Mon Semblable — Mon Frère: The 'Evil Twin' Motif in Togail Bruidne Da Derga

Abstract

TBDD remains the main source in Old Irish in which the deadly taboos, namely the gessi, are exhibited. Since the only function of every taboo is the one that requires the taboo to be broken, all of the Conaire’s gessi will finally break independently of his will. The very wording of some of his gessi implies that the king himself cannot be responsible for their violation, as he has no control over other people’s behaviour. Cf., for example, the following prohibitions: No rapine shall be wrought in thy reign; and thou shalt not settle the quarrel of thy two thralls. These two gessi were the first to be broken, causing the collapse of the other ones due to the so-called domino effect. The criminals are Conaire’s foster-brothers (comaltae) who are described at the narrative level as the king’s twins. In folklore stories, it is typical that such twins incarnate and/or bring the hero’s death (it is no accident that the foster brothers correlate with the Three Red Riders), and the motif itself is a widespread one (cf. the Norwegian vardøgr, Icelandic fylgja and hamingja topic, German doppelgänger, Egyptian Ka and so on). Generally, it embodies the idea that destiny/soul is contained not in one’s body, but is shared between the man and his nearest relatives or even the objects, and the purpose of such evil twins is to capture the entire soul. (cf. the beginning of the Old Irish incantation: Rohorthar mo richt ‘let my double be slain’).