Chief Druid of Ulster
Cathbad was the chief druid of Conchobar mac Nessa‘s Ulster. His authority was equal to the king’s in anything involving the supernatural.
He made two prophecies that shaped everything in the Ulster Cycle.
The first was about Deirdre. At a feast, an unborn child cried out from inside her mother’s womb. Cathbad said the girl would be the most beautiful woman in Ireland, and that Ulster would suffer great ruin because of her. The warriors at the feast wanted her killed before she was born. Conchobar overruled them — he would keep her and make her his wife when she was old enough. She fell in love with Naoíse instead, and everything Cathbad had said came true.
The second was about Cú Chulainn. One morning Cathbad told his students that any boy who took arms that day would become the most famous warrior in Ireland, but would have the shortest life. Cú Chulainn was still a child, not yet in the warrior school, but he heard it through a door. He went straight to Conchobar and asked for weapons. Conchobar asked who had told him it was a good day. Cú Chulainn said Cathbad. Conchobar gave him the arms. Cathbad confirmed what the day meant. Cú Chulainn took the weapons anyway.
In some accounts Cathbad was the biological father of Conchobar mac Nessa — which would make him the father of the king whose decisions fulfilled his own prophecies.
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