The Wild Hunt, in the Witcher and Folklore
The Witcher 3: the Wild Hunt heavily features the folkloric narrative of the Wild Hunt, if that’s not obvious by the title of the game. In the Witcher 3, our main character Geralt of Rivia is searching for Ciri, his adopted daughter, who is being sought after by the Wild Hunt. The true problem facing Ciri is the knowledge that the Wild Hunt never stops, and never relents, until they catch their prey. The final battle of the game is with the leader of the Wild Hunt, Eredin Bréacc Glas, in order to truly let Ciri escape her fate.
I wanted to spend some time talking about the Wild Hunt, because it’s actually something that only just ended for many areas of the world. That, and I’ve always really loved the story of the Wild Hunt. The problem is that there isn’t very much solid we can say about it – the Wild Hunt is different for many around the world, and even then the story is short and only shared in small whispers of its existence.
The Wild Hunt in the Witcher.
The idea of the Wild Hunt is found in a few different locations. We can see traces of it’s story in France, England and Wales; in Eastern European countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia; and in Germany.
The Wild Hunt was first named as such more broadly by Jacob Grimm, who recorded a few different tales of the Wild Hunt in different areas of Europe. Jacob and his brother Wilhelm were both academics – they were linguists, folklorists and ultimately ethnographers. The stories we think of as being “by” the Brothers Grimm are simply folkloric stories from Europe – primarily Germany – that they collected. Their books also have some levels of analysis and comparative folkloric analysis.
Because of that, the collection of the Wild Hunt by Jacob Grimm crosses ethnic and community boundaries frequently, jumping from area to area sometimes within the same paragraph. Grimm’s primary understanding of the Wild Hunt, to pair it down to its basics, is that the leader of the Hunt was always based on a semi-historical figure heavily associated with hunting of some form. And if that sounds like there isn’t one set leader of the Wild Hunt, then you’d be right. The leader is different across space and time, constantly shifting and altering. But like the hunt itself, the leader and the hunt is never fully gone.
Most of the references, particularly in Germanic folklore, is Woden, a god-like figure also associated with Odin. In fact, in Scandinavia, the leader of the Wild Hunt is sometimes a figure of Odin, and sometimes Odin himself.
"When the winter winds blow and the Yule fires are lit, it is best to stay indoors, safely shut away from the dark paths and the wild heaths. Those who wander out by themselves during the Yule-nights may hear a sudden rustling through the tops of the trees - a rustling that might be the wind, though the rest of the wood is still.
"But then the barking of dogs fills the air, and the host of wild souls sweeps down, fire flashing from the eyes of the black hounds and the hooves of the black horses"
Kveldulf Hagen Gundarsson (Mountain Thunder)
The Wild Hunt in many stories runs during the Twelve Days of Christmas, but in other times it’s constant. In both instances, you can tell when the Wild Hunt is on because you can hear it in the howls of the wind. Here you can also see some of the connections to Christmas. In my Krampus post, I mentioned there was a development in the production of Santa Claus as a figure – one which was at one point distinct from Saint Nicholas. The Wild Hunt plays into this development as well, but I may touch on that again in a future post.
Jacob Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology is where he spends most of his time focusing on the Wild Hunt. After exploring other characters associated with the Hunt, such as Hackelbärend – a huntsman who went hunting even on Sundays, which resulted in him being banished into the air with his hounds – to the god Wuotan, or Woden, and the connection to Odin. He traces the hunt through various locations and with various leaders, and ultimately showing how the Wild Hunt eventually came to be led by a goddess figure.
The connection to the goddess-led hunt is important for two primarily reasons. Many contemporary Pagan groups understand a connection between the Wild Hunt and Hecate – seeing the goddess as being the leader of the Wild Hunt now. And we also see why the Wild Hunt’s connection in the Witcher is so important to be focused on Ciri – a strong female figure to take over the understanding.
I think the Witcher series in general is a good one for simply displaying aspects and stories in folklore and mythology in ways that I think are interesting and more-or-less true to form, and the Wild Hunt is no different. While the Wild Hunt in the Witcher has one figure as its leader - Eredin Bréacc Glas – the connection to Ciri also links the aspects and development of the female-led figurehead. But what about that Eredin Bréacc Glas? There are not many figures that it’s a direct relationship to, but it can be an amalgamation of multiple figures. In some stories, the Erlking – or someone akin to the Erlking – is the leader of the Wild Hunt. In pop culture, this is more present in the Dresden Files, but figures like the Erlking – a fiendish elvish figure who hunts children and other humans in the forest – can still sometimes be found connected to the Hunt. Eredin has a similar vibe and is elvish as well. His secondary names are perhaps a reference to the Welsh versions of the Wild Hunt.
Either way, what I think is interesting with the Witcher’s depiction of the Wild Hunt is exactly what this website is all about. Regardless of its truth or accuracy in its depiction or stories of the folkloric Wild Hunt, the Witcher has transformed many people’s understandings and the video game’s version of the story is now – for many – the version that stands as their main telling. If I may be so bold to say, the Witcher’s Wild Hunt has become the primary folklore for many, even if it only occurred incidentally.