Biography:
Wooden Heart: Lugh is introduced as the 20th emanation of Ashtara. He is a replacement branch growing where Owen’s branch used to be. He shares some of Owen’s early memories, but in appearance and personality is quite different. His specialty is his large-hearted ability to comfort and forgive, and he helps Tara through her grief over losing Owen and some difficulties she is having with Ailann.
Owen’s branch is eventually recovered and grafted back onto Atlas. Owen is on the brink of madness from the trauma of his isolation; Lugh vows that he will assure Owen is never alone again. After that, the two are inseparable, and emanate as fraternal twins.
Lugh is involved in the final arrest of Molly. He is stunned and hurt by the degree of her hatred as it is something he is incapable of understanding.
Near the end of the novel, Lugh and Owen approach Tara asking her if she wants them to be “perverts.” This apparently translates into whether she would like them to fulfil a twin-brother threesome fantasy, but later it is revealed that they are worried that their growing affection is becoming a violation of n’aashet n’aaverti.
Eden Blues: Through most of the novel, Lugh plays a minor role seeking to unify the factions of Atlas and Goliath. He is a consistent source of comfort and strength. However, the SongLuminants eventually push him to confess that Owen is more important to him than Tara’s Destiny, a shocking revelation. Lorcan says he’s not just a “pervert,” but also a “traitor.”
The Poison Garden: As the novel opens, Lugh and Owen are on the outs, Lugh having accused Owen of loving Tara more than Lugh. Owen is disturbed by his emotions, and goes to Tarlach for Tara-therapy to cure him of his perversion.
Lugh shocks everyone by voting in favor of Lilith’s uprooting, claiming that she’d be better off dead than losing the thing she loves. Tarlach wants Lugh to go in for therapy, but Lugh refuses. He becomes growingly hostile and estranged from the other branches in the pleroma.
Owen seeks to reconcile with Lugh but is rebuffed. Their inability to cooperate on the wormhole project lead Ashtara to emanate Ethan and Barnabas, yet another twin pair of engineers. This turns out to be a set-up by Ashtara when Ethan is captured by Lilith and is replaced by Owen. Lugh is forced to interfere, proving his concern for Owen. Even though he knows he is being manipulated, Lugh can’t help his emotions, especially when Owen is wounded by a nullet. It is revealed that Ashtara is employing Lugh as the vessel for a self-preservation instinct, a direct result of Tara’s dictum that no emanation is expendable. Lugh will always act in a way which will assure Owen’s survival, in turn protecting the entire grove.
In the “Prophecy of Blooming,” Lugh grows a branch with blueblack flowers, purportedly for Owen. Lugh and Owen accompany Tara to Volparnu in “The Prophecy of Ash.” Lugh spends his time accompanying Tara while Owen is put to work on the engineering solution for the volcano, and Lugh is with Tara during the first of the terrorist attacks.
In “The Prophecy of Fear,” Cüinn makes the observation – later echoed by many others – that Lugh never does any work, leaving any actual engineering up to Owen.
The Perpetual Rose: Owen and Lugh play only a minor role, consulted on the development of the glowkrill.
The Portable Grove: Because Lugh and Owen, as dual emanations, always appear at the same time, they are incapable of pollinating each other. The second experiment involves an intervention by Tara where a pollination by Lugh and Owen is immediately followed by a pollination from another branch. Lugh and Owen should still have pollen-receptive flowers which would be pollinated by each other from the second encounter. Tara arranges an orgy of food, sex and drugs for Lugh and Owen. After an encounter with Ellery, the experiment is successful although Tara claims that there are too many loose variables and they should repeat it.
In the fourth experiment, Lugh and Owen are invited to the pollination orgy, but end up spending most of their time doing psychological counselling. Due to Lugh’s intervention, Barnabas and Ethan reconcile, but Lugh is unable to heal the breach between WJ and BJ.
Lugh and Owen take a peripheral part in experiment 11 and in the fourth stress-test.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Lugh Carrick (Gaelic from the god Lugh; the etymology which derives Lugh/Lugus from leuk “to shine” is probably false. The actual root is probably leuk: black. Gaelic: rock). |
| Numeration | 20th emanation of Ashtara; 20th branch of Atlas; 9 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 36 |
| Hotness | 10/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.801 meters tall, cock size 16.51 cm when erect. |
| Description | Bleached blond hair with dark roots deliberately showing and coiffed into an elaborate pompadour. Similar facial structure to Owen, but somehow gives the appearance of being much more attractive. Gorgeous, beefy pinup body. Very, very handsome. Wears trendy leather, sunglasses, a caricature of 1950s style tough guy. |
| Skills | “Mining engineer.” Has never worked a day in his emanation. The kind of guy who hangs out in leather bars looking hot. He’s also extraordinarily kind and sympathetic. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | Threesomes, brotherly love. |
| Average Duration of Play | 12 minutes, 19 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Platanus occidentalis, the Haudenostani sycamore. |
| Fixed Star | Capella Aa, first twin of the she-goat (α Aur: actually made of two double-stars). |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Archimedean solid truncated octahedron. |
| Function | Combinatory stabilization. |
| Official Title | Twice-consul and Most Magnificent Engineer of Skarsia. |
| His Prophecy | A large heart is meant for loving. |
| Dessert |  Chocumber soufflé with nau’gsh soft-serve |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Regrew on the shattered stump where Owen’s branch had been. Owen and Lugh were used as templates for the branch material to formulate their twin brothers on Goliath, Barnabas and Ethan. |
| Nul-history | Originally bonded to Tarlach; part of the mass synchronization facilitated by Wynne. The severing of Owen’s branch caused his spark to bifurcate; the remaining energy, fueled by Atlas, became Lugh. |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Love, designated Synthesize. |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 23 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  Lugh (current)  Owen/Lugh (original) |