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The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif occurring across various northern, western and eastern societies, appearing in the religions of the Germanic peoples, Celts, and Slavs (motif E501 per Thompson). Wild Hunts typically involve a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by a ghostly or supernatural group of hunting engaged in pursuit. The leader of the hunt is often a named figure associated with Odin in Germanic legends, but may variously be a historical or legendary figure like Theodoric the Great, the Danish king italic=no, the dragon slayer Sigurd, the psychopomp of Welsh mythology italic=no, biblical figures such as Herod Antipas, Cain, Gabriel, or Satan, or an unidentified lost soul. The hunters are generally the souls of ghost or ghostly dogs, sometimes fairy, valkyries, or elf.
Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to forebode some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it.See, for example, Chambers's Encyclopaedia, 1901, s.v. "Wild Hunt": "Gabriel's ... portend death or calamity to the house over which they hang"; "the cry of the Seven Whistlers ... a death omen". People encountering the Hunt might also be abducted to the underworld or the fairy kingdom. In some instances, it was also believed that people's spirits could be pulled away during their sleep to join the cavalcade.
The concept was developed by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie (1835) on the basis of comparative mythology. Grimm believed that a group of stories represented a folkloristic survival of Germanic paganism, but this is disputed by other, modern scholars who claim that comparable folk myths are found throughout Northern Europe, Western Europe, and Central Europe. Lotte Motz noted, however, that the motif abounds "above all in areas of Germanic speech."Motz, Lotte (1984). "The Winter Goddess: Percht, Holda and Related Figures". Folklore. p. 163. Grimm popularised the term Wilde Jagd ('Wild Hunt') for the phenomenon.
In England, it was known as Herlaþing (Old English: 'Herla's assembly'), Woden's Hunt, Herod's Hunt, Cain's Hunt, (2025). 9780415330749 ISBN 9780415330749 the Devil's Dandy Dogs (in Cornwall), Gabriel's Hounds (in northern England), and (in North America).
In Scandinavia, the Wild Hunt is known as Oskoreia (commonly interpreted as 'The Asgard Ride'), and as Oensjægeren ('Odin's Hunters'). The names Åsgårdsrei ('Asgard Ride' as attested in parts of Trøndelag), Odens jakt and Vilda jakten (Swedish language: 'the hunt of Odin' and 'wild hunt') are also attested. At the very front of Oskoreia rides Gudrun ('Gudrun Horsetail'), often called Guro Åsgard, who is "big and horrid, her horse black and called Skokse (...)"
There is disagreement about the etymology of the word oskorei. The first element has several proposed sources: Åsgård ('Asgard'), oska ('thunder'), or Old Norse ǫskurligr ('dreadful'). The hypothetical Ásgoðreið ('Æsir God Ride') was also once proposed. Only the second element, rei ('ride') from Old Norse reið, is uncontroversial. The word was popularly perceived to be connected to Asgard, as seen in the folk ballad of Sigurd Svein, who is taken to Asgard by Oskoreia and Guro Rysserova.V. Espeland, L. Kreken, M. Dahle Lauten, B. Nordbø, E. Prøysen, A. N. Ressem, O. Solberg, E. Nessheim Wiger (2016) Kjempe- og trollballadar
In the Netherlands and Flanders (in northern Belgium), the Wild Hunt is known as the Buckriders (Dutch: Bokkenrijders) and was used by gangs of highwaymen for their advantage in the 18th century.
In France, the "Host" was known in Latin sources as Familia Hellequini and in Old French as Maisnie Hellequin (the "household or retinue of Hellequin"). The Old French name Hellequin was probably borrowed from Middle English Herla]] (Old English *Her(e)la-cyning) by the Romance-speaking Norman invaders of Britain.Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, vol. 16, 200–202. Other similar figures appear in the French folklore, such as Le Grand-Veneur, a hunter who chased with dogs in the forest of Fontainebleau, and a Poitou tradition where a hunter who has faulted by hunting on Sunday is condemned to redeem himself by hunting during the night, along with its French Canadian version the Chasse-galerie.
