‘Why do you come like a friend to us?’ they said.
‘There is good cause for that,’ Lugh told them, ‘for there is but one half of me of the Tuatha de Danann and the other half of yourselves.’
A brief comparison of Bres and Lugh
The principle aspects of the story are that with Bres as their king, the Tuatha Dé suffer tyranny at the hands of the Fomor. With Lugh as their king, the Tuatha Dé Danann are saved from the tyranny of the Fomor.
Important to note is that both Bres and Lugh are half-fomorian.
The shadowself
Jung’s archetype of the shadow is widely known, – the negative aspect of every person which is unconscious and unknown to them, – but there are a few key aspects to stress. Everyone has a dark side to them. This finds expression in the shadow. Jung felt it was imperative for the inidividual to recognise, acknowledge and integrate this aspect of themselves. Ignoring, avoiding or suppressing it does not work. If it is not integrated, it would manifest itself in harmful ways and tyrannise the individual.
If we suggest that the Fomorians represent the collective dark side of human nature (the function of any villain, really), then in both of our heroes, their fomorian heritage is an expression of their individual shadowself. One of them was overcome by it and allowed his kingdom to suffer tyranny. The other conquered it, thereby releasing the tyranny.
Interesting to note is that Bres is initially unaware of his fomorian heritage, having already brought its tyranny on his country before learning of the fact. This doesn’t have much impact on the logical story (that is, the sequence of events, as they happen). It is important for the psychological aspect of the story. Being unaware of his shadow side is what allowed it to tyrranise his kingdom. That is, the reason he committed evil was because he wasn’t aware he had an evil side.
Lugh on the other hand, securely acknowledges it when he camps arrives at their camp, where he stays with them for three days before giving them battle:
‘Why do you come like a friend to us?’ they said.
‘There is good cause for that,’ he said, ‘for there is but one half of me of the Tuatha de Danann and the other half of yourselves.’
And furthermore, once Lugh had defeated Bres and his fomorians, he didn’t just send the remainder of them away. That would be to suppress them. Instead, he allowed Bres to go back to Lochlann where he would bring the whole of the Fomor to Ireland.
It might seem like a poor strategy, but as Jung cautions us ‘The chaotic life of the unconscious should be given the chance of having its way – as much of it as we can stand.’
But at the same time, ‘consciousness should defend its reason and protect itself.’ We can see this clearly when Lugh provokes the Tuatha Dé Danann into battle against their tyrant overlords, ‘It is too long you have been opressed.’
Who is the shadow?
It could be suggested (and in some sense, it is useful to do this), that Bres is Lugh’s shadow. He represents everything bad that Lugh could become. For the purpose of clarity, though, it is important to stress that Lugh’s shadow exists within Lugh himself.
Not understanding this leads to shallow villains (the scourge of hollywood). Bres is the villain in this story, but before Lugh was ever on the scene, Bres was the hero. He is his own fully realised character, with his own aspects of self rather than a merely existing to serve as a reflection of another character.
The meaning
The story then reads as a cautionary lesson about knowing yourself, and in particular, knowing about the most negative parts of you. Once you’re aware of them, you can successfully integrate them. There is practical advice in here to be sure, but I will leave that to the field of psychology.
Its application in art
When building believable heroes and villains, it helps to know that they are more than just people who do good things and people who do bad things.
A hero isn’t someone who has no dark side. A hero is someone who has prevented their dark side from taking them over and has instead put it to good use or securely conquered it.