrifying presence. • She incites warriors to frenzy and spreads absolute panic on the battlefield. Nemain is a vocal presence. Her trademark characteristic is her death shriek. When Nemain shrieked at the army of Connacht, one hundred extremely courageous men instantly dropped dead from fright. Nemain’s shriek is a weapon, but it’s also a harbinger of death. Nemain may be understood as a Banshee goddess, a Banshee on a grand scale: her death shriek prophesies battlefield massacres, the deaths of many—not of one or a few. She’s not only audible but visible when she wishes to be. Unlike the standard Banshee, Nemain isn’t attached to one family: she appears to hosts of soldiers on the battlefield.