EAMON O'DONNELL
Real Name: Eamon O'Donnell
Identity/Class: Extradimensional leprechaun (Otherworld)
Occupation: Keeper of Cassidy Keep
Group Membership: Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep (Donal, Kelson, Padraic and unidentified others)
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), Michael Flaherty, Maeve Rourke, Siryn (Theresa Rourke Cassidy), Warpath (James Proudstar), X-Men (Banshee/Sean Cassidy, Colossus/Peter Rasputin, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett)
Enemies: Black Tom Cassidy (Thomas Cassidy), Juggernaut (Cain Marko), troll of Otherworld;
formerly Grand Dame faerie
Known Relatives: Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep (various relations)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Cassidy Keep, Ireland;
formerly Tir na nOg, Otherworld (place of birth)
First Appearance: X-Men I#101 (October, 1976)
Powers/Abilities: Eamon O'Donnell was a leprechaun who originated from Otherworld. Eamon had no superhuman abilities but was trained in providing for Cassidy Keep and its inhabitants. Eamon was considerably taller than most of his fellow leprechauns.
Height: 5'1" (by approximation)
Weight: 110 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
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 flee her oppressive reign and come live within the Cassidy homestead Cassidy Keep.
(X-Force I#31 (fb) - BTS) - As head of his clan, Eamon O'Donnell over time also became Cassidy Keep's seneschal. The leprechauns befriended Theresa Cassidy-Rourke, daughter of Sean Cassidy and Maeve Rourke, who had been raised within Cassidy Keep by her criminal "uncle", Tom 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 - BTS) - The leprechauns tried to fight Black Tom, but were unable to defeat him thanks to Cassidy's criminal partner: the Juggernaut. Cain Marko made short work of his diminutive opponents, capturing a great number of them. The leprechauns were held in Cassidy Keep's dungeons.
(X-Men I#103 (fb)) - Eamon witnessed Black Tom and Juggernaut taking orders from a tall man in red armor with a horned helmet, unaware the man was in fact the Shi'ar mercenary Eric the Red. O'Donnell tried to get a warning to Sean, but the Cassidy family lawyer, Michael Flaherty, mistook O'Donnell's message. Thinking that Eamon was warning Sean about Tom trying to steal Sean's rightful inheritance, Flaherty remained unaware Tom actually wished to lure Sean to Cassidy Keep to kill him.
(X-Men I#101 (fb) - BTS) - 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 Banshee, or risk the leprechauns' deaths.
(X-Men I#101 (fb) - BTS) - While in the service of Black Tom, Eamon had been forced to do evil things.
(X-Men I#101) - When Sean and the X-Men (Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm and Wolverine) arrived at Cassidy Keep Black Tom reminded Eamon of his orders. Eamon refused to become a party in the murder of innocent people. Enraged, Cassidy beat Eamon with his stick, ordering him once again to follow orders or else he'd force him to watch his fellow clansmen die. Eamon cracked under the pressure and decided to continue following Tom's orders. Putting on his best smile Eamon welcomed Sean and the X-Men to Cassidy Keep. Unaware of the trap, Banshee asked Eamon how the "families" were doing, noticing Eamon's hesitation upon the mention of the "little ones." Even though they were alerted by Eamon's odd behavior, Banshee and the X-Men nonetheless fell into Black Tom's trap.
(X-Men I#102 - BTS) - Black Tom and the Juggernaut successfully defeated Banshee and the X-Men, however the few leprechauns who were still free rescued Nightcrawler.
(X-Men I#103) - The leprechauns brought Nightcrawler to Eamon where the mutant hero regained consciousness. Eamon filled the X-Man in on the situation. However, before finding a way to defeat the criminals Eamon and the leprechauns discussed how they'd witnessed Nightcrawler turning invisible within shadows. After testing his newfound abilities Nightcrawler decided on a plan to stop the criminals by using his image inducer to transform into Juggernaut's half-brother Charles Xavier. Nightcrawler's plan worked, causing enough confusion which inevitably led Black Tom to destroy the outer wall of the keep after which both the leprechauns were freed and Storm was able to use her mutant abilities to free her friends. With their combined strength the X-Men defeated Black Tom and the Juggernaut.
(X-Force I#31 - BTS) - When the Cassidy family no longer resided at Cassidy Keep, the family lawyer Michael Flaherty took up residence in the old castle.
(X-Force I#30 - BTS) - During one night Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut visited Cassidy Keep. When they knocked on the door, they were met by Flaherty, who was quickly blasted aside by Tom, who remarked that Michael had taken up residence in a place that rightfully belonged to him. Tom then announced his return to Cassidy Keep.
(X-Force I#31 - BTS) - Siryn returned home to Cassidy Keep to battle her growing alcohol addiction. Accompanied by her X-Force teammate Warpath, she was welcomed by Eamon who told them what had happened to the still hospitalized Flaherty.
(X-Force I#31) - Warpath and Siryn remained at Cassidy Keep for two more weeks. During the morning Eamon made Warpath a fresh pot of coffee, noting Warpath was the only one to drink coffee. Warpath was concerned about Siryn not showing up for breakfast, but Eamon told him he'd seen her working in the garden. Later that night, Siryn was faced by Black Tom who ultimately turned himself in.
(Generation X I#8 (fb) - BTS) - Eamon and the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep were transported back to their home dimension along with the rest of Cassidy Keep, courtesy of the Grand Dame herself. Eamon was held captive, chained up in a dark dungeon separate from the other leprechauns.
(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 world hidden from the rest of the Tir na nOg realm.
(Generation X I#8 - BTS) - Alerted that his ancestral home had vanished, Sean Cassidy took Emma Frost and Generation X to find out what had happened. Standing at the cliff side that once housed Cassidy Keep, Synch's powers unwillingly synched up with the fairy realm the building has disappeared into. Synch was then overcome, turned into mist and taken away to Otherworld. Unsure what to do, the other Generation X'ers jumped in after them, arriving on the medieval world, magically dressed in age appropriate attire.
(Generation X I#8) - Sean Cassidy and Emma Frost, arrived within Cassidy Keep's dungeon and spotted Eamon O'Donnell, who informed Sean that the leprechaun families were near. Eamon also explained that they needed to free the leprechauns and retake Cassidy Keep before the Keep shifted back to the Earth realm. Banshee used his sonic scream to destroy their chains after which they set out to escape.
(Generation X I#9) - Eamon continued to lead Sean and Emma Frost 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. At first unsure whether they could help since they were mere students, Chamber and Synch agreed to help free the other leprechauns. 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. 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, Eamon, 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.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Frank Chiaramonte (inks).
Eamon O'Donnell, the leprechauns' protector, was drawn to resemble a normal human being, albeit maybe a little on the short side 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 I#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." 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.
Eamon O'Donnell and 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 story involves one of the leprechauns being murdered and the X-Men's attempts to uncover the culprit.
Profile by MarvellousLuke & Proto-Man
CLARIFICATIONS:
Eamon O'Donnel has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Generation X I#8, p14, pan5 (main image)
X-Men I#101, p13, pan4-5 (beaten by Black Tom)
X-Force I#31, p11, pan2 (making coffee)
Generation X I#9, p9, pan2-3 (acch, humans!)
Appearances:
X-Men I#101 (October, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Frank Chiaramonte (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)
X-Men Unlimited III#26 (March 14, 2022) - Declan Shalvey (writer), Nick Roche (pencils, inks), Lauren Amaro (editor)
First Posted: 09/19/2018
Last Updated: 08/18/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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