The carved gods, beasts and heroes seem to move in the shifting shadows while:
"Whoo-oo said the wind, a noise as cold as itself." (p. 334)
As often in Poul Anderson's works, the wind comments on the action. I do not seem to have noted this example before. However, we have heard the sound "Whoo-oo" twice before (see here) (scroll down), once as a sound in battle and once yet again as the wind become almost a protagonist. It is said to whip Dahut as she runs through the streets of Ys.
Maybe some mentions of the wind are just mentions of the wind! When the Wanderer enters the hall:
"Wind flapped the edges of his blue cloak, flung a few dead leaves in past him, whistled and chilled along the room." (p. 339)
Maybe just the wind but also appropriate for the advent of Odin.
Aspen leaves often blew out of the cloak of Odin/Wodan -- and now we may be seeing the source of the myth!
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