Well, the title says all. When I wander around Internet and look about Wood Elves, I often hear about Orion's Wild Hunts. What is it exactly? By the name, it looks like you better be a few miles away when it happens.

It is orion and his wild riders running around Loren and Bretonnia, acting like idiots and causing unnecessary mayhem to all involved (including the elimination of small bretonnian villages and anything else in their path). They do it in celebration of Orion's rebirth.

Yep thats it in a nutshell.. where Orion bursts forth from the oak of ages and runs out of the forest accompanied all those forest spirits called forth by the hunt. When the hunt subsides in the winter months, orion is burned alive in the King's glade by his Wild riders. His ashes are then placed into the oak of ages along with a new elf, who in turn will become Orion reborn...

And what's the point of that? They go kill dozens of innocent people every year to "celebrate"? I thought Wood Elves were neutral and didn't give a damn about those who didn't attack them. I wonder what would happen if Bretonnia decided to defend itself and put knights and archers (with flaming arrows, of course) in all of its nearby villages to slay anyone who gets out of Athel Loren.

It would be a good idea for a themed battle...

I wouldn't think there would be organised retaliation: the Bretonnians worship and respect the wood elves too much. There would be the villages defending themselves though.

They do it because that is the wood elves :D
They are nature: nature can be calm and helpful (like Ariel usually) or indiscriminately destructive and wrathful (like orion).

It is based upon celtic myth. The Wild Hunt, is a well known theme of British 'otherworld ' lore. The British god GWYN ap NUDD (pronounced 'neath') was the great hunter and would annually go out on his wild hunt. He was lord of the otherworld and so basically he was gathering the souls to go to the other place. He headed the hunt and was followed by many of his men on horeseback chasing their 'wish hounds', chief of whom was a dog called Dormarth (which is old welsh for 'death's door')

Gwyn was represented in the heavens by the constellation of Orion. As a constellation, Orion isnt always in our night sky. It goes below the horizon around may 1st and doesnt return until the autumn. So Gwyn was often depicted as dying in the spring (or returning to the 'underworld' (ie, below the horizon) and being reborn in the autumn (when he comes back from the underworld) living in the night sky throughout the autumn, winter and spring (as such, often seen as being a protector of those months)

In the autumn when he returned thats when the wild hunt took place; a celebration of the return of the forest god but also, the time to hunt wild animals to store away the meats so the people could survive the long harsh winter.

From this, and other garbled folklore, Games Workshop have created their Wood Elf mythology... Partly based on traditional Saxon Aelf mythology but also partly based on British 'Faerie' mythology (bare in mind that it was the victorians who made fairies cute and small, the ancient celts saw them as tall, fair and shining (a lot like Tolkien's vision of elf-kind)

Hope this sheds some light, though the world of Warhammer is only ever losely based on our own world, and much of its origins gets garbled.

Nice essay Burp! B) I like the WE new 'nasty' turn. It makes them a lot like gods of those ancient mythologies, who could get really s****y without much provoking.

It's still no reason to let your villages be destroyed and your people be mercilessly slaughtered. If I were a Bretonnian noble, I would do something against it. Does the Lady of the Lake/ Ariel have any power to stop that? After all, she's the queen of Athel Loren, right? And if Brets defend themselves against Orion, she can't blame them: anyone has the right to fight for one's life. How can the Lady/ Ariel allow something like the Wild Hunt?

Wood Elves arent meant to be 'good' they are neutral; as is expressed in the Naestra & Arahan twins, one good and one bad, they are kind of Athel Loren personalised... a Yin and Yang thing.

The wild hunt when it occurs isnt aimed specifically at Brettonians; rather it is like a hurricane and if you're in the way well, bad news, but dont take it personally. The Wild Hunt is neutral, it's just rampant energy.

As for Ariel/and the Lady; well, I think thats a really interesting slant on things. As a wood elf, Ariel isnt 'good' but is neutral, her first and only concern being that Athel Loren is safe from harm and a safe abode for the woodies. If she uses her magic to enchant the Brettonians and they worship her as a goddess well, thats up to them isnt it. Ariel is doing a good job of protecting Athel Loren and keeping her neighbours loyal is great too... She is still the Brettonian 'Lady' because she will still try and protect Brettonia, better these chivalrous knights akin to the forest than Orcs, Beastmen or whatever.

:orc: Oooooops





sorry