LEPRECHAUNS OF CASSIDY KEEPLEPRECHAUNS OF CASSIDY KEEP
Membership: Donal, Eoin, "Guv'nor," Kelson, Eamon O'Donnell, Padraic, "Sunshine," others
Purpose: To live in peace within Cassidy Keep
Aliases: "The families," "the little ones"
Affiliations: Generation X (Banshee/Sean
Cassidy, Chamber/Jonothan Starsmore, Husk/Paige Guthrie,
Jubilee/Jubilation Lee, M/Claudette & Nicole St. Croix,
Penance/Monet St. Croix, Skin/Angelo Espinosa, Synch/Everett Thomas, White Queen/Emma Frost), Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Siryn (Theresa Rourke Cassidy); formerly Black Tom Cassidy (Thomas Cassidy)
Enemies: Black Tom Cassidy (Thomas Cassidy), Juggernaut (Cain Marko); formerly Grand Dame
Base of Operations: Cassidy Keep, County Mayo, Ireland
First Appearance: (mentioned as "the
families"): X-Men I#101 (October, 1976); (seen, unidentified): X-Men
I#102 (December, 1976); (seen, identified as leprechauns): X-Men I#103
(February, 1977)
History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 14 -
Otherworld entry (fb) - BTS) - The O'Donnell leprechaun clan resided in
a region of Tir na nOg ruled by the manipulative faerie Grand Dame.
Around 1000 years ago, the leprechauns struck a deal with the Cassidy
clan on Earth to live within the Cassidys' Cassidy Keep castle.
(X-Force I#31 (fb) - BTS) - As the years passed, the
head of the O'Donnell leprechaun clan, Eamon O'Donnell, became Cassidy
Keep's seneschal and the leprechauns befriended Theresa Rourke Cassidy,
the daughter of Sean Cassidy and
Maeve Rourke, who had been raised within Cassidy Keep by her criminal
"uncle," Thomas Cassidy. Over time, Theresa grew to think she had never
seen such a lively bunch as the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep.
(X-Men I#103 (fb)) - When Black Tom
Cassidy took over Cassidy Keep, he brought along his partner-in-crime
Juggernaut, who fought against the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep, forcing
many to flee. Within a night's time, the two criminals had captured
most of the leprechauns in Cassidy Keep's dungeons.
(X-Men I#101 (fb) - BTS/X-Men I#103 (fb))) - Black Tom used the leprechauns as leverage to force the Keep's seneschal and protector of the leprechauns, Eamon O'Donnell, to cooperate with his plans to murder his cousin Sean, aka the X-Men's Banshee, or risk the leprechauns' deaths.
(X-Men I#101 - BTS) - Remaining Black Tom's hostages when Banshee arrived at Cassidy Keep with his X-Men teammates, the leprechauns were used to blackmail Eamon O'Donnell into leading the X-Men into Black Tom's trap. Unaware of any trap, Banshee asked Eamon how the "families" were doing, noticing Eamon's hesitation upon the mention of the "little ones." Later suspecting something odd due to Eamon's earlier freezing up, Banshee nonetheless fell into Black Tom's trap alongside the other X-Men.
(X-Men I#102) - When Nightcrawler was knocked unconscious battling Black Tom's partner-in-crime Juggernaut, the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep found the fallen hero and got him away from the danger.
(X-Men I#103) - The leprechauns continued carrying
Nightcrawler, noticing the silence that had taken Cassidy Keep
following the X-Men's defeat. When Nightcrawler came to, he instinctively
fought off the leprechauns before realizing he was no longer in battle.
Surprised to see actual leprechauns, Nightcrawler grew excited to tell
his friends about them before he was interrupted by Eamon O'Donnell,
who revealed that the X-Men had been captured by Black Tom and
Juggernaut and that the two criminals had forced Eamon to lead the
X-Men into a trap by holding the captive leprechauns hostage.
Determined to rescue his friends, Nightcrawler was questioned by one of
the leprechauns as to how Nightcrawler seemed to disappear within
shadows. At first thinking the leprechaun to be mistaken, Nightcrawler
tested this ability and much to his surprise, he was able to blend into
the shadows of Cassidy Keep. Another leprechaun quickly came running to
report Black Tom's plans to torture the X-Men, prompting Nightcrawler
to emerge from the shadows to stop Black Tom, much to the shock of the
leprechaun. Nightcrawler soon after used his image inducer to pose as
Professor X, enraging Juggernaut, who ultimately punched a hole in the
Keep's laboratory walls, freeing the captive leprechauns, who snuck
their way past Black Tom and Juggernaut to aid the injured
Nightcrawler. After the X-Men were freed and stormed a battlement tower
that Black Tom had retreated to, Colossus hurled Wolverine towards the
tower, inadvertently sending him to the opposite side of Cassidy Keep,
where the leprechaun Padraic revealed his knowledge that Wolverine was
called Logan. Introducing himself as a leprechaun who knew many things,
Padraic was scoffed at by Wolverine, who claimed to not believe in
leprechauns, but Padraic merely replied that perhaps he didn't believe
in talking wolverines either before leading Wolverine to regroup with
his teammates.
