00:15Long after the first spring of Midgard, aeons since the war of Issa and Vanir that tore the
00:22land apart, the realm of the gods was filled with the lost souls of those who had passed the mortal
00:27realm. Poor wretches, confused and without direction. Their wails sent shivers to those
00:36who had wrought them from the first trees. Their sorrow reached the corridors of Odin's hall,
00:43marring its golden glory with the grey wind of death. A poison lingered in the perfect realm of
00:50Asgard. The unbreakable curtain, separating the dead from the living, granted protection to those
00:57whose skin felt the breeze of air and the heat of the sun. But in the lands of the Issa,
01:04the force of the dead was a hurricane, a storm powerful enough to pull the great trees along
01:10with their roots, render the mighty celestial beasts to shreds, and turn the realm of eternal summer
01:17into a dark shadow of itself. All that the spirits of the dead touched was made broken.
01:25The responsibility lay with Odin. Were Midgard void of life, his halls would be in turmoil.
01:34The Allfather walked his now frigid and grey lands and saw the legion of husks gritting their teeth
01:41and moaning for all they had lost. With the simple joys of life gone, the souls knew only outrage and
01:50hatred. With every passing moment, the cold hearts of the dead reflected upon the world around them,
01:58bringing the first winter to Asgard. Furious, the Allfather demanded the spirits to cease the
02:05destruction of his home, but all he received in return were the screams of fleshless torment.
02:12To reason where the dead was hopeless, they were a force without direction, utterly enslaved to the
02:19cold grip of death and sought to bring all around them to the same ruin. Only one being in the
02:27Nine Realms
02:28had an answer to this plight. But it would not come without a price. Upon his white steed of eight
02:36hooves, Slypna, Odin left Asgard and flew north. The tree, Yggdrasil, shivered below at his passing,
02:46the snows of northern Midgard billowed like powder under the mighty horse's hooves, until the final
02:53glacier passed, and Odin soared over the void of Ginnunna Gap, the black cosmos. Slypna galloped
03:01downwards, following a route of Yggdrasil, a tendril as grey as stone, and ripped with gnarled bark.
03:09This route reached far below the other realms, past the grace of the sun and moon, and beyond the
03:16reach of hope and light. At the end of its tip spread Niflheim, the land of frost and death.
03:24The ice under the hooves of Slypna melted at its approach, bringing water to the frozen wasteland,
03:32but freezing just as soon as they passed. Odin knew only the presence of the divine could thaw the
03:40eternal ice, and thus, searched for the single ocean in Niflheim and the land around it, known as
03:48Nostrand, the shore of corpses. The blue sea stretched and heaved below the gallop of Odin's mighty horse.
03:57After a while, the waves turned languid, and blotches of black muck and green sludge
04:03floated as foam until there was not a drop of water to be seen. The rank of decay surrounded the
04:11Allfather,
04:12and the weight of death loomed over him. The clear sky and its roof of shimmering stars turned lead grey.
04:21Every trot of Slypna shattered bones, crushing through decaying corpses until Odin reached a
04:29fortress, whose walls of solid stone stretched beyond the tallest cloud of the surrounding
04:36vile vapour. The Allfather dismounted and called forth the lord of the castle. The shadows and fog
04:44before him congealed and gathered into a single mass, revealing a haggard woman, half of whom hanged
04:52and ruined and reaped of decay, while the other half of her body possessed the supple form of a lady.
05:01This was the Jotunn, Hel, daughter of Loki and lady of the dead, standing before Odin.
05:09Even while hidden far in the depths of Niflheim, Hel knew what was happening in the realm of Asgard,
05:16that the souls of the deceased had come to bring misery and ruin to Asgard, and here before her
05:23was its mighty lord, now defenceless, alone and far from his domain. Surrounded by the cloud of death,
05:33the great father of Asgard was at her mercy. Before Odin could speak, Hel raised her decaying hand,
05:41admitting that her guest's desire was already known to her. The dead listen only to one who calls
05:49themselves their master, and the master of the dead must take charge of his subjects, Hel said.
05:57Before Odin could ask how, he stopped himself. Of course, Hel had an answer for that as well.
06:05The question he should be asking, was the price. Hel was not one to mince words, the price was simple.
06:14To give Odin the power to bind and unbind the dead, she demanded that as the dead travel to Asgard,
06:21after their demise, half of these souls, the dishonorable ones, should be sent to her realm,
06:28to her shores. Hel was clever by choosing the dishonorable souls, and her reason was also simple.
06:37While powerful in her domain, the lady of the dead, desired an unbeatable army, an army, against Asgard,
06:45if, and when need be. And knowing that the dishonorable wicked souls, would be twice greater
06:53than the honorable noble souls, if not more. Hel would cement her place, as a force to be feared,
07:00a force to reckon with, with an army far much greater, than any in the nine realms.
