Claíomh Solais
Great weapon of Celtic myth / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Sword of Light or Claidheamh Soluis (Old Irish; modern Irish: Claíomh Solais [ˌklˠiːw ˈsˠɔlˠəʃ]) is a trope object that appears in a number of Irish and Scottish Gaelic folktales. The "Quest for sword of light" formula is catalogued as motif H1337.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Ireland-stamp-1922-sword-of-light-6p.jpg)
The sword appears commonly as a quest object in the Irish folktale of a hero seeking "The One Story" (or the "Cause of the one story about women"), which culminates in the discovery of a "Tale of the Werewolf" (a man magically turned wolf by an unfaithful wife). However, the sword is uninvolved in the man-wolf portion, and only figures in the hero-adventure frame story.
The sword of light, according to a different commentator, is a fixture of an Irish tale group describable as a quasi-bridal-quest. This characterization is inspired by the formula where the hero gains a beautiful wife (and riches) by gambling against a gruagach aka wizard-champion, but suffers losses which makes him beholden to mount on a hopeless-seeming quest. Like the actual "giant's daughter" bridal quest tales, the sword of light hero often gains assistance of "helpful animals" in completing his tasks or ordeals.
The sword has been regarded as a legacy to the god-slaying weapons of Irish mythology by certain scholars, such as T. F. O'Rahilly, the analogues being the primeval Celtic deity's lightning-weapon, Lugh's sling that felled Balor, the hero Cúchulainn's supernatural spear Gae bulga and his shining sword Cruaidín Catutchenn.