Tuatha Dé Danann as described in the Book of Leinster, a medieval Irish manuscript formerly known as the Lebor na Nuachongbála “Book of Nuachongbáil” was written by a “man of learning,” an abbot, from the court of an ancient irish king and an Atharim scholar. Almost a third of the book’s pages were lost in the last thousand years, but the Atharim secretly confiscated the pages to sequester the truth of its contents from public eyes.
Those lost pages described the true history of the Tuatha Dé Danann, not as fairies as they had come to be known, but as people that lived in harmony with the land. Myth said these fairies were of royal lineage. Others said they were once worshipped as gods. Although they had supernatural powers, they were considered to be a neutral group: neither good nor evil.
A pantheon that nurtured the land, they were skilled craftsman and worked the land without harming it. They arrived in what would become known as Ireland after overthrowing the native tyrant inhabiting the area and freed the people from his rule.
Nuada Airgetlám was the first king of the Tuatha de Danann in Ireland. When he arrived, he led the rebellion against the leader of the natives that inhabited there, but in battle lost a hand, one that was replaced with a magical silver prosthetic. The remnants of the defeated natives fled to Greece and the Tuatha de took up rule of the island. Nuada was eventually killed in battle against the Fomorian king, the Tuatha De’s primary enemy, but was avenged by the great knight of his court.
Their first leader, Nuada, carried one of four sacred treasures: The Sword of Light. Other heroes of the region carried equally as impressive treasures, and the ‘missing pages’ from the Book of Leinster described them in detail, although they were eventually confiscated by the Atharim of the region to be hidden, their current whereabouts were unknown.
The four treasures of Tuatha Dé Danann:
The four treasures came each from four separate islands bearing great cities: Murias, Falias, Gorias and Findias. A book called “The Four Jewels” supposedly described the location of these origins: The Yellow Book of Lecan (Leabhar Buidhe Leacáin).
The ancestors of the Tuatha Dé Danann, those of the pre-celts, were the aos sí, an older form of aes sídhe, the Irish term for supernatural beings thought to be the spirits of the ancient gods and goddesses. They guarded their abodes fiercely, enchanting them with spells that would later be known as fairy rings, but were actually powerful wardings of great power. It was thought that the lost treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann were buried in one of the many aes sídhe burial mounds. They even had a sacred white tree of life that they congregated around, one that dispersed contentment and relaxation by standing beneath its branches.
These trees are now extinct.
The lost pages of the book also describe the nature of the relations between the Tuatha de Dannan and neighboring pantheons, including those isolated on the Isle of Man. One name was mentioned specifically, Manannán mac Lir, son of the sea. In the tales, he is said to own a boat named Scuabtuinne (“Wave Sweeper”), a sea-borne chariot drawn by the horse Enbarr, a powerful sword named Fragarach (“The Answerer”), and a cloak of invisibility (féth fíada). Legend said he was necromancer possessed of power to envelope himself and others in a mist so that they could not be seen by their enemies.
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