#odin and the wild hunt

[gifts-of-heimdall-runes]

"Wild Hunt"

By Scott Sterling

Ink and coloured pencil on paper, 9"x9"

The Wild Hunt is a ghostly ride through the stormy night skies of winter, said to appear in many regions of Britain and Northern Europe from late autumn to early spring. Its specific lore appears in many guises, varying by locality and culture. In my cover image, the leader of the hunt is Woden (Odin) on his 8-legged horse, accompanied by hounds, gathering up lost souls and ghosts along the way.

Scott Sterling Facebook Profile picture 2025_02_08

[madcat-world]

The Wild Hunt - AnatoFinnstark

[marejadilla]

Peter Nicolai Arbo, “Wild Hunt of Odin”, 1872. Norwegian, (1831-1892) detail.

[389]

Asgårdsreien [The Wild Hunt of Odin] (1872) by Peter Nicolai Arbo

[tamburnbindery]

Drawing a Wild Hunt panel for my 2025 Norse calendar. This is one of the companion pieces I'm working on for the Poetic Edda project on Kickstarter, launching in a couple of weeks.

[transistoradio]

Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831-1892), “The Wild Hunt of Odin” (1872), oil on canvas.

[illustratus]

The Wild Chase (1889) by Franz von Stuck

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Peter Nicolai Arbo (Norwegian, 1831-1892) Åsgårdsreien (Åsgård’s Ride, The Wild Hunt of Odin), 1872 Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Armies of the Dead/heaven in myths and epic fantasy - and the magic horns behind them!

One of the most famous armies of dead soldiers? The Men of Dunharrow, the army of the dead from Lord of the Rings who broke their oaths and renewed them finally under Aragorn.

Let's do this!

If you're a younger fantasy reader, or more modern, perhaps your introduction to this idea is in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time with his magical horn that summons an army and legendary heroes to the field.

Some fans have said this is inspired by the Norse horn Gjallarhorn. 

This is the horn trusted to Heimdallr to be blown to announce the beginning of Ragnarok and summon the Norse gods to the "thing" (thing is used in this case legitimately to mean - meeting, assembly, folkmoot) - in a moment like NORSE AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE! 

This includes the Einherjar, the spirits of Norse warriors of honored dead who fell in battle and reside in Valhalla. But was there another possible influence?

Well, we know RJ was a Tolkien fan, and honestly who wouldn't be back in the days of early fantasy? 

So, what of Tolkien's ghostly army of dead warriors? Well, if you haven't read the books, you might not know that Aragorn too summons his army of the dead with a magical horn (cut from the films). That's right. 

You see, Elrohir (one of the sons of Elrond, also cut from the films) entrusts Aragorn with a silver horn to summon the dead with at the Stone of Erech to deal with them. Tolkien was a Norse buff and loved the old epics as well as poems. 

So he was likely familiar with the stories just like with Gjallarhorn as well. But also, quite possibly the Song of Roland (a French epic poem) in where Roland and his forces are ambushed at Roncesvalles and are going to lose. In final desperation, Roland blows the horn, and the emperor hears the call. But the aid will not arrive in time (unlike the films and more modern stories where the heroes do arrive to save the day - this is cuz we like the just in the nick of time trope) so Roland dies blowing it one last time to hard in vengeance his temples burst (and he ascends to heaven), but...Charlemagne's army arrives in the aftermath and scatters the enemy. But, are there other armies of the dead? In fact, yes. 

The Night Marchers of Hawaii who come with a warm wind, & the smell of sulfur, and the call of a conch shell to herald them. If you come upon this procession with torches in the night, and you are an enemy...time to RUN! Because if you watch them your eyes might be incinerated.

Then there is the Wild Hunt - a shared myth motif present through eastern, northern, and western European cultures. A ghostly army of the souls of dead men (and creatures) usually united under a leader (though this figure changes), Herne, Odin/Woden, Gwyn ap Nudd, Sigurd or Siegfried the Dragon Slayer, Theodoric the Great, onward. Now, they're not summoned by a horn, but in some tales their coming is announced by one.

Now, an Indian cognate of the Wild Hunt and warriors in the service of heavens The Maruts.

The number of them vary from 20+ to over 180, to even more (yay conflicting mythological sources and arguments in ancient texts and interpretations).

But who are they? Companions and servants to Lord Indra, Slayer of the First Born of Dragons, and lord of the heavens and storms! So, fittingly, these warriors are very...storm themed. Violent, aggressive, expert combatants armed with lightning weaponary, and golden chariots to fly through the clouds on. Their war crys and battle sounds are like thunder. Their blows would split clouds (sounding thunder) and would hunt the enemies of Lord Indra and slaughter demons/monsters.

Interestingly they are often associated as the sons (children) of Rudra (the Rig Vedic storm and wind god). However, there is another group that often gets that association (obviously so), the Rudras.

The Rudras are similar in (some) regards to the Maruts but not all. They aid Vishnu in his battles against demons and are clad in lion-skins, and wear serpents around their necks. A crescent moon adorns their foreheads, and they wield golden tridents and carry a skull in one hand they wear necklaces of lightning illuminated clouds (how's that for bling bling?), and are monstrously feral in battle. Lord Shiva can call them with a blow of a conch shell/horn. 

Their overlap, association with the Maruts is because of some etymology and shared functions as they too are a divine/spiritual/demigod group of heavenly warriors to aid the good and destroy evil - demons/adversaries, and the root word in their name means the roarers, thunderers, or the shouters - and this is also mentioned of the Maruts.

Are these all there are for legendary armies of the dead, of gods/heaven to be summoned to the field or aid? No. But, it's rainy, I'm a little messed up (mental health and meds), and tired. 

So I'm going to bow out and read and study for Tremaine 3 and leave this minor comparative thread here for folks into this stuff.

[gameraboy2]

The Wild Hunt of Odin by Peter Nicolai Arbo, 1872

[magicaldogtoto]

If I ever had a chance to contribute anything to Symphogear, it would be finding some way to tie Hibiki's Gungnir back to the Wild Hunt.

She's already got Odin's relic, she may as well get some of the other perks that go with it. And St. Germain's ghost is already hanging around her, anyway. Could probably bring back Kanade for good measure, too.

[theartofmetal]

62. Blood Fire Death - Bathory (Black/Viking Metal, 1988)

Art by Peter Nicolai Arbo: "Åsgårdsreien (The Wild Hunt Of Odin)", 1872

"The Wild Hunt of Odin is based on the Wild Hunt motif from folklore. In the Scandinavian tradition, the Wild Hunt is often associated with the god Odin. It consists of a terrifying procession that hurl across the sky during midwinter and abduct unfortunate people who have failed to find a hiding place. In the Norwegian material, figures other than Odin who have been named as leaders of the hunt include Lussi, sometimes identified as Adam's first wife, and Guro Rysserova, a supernatural female being with a mysterious male companion. The folklorist Christine N. F. Eike has argued that the motif might have its origin in European traditions where young, unmarried men wear masks and move in processions during Christmastide."

RIP Thomas Börje Forsberg, the mastermind behind Bathory

[tamburnbindery]

The 2025 Runic Zodiac calendar print is going to be available as a free download next week when we launch the Edda Kickstarter Project - just share our campaign on social media and DM me for the download link!

[thepinkseat-askthemoonbunny]

My brooch just came in…WE RIDE AT DUSK!

[thorarms]

I know its a bit late to be ragging on the loki series still but i do think it would have been very funny if ut had a bit where loki travelled back to the 1800s, when neopaganism was taking its first tiny steps, and called bullshit on everything they were doing