Huginn

Huginn, from the Old Norse hugr meaning "thought" or "mind," is one of the two ravens that serve the god Odin in Norse mythology. His companion is Muninn, whose name is commonly taken to mean "memory" or "remembering." Each day the two birds fly across the world, observing events among gods and humans, and return to Odin with what they have learned. Through their reports, Odin remains informed about distant happenings and hidden matters.

The raven duo is described in traditional sources such as the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson and the Poetic Edda, including Grímnismál, where Odin is said to have two ravens that watch over all things. Huginn and Muninn perch with him and feed his knowledge, enabling a form of omniscience that underscores Odin’s roles as a god of wisdom, magic, and war. The names themselves—Huginn meaning thought and Muninn meaning memory or mind—embody complementary faculties: perception and recollection.

In broader culture, Huginn and Muninn have come to symbolize vigilance, knowledge gathering, and the connection between thought and memory. They illustrate the idea that wisdom arises from continually observing the world and remembering what is learned, rather than from solitary insight alone. The imagery of Odin’s ravens remains a enduring motif in discussions of Norse myth, folklore, and related modern adaptations.