Odin riding on Sleipnir
Sleipnir is Odin's horse, and presumably either a Child of Oberon who generally appears in animal form, or a hybrid of partial animal ancestry.
Characteristics[]
He looks like a magnificent black horse with a starry hide, and wears medieval-style barding. He has the ability to fly. Sleipnir can change the number of his legs at will and sometimes has eight legs, although he did not take this form in his encounter with the Avalon World Tour travelers.
Real World Background[]
Sleipnir was Odin's horse in Norse mythology, and was particularly noted for having eight legs, although he is described in the legends as grey rather than black. (Some scholars of Norse mythology believe that this feature of his was thanks to Odin's status as a death-god. According to this theory, Sleipnir is a personification, of a sort, of a coffin, which is carried by four pallbearers, and thus can be viewed as having eight legs). According to the myths, he was born in this wise. A frost giant offered to build a mighty stone wall around Asgard, on the condition that, if he completed it before the end of winter, Odin give him in payment the sun and moon, and also Freya, the Norse goddess of love and beauty, for his wife. Odin disliked the demanded price, but, after Loki the trickster-god convinced him that the giant could not possibly complete the wall in that amount of time, agreed to it. What he and the other gods had not reckoned with was that the giant had a powerful work-horse, a stallion named Svaldifari, who hauled massive rocks for the wall to the building site, allowing the giant to build the wall with amazing swiftness.
The gods, alarmed at this development, blamed Loki for this state of affairs, and ordered him to do something about the problem. Loki did just that by shape-shifting into a mare and luring Svaldifari away from the building-site, thus preventing the giant from completing the wall by the deadline. However, Svaldifari managed to catch up with him, and Loki later on gave birth to Sleipnir.
Behind the Scenes[]
Slepnir was originally going to have eight legs in his appearance on Gargoyles, but it was determined that animating an eight legged horse would be too difficult for the overseas animation studio. The in-continuity explanation is that Slepnir can alter his form at will, including his number of legs, though it's never mentioned in the episode itself.
Appearances[]
| Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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2. Awakening, Part Two 3. Awakening, Part Three 4. Awakening, Part Four 5. Awakening, Part Five 6. The Thrill of the Hunt 7. Temptation 8. Deadly Force 9. Enter MacBeth 10. The Edge 11. Long Way to Morning 12. Her Brother's Keeper 13. Reawakening |
2. Metamorphosis 3. Legion 4. A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time 5. The Mirror 6. The Silver Falcon 7. Eye of the Beholder 8. Vows 9. City of Stone, Part One 10. City of Stone, Part Two 11. City of Stone, Part Three 12. City of Stone, Part Four 13. High Noon |
15. The Price 16. Revelations 17. Double Jeopardy 18. Upgrade 19. Protection 20. The Cage 21. Avalon, Part One 22. Avalon, Part Two 23. Avalon, Part Three 24. Shadows of the Past 25. Heritage 26. Monsters |
28. Sanctuary 29. M.I.A. 30. Grief 31. Kingdom 32. The Hound of Ulster 33. Walkabout 34. Mark of the Panther 35. Pendragon 36. Eye of the Storm 37. The New Olympians 38. The Green 39. Sentinel |
41. Cloud Fathers 42. Ill Met By Moonlight 43. Future Tense 44. The Gathering, Part One 45. The Gathering, Part Two 46. Vendettas 47. Turf 48. The Reckoning 49. Possession 50. Hunter's Moon, Part One 51. Hunter's Moon, Part Two 52. Hunter's Moon, Part Three |
2. Ransom 3. Runaways 4. Broadway Goes Hollywood 5. A Bronx Tail 6. The Dying Of The Light 7. And Justice For All 8. Genesis Undone 9. Generations 10. ...For It May Come True 11. To Serve Mankind 12. Seeing Isn't Believing 13. Angels In The Night | |
| SLG comics | ||||||
| Clan Building | Bad Guys: Redemption | |||||
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Gargoyles #1. Clan Building Chapter One: Nightwatch Gargoyles #2. Clan Building Chapter Two: The Journey Gargoyles #3. Clan Building Chapter Three: Invitation Only Gargoyles #4. Clan Building Chapter Four: Masque Gargoyles #5. Clan Building Chapter Five: Bash Gargoyles #6. Clan Building Chapter Six: Reunion |
Gargoyles #7. Clan Building Chapter Seven: The Rock Gargoyles #8. Clan Building Chapter Eight: Rock & Roll Gargoyles #9. Clan Building Chapter Nine: Rock of Ages Gargoyles #10. Clan Building Chapter Ten: The Gate Gargoyles #11. Clan Building Chapter Eleven: Tyrants Gargoyles #12. Clan Building Chapter Twelve: Phoenix |
Bad Guys #2. The Lost Bad Guys #3. Estranged Bad Guys #4. Louse Bad Guys #5. Strangled Bad Guys #6. Losers | ||||
| Dynamite Entertainment | ||||||
| Here In Manhattan | Quest | Dark Ages - Alliance | Demona | Crossovers | ||
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Gargoyles (2022) #1. Chapter One: A Little Crazy Gargoyles (2022) #2. Chapter Two: Idyll or Nightmare Gargoyles (2023) #3. Chapter Three: Miracle Child Gargoyles (2023) #4. Chapter Four: Tale Old As Time Gargoyles (2023) #5. Chapter Five: Render Unto Caesar Gargyoles (2023) #6. Chapter Six: Underwater |
Gargyoles (2023) #7. Chapter Seven: Everywhere Gargoyles (2023) #8. Chapter Eight: Mayday Gargoyles (2023) #9. Chapter Nine: Your Witness Gargoyles (2023) Special. Trick-Or-Treat Gargoyles (2023) #10. Chapter Ten: New Rules Gargyoles (2023) #11. Chapter Eleven: Young At Heart Gargyoles (2023) #12. Chapter Twelve: Cold Comfort |
Gargoyles (2024) #2. Chapter Two: Quo Vadis Cum Hoc? Gargoyles (2024) #3. Chapter Three: Acquisitions Gargoyles (2024) #4. Chapter Four: Unequivocal Success Gargoyles (2024) #5. Chapter Five: Queen of All She Surveys Gargoyles (2024) Winter Special. Bronx's Silent Night! |
Dark Ages #2. Chapter Two: The Draw Dark Ages #3. Chapter Three: The Oath Dark Ages #4. Chapter Four: The Promise Dark Ages #5. Chapter Five: The Dream Dark Ages #6. Chapter Six: The Pledge |
Demona #1. Fools Rush Inn... Demona #2. Fortune Favors the Brave... Demona #3. For Not Everything With Wings... Demona #4. Fallen From the Ranks... |
Gargoyles Meets the Fantastic Four #0. Send Up a Flare! Gargoyles Meets the Fantastic Four #1. Both Alike In Dignity... Gargoyles Meets the Fantastic Four #2. Clan & Family... |
Gargoyles/Darkwing Duck #1. Gargoyles/Darkwing Duck #2. |