Balor of the Evil Eye

[Silky Gooseness]

I was recently reading some Irish mythology by Shauna Lawless (very enjoyable by the way) and also The Silver Road by Sinéad O’Hart, and it made me wonder if Balor of the Evil Eye in any way inspired the Eye of Sauron.

Balor’s appears to be a physical eye on his person: in his forehead; a fiery and venomous eye which can transfix and “poison” opponents. He doesn’t appear to have far-sight, as Sauron might do (presumably this via a palantír): whilst Sauron’s Eye is more of a metaphorical emblem in the books rather than a physical weapon, perhaps he has learned something of a transfixing gaze from his master, Morgoth: “the light of the eyes of Melkor was like a flame that withers with heat and pierces with a deadly cold” (Silmarillion)

I haven’t done loads of (any, really) research into this; it was just an observation that caught my attention. Does anyone else have any knowledge of Irish myth or commentary on inspirational fiery eyes??

[Ephtariat]

Sauron's is the Lidless Eye. As the Witch King tells Eowyn:

Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye. (LotR V, vi)

Snakes have lidless eyes, so perhaps we should not believe Tolkien when he says that Greek sauros, 'reptile', has nothing to do with Sauron?

[Ephtariat]

Balor was killed in the Battle of Moytirra, that Dimitra Fimi pointed out to parallel the Dagor Nuin Giliath in The Silmarillion. In my own research I found that Balor is also the father of a girl whom he keeps captive in a tower because it has been prophesized that her son will kill him. So, Balor may also have to do with Thingol? Of course, eventually somebody (a druid, in this case) reaches her in the tower, gets her pregnant, and the prophecy is fulfilled when Balor's grandson kills him.