(Generation X I#8 (fb) - BTS) - The leprechauns of
Cassidy Keep were transported into the Grand Dame's realm along with
the rest of Cassidy Keep by the Grand Dame.
(Generation X I#9 (fb) - BTS) - The Grand Dame wished
to utilize the captive leprechauns as slave labor to manually operate
her mechanical Glamour Machine, which helped keep her realm hidden from
the rest of the Tir na nOg realm.
(Generation X I#8) - Two Generation X students, Chamber and Synch, were transported to the Grand Dame's realm, where they met the now pink-skinned leprechauns and defended them against a group of soldiers. After they defeated the soldiers, the confused Chamber and Synch were nearly carried off and hailed as heroes by the leprechauns, who ended up dropping the two mutants due to their weight difference. When the leprechauns admitted that had only wished to thank the two mutants for their aid, Chamber asked if the leprechauns could just point them in the general direction of their home and the leprechauns happily agreed to help, leading Chamber and Synch off into the woods. Having been transported to the Grand Dame's realm as well, the Generation X headmasters, Sean Cassidy and Emma Frost, arrived within Cassidy Keep's dungeons and spotted Eamon O'Donnell, who informed Sean that the leprechaun families were also near. Eamon also explained that they needed to free the leprechauns and retake Cassidy Keep before the Keep shifted back to the Earth realm.
(Generation
X I#9) - Eamon continued to lead
Banshee and White Queen in rescuing the leprechauns but they were
interrupted by a troll, who exclaimed that the faeries of the realm
needed Eamon's elven leprechaun families to run their Glamour Machine.
During the battle against the troll, O'Donnell was knocked unconscious
while the freed leprechauns led Generation X's Chamber
and Synch to Cassidy Keep, where they hoped the two students would be
able to rescue the other leprechauns of Cassidy Keep before they
returned to
Earth. At first unsure whether they could help since they were mere
students, Chamber and Synch agreed to help free the other leprechauns
after a very young girl leprechaun (which Chamber called "Sunshine")
begged them. Soon hearing a loud yell, Chamber and Synch deduced that
the noise had to be their headmaster Banshee and busted their way
through the wall to reunite with both Banshee and Emma Frost, defeating
the troll the two headmasters had been fighting when the busted wall
collapsed on it. The four mutants and the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep
then regrouped with the rest of Generation X, who had been transported
to the Great Dame's realm by the Great Dame herself in a further
attempt to fix the Glamour Machine. As Generation X confronted the
Great Dame, the leprechauns constantly cheered, prompting Banshee to
yell at the leprechauns that it was hard enough to liberate the
leprechauns without them cheering to high Heaven. Grand Dame corrected
Banshee, explaining that the leprechauns had reason to cheer if the
Glamour Machine was fixed. Generation X's M explained that the Glamour
Machine had been fixed but lacked a power source and Chamber agreed to
enter the machine and re-empower it. Shortly after the Grand Dame
suggested using some of the leprechauns as kindling to start the
Machine, Chamber's plan worked and the Machine was restarted. With the
leprechauns no longer needed for slave labor, Generation X, the
leprechauns and the other residents of the Grand Dame's realm gathered
within Cassidy Keep to celebrate their victory.
(X-Men Unlimited III#26 (fb) - BTS) - Cassidy Keep's caretaker Eamon O'Donnell died through unrevealed means. Since the Keep's Lord, Banshee, had been deceased as well, Siryn became Cassidy Keep's new Keeper.
(X-Men Unlimited III#26 (fb) - BTS) - To properly celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, Siryn gave the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep the day off. In return they treated her to a day in their magical realm. One of the leprechauns, Eoin, stayed behind with Black Tom.
(X-Men Unlimited III#26) - Recently resurrected, Banshee visited the Cassidy Keep on Saint Patrick's Day. However upon his arrival, Sean believed the Keep had fallen in disarray when he entered the entrance hall to find it empty and full of dust. When Black Tom and leprechaun Eoin revealed their presence he made the assumption Black Tom was to blame. Their squabble soon led to a full out brawl until Siryn and the leprechauns returned from their festivities and cleared up the misunderstandings.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Sam Grainger.
