Winter Queen

An ancient elven legend tells the story of the Winter Queen or Queen of the Elves, who used to cross the land in a sleigh drawn by white horses during blizzards. As she went, small shards of ice flew about. Those who were hit by one of these shards were forever doomed. Nothing in this world made them happy any more, everything looked sad, disgusting and dull except the whiteness of the snow, the frost and the ice. They left everything behind them to search for the Winter Queen, forever wandering without being able to find her. And thus they died attempting to fulfill their dream.
According to Geralt, the Winter Queen was actually nothing else than the dreaded Wild Hunt, which haunted certain forsaken lands, enslaving its inhabitants' will and making them its thralls.
In Aedd Gynvael, Yennefer compared herself to this legendary figure and said despite she lived in an ice castle, she actually wanted the warmth.
== Notes ==
* Name Aedd Gynvael (Elder Speech for a shard of ice) refers to the legend.
* It is speculated that the Winter Queen might actually exist as a person, being Eredin's predecessor as the leader of the Dearg Ruadhri.
== Trivia ==
* The tale of the Winter Queen is most likely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. His Snow Queen in turn seems to be inspired by various northern tales about mythological ladies of winter and war, ultimately driving back to Norse Freyja.
pl:Królowa Zimy
uk:Королева Зими
Category:Folklore
Category:Elves