Wodan leads the Wild Hunt, a spectral procession of the dead that rides through the sky during winter storms. As lord of the dead, he claims those who belong to him, riding forth when the boundary between worlds weakens.
Faithful Eckart runs before the Wild Hunt each time it rides, appearing at crossroads and village lanes to warn the living to hide themselves before Wodan's spectral cavalcade sweeps through.
The Erlking rides through the darkness alongside the Wild Hunt in some regional German folk traditions, another deadly figure who snatches the unwary from the night roads, merging the dread of the faery abductor with the terror of the spectral host.
Holda rides forth on winter nights at the head of the Wild Hunt through Hesse and Thuringia, leading the souls of unbaptized children and women who died in childbirth across the frozen sky.
Perchta rides at the head of the Wild Hunt in Alpine tradition, leading a winter procession of masked spirits and restless souls that sweeps through villages during the Twelve Nights, enforcing spinning taboos and punishing those who leave their work unfinished.
After Christianization, the Devil replaced pagan figures as leader of the Wild Hunt in many Germanic folk traditions. The nocturnal procession of howling spirits, once led by Wodan, was recast as a demonic cavalcade under the Devil's command.
The Valkyrie ride as Wodan's spectral cavalry in the Wild Hunt, the terrifying nocturnal procession that tears across winter skies. Their thunderous hoofbeats and shrieking cries herald the host of the restless dead.
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