Eamon O'Donnell, the leprechauns' protector, was
drawn to resemble a normal human being, albeit maybe a little on the
short size in X-Men I#101-103 & X-Force I#31, but in Generation X
I#8-9, he was drawn to be much shorter than a typical human being and
it was suggested that the leprechauns were literally his families,
making him a leprechaun himself. Based on these facts, I'd say either
Eamon was a leprechaun who had been mystically heightened or his being
in the fantasy realm in Generation X I#8-9 transformed him to resemble
the leprechauns he protected. I suppose it's also possible that Eamon's
shorter human height/possible larger leprechaun height could be the
result of being a human/leprechaun hybrid...
Eamon is a leprechaun too, based on Generation X #9 - when Banshee and
Emma are arguing, he chides them with an "Acch, humans!" which strongly
suggests he's not one. As for appearing taller when the X-Men visited?
Probably magic, to hide his true stature from them (and in real life,
the artist not being properly briefed). - Loki
In Generation X I#8-9, the leprechauns of Cassidy
Keep are referred to as Eamon O'Donnell's "families" and "elves." Their
referral as "elves" actually originally threw me off on the
leprechauns' appearance in these issues because I had read the story
thinking that the pink-skinned beings in the issues were "elves" and
the leprechauns were only BTS in the issues when, in fact, the
pink-skinned beings WERE the leprechauns. Thanks to Loki for pointing
out the clarification of this in the Otherworld entry in Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 14! He pointed out not
only that clarification but that, at one point, the pink-skinned beings
turn around and identify Cassidy Keep as their home and themselves as
the "O'Donnell clan," which also provides another bit of proof that
Eamon was one of them. He also mentioned that their reference as
"elves" or "elf-kin" might suggest that the leprechauns are a
subspecies of elf, like humans are to primates....or the writer of the
story might not have known the difference between the two mythical
races. I suppose it's possible that the leprechauns appear differently
in their own realm than they do on Earth, making them pink-skinned and
more elf-like in their own realm?
The Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep also appear in Uncanny X-Men: First Class#8 (April, 2010), although the First Class stories are not considered Earth-616 continuity, according to Tom Brevoort. Certain events that were seen to occur within the First Class reality occurred similarly on Earth-616 but the rule of thumb is that only those events referenced in an Earth-616 story occurred there and all others are considered to have occurred in the First Class reality. The Uncanny X-Men: First Class story introduces previously unidentified leprechauns of Cassidy Keep, including Finnan Michael O'Bradaigh, a keeper of records who helped teach Sean Cassidy as a child; Molly, a female leprechaun; Grandmother Roisin McCormack, Molly's deceased grandmother; Conall O'Reilly, an older leprechaun; Malachy Quinn, one of the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep who had befriended Liam Cassidy, the builder of the Keep; Owen McGuiness, Cassidy Keep's apothecary; and Declan, grandson to Owen who becomes a sidhe. The story involves one of the leprechauns being murdered and the X-Men's attempts to uncover the culprit. It also lists the exact number of leprechauns living in Cassidy Keep as 357. If something ever confirms this story's existence within Earth-616 continuity, I'll gladly add it into the leprechauns' history.
"Guv'nor" and "Sunshine" were only called so by
Chamber, who was only referring to them as nicknames but since
they have not been identified by any other names, I listed them in this
profile under their nicknames. Chamber also called "Sunshine" by the
nickname of "Gel" and Jubilee referred to her as "Kid."
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep have no known connections to
Donal was one of the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep who helped get the unconscious Nightcrawler away from the X-Men's battle against Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut. While the other leprechauns carried Nightcrawler, Donal led the way, lighting the area with a torch. Remaining by Nightcrawler's side when he awoke and learned of Black Tom's capture of the other leprechauns, Donal aided the other leprechauns when they were freed during a later battle in which Nightcrawler tricked Juggernaut into punching a hole in the dungeon wall housing the leprechauns. When Nightcrawler was injured by the collapsing wall, Donal once again helped get Nightcrawler to safety, remarking "What?! Him again."
--X-Men I#102 (unidentified); (identified): X-Men I#103,
Eoin was one of the several leprechauns of Cassidy Keep. When Cassidy Keep’s caretaker Eamon O’Donnell died, Eoin befriended the new Keeper Siryn and her uncle Black Tom.
When Siryn joined the leprechauns to properly celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, Eoin stayed behind with Black Tom. However when later that day Banshee arrived to the Keep and fought Black Tom, Eoin used his magical abilities to change a Krakoan gate to send Siryn a distress call. Successfull, Siryn and the leprechauns returned to stop Banshee from making the wrong assumptions, clearing up any misunderstandings.
--X-Men Unlimited III#26
"Guv'nor" was one of the pink-skinned leprechauns that was
transported to the Grand Dame's realm. When Generation X's Chamber and
Synch arrived in the Grand Dame's realm, they defeated a group of
soldiers attacking some of the leprechauns and "Guv'nor" was one of the
leprechauns that led Chamber and Synch back to Cassidy Keep, where the
leprechauns lived. When Chamber remarked that they had wished to be
taken back to their home, not the home of the leprechauns, "Guv'nor"
informed him that the leprechauns were aware of the request but
remarked that surely they wouldn't be leaving without rescuing the rest
of the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep.
--Generation X I#8 - BTS (#9,
Kelson was another of the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep. When the other leprechauns made Nightcrawler realize that he had the ability to blend into shadows, Kelson came running up to warn the leprechauns that Black Tom was torturing the X-Men. Nightcrawler immediately appeared from the shadows, surprising Kelson. Kelson later helped get the captive leprechauns to safety when Nightcrawler tricked Juggernaut into punching a hole in the dungeon wall housing the leprechauns. When Nightcrawler was injured by the collapsing wall and the captive leprechauns questioned whether Nightcrawler was a demon, Kelson explained that Nightcrawler was a friend that they were all honor bound to save.
--X-Men I#103
Padraic was one of the several leprechauns of Cassidy Keep who got the unconscious Nightcrawler to safety following the X-Men's capture by Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut. When one of the leprechauns remarked on how quiet the Keep had gotten, Padraic reminded him that the battle was over and the X-Men had lost. He remained by Nightcrawler's side when Eamon O'Donnell explained how Black Tom Cassidy had taken the other leprechauns hostage and when the X-Men were later freed, Padraic found Wolverine on the other side of Cassidy Keep, having been thrown that far by Colossus, who was attempting to hurl Wolverine into the Keep tower housing Black Tom. Padraic offered to assist Wolverine in getting back to the other X-Men, calling Wolverine "Logan." Shocked that Padraic knew his name, Wolverine demanded to know how Padraic knew but Padraic merely laughed and remarked that leprechauns knew many things. Wolverine then announced that he didn't believe in leprechauns, prompting Padraic to reply that perhaps leprechauns didn't believe in talking wolverines either. He then ran off, asking if Wolverine was coming along or not.
--X-Men I#103
"Sunshine" was a young girl leprechaun who was transported to the
Grand Dame's realm while inside Cassidy Keep. When some of the other
leprechauns led Generation X's Chamber and Synch to Cassidy Keep,
Chamber was introduced to "Sunshine," who begged Chamber to help rescue
the other captive leprechauns of Cassidy Keep. Upon seeing the young
child, Chamber proved unable to resist and sighed, agreeing to help.
Later, after Chamber and Synch had regrouped with the rest of
Generation X, where they learned that the Grand Dame's Glamour Machine
needed a power source, Chamber began thinking of using himself as the
power source, at which point "Sunshine" reappeared and thanked Chamber
for all of his work so far in freeing the leprechauns. Once more unable
to resist the little girl's cuteness, Chamber entered the Machine and
restarted the Machine.
images: (without ads)
X-Men I#103, p1, splash page (Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep, carrying Nightcrawler)
X-Men I#102, p14, pan2-3 (Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep, in shadows)
X-Men I#103, p10, pan1 (Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep, escaping captivity)
Generation X I#8, p13, pan3 (pink-skinned leprechauns)
Generation X I#9, p17, pan2 (Banshee telling the leprechauns to shut up)
X-Men I#103, p2, pan2 (Donal)
X-Men Unlimited III#26, pan23 (Eoin)
Generation X I#9, p11, pan1 ("Guv'nor")
X-Men I#103, p4, pan9 (Kelson)
X-Men I#103, p14, pan3 (Padraic)
Generation X I#9, p13, pan1 ("Sunshine")
Appearances:
X-Men I#101 (October, 1976) - Chris
Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Frank Chiaramonte (inks),
Archie Goodwin (editor)
X-Men I#102 (December, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
X-Men I#103 (February, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
X-Force I#31 (February, 1994) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (pencils), Jon Holdredge (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Generation X I#8 (October, 1995) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Roger Cruz
(pencils), Mark Buckingham, Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Generation X I#9 (November, 1995) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Tom
Grummett (pencils), Mark Buckingham, Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras
(editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 14 (2010) -
Kevin Garcia, Mike Fichera, Madison Carter, Michael Hoskin, Ronald
Byrd, Richard Green, Stuart Vandal, Sean McQuaid, Jacob Rougemont, Jeph
York, Jeff Christiansen, Gabriel Shechter, Rob London, Chris Biggs,
Markus Raymond, Mike Gagnon (writers), Eliot R. Brown (Otherworld entry
main image art), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
X-Men Unlimited III#26 (March 14, 2022) - Declan Shalvey (writer), Nick Roche (pencils, inks), Lauren Amaro (editor)
First Posted: 03/17/2017
Last updated: 08/18/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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