Ireland really has a deep resonance for me, as you'll see from flipping through these pages...

This painting is of the Irish Goddess of war, Morrigan. There were other goddesses who were warlike, but only the Morrigan was so well-known for it.

She's also sometimes known as the Crone facet of the triple goddess, but I find that notion detracts from her intense power. She's not Lady Death, a la Neil Gaiman, she's much, much different. She inspires men to war, and rejoices in the slaughter.

Here, she covers her face in a moment of silence after the battle, her hoodie-crows surrounding her. The notion of the crow carrying the soul to heaven is (I believe) a Native American tradition, not an Irish one... so perhaps she is taking a moment of silence out of respect for the dead - though her ebon followers are off to scout for the next battle.