‘Bidh ionann leacht damh is dó’: Shared Graves As An Expression Of Love In Later Ulster Cycle Tales

This paper examines Láeg, Fer Diad, and Emer’s relationships with Cú Chulainn through the lens of their similar desires to be buried in his grave, a motif which creates a parallel between Cú Chulainn’s marriage and these two close friendships. I argue that these relationships should be understood as sworn brotherhood, and that such readings, far from being incompatible with or an alternative to queer readings, in fact serve to dismantle heteronormative and amatonormative assumptions about the construction of relationships within these tales. In doing so, they offer new insights into gender, sexuality, and relationships in the Ulster Cycle.