Topic Research: Cu Chulainn

Cu Chulainn's Defense of Ulster

Cu Chulainn defends Ulster, his home. Medb's army marched on Ulster. The men of ulster were unable to fight so Cu Chulainn challenged them to fight individually and he succeeded against them all.


Cu Chulainn Slays Culann's Watchdog

Before Cu Chulainn had earned his name, he slayed Culann's vicious watchdog in self defense. I think this story could be really entertaining to elaborate about. There seems to be quite a bit of source material for this story, and I think it really encapsulates Cu Chulainn's character.


The Relentless Rage of Cu Chulainn

With this approach I could use all of the material about Cu Chulainn. I would like to use more than just one story because each story about Cu Chulainn is pretty short. This model also emphasizes his raging form, which is particularly interesting to me. In my opinion that is what makes him special, so I would like to emphasize that aspect.

Cu Chulainn and his raging form - Smite

I only used one source because it really told all of the stories I was looking for.

The Cuchulainn Cycle, The Religion of the Ancient Celts, J.A. MacCulloch

Topic Brainstorm for Semester Project

For my semester storybook project I have narrowed the topics down to four.

Cuchulain:

The first topic that caught my eye was Cuchulain. Apparently he killed a vicious guard dog, and whipped a group of boys by himself! The stories mentioned Cuchulain turned into a vicious beast as he beat up the boys. It seems as though there is a lot of highly entertaining material about the Irish legend. I also know a bit of his story from playing Smite, so it would be interesting for me to go in depth about Cuchulain because I know a bit about him already!

Egyptian gods and goddesses:

This would be a really interesting topic for me. There are several great stories about Ra and Bastet. Also, Ra's fiascoes with Isis would be fun to add to the storybook. Similar to Cuchulain, I know a decent bit about the Egyptian pantheon from Ra, Bastet, Neith, Isis, Anubis, Thoth and Osiris. Although I don't think I will be able to pull from my prior knowledge, it would really be helpful just to have a background knowledge of the stories of these gods and goddesses!

(Ra fighting with Apep over the sun - Stack Exchange)

Norse Mythology:

There is SO much content available withing Norse Mythology. Just like the Egyptian gods and goddesses, I know quite a bit about several of the Norse gods and goddesses. For the storybook I would love to get into the relationships between Odin, Thor, and Loki. Beyond the well known gods,  I also want to get a few stories about Ymir Fafnir, Tyr, and Freya included as well. With the Norse pantheon I feel like I would not be short on content. That will be a key factor in deciding because it is really hard to find extra content, but not nearly as hard to cut down a bit of content.

Greek Mythology:

While Greek Mythology is likely a really cliche topic, it is because everyone knows quite a bit about it! I would love to explore a little bit deeper than I already have. The only downside to doing Greek Mythology for my storybook is the fact that many of our classmates will likely do the same. On the other hand, there is more content about Greek Mythology than any of the other topics mentioned. With so much content, it provides for a lot of potential routes to take the storybook. I could be really flexible with my approach in telling the story!