Huginn and Muninn

Huginn and Muninn were a pair of ravens who served as the eyes and ears of Odin, flying across the Nine Realms as his personal spies and bringing him word of all that passed. Bound wholly to the All-Father's will and gifted with speech and unnatural swiftness, they were counted among the few creatures Odin held in genuine affection, and they moved through the saga of Kratos and Atreus as silent watchers before their part in the fall of Asgard.

Origin#

Odin once captured an entire unkindness of ravens. He cooked most of them and ate them for his supper, sparing only two. Upon these two he worked his experiments, wiping away all their memories and binding them utterly to his will. The pair were given the names Huginn and Muninn, and they became the All-Father's own magical servants and spies, ranging across the Nine Realms and reporting to their master on all that happened within them.

The two were not to be mistaken for the Eyes of Odin, the lesser spy-ravens scattered throughout the realms that could be hunted down and slain. Huginn and Muninn were singular creatures, far greater in cunning and power than any common bird.

In the All-Father's service#

As Odin's favored servants, the ravens bore marks of his craft. Huginn had black feathers flecked with red, while Muninn shared his fellow's form but for feathers of blue and a scarred beak; both had the same icy blue eyes and the same chains of will that bound them to the All-Father. Through Odin's experiments they could understand and speak any tongue spoken in the Nine Realms and could fly far faster than any other raven. They held authority over all other ravens, and Huginn once summoned a great host of them to his aid. So bound were they to their master that they could vanish into his forearms as tattoos, and Odin could call them forth again at need, whether to gather word or to strike at his enemies.

The reach of the ravens was great but not without limit. They could carry Odin anywhere in the Nine Realms save the Realm Between Realms, which was shut to them by Dwarven enchantments and by the very nature of Yggdrasil. Yet Odin found a way around even this; while wearing the guise of Tyr, he hid Muninn within his arm and shut him in a broom closet, and so contrived to pass into the workshop of Sindri within the Realm Between Realms.

The fall of Asgard#

The ravens watched from the shadows as the saga unfolded, observing the meeting of Kratos and Thor before Odin called them into his arms. When Atreus made his way to Asgard, it was Huginn who came knