NUADA THE HIGH KING. NIGHT

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NUADA THE HIGH KING. NIGHT

This line version of the cover of The Book of Conquests was the inspiration for the night version. I had a whole lot of fun redrawing this one in more detail than the original.

Nuada Airgedlámh (Nuada of the Silver Arm) was king of the tribe known as the Tuatha Dé Danann who invaded Éireann (Ireland) in earliest times. In the First Battle of MoyTura, Nuada, while victorious, lost his right arm in this battle while in the second battle he lost his life. In his keeping was Cliamh Solais –the Sword of Fire, which, once unsheathed, was so powerful that no enemy could stand before it.

‘Then the second mighty battle-frenzy shook Nuada and again the guise of the Sun-God was his. From the red jewel set in his horned helmet came a dazzling glow of living fire which pulsed and shimmered. In his hand the rune-engraven Claímh Solais, sword of light, turned from dull silver to blood-crimson till it, too, pulsed in time with the jewel. As the gigantic Collector, emissary of the worm-god Crom-Crúach, turned to smite him Nuada called to his forefathers, then with an earth-shaking warcry he flung the burning sword of fire across the darkened sky and into the skull of the Collector.
With a shriek that froze all who heard it, the Collector faded back into the bowls of the earth and joined his fellow-fiends far from the sight of man.’
Excerpt from ‘The Book of Conquests’