Film

Was Hellboy’s Prince Nuada Actually Tolkien’s Fëanor?

Hellboy II and Irish Mythology

“Tyr and Fenrir” by John Bauer (1911)

Thirteen years after the film Hellboy II: The Golden Army was released, it still boasts the best sword fight in cinematic history — Prince Nuada dispatching ten royal guardsmen in the Elven throne room. Fight me. In my early viewings, I recognized some of the references to Irish mythology. But it was only years later that I finally spotted the movie’s linkage to Tolkien.

Let’s start with Irish mythology. The full name of Hellboy’s antagonist is Nuada Silverlance. The first king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the gods of Irish mythology, was Nuada Airgetlám (silver hand). He lost a hand or arm (sources vary) fighting against the Fir Bolg at the first Battle of Mag Tuired. It was subsequently replaced with a silver one by Dian Cecht, the god of healing, and a smithing god, either Creidhne or Goibniu (sources vary). Balor of the Evil Eye, a giant one-eyed Formorian leader, later kills the silver-handed Nuada. In Hellboy II, Nuada’s Gaelic-speaking father is King Balor of Bethmoora in Northern Ireland.

A lost hand is not unique in myth, Irish and Norse, ancient and modern. The ferocious fettered Fenris Wolf takes off the god Tyr’s hand. Tolkien’s giant wolf Carcharoth similarly bites off Beren’s hand, and with it one of Fëanor’s…