Among West Slavs, it is known as divoký hon or štvaní (Czech language: "wild hunt", "baiting"), dzëwô/dzëkô jachta (Kashubian: "wild hunt"), Dziki Gon or Dziki Łów (Polish language). It is also known among the Sorbs and among the South Slavic Slovenes Divja Jaga (Slovene language: "the wild hunting party" or "wild hunt"). However, scholars of Slavic folklore have noted it is a motif of foreign, specifically German(ic), origin.Kajkowski, Kamil (2020). “Myth in Action? Figurative Images on Ceramics as a Source for Studying the Pre-Christian Beliefs of Western Slavs”. Studia Mythologica Slavica. p. 13.Valentsova, Marina M. (2023). “Slavic demonology. A brief survey”, in New Researches on the religion and mythology of the Pagan Slavs 2, Patrice Lajoye & Stamatis Zochios, eds. Lisieux: Lingva; p. 271. In Belarusian, it is called Дзiкае Паляванне (Belarusian: "wild hunt"). As Belarus used to be part of Poland, the motif's presence likely came from there as an intermediary.
In Italian language, it is called Caccia Morta ("Dead Hunt"), Caccia infernale ("infernal hunt") or Caccia selvaggia ("Wild Hunt")
In Spain this myth is documented at least since the 13th century, under the name hueste antigua ("Old army"),"Because we always try to imitate those of the Wild Hunt, who never rest, day or night. And our lord is like Satan, and we are like his servants, who only rest when looting the souls of men" (circa 1270, Alfonso X, Estoria de España) today estantigua. In Galician is known as Estantiga (from Hoste Antiga "the old army"), Compaña and Santa Compaña ("troop, company"); Güestia in Asturias; Hueste de Ánimas ("troop of ghosts") in León; and Hueste de Guerra ("war company") or Cortejo de Gente de Muerte ("deadly retinue") in Extremadura.
Discussing martial elements of the Wild Hunt, Grimm commented that "it marches as an army, it portends the outbreak of war." He added that a number of figures that had been recorded as leading the hunt, such as " Wuotan, Huckelbernd, Berholt, bestriding their white war-horse, armed and spurred, appear still as supreme directors of the war for which they, so to speak, give license to mankind."
Grimm believed that in pre-Christian Europe, the hunt, led by a god and a goddess, either visited "the land at some holy tide, bringing welfare and blessing, accepting gifts and offerings of the people" or they alternately float "unseen through the air, perceptible in cloudy shapes, in the roar and howl of the winds, carrying on war, hunting or the game of ninepins, the chief employments of ancient heroes: an array which, less tied down to a definite time, explains more the natural phenomenon." He believed that under the influence of Christianisation, the story was converted from being that of a "solemn march of gods" to being "a pack of horrid spectres, dashed with dark and devilish ingredients". A little earlier, in 1823, Felicia Hemans records this legend in her poem The Wild Huntsman, linking it here specifically to the castles of Rodenstein and Schnellerts and to the Odenwald.
In the influential book Kultische Geheimbünde der Germanen (1934), Otto Höfler argued that the German motifs of the "Wild Hunt" should be interpreted as the spectral troops led by the god Odin which had a ritualistic counterpart in the living bands of ecstatic warriors (Old Norse Berserker), allegedly in a cultic union with the dead warriors of the past.
Hans Peter Duerr (1985) noted that for modern readers, it "is generally difficult to decide, on the basis of the sources, whether what is involved in the reports about the appearance of the Wild Hunt is merely a demonic interpretation of natural phenomenon, or whether we are dealing with a description of ritual processions of humans changed into demons." Historian Ronald Hutton noted that there was "a powerful and well-established international scholarly tradition" which argued that the medieval Wild Hunt legends were an influence on the development of the early modern ideas of the Witches' Sabbath. Hutton nevertheless believed that this approach could be "fundamentally challenged".
Lotte Motz noted that the motif is found "above all in areas of Germanic speech." While found in areas once settled by Celts, these legends are told less frequently and they are not encountered in the Mediterranean regions, "at least not easily".
