Dullahan

The Irish dullahan (also Gan Ceann, meaning "without a head" in Irish) is a type of unseelie fairie. It is headless, usually seen riding a black horse and carrying his or her head under one arm. The head's eyes are massive and constantly dart about like flies, while the mouth is constantly in a hideous grin that touches both sides of the head. The flesh of the head is said to have the color and consistency of moldy cheese. The dullahan's whip is actually a human corpse's spine, and the wagons they sometimes use are made of similarly funereal objects (e.g. candles in skulls to light the way, the spokes of the wheels made from thigh bones, the wagon's covering made from a worm-chewn pall). When the dullahan stops riding, it is where a person is due to die. The dullahan calls out their name, at which point they immediately perish.

There is no way to bar the road against a dullahan—all locks and gates open on their own when it approaches. Also, they do not appreciate being watched while on their errands, throwing a basin of blood on those who dare to do so (often a mark that they are among the next to die), or even lashing out the watchers' eyes with their whips. Nonetheless, they are frightened of gold, and even a single gold pin can drive a dullahan away. The myth may have inspired the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.^{[citation needed]}

Another legendary parallel is the Green Knight,^{[citation needed]} in the medieval story of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", who is otherworldly, greenish in color and, after Sir Gawain strikes him, headless. This story has antecedents in the ancient Feast of Bricriu, with legendary Irish warrior Cú Chulainn in the role later played by Sir Gawain. See also Celts as head hunters.

Popular Culture

The dullahan is portrayed in fantasy fiction and video games as a beheaded knight who carries his severed head under one arm while viciously attacking interlopers in the place that is haunted by the dullahan. They also have some magic in their bodies, giving them magical swords or the ability to breathe fire from the severed head. Alternatively, the dullahan may be an animated suit of armor, the best example of which is Dullahan, an optional final boss character in the Golden Sun games, or the Durahan species of monster in Monster Rancher.

In the Disney film Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a dullahan makes an appearance as the coachman of the cóiste bodhar (death coach). Upon the arrival of the death coach, the dullahan calls out Darby's name and orders him to board the coach. Darby reluctantly complies and is borne into the heavens on the way to the afterlife, but his life is saved by the wily King Brian Connors, who tricks him into wishing a fourth wish, negating previous wishes and causing Darby to be ejected from the coach.

A headless horseman of a ghostly carriage also appears in the 1939 Gainsborough film Ask a Policeman, being integral to the plot.

Dullahan is the name of Surplice used by Dullahan Cube, Specter of the Army of God Hades in Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya.

In Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil, a dullahan appears as a coach driver who is in service to a banshee, and kills people who hear her scream. He escorts Valkyrie Cain to Nye and also appears to be responsible for keeping Nye in line.

In the Nickelodeon TV show Hey Arnold! episode "Headless Cabbie", a character much like the Dullahan is featured in a ghost story Arnold tells, and is also "seen" (or so Arnold and his friends think) in the park as they go to find ice cream.

The Dullahan is also featured in the Fables comic series as the entity named Mister Dark

In Final Fantasy VI, the Dullahan was the featured boss in Daryl's Tomb that must be defeated in order for her airship the Falcon to be used by the party.

In Dragon Quest VIII, the dullahan is a monster released by Rapthorne when he opens the gateway from the World of Darkness. There is also a version called a Dark Dullahan that is a bit weaker. Instead of carrying the head under it's arm it uses it as its shield. It is armed with a spiked mace.

In the Syfy show Lost Girl, episode "Where There's A Will, There's a Fae", the main character Bo fights a Dullahan.

Many installments of the Castlevania game series feature the Dullahan as an enemy.

Dullahan appears as a boss in the Golden Sun games, The Lost Age and Dark Dawn.

In the 2010 anime Durarara!!, Celty Sturluson is a Dullahan that immigrated from Ireland to Ikebukuro to search its streets for her stolen head. She wears a black motorcycle rider's suit and a helmet to appear in public, her horse is disguised as a black motorcycle.

A Dullahan is an enemy in the game Shining Force.

See also

• Celtic mythology in popular culture
• Durarara!!, a Japanese multimedia franchise set in modern Tokyo that features a Dullahan as a main character.
• Golden Sun (series)

External links

• Anna's Irish folklore
• Spooky Irish October - Oct. 2007 Emerald Reflections - by Brian Witt
• The Dullahan - The Irish Headless Horseman October 2008 Emerald Reflections Connection to Washington Irving
• Dullahan Website