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A warrior, likely Odin, flanked by two ravens on an Iron Age helmet from what is now Sweden
Hugin and Munin (pronounced “HOO-gin” and “MOO-nin”; Old Norse Huginn and Muninn, the meaning of which will be discussed below) are two ravens in Norse mythology who are helping spirits of the god Odin. According to the medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson,
Two ravens sit on his (Odin’s) shoulders and whisper all the news which they see and hear into his ear; they are called Huginn and Muninn. He sends them out in the morning to fly around the whole world, and by breakfast they are back again. Thus, he finds out many new things and this is why he is called ‘raven-god’ (hrafnaguð).[1]
Snorri’s main source for this passage seems to be an evocative stanza in the Eddic poem Grímnismál,[2] in which Odin says:
