FERDIA

Also Ferdiad, the son of Daman and Daire, was a warrior of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish Mytology.

Ferdia trained on the Isle of Skye at the same time as Cuchulainn, under the tutelage of the renowned warrior woman Scathach..

Ferdia was years ahead in his training and was therefore almost like an older brother to Cuchulainn. They became friends and ‘foster brothers’ to each other.

Many years later, when the Battle of the Brown Bull is being fought, they find themselves on opposite sides; Ferdia is aligned to Queen Medb and Cuchulainn is fighting on the side of Ulster.

When Ailill and Medb invade Ulster to steal the bull Donn Cuailnge, their progress is held up by Cuchulainn, who defeats a series of Connacht champions in single combats.
After Fergus, there was only one man left among Medb’s armies who had a change against Cuchulainn, Ferdia.
But he doesn’t want to fight his foster brother and friend; he even refuses Medb’s gifts of a chariot and the hand of her daughter in marriage. 

But he is forced by Medb, who threatens him with satires about himself and his family if he does not comply to her wishes.

The threat of being a figure of fun for all eternity proves too much for Ferdia and he consents to fight Cuchulainn. 

Both of them are equal in all martial feats, with two exceptions: 
   - the Gae Bulg, a barbed spear which only Cuchulainn knows how to use 
    -and Ferdia’s horny skin, which no weapon can pierce.

They fought in the ford for three days and neither gaining advantage over the other. 

The next day Cuchulainn used his magical weapon and slew his friend with a low cast of the spear. 
When he saw his friend dying, he took Ferdia in his arms and carried him across to die in the camp of the men of Ulster rather than with Medb. 

Ferdia’s death was a symbolic sacrifice for Connacht. When Cuchulainn fell down exhausted and heart-sick from the battle with Ferdia, the Connacht legions stormed the borders, overtaking Ulster.


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