Dogs and wolves were generally involved. In some areas, werewolves were depicted as stealing beer and sometimes food in houses. Horses were portrayed as two-, three-, six-, and eight-legged, often with fiery eyes. In the 'Host' variants, principally found in southern Germany, a man went out in front, warning people to get out of the streets before the coming of the Host's armed men, who were sometimes depicted as doing battle with one another. A feature peculiar to the 'Hunt' version, generally encountered in northern Germany, was the pursuit and capture of one or more female demons, or a hart in some versions, while some others did not have prey at all.
Sometimes, the tales associate the hunter with a dragon or the devil. The lone hunter ( der Wilde Jäger) is most often riding a horse, seldom a horse-drawn carriage, and usually has several hounds in his company. If the prey is mentioned, it is most often a young woman, either guilty or innocent. Gottfried August Bürger's ballad Der wilde Jäger describes the fate of a nobleman who dares to hunt on the Sabbath and finds both a curse and a pack of demons deep in the woods. He might also have asked God to let him hunt until Judgement Day, as has ewiger Jäger (the eternal hunter).Wilhelm Grimm, Jacob Grimm: Deutsche Sagen. Hamburg 2014, p. 307.
The majority of the tales deal with some person encountering the Wild Hunt. If this person stands up against the hunters, he will be punished. If he helps the hunt, he will be awarded money, gold, or, most often, a leg of a slain animal or human, which is often cursed in a way that makes it impossible to be rid of it. In this case, the person has to find a priest or magician able to ban it or trick the Wild Hunt into taking the leg back by asking for salt, which the hunt can not deliver. In many versions, a person staying right in the middle of the road during the encounter is safe.
In western Sweden and sometimes in the east as well, it has been said that Odin was a nobleman or even a king who had hunted on Sundays and therefore was doomed to hunt down and kill supernatural beings until the end of time. According to certain accounts, Odin does not ride, but travels in a wheeled vehicle, specifically a one-wheeled cart.
In parts of Småland, it appears that people believed that Odin hunted with large birds when the dogs got tired. When it was needed, he could transform a bevy of sparrows into an armed host.
If houses were built on former roads, they could be burnt down, because Odin did not change his plans if he had formerly travelled on a road there. Not even charcoal kilns could be built on disused roads, because if Odin was hunting the kiln would be ablaze.
One tradition maintains that Odin did not travel further up than an ox wears his yoke, so if Odin was hunting, it was safest to throw oneself onto the ground in order to avoid being hit, a pourquoi story that evolved as an explanation for the popular belief that persons lying at ground level are safer from lightning strikes than are persons who are standing. In Älghult in Småland, it was safest to carry a piece of bread and a piece of steel when going to church and back during Yule. The reason was that if one met the rider with the broad-rimmed hat, one should throw the piece of steel in front of oneself, but if one met his dogs first, one should throw the pieces of bread instead.
Reliable witnesses were said to have given the number of huntsmen as twenty or thirty, and it is said, in effect, that this went on for nine weeks, ending at Easter. Orderic Vitalis (1075–c. 1142), an English monk cloistered at St Evroul-en-Ouche, in Normandy, reported a similar cavalcade seen in January 1091, which he said were "Herlechin's troop" ( familia Herlechini; cf. Harlequin).
While these earlier reports of Wild Hunts were recorded by clerics and portrayed as diabolic, in late medieval romances, such as Sir Orfeo, the hunters are rather from a faery otherworld, where the Wild Hunt was the hosting of the fairy; its leaders also varied, but they included Gwydion, Gwynn ap Nudd, King Arthur, Nuada, Herla, Woden, Satan and Herne the Hunter. Many legends are told of their origins, as in that of "Dando and his dogs" or "the dandy dogs": Dando, wanting a drink but having exhausted what his huntsmen carried, declared he would go to hell for it. A stranger came and offered a drink, only to steal Dando's game and then Dando himself, with his dogs giving chase. The sight was long claimed to have been seen in the area. Another legend recounted how King Herla, having visited the Oberon, was warned not to step down from his horse until the greyhound he carried jumped down; he found that three centuries had passed during his visit, and those of his men who dismounted crumbled to dust; he and his men are still riding, because the greyhound has yet to jump down.
