IRISH MONSTERS

According to legend, Ireland was once ruled by a race of monsters known as the Fomorii, who were eventually overthrown by the Tuatha De Danaan ("people of the goddess Dana"). The Fomorii were lead by Balor, a giant with one leg, one arm and one eye that could destroy anything that it looked at, and was so large that it took four Fomorii to lift Balor's eyelid. Balor was defeated by his own grandson, Lugh, who sided with the Tuatha De Danaan; Lugh hit Balor's eye with his slingshot, pushing it right through the back of his head, where it destroyed the Fomorii army with its gaze. Cenchos was a relatively minor Fomor, noted for having no feet.

In FF3, Balor has two arms, two legs and apparently no eyes. His main feature is now an enormous, gaping mouth. Cenchos' footlessness has been translated into a set of tentacles.

The dullahan is a death omen from Irish folklore who appears in the form of a man carrying his severed head and riding a horse (which is sometimes also said to be headless), or driving a horse-drawn carriage. According to some versions of the legend, the dullahan will throw blood into the face of whomever's death it fortells.

In FF3 the dullahan is female, possibly a fusion of the dullahan proper and the banshee (a female spirit that also fortells death) said to accompany it.

According to Irish folklore, the fachan was a monster resembling half a man - it only had one leg, one eye and one arm, and was covered with blue feathers. Seeing the fachan was said to cause a heart attack.

Aside from the colour, FF2's interpretation is pretty far off the mark.