Jawnomicon

Cliodna

Also called Cleena, Clíodhna.

Cliodna is the fairy queen of Munster in Irish tradition, associated with a wave that bears her name, with three bright birds whose song heals, and with a mound in County Cork from which she rules.

At a glance

Tradition
Irish folklore
Region
Ireland (place of origin)
Trait family
The Water-Beckoners

Near this figure

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Behaviour

  • Bound to a specific family lineage
    why

    She is also connected with particular families as a supernatural patron, a role that shades toward the banshee traditions in which a woman of the mounds attaches to a lineage and mourns its deaths.

Utility powers

  • Healing
    why

    Three birds are associated with her, described as brightly coloured, whose singing eases pain and brings sleep to the sick, and who feed on otherworldly apples.

Curses

  • Seductive charm
    why

    Later literary and folk material continued to develop her, sometimes as a beauty who lures men, sometimes as a benefactor. The strands do not resolve into a single character, and Irish tradition generally does not require that they should.

Roles

Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.