Huginn and Muninn

Huginn and Muninn

Huginn and Muninn are two magical ravens who serve Odin, the chief of the Æsir gods. Huginn means "thought" and Muninn means "memory" in the old Norse language.

Odin deploys the ravens into the world every morning, where they gather information, and the two always return every night and tell the Allfather all that they have seen.

Overview

In the Poetic Edda, a disguised Odin expresses that he fears that they may not return from their daily flights. The Prose Edda explains that Odin is referred to as "raven-god" due to his association with Huginn and Muninn. In the Prose Edda and the Third Grammatical Treatise, the two ravens are described as perching on Odin's shoulders. Heimskringla details that Odin gave Huginn and Muninn the ability to speak.

Huginn and Muninn's role as Odin's messengers has been linked to shamanic practices, the Norse raven banner, general raven symbolism among the Germanic peoples, and the Norse concepts of the fylgja and the hamingja.