Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Witcher Season 2.

After watching the dramatic and bloody finale of The Witcher Season 2, you’re probably curious about the new terrifying foes the series introduced: the spectral riders of the Wild Hunt. They certainly look impressive in their intricate black armor and custom weapons, but who are they and what do they want? Grab a seat by the fire, and we’ll tell you their chilling tale.

The existence of the Wild Hunt, seven ghostly figures on skeletal horses that charge across the sky, has been subtly referenced since the very first episode of the series. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich said in the official aftershow, The Witcher: Unlocked, that she began foreshadowing them early because she wanted to make them appropriately scary. In the show’s pilot, King Eist Tuirseach mentions seeing the Wraiths of Mörhogg riding across the southern sky and notes that they are a “portent of doom.” (Eist is from the island nation of Skellige, where the Wild Hunt are called the Wraiths of Mörhogg.) Their appearance foretells his own death in battle later that episode at the hands of forces from the southern empire of Nilfgaard.

Like most of the characters in The Witcher, the Wild Hunt comes from Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher book series. They’re first referenced in his second book, Sword of Destiny, as a spectral procession that appears in the winter skies in several regions of the Continent. Wherever they ride, people are compelled to leave their homes and loved ones to join them. In the book, Geralt of Rivia, a monster-hunting witcher, is offered good money to kill them but refuses the job, saying that they cannot be stopped.

Sapkowski said in an interview with Literary Hub that he based many of his monsters off of folklore from around the world, and the Wild Hunt is no exception. Stories of ghostly hunters exist throughout Northern Europe. The leader of the Wild Hunt is often said to be a king or the Norse god Odin. The Wild Hunt is also evocative of the Black Riders of Lord of the Rings or the Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Because the riders of the Wild Hunt seem to be incorporeal (appearing mostly in dreams and visions), some inhabitants of The Continent don’t believe they exist. But as the Season 2 finale proves, they’re very much real and incredibly dangerous. The primary villain of Season 2 is Voleth Meir, also known as the Deathless Mother, an extremely powerful monster who feeds on despair. In the Season 2 finale, “Family,” it’s revealed that Voleth Meir is just one member of the Wild Hunt. Considering how much damage she does, killing many witchers by possessing the Cintran princess Ciri and using her powers to summon monsters, it seems like all seven of them together could be a threat to the Continent more terrible than any creature Geralt has ever slain.

So where do the Wild Hunt come from? The world of The Witcher is a multiverse where there are multiple spheres, each with their own people and monsters. More than 1,000 years before the events of the first season, a catastrophic event known as the Conjunction of the Spheres brought denizens from many of these spheres to the Continent, the primary setting of the series. Voleth Meir appears on the Continent after the Conjunction and is imprisoned by the first witchers. Geralt can’t defeat her, so he effectively gives her what she wants, allowing her to return to her home sphere and reunite with the rest of the Wild Hunt.

But the Wild Hunt isn’t done with Ciri or the Continent yet. In both the show and Sapkowski’s fourth book, The Time of Contempt, the Wild Hunt believe that Ciri should join them. In “Turn Your Back,” the fifth episode of Season 2, the sorceress Triss Merigold uses magic to try to understand the origin of Ciri’s power. What was meant to be a simple spell delving into Ciri’s genetic memories goes terribly wrong. During the strange dreamscape, a dying elf nearly kills Triss, strangling her while she addresses Ciri saying, “Child of Elder Blood, child of wrath, the time of contempt is nigh. The world will die amidst frost and will be reborn of the new sun, reborn of Elder Blood.” The Wild Hunt then appears in the sky charging toward Ciri, who snaps out of the spell but leaves Triss horrified by her power.

The dream-state elf seems almost possessed, similar to Ciri herself in the Season 1 episode “Before the Fall,” in which she utters another apocalyptic prophecy in the same vein:“Verily, the era of the sword and the axe is nigh. The era of the wolf’s blizzard. The time of the white chill on the white light is nigh. The time of madness and the time of contempt.” In the Season 2 finale, the leader of the Wild Hunt calls to Ciri, saying, “Child of the Elder Blood, starry-eyed daughter of chaos, join our hunt. Your place is among us. You are ours.” Before they can take her, Ciri uses her magic to return to her own world.

Schmidt Hissrich said in The Witcher: Unlocked that the Wild Hunt will play a larger role in Season 3. “When they tease that Ciri belongs to them, what we’re hopefully going to lead viewers to believe is that there is a lot more history of Ciri herself, her lineage, her bloodline,” Schmidt Hissrich said. “All of that is going to come out in the wash next season.” If you’re on the hunt for more information about the world of The Witcher, get a behind-the-scenes look at the emotional side of Geralt and how Ciri transformed into a warrior.