07:07Odin reluctantly agreed to the terms, he had no other choice. Thus, the damned and dishonorable in
07:15death, would find their last resting place, in Hel, while the noble and those who died in battle,
07:22would find their eternal home, in the all-fathers halls. To bind Odin to his promise, the lady of
07:30the underworld, tore her talons into the mound of dead flesh beneath her feet, and snapped three
07:36tendons from it. From the tendons, she tied a three-stranded knot, and presented it to Odin.
07:44With a heavy heart, the father of Asgard, took the gift.
07:49The gory knot, unraveled in Odin's palm, and slithered into him. He felt the tendons wrap around
07:57his heart, binding him to the fate of the dead, and to his oath. Thenceforth, the all-father felt
08:05everything the dead felt, the cold of the afterlife, the sorrow of death, and the regret of deeds undone.
08:14Odin thanked Hel, and left, feeling neither triumph, nor pride. He rode to Asgard in silence,
08:22and faced the troubles of his domain. His fellow Aesir saw a change in him. What was once the golden
08:29lord,
08:30now walked with solemn steps, and a cloud of cold misery followed him.
08:36Odin opened the great doors to his hall, and bade the honorable dead to enter, sending the rest to Niflheim.
08:45In a wind of howling destruction, the dead obeyed, and took places among the other Aesir,
08:52much to the Aesir's displeasure. Thus, the great hall of Asgard, came to be known, as Valhalla,
09:00the hall of the dead. Even under the gaze of their unquestionable master, the wrath of these dead
09:07beings, plagued the gods, for they fought one another in the halls, robbed the food,
09:13and drank far more than was their share. Odin sat on his throne, and felt the same need to tear
09:21everything apart. But the lord of death, was also the lord of wisdom. He saw the unfocused power of
09:29the afterlife, and knew he had to focus and spend it, else, it slowly destroys all he and his brothers
09:37had built. Odin called his dead subjects to the yard of Valhalla, arming them with spears, bows,
09:44hunting hounds, and horns. Knowing that the wrath of the dead could only be appeased with more death
09:51and misery, Odin led them to Midgard. Like a shimmering grey wave of gaunt men and women,
09:58they rode off Asgard, into the lands below, into Midgard. There in Midgard, autumn had long passed,
10:08and winter had begun. Midgard had seen many winters, but this winter would be different.
10:15The days grew darker, and the wind howled, unlike even the oldest and wisest could remember.
10:22A terrible blizzard followed, turning Midgard white, and the sky ruddy grey, at midday,
10:30and black as pitch, at night. In the dark of the storm, a band of dogs bayed and howled.
10:38Thunder clapped from the sky, and the gates between the realms, opened. A wild army of the dead, led by
10:47Odin, spilled from the heavens, and into the world, the sound of their hunting horns and dreadful cries,
10:54gripping the warm heart of every mortal, with the fear of death. Mortals who were not fast enough to
11:02seek shelter, found themselves at the mercy of these hosts of death. The wild hunt had begun.
11:09The honorable dead on their black steeds, tore a path of rampage and destruction, throughout Midgard,
11:17with Odin at their front, leading the great party, to strike in the direction of his spear,
11:24Grunnir. As Slypna approached, his gallop, shattered ears, and his cry, shook the spirit of the hardiest of
11:33men. Anyone foolish or unfortunate enough to find themselves in the path of the hunt,
11:39felt no more mercy than any other animal, meeting their gruesome end, in the dark forests of the
11:46world, as game. Odin saw that while his dead subjects slew all that lived, none of them took
11:53heel of the other, but heard only their master's call. And so, thenceforth, they would be known,
12:01as Aenhae are, those who walk alone. As all things end, so does winter. The sun of spring washed away
12:11the carnage of the wild hunt and dark season, revealing the green lands in all of their luster.
12:19Thus, Odin and the spirits of the dead turned their steeds and hunting hounds towards Valhalla,
12:25and headed home. The wild hunt would come again every year, with its act of wanton destruction
12:33gaining fame among the realms, and enticing more creatures and beings to join the gruesome hunt.
12:40Fair and cruel elves, lurked in the shadows, Valkyries swooped from the sky in blazing trails,
12:48while ghostly hunting hounds, lead them to their prey.
12:53The party of the wild hunt will change from time to time, from its first winter, but until Ragnarok,
13:00the great hunt of winter, would always tear its way through the mortal world,
13:05with a grey-cloaked old man in golden armour, upon a horse of eight legs, wielding a dreadful spear.
13:13The mortals would see Odin the Allfather, riding with him, an army of the dreadful dead.
13:22Don't do it.
13:44The pallets of linked to a
