Óðinn
Odin and His Ravens, Huginn and Muninn
The All-Father and his ravens
Odin rules the Æsir and is the god most hungry for knowledge. The Poetic Edda has him give an eye at Mímir’s well for a drink of its wisdom, and in Hávamál he tells how he hung nine nights on the windswept tree, wounded by his own spear and given to himself, until the runes rose up to him and he took them.
Two ravens sit on his shoulders. In Grímnismál, Odin says that Huginn and Muninn fly over the world every day, and that he fears for Huginn’s return, but more for Muninn’s. The names are usually read as Thought and Memory. They bring him what they have seen, which is how the one-eyed god keeps watch on the Nine Realms.
He carries the spear Gungnir, rides the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, and keeps the wolves Geri and Freki at his table. In Valhalla he gathers the slain warriors the valkyries choose, because he knows the wolf will come at Ragnarök and he will need them.
Sources: Poetic Edda (Hávamál, Grímnismál, Völuspá) and Snorri’s Prose Edda (Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál).
