Gae Bolg

Where are the paintings? This article is in need of more images and/or better quality pictures from official media in order to achieve a higher status. You can help the Assassin's Creed Wiki by uploading better images on this page.

The Gae Bolg was the personal spear of the Irish mythological hero Cú Chulainn and was purportedly made from the bones of a sea monster.

Owners

• Cú Chulainn (? – ?)
• Balor (? – ?)
• Odin (? – ?)
• Eivor Varinsdottir (881 CE)

Description

The spear had the appearance of a bident, having a tip of two-prongs. The prongs themselves were relatively wide and had an array of rather sharp pointed barbs at the base of the spearhead, as well as a few smaller barbs at the opposing end. It also stood at a height slightly taller than the average person.

The spear possessed special abilities as well, being able to shock the users' enemies with lightning after every third consecutive hit.

History

Cú Chulainn was gifted the spear and wielded it for most of his life, until he met the ancient Fomorian being known as Balor. Cú Chulainn was slain in the resulting battle, but not before lodging his spear deep in Balor's back, though he took care to invisibly cloak it so as to conceal his weak spot from future heroes who sought to kill him.

Sometime after the fight between the hybrid and Balor, the Asgardian Isu Odin, the leader of the Æsir, confronted the Fomorian. Seeking the power that Balor held within the Gae Bolg, he faced him in combat. The two men fought and Balor was defeated. Odin took his prize and went away with the Gae Bolg in hand.

Gae bolg stuck in the Ritual stone

By the 9th century, the mossy spear was stuck on a ritualistic monolith just outside of the hut of the Druidic priestess Deirdre Na Linni, on Asfinn, Ireland. During her visit to the country in 882 CE, the Viking jarlskona Eivor Varinsdottir of the Raven Clan consumed a psychoactive mixture prepared by Deirdre from amber shards collected from the Children of Danu, a pagan cult that was run by fanatical druids. As a reincarnation of Odin herself, the drink sent Eivor on a hallucinogenic vision where she fought and defeated a manifestation of Balor for possession of the spear. With Balor's death, the invisibility cloak he used to conceal Gae Bolg fell away and exposed the spear haft lodged in his back. As Eivor grasped the spear with both hands and pulled, the vision ended and she found that she had miraculously extracted Gae Bolg from the stone in the real world.

Weapon statistics

Class	Quality	Attack	Speed	Stun	Critical Chance	Weight	Perks	Availability
Wolf	Mythical	152	54	169	115	10	Lightning shocks the enemy after 3 consecutive hits	Complete Amber Sun
Description
Gifted to the demi-god Cú Chulainn, said to be made from the bones of a sea monster.

Behind the scenes

Despite its name and description, the spear has no real connections to the mythical weapon. According to the 11th-century manuscript known as the Book of Leinster, Gáe Bolg was given to a young Cú Chulainn by his combat instructor, the warrior-woman Scáthach, after training in either Alba or the Isle of Skye. Unlike an ordinary spear, Gáe Bolg could only be used by launching it from the foot, and upon piercing the target, instead of emitting lightning as depicted in-game, it would immediately spread barbs throughout the victim's entire circulatory system so that recovering the weapon required cutting away all the flesh surrounding the thorns.

The spear is possibly being conflated with Gáe Assail, the spear of Lugh, Cú Chulainn's father and the slayer of Balor, which supposedly had lightning powers.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Wrath of the Druids

Gallery

• 
  Eivor using Gae Bolg to fight a Púca and the Children of Danu
• 
  Concept art
• 
  The Gae Bolg in Valhalla's inventory menu

References

zh:迦耶伯格 [[Category:Personal weapons]