Germanic mythology is unfortunately only preserved in fragments; almost all texts were recorded only in Christian times, and therefore present a often inconsistent and contradictory picture. This also applies to the supreme god of the Germans, the godfather Odin: on one hand, he sits enthroned in Valhalla, surrounded by the fallen heroes, the Einherjar; on the other hand, he roams through the night as the storm god Wotan, the Wild Hunter, and leader of the Wild Host of the Dead. To gain wisdom, he hung for nine nights on the world tree Yggdrasil, but also stole the poet's mead and even sacrificed an eye at Mimir's well to take a sip from the well of wisdom. The American religious scholar Kris Kershaw not only reconstructs the entire Germanic tradition but also confidently draws on Celtic, Roman, Greek, and Baltic traditions.