The myth of the Wild Hunt has through the ages been modified to accommodate other gods and folk heroes, among them King Arthur and, more recently, in a Dartmoor folk legend, Francis Drake. At Cadbury Castle in Somerset, an old lane near the castle was called King Arthur's Lane and even in the 19th century, the idea survived that on wild winter nights the king and his hounds could be heard rushing along with it.
In certain parts of Britain, the hunt is said to be that of hell-hounds chasing sinners or the unbaptized. In Devon these are known as Yeth (Heath) or Wisht Hounds, in Cornwall Dando and his Dogs or the Devil and his Dandy Dogs, in Wales the Cwn Annwn, the Hounds of Hell, and in Somerset as Gabriel Ratchets or Retchets (dogs). In Devon the hunt is particularly associated with Wistman's Wood.
In Serbia, stories involving the Todorci are generally concentrated in the north-west of the country. They're traditionally depicted as a procession of horsemen whose steeds lack tails. They usually appear on the night between Monday and Tuesday of the Todor Week. They're led by an elder man called Great Todor wearing a white cloak and riding a lame white horse. Certain versions of the story claim that he is St. Theodore himself.
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/ref> In some variations the mythical wild Baba (similar to Perchta) leads the hunt; in others, the leader of this retinue is a female character named Pehtra.Kropej, Monika. "Slovene midwinter: deities and personifications of days in the yearly, work, and life cycles". In: Mencej, Mirjam (ed.). Space and time in Europe: East and West, Past and Present. Ljubljana: Zbirka Zupaničeva knjižnica, št. 25. Ljubljana: Oddelek za etnologijo in kulturno antropologijo, Filozofska fakulteta Department, 2008. pp. 189-191.
In act 1 of Richard Wagner's 1870 opera Die Walküre, Siegmund relates that he has been pursued by “Das wütende Heer”, which is an indication to the audience that it is Wotan himself who has called up the storm which has driven him (Siegmund) to Hunding's dwelling.
The subject of Stan Jones' American country song "" of 1948, which tells of chasing the Devil's cattle through the night sky, resembles the European myth.
Swedish Folk music musician The Tallest Man on Earth released an album in 2010 entitled The Wild Hunt, and in 2013 the black metal band Watain, also Swedish, released an album with the same title. German folk band Versengold released the song "Die wilde Jagt" in 2021, as the first single from their 2022 album Was kost die Welt. English doom metal band, Green Lung, have a song called “Hunters in the Sky”on their 2023 album This Heathen Land.
In Mike Mignola's comic book series Hellboy, two versions of the Wild Hunt myth are present. In , the hero receives an invitation from British noblemen to partake in a giant hunting called "The Wild Hunt", after the legend of "Herne, god of the Hunt". In , Hellboy encounters "King Vold, the flying huntsman" whose figure is based on the Norwegian folktale of "The Flying Huntsman (headless King Volmer and his hounds)" according to Mignola.
The Wild Hunt was adapted for the Grace Note portion of The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II anime adaptation with the 4th and 5th episodes where Lord El-Melloi II (voiced by Daisuke Namikawa) helps a fellow magus teacher by the name of Wills Pelham Codrington (voiced by Tomoaki Maeno) in a case involving his father's home where the leylines have become unstable. It is there they encounter Black Dogs, the incarnation of lightning who have been killing people in the vicinity. With the help of his allies, Wills, and a fairy they encounter names Faye, Lord El-Melloi II manages to solve the case and avert the threat.
The Wild Hunt is a Canadian horror drama film of 2009 by director Alexandre Franchi.
The MTV series Teen Wolf features the Wild Hunt as the main villains of the first half of season 6. It takes the legend a bit further, claiming that the Wild Hunt erases people from existence, and those taken by the Wild Hunt become members after they are erased and forgotten.
The Wild Hunt features heavily in Netflix's Little Witch Academia episode "Sky War Stanship", in which the main protagonist Akko Kagari and Constanze Amalie Von Braunschbank Albrechtsberger partake in the hunt itself.
In The Deluge (1886) by Henryk Sienkiewicz, the motif of the Wild Hunt appears, as a hellish procession of Teutonic knights rushing through the night sky, heralding war and extraordinary disasters.
