Fomorian King and Lord of the Dead
Tethra was one of the three principal Fomorian kings at the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, alongside Balor and Indech. He was killed in the battle by Ogma, the Tuatha Dé’s champion and god of language — and what happened next is one of the most unusual moments in Irish myth.
Ogma took Tethra’s sword. The sword was called Orna, and it was magical — when drawn, it could speak, recounting every deed it had ever performed and every battle it had witnessed. Ogma, the god of language and eloquence, had just won a sword that told its own story. The word-god claiming the weapon that had words.
After the battle, Tethra became the ruler of Mag Mell — “the Plain of Delight” — one of the Otherworld realms of the Irish dead. The defeated Fomorian king ended up governing the territory where the victors would eventually arrive. The old power, overcome in battle, persisting underneath the new order as its afterlife.
Key facts about Tethra
- Names: Tethra
- Rules over: Fomorian forces at the Second Battle; Mag Mell (the Otherworld Plain of Delight) after his death
- Weapons: Sword Orna (the speaking sword, taken from him by Ogma)
- Animals: Not recorded
- Other Symbols: Mag Mell
- Parents: Not recorded
- Siblings: Not recorded
- Spouse: Not recorded
- Children: Not recorded
- Killed by: Ogma (at the Second Battle of Mag Tuired)
- Greek equivalent: Aspects of Kronos ruling Elysium (the old power governing the Otherworld of the dead)
Link/cite this page
If you use any of the content on this page in your own work, please use the code below to cite this page as the source of the content.
Link will appear as Tethra: https://irishgodsandgoddesses.net - Irish Gods & Goddesses, March 22, 2026