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Heroines
Ness |
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Name: Assa / Ness / Nes
Race: Celtic
Father: Eochaid Sálbuide 'Yellow-Heel'
Profession: Warrior
Consorts: Cathbad
Fachtna
Fathach
Fergus Mac
Roich
Son: Conchobar Mac Nessa
Ness which means 'difficult' or 'hard' was once called Assa which meant 'easy' or 'docile' but that changed when her twelve foster fathers were killed by a group of marauders and she was the only one left alive in the household and as she did not witness the event she could not claim compensation from anyone.
So she goes out and becomes a warrior herself and goes to see if she can avenge the deaths of her twelve foster fathers and that is how she came by her second name of Ni Essa or 'not-easy'
Anyway on her travels she comes across the druid Cathbad and asks him what was that day auspicious for and he replied for conceiving a son and so she slept with him as he was the only man available and then she became pregnant and gave birth to Conchobar who became king of Ulster.
Fachtna Fathach is her lover and he is the king of Ulster at the time.
Stories, Myths and Legends associated with Ness
The birth of Conchobar (version 2)
Bricriu's Feast and the War of the Women
