The Farie Kings (Odin WoJ’s get lumped in here)
Quote from: Mickey Finn on August 03, 2006, 11:33:34 AM
The ErlKing* (aka Herne the Hunter or Cern, the Celtic Horned God) and the Wild Hunt are part of the celtic isle mythology…the point IS the hunt.  People are the foxes. (The Erlking in actual mythology is a german baddie that Jim apparently appropriated for Herne.)

Actually, in the Dresden universe, the Wild Hunt can be led by a number of beings–INCLUDING Cern, but not exclusive to him.    The Erlking (who isn’t Cern) is a being of Faerie who is in Mab’s weight division, if not her equal.  I believe he is identified as the ruler of the goblins–which should not necessarily be equated with Tolkeinesque/Gygaxesque goblins.

Jim

2010 Dragon-Con @6:30
Where are the Farie kings?  Do they exist?
Yes they do.  The Erlking as sort of the Hunter king, and Santa Clause, the Winter king who is not the commercial Santa Clause.  The kings are sort of the opposite of the queens in their given season.  They are independent of their Queen’s courts.  The Erlking is a summer king and he is not a particularly friendly guy, whereas Santa Clause, one of the winter kings, is kinder, the spirit of generosity in a time of bleakness.  Yah I’ve gota have Harry ask Mab about him so she can roll her eyes.
Priscillie asked Jim if the Erlking is Wyldfae at DragonCon and posted this reply:
Jim: He is wyldfae.  He isn’t a subject of Mab or Titania.  That’s what Wyldfae means.  But his origins are in the Summer-side of the cycle of seasons, just like Titania’s are.
Ditto Santa, only in Winter. 
(He /is/ beholden to Mother Summer, but basically everyone in Faerie is, so.)
(I mean, that’s like saying “you must obey the law of gravity.”  Duh.)
Priscellie: You mean the Erlking has not learned to throw himself at the ground and miss? 
Jim:  Something like that, yes. 
If Grandma says “Dearie, I’d really like you to do this for me,” you just DO it.  Or granny’s roommate might pick up her shears.
2012 Reddit AMA:
sapph42: You’ve talked about beings who were on similar (or greater) power levels as Mab – Titania (obviously), Drakul, and Ferrovax to name a few. However, I believe that list was generated before Changes. Where does Odin fall on that list? Hypothetically (assuming they exist), where would entities such as Zeus or Quetzalcoatl fall?
Jim: 4) Your question presupposes a linear hierarchy–which isn’t surprising, since the series has come from Harry’s viewpoint, and Harry is a straight-lines kind of thinker. Power is a much more nebulous thing than that, and something that is problematic to quantify. I think a reasonably simple argument could be made that Molly is a /much/ more powerful wizard than Dresden, for example. And in many situations, she probably is. Dresden tends to think in terms of “who would win this slugfest” when he’s dealing with the supernatural world because, well, of all the slugfests.
Odin isn’t gonna slugfest with you. He /could/. But that isn’t the Allfather’s style. Odin saw you coming last year, and he made his countermoves to what you’re doing right now a week and a half ago. For guys like him, fights are what happen when you /fail/ to win with /real/ power–knowledge and forethought.
Of course, sometimes everyone’s knowledge and forethought cancels each other’s actions out, and then it’s time to get all Monday Night Nitro. No one in the Dresden Files universe is really sure how that would shake out. But everyone on that level knows that they might be about to find out
Dudesan: You’ve described Santa Claus as being the Winter King. What does that title mean? Do Winter and Summer each have a trinity of Father/King/Prince, like they do with Mother/Queen/Lady? Is the King necessarily the consort of the Queen? If so, will we be seeing Oberon at some point?
Jim: 5) The Faerie realms just aren’t that structured. It’s more accurate to say that he is /a/ Winter King. Or even more accurately, that he is a free Wyld Fae who is of a power level that is on par with Mab’s and happens to neighbor her sphere of influence, and finds it simpler to show up to family dinners during the holidays and make polite than to start staking out boundaries and establishing treaties.
Oberon… well, the guy kind of wound up between Mab and Titania in one of those romantic triangle things, back around Shakespeare’s day. He didn’t make it.
2013 KC signing Q&A
Is Kringle Fae?
His mantle, yes, is part of the Winter Court. Which does not necessarily mean that he himself is Fae as much as the fact that his mantle is. While he’s there, he’s got to pay deference to Mab. If Mab gives him a command, he has to obey it.
2013 KC signing Q&A
If you’re (a powerful immortal being) in the real world, well, the problem is that you’re in the world, and you’re kind of mortal, and something could come along and try and whack you, if they’re fast enough, or good enough, or lucky enough. Which makes Odin a kind of special guy, because he doesn’t mind it, he thinks it’s awesome.
2014 AMA
Is The Erlking a mantle in the same way as the other Fae titles? I know he’s referred to as Herne at one point in Cold Days, so that got me thinking, considering that he’s also iirc the Summer King.
There is no such thing as a Summer King in the Dresden Files faerie cosmology. Mab and Titania need a King like a fish needs a bicycle.
There are a ton of independent rulers of the Wyld, though, much like the Erlking, who is a member of the Winter Court more or less as a sign of courtesy and respect. They will occasionally make alliances (and dalliances) with the great rulers of the Sidhe.
2015 AMA
Vadderung is Santa Claus, is he also St Nicholas?
And Father Christmas and Sinterklaas and a variety of others. But in our modern era, a lot of people wear multiple hats on the job.
Twitter:
@longshotauthor is it possible for the Erlking to create a Wyld Knight or some equivalent?
@SuperSnapper61 Engh. He could feasibly take a part of his own power and fashion a new mantle from it.  Much weaker than the WK though.
@den_down_unda @jim_turnage The Erlking is simply not on the same scale of power as Mab, though he could probably hand Molly her head.