Lore:Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt is a pack of shifting forest-demons and animal-gods, thousands strong, which sweeps through the countryside killing everything its [sic] path. — Eric of Guis

A flood of horrific beasts, tentacled toads, insects of armor and spine, gelatinous serpents, vaporous beings with the face of gods, all poured forth from the great hollow tree, blind with fury. — A Dance in Fire, Chapter 4

Wild Hunt is a magical trait innate to all Bosmer. It is brought on by a collective ritual performed by many Bosmer, causing them to shapeshift into a horde of feral, supernatural beasts. These monsters stampede, changing their form constantly, slaying and devouring all in their path and eventually, when left with no surviving targets, turn upon themselves in a "cannibalistic orgy".

This transformation is seen by the Bosmer as a return to the chaos of the Dawn Era, when they were unable to hold onto one shape for more than a moment. After they made the Green Pact with Y'ffre, he taught the Bosmer how to escape that chaos and retain their form, but also how to return to it - using the Wild Hunt.

The purpose of the Wild Hunt varies with each separate Hunt, from an act of vengeance to a tool of war. In either case, the Bosmer are not proud of their ability and are unwilling to discuss the Hunt at great length. One of the rare accounts on the nature of the Wild Hunt states that "every monster in the world that has ever been comes from a previous Hunt". As such the Bosmer are reluctant to use the Hunt, except as an act of desperation.

The monsters that do get created by a Wild Hunt, from living Bosmer, are said to be ferocious and long-lived. The most notable examples were Willy the Bitten and King Dead Wolf-Deer who were created by the end of the fourth century of the First Era and lived at least until the beginning of the Third Era, still plaguing Silvenar Grove and the Lympan March respectively. The change is also said to be irreversible.

Historic Cases

There have been three documented cases of the Wild Hunt:

• 1E 369, Cyrodiil — A Wild Hunt was invoked in order to kill King Borgas who was a supporter of the Alessian Order and thus against Valenwood. As a result of his death via the Hunt, Skyrim was plunged in a civil war that lasted for more than 50 years.

• Late Second Era, location unknown — The last Wild Hunt to be officially documented until the end of the Third Era.

• 3E 397, Vindisi — A Wild Hunt was invoked in retaliation to a Khajiiti attack on the Bosmer hamlet of Vindisi by its inhabitants during a truce in the Five Year War. According to the Imperial Geographical Society this was the most recent sighting of the Wild Hunt to date.