The Morrigan, Shapeshifting Goddess of War and Death (Patreon)

I almost had to throw the base away and send out a plain one because the mesh was absolutely shitting itself and didn't want to bind properly to the keys. I have no answers as to why, only that zbrush decided to have a tantrum about it, but I finally got the two pieces keyed together and exported out. 

I made the base of the fabric flat with the base keys indented into them so you can set her flat onto another surface or put her into another scene. The keys are in the base.

This figure is going out to November backers on Gumroad tonight and I'll send the MMF redemptions out in the morning along with the official turntable! 

Also known as Morrigu. 

The Morrigan is an ancient Irish Goddess and a modern pagan deity in Ireland. 

She is most closely associated with war, death, and destruction. 

However, she's actually more of a guardian goddess of prophecy, magic, fate, territory, and sovereignty, as well as a foreteller of doom, death or victory in battle.

She is a shapeshifter figure and has appeared in multiple forms throughout folklore and mythology. 

She sometimes appears alone as a single figure, and other times as a set of sisters: 

In singular form, she is seen/known as The Great Queen or The Phantom Queen. 

As sisters, she appears as Macha, Babd, and Nemain. A Trio of goddesses. 

There are various different interpretations of The Morrigan and her imagery throughout the old texts that are still being studied today in Ireland. I've read interpretations that depict The Morrigan as separate from the three sisters, and some that depict the three sisters themselves as The Morrigan. Some interpret her as both, as she is a shapeshifter and she is meant to be mysterious by nature. Some literature I have read has given the sisters differing names as well, or depict more than the three I list here today. 

The three sisters are war deities with each overseeing a different aspect of war. 

Babd is known as the Prophetess, a war goddess associated with battle, destruction and death, and often flew over the battlefield in the form of a crow, appeared over battle as a hooded crow, or ran alongside warriors disguised as a grey-red wolf.  This goddess is also referred to as Babd Catha: Battle Crow. Babd also ferried souls from the battlefield to the next world. 

Nemain, also known as Anann,  is associated with Fertility, cattle, war, and prosperity. She's responsible for culling out the weak and, in the context of war, eased the passing of those dying on the battlefield. She would comfort the dying warriors in the form of Death itself.  

Macha is associated with war, ravens, horses, land, and sovereignty. She's thought to represent wealth and power and symbolise elite warriors. As part of the Trinity of Sisters, she rained down fire and blood on her enemies. 

Many tales confuse Macha and The Morrigan as both appear as crows on the battlefield and manipulate the battle's results, but in mythologies, Macha more often appears as a horse. One could dive deeper into the mythology, where Celtic folktales tell of three versions of Macha. 

Badb, Macha and Nemain were the trio of sisters that made up the Morrigan. Sometimes the Morrigan was a single deity. Other possible names of the sisters include Morigú, Morrigana, Medb, Anaid, Ériu, Banba, and Fódla, depending on the tale you read.

Remember, Celtic and Irish mythologies are not the same, and Irish is much older, and tales of The Morrigan differ through time. 

For the sake of my own art, I choose to interpret The Morrigan as a single figure, with the 3 sisters as separate goddesses we can create at a later time. 

Ancient mythology has told of The Morrigan appearing as a crow, wolf, eel, heifer, beautiful young woman, and a grey-haired hag. 

She could shapeshift, control the fate of wars, and foretell prophecies.