Come one, come all, tell tales about your tales

[crantz]

By request: Show off your fandom!

Here you can tell people about the stories you're interested in and why they're great. Good for the more obscure stories!

This post @LJ

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Diarmuid O'Dyna and the Loathly Lady

[goldenteaset]

Link to the story (called "The Daughter of King Under-Wave" here): http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14465/14465-h/14465-h.htm#L65

Diarmuid is probably the most unlucky member of the Knights of Fianna, at least when it comes to love. His love-spot ensnares any woman who sees it into "loving" him--including the wives and daughters etc. of his friends and allies. This particular tale, though, concerns how he lost love due to his own foolishness/the woman not being able to stay with him anyway, due to not being of this world.

Funny thing though: the daughter of King Under-Wave has a curse on her too, and even though the text never explicitly says it, it appears that her curse cancelled out his. Their love feels genuine (though the form it takes is rather vague, which I like), and when she's forced to leave Diarmuid realizes his mistake and goes after her to apologize, not bring her back by force.

Also of note is how prophecies work in this story: in the first case, Diarmuid defeats an army in Under-Wave, only to find out later from another King that said army had been informed via a prophecy some time ago that they'd be defeated by him. So did he fulfill the prophecy or not? (And was the army aware of their impending doom?)

And then later, Diarmuid hears a prophecy from the Red Man of Knowledge that his love for Lady Under-Wave will fade once she's healed. It's unclear in the text whether or not said prophecy would've come true even if Diarmuid hadn't heard it. There's a lot of leeway to work with regarding that end to the lovers' relationship, and whether or not the Red Man lied or not.