Odin’s companions

We often catch sight of animals or birds in Norse myth being illustrated alongside the gods and playing certain roles.

The chief god of Aesir gods – Odin the Allfather himself owned a pair of ravens who helped him with information. Even though ravens in many beliefs were an omen of death or loss, ravens in Norse myth were mostly respected thanks to their strong connection with Odin.

As mentioned, Odin himself had a pair of ravens called Huginn and Muninn respectively. In many depictions, raven became an important point to figure out Odin’s presence. Because most of the time ravens were depicted perching on Odin’s shoulder.

According to some materials that survived, the word “Huginn” meant “thought” and “Muninn” meant “memory”. This point to some extent clarify the roles of this pair in Norse myth.

To be specific, in the morning of every day, Odin sent the birds out to fly over the whole world, and by breakfast, they would come back again. The two ravens flew back to Hlidskjalf throne of Odin in Asgard, perching on his shoulder and whispering in his ears what they had seen in the Nine Worlds. By that way could Odin receive the interesting piece of news in the whole world. People may question why Odin the Omniscient still needed such news. The answer was: as a nonstop seeker after wisdom, Odin was believed to hardly refuse any grain of knowledge. This totally made sense.