Mythology, Religion & Legend — Power Ranking TOP 100
I wrote a book ranking the most powerful gods, monsters, and heroes from world mythology, religion, and legend! The ranking is heavily influenced by my own perspective, but every placement is grounded in the actual lore and episodes from each mythology, so I think it makes for a satisfying read.
In this post, I’d like to introduce some of the characters featured in the ranking. There are many more beyond the ones mentioned here, so if you’re interested in mythology, religion, or legend, I think you’ll enjoy it!
Rank 68: Balor (Celtic Mythology)
Overview
Balor is the king of the Fomorians in Celtic mythology and a giant with a terrifying magical eye. A single opening of his evil eye was enough to incinerate everything in its sight, annihilating even the armies of the Tuatha Dé Danann with overwhelming destructive force.
However, as Balor aged, his eyelid grew increasingly heavy, and by the time of the Second Battle of Mag Tuired against the Tuatha Dé Danann, he required four of his men to lift his eyelid before he could open the eye at all.
Balor also possessed an extremely tough body, and ordinary attacks could barely wound him — he was said to be nearly invulnerable.
Yet in the Battle of Mag Tuired, the god of light Lugh pierced the evil eye with a sling, killing him in a single blow (later versions claim it was the spear Brionac that was used, but the original texts never once mention the word “Brionac”).
In other words, while his body was extremely tough, his eye was his weak point. Even so, it’s a little disappointing that one of the most powerful giants in Celtic mythology was brought down by a sling stone.
To be fair, since it was Lugh’s sling, its power must have been incomparably greater than a human-wielded one — but the fact that any equivalent attack in another mythology would never have been enough to kill a comparable monster is part of what makes Celtic mythology’s characters feel relatively weaker by comparison.
Why This Ranking
Since evaluating Balor based on the Battle of Mag Tuired as described would leave him unable to open his eye and effectively disqualified, I would like to assess him in a state where his eye was open and the evil gaze was usable from the start of combat.
First, Balor’s strength is almost entirely concentrated in his “evil eye.”
The ability to incinerate enemies simply by having them enter his field of vision gives him unparalleled power on the battlefield, and ordinary heroes and gods are said to have been unable to even approach him.
However, Celtic mythology tends to depict battles on a relatively small scale, which raises some doubt as to whether the evil eye truly had the power to defeat war-god-class opponents from other mythologies.
Also, while his body is tough, the fact that a single sling shot to the eye was enough to kill him suggests his durability is not particularly high.
That said, regarding the weakness of his eye: if he were able to open his eyelid from the start, he should be able to incinerate incoming attacks along with everything in his sight — meaning it wouldn’t be a fatal weakness in that state. (In the myth, he was attacked while in the process of trying to open his eye.)
Taking all of this into account, while he could likely gain the upper hand against ordinary war gods using his evil eye, against higher-tier war gods he would struggle to deliver a killing blow, and they would likely find ways to attack from positions or speeds outside his field of vision.
For example, Apollo or Hercules could likely dodge his gaze and snipe him from a distance with their bows, and Karna’s divine spear would likely one-shot him.
With all of that in mind, I placed him at this position in the ranking.