The description of the Wild Hunt also appears in the drama Wesele (The Wedding), by Stanisław Wyspiański. It is described as a race of large knights across the night sky at great speed.
The hunt plays an important role in four of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files novels: (2005 Dead Beat, 2006 Proven Guilty, 2012 Cold Days and 2020 Battle Ground), In Butcher's cosmos, Santa Claus and Odin are the same being. He shares leadership of the hunt with the Goblin King.
Αustralian writer Tim Winton's The Riders (1994), which was shortlisted for the 1995 Booker Prize, mentions a vision of the Wild Hunt that becomes the basis for the main character's own 'wild hunt' of the story.
The Wild Hunt features in The Witcher series of fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, published in English between 2007 and 2018.
The Wild Hunt also features as a fey phenomenon in Larry Correa's "Monster Hunter International" series in Siege, published in 2017.
The Wild Hunt has appeared in various publications, among them Alan Garner's 1963 novel The Moon of Gomrath, Uladzimir Karatkievich's King Stakh's Wild Hunt, Penelope Lively's 1971 The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy, Susan Cooper's 1973 The Dark is Rising, Diana Wynne Jones' 1975 Dogsbody, Brian Bates' 1983 The Way of Wyrd, Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar trilogy (1984–1986), the third issue of Seanan McGuire's series October Daye, An Artificial Night, Fred Vargas's 2011 The Ghost Riders of Ordebec, Laurell K. Hamilton’s book Mistral's Kiss (2006) and Jane Yolen's 1995 The Wild Hunt. It also features in Cassandra Clare's book series, The Mortal instruments (2007-2014) and The Dark Artifices (2016-2018), led by Gwyn ap Nudd. The Wicked Lovely series (2007-2013) by Melissa Marr contains a modern Wild Hunt. It is also a major plot point in Peter S. Beagle's Tamsin. The Wild Hunt is a primary element of R. S. Belcher's novel The Brotherhood of the Wheel and Raymond E. Feist's 1988 novel Faerie Tale. The Wild Hunt is also an important plot point in the Gilded Duology by Marissa Meyer. In Clive Barker's novel Coldheart Canyon, the story is centered around a bizarre version of The Wild Hunt. Also in Sharyn McCrummb's novel GhostRiders, The Wild Hunt is depicted by Civil War soldiers who are constantly reliving the war.
In Lucy Hounsom 2024 historical fantasy novel Song of the Huntress, the Wild Hunt appears with a gender-swapped version of mythical Britonic Herla as its leader, who has been tricked into taking on that role by Gwyn ap Nudd, king of the Otherworld.
In the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st Edition) expansion "Deities and Demigods" the Wild Hunt is represented under the Celtic Mythos sections as the Master of the Hunt and the Pack of the Wild Hunt. Players risk a chance of becoming the hunted, or may be compelled to join the Hunt and track down the source of the evil that summoned it, or if that evil isn't found, participate in the slaughter of an innocent person or large game animal, potentially against their alignment and will.Ward, James M. and Robert J. Kuntz. Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia, edited by Lawrence Schick, TSR Games,1980.
In The Elder Scrolls series of role-playing video games, the Wild Hunt is a ritual performed by the Bosmer (wood elves) for war, vengeance, or other times of desperation. The elves are transformed into a horde of horrific creatures that kill all in their path. The Daedric Lord Hircine also performs a Wild Hunt ritual more similar to the wild hunt of folklore. This ritual was renamed to the "Great hunt" with the release of .
The Wild Hunt is heavily featured and elaborated on in the Obsidian Entertainment video game, Pentiment.
In Assassin's Creed Valhalla it was featured in the seasonal themed update "Oskoreia Festival".
In Limbus Company, the Wild Hunt appears in the third part of Canto VI. It is composed of multiple versions of Canto VI's side characters, led by Erlking Heathcliff—an alternate version of a playable character—who was introduced in the game's fourth season, "Clear All Cathy". Erlking Heathcliff is an alternate version of Heathcliff from a Mirror World, where he chose to take revenge on the residents of Wuthering Heights across all other Mirror Worlds, while also hunting down and killing every other version of himself in order to ensure the happiness every Catherine.
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