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Lug or Lugh is an Irish sun god and king of the Tuatha Dé Danann whose name means "light" or "brightness". His epithets include Lámfhada ("long hand"), for his skill with a spear or sling, and Samildánach ("multi-talented", "skilled in many arts"). He is handsome, perpetually youthful, and full of life and energy. This energy manifests itself especially in the number of skills he has, according to legend, mastered. He is derived from the Gaulish god Lugus, and his Welsh counterpart is Llew Llaw Gyffes.
According to a prophecy, Balor, king of the Fomorians, was to be killed by his grandson. He locked his daughter, Ethlinn, in a tower made of crystal to keep her from becoming pregnant. However, Cian, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, with the help of the druidess Birog, managed to enter the tower. She gave birth to triplets, but Balor threw them into the ocean. Two of the babies either drowned or turned into seals (compare the birth of Dylan and his twin, Llew Llaw Gyffes in Welsh mythology), but Birog saved one, Lug, and gave him to Manannan mac Lir, who became his foster father. He was nursed by Tailtiu.
As a young man he travelled to Tara to join the Tuatha Dé Danann, and arrived during a feast for the royal court. He was met by the gatekeeper, and was asked what talent he had, for it was a tradition there that only those who had a special ability could enter the palace. Lug replied: "I am a wright", to which the gatekeeper replied "We already have a wright, your services aren't needed here". Lug persisted "I am a smith". Again, the guard said the court had a smith that was quite adequate; but Lug was not to be dissuaded. Lug then noted that he was also a champion, a swordsman nonpareil, a harpist, a hero, a poet, an historian, a sorcerer, and a craftsman. The gatekeeper merely nodded his head, and stated bluntly that all these trades were represented in the court by other members of the Tuatha Dé Danann. "Ah, but do you have an individual who possesses all of them simultaneously?", was Lug's clever reply. The guard was forced to admit his defeat, and so Lugh entered and joined the festivities.
Lug led the Tuatha Dé Danann in the second Battle of Mag Tuiredh against the Fomorians. During this battle, Balor killed Nuada with his deadly eye, but Lug ripped the fatal eye out with a sling, killing Balor. Lug suceeded Nuada to the kingship (although some versions have Nuada abdicating in favour of Lug before the battle).
When the sons of Tuireann, Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba, killed Lug's father, Cian (who was in the form of a pig a the time), he set them a series of seemingly impossible quests as recompense. They achieved them all, but were fatally wounded in completing the last one. Despite Tuireann's pleas, Lug denied them the use of one of the items they had retrieved, a magic pigskin which healed all wounds. They died of their wounds, and Tuireann died of grief over their bodies.
Lug had several wives; one, unnamed, had an affair with Cermait, son of the Dagda. Lug killed him in revenge, but Cermait's sons, Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht and Mac Gréine, killed him in return, drowning him Loch Lugborta. He had ruled for forty years.
Lug is said to have invented the board game fidchell.
He was the father of Cuchulainn by the mortal Deichtine, and came to his son's aid in Táin Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). His daughter was Ebliu, who married Fintan.
Lug's name is the origin of that of the Pagan festival Lughnasadh (which is also the Irish name for the month of August).
Lug handles are a kind of flattened knob attached to the side of pottery. Lugs may have small perforations to take a cord. They are sometimes found on prehistoric ceramics such as Hembury ware.
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