Editing Geas (section)

==In popular culture==
{{See also|Irish mythology in popular culture}}
''{{lang|ga|Geas}}'', ''{{lang|ga|geis}}'' and derivative words and concepts have appeared in a variety of forms in popular culture.

In ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End]]'', [[Governor]] [[Weatherby Swann]] was going to stab the heart of [[Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean)|Davy Jones]], only for Jones to reveal that he cast a terrible geis upon his heart when he carved it from his body, that if someone stabs the heart then theirs will take its place. The line was cut from the film, but the geis remains in place as the [[curse]] of the ''[[Flying Dutchman]]''. With the help of [[Jack Sparrow]], [[Will Turner]] stabs the heart and becomes the new captain of the ''Dutchman''.<ref>[http://www.wordplayer.com/archives/PIRATES3.cover.html Wordplayer.com: WORDPLAY/Archives/Screenplay - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio]</ref><ref name="world">{{cite video | people = [[Gore Verbinski]] (director) | title = [[Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End]] | type = Film | publisher=[[Walt Disney Pictures]] |year=2007}}</ref>

Geasa are widely used in [[Charles Stross]]'s [[The_Laundry_Files|Laundry Files]] series, especially employed by The Laundry (Britain's secret government agency tasked with protecting the realm from supernatural threats) to enforce the loyalty and duty of its agents.

===Parallels in English literature===
Prohibitions and taboos similar to ''{{lang|ga|geasa|italic=no}}'' are also found in more recent [[English literature]], though they are not described as ''{{lang|ga|geasa|italic=no}}'' in those texts.  For example, in [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Macbeth]]'', the title character believes he is safe because "no man of woman born shall harm Macbeth". However, his nemesis [[Macduff (Macbeth)|Macduff]] was "from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd" (i.e., born by [[Caesarean section]]), and was therefore not "of woman born".

Another example is the Witch-King of Angmar from [[Tolkien's legendarium]], who has a ''{{lang|ga|geas|italic=no}}''-like prophecy described by the [[Elves in Middle-earth|Elven]] hero, [[Glorfindel]]: "Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man shall he fall." The meaning is then quite literal, for the Witch-king eventually falls at the hands of [[Éowyn]] and [[Merry Brandybuck|Meriadoc]], one a shieldmaiden of [[Rohan, Middle-earth|Rohan]], and thus not a man but a woman, and the other a [[hobbit]], and thus not a Man as in species.