Today we travel to Europe exploring another one of its legendary histories. The Wild Hunt.
*The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif that historically occurs in European folklore, typically involve a ghostly or supernatural group of hunters passing in wild pursuit. The hunters may be either elves, fairies, or the dead.
*In according to legends, the Wild Hunt has had many different leaders. Most notable ones are Odin or Woton, Berchta, Arthur, and Gywn ap Nudd. Others names are biblical figures such as Cain, Herod, Gabriel, or the Devil.
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| Asgårdsreien [The Wild Hunt of Odin] (1872) by Peter Nicolai Arbo |
*Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to presage some catastrophe such as war or plague, death to those who witness the Hunt. *Experts in conclusion to the body of the lore surrounding the Wild Hunt finds a number of themes that connect powerfully to the dead and the underworld.
That's a wrap for this week's folklore exploration, friends! Tune in next week!
*Source(s): Wikipedia/Wild Hunt
*norse-mythology.org/the-wild-hunt/
*Encyclopedia Mythica
*norse-mythology.org/the-wild-hunt/
*Encyclopedia Mythica
Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar trilogy makes use of the Wild Hunt. There's a sort of faint reflection of that trope in Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain.
ReplyDeleteReally? Now my "Books to explore" list has gotten a tad bigger. Ha!
DeleteThe Wild Hunt made their presence felt in Jim Butcher's the Dresden Files, the October Daye novels by Seanan McGuire, and Mark Del Franco's Connor Grey series.