Hildisvíni: the Vanir archer and Freya's advisor

Hildisvíni was a Vanir god, a renowned archer, and the trusted advisor of Freya. Exiled to Midgard and trapped in the form of a boar, he lived for years as Freya's friend in the Wildwoods before regaining his true shape and lending his counsel and his bow to the war against Asgard.

Exile in Midgard#

Hildisvíni was exiled to Midgard alongside Freya when Odin banished them both, and unlike her he was trapped in the form of a boar. The two lived together in the Wildwoods, alongside the great tortoise Chaurli, and Freya often reminded Hildisvíni of his home in Vanaheim so that he would not lose himself entirely. He remained in that shape so long that he was beginning to forget who he had once been.

The wounded boar#

When Kratos and Atreus crossed the River Pass, they came upon a set of boar tracks and followed them, taking the unusually hardy creature for good target practice. Atreus' first arrow bounced off the boar's hide, but in pursuit through an abandoned village he at last pierced it, and the wounded animal fled until it collapsed. Following the trail, Kratos heard a woman scolding Atreus for harming the boar, and the two were brought to the Sanctuary Grove, where they first met Freya, the Witch of the Woods, tending her bleeding friend. Unable to fully close the wound and unwilling to let him die, Freya asked Kratos and Atreus to carry the boar to her home, where she finished healing him with their help. Afterward she told them his name, Hildisvíni, and revealed that he was not of Midgard and had been trapped in his boar form so long that he was forgetting who he used to be.

Restored to the Vanir#

By the time of Fimbulwinter, Hildisvíni had regained his Vanir form. When Kratos and Atreus returned to Vanaheim to aid Freya, they found Freyr's camp seemingly deserted, until Hildisvíni revealed himself with his bow drawn, recognizing the Ghost of Sparta and his son from their meeting years before. Mimir knew him at once, and the two traded sharp barbs, for their rivalry was long and bitter. Kratos did not recognize the Vanir god, but Atreus knew him by the scar he bore from the arrow he had loosed years earlier, and Hildisvíni, after all that time, forgave the boy. He explained that the Einherjar had grown thick in Vanaheim and that the celestial wolves had gone missing, leaving the sky without a moon.

The war and the peace#

After the moon was restored, Hildisvíni and Atreus infiltrated the Temple of Njörd, where the Einherjar held Freyr prisoner, and freed him while Kratos fought and killed Heimdall. On the eve of Ragnarok, Hildisvíni was charged with recruiting the Army of the Dead from Helheim by negotiating with Hraesvelgr, and he asked that Mimir accompany him, judging that one who had already died once would prove the better envoy. After Ragnarok, Hildisvíni was seen in Vanaheim coordinating with Sif, now the leader of the surviving Aesir, to bring the refugees into the realm. Their efforts began uneasily, but with peace finally made between Vanir and Aesir, they set about breaking the cycle of hatred Odin had sown between the two tribes long before.

Nature and gifts#

As a Vanir, Hildisvíni possessed the divine abilities of his kind. Foremost among his powers was shapeshifting, for by Freya's account he could change his form into anything at all, though Odin's magic had trapped him as a boar during their exile. He was renowned above all for his skill with the bow, a master of both the hunt and long-range warfare. In the aftermath of Ragnarok, Freya explained that he was one of the Jöfurr, the boar-shifting Vanir warriors prized for their wisdom, and it was this power that had allowed him to endure. In his restored form he was a dark-skinned figure with braided hair and golden tattoos, an archer's quiver at his hip, while in his boar shape his hide bore golden runic markings and his eyes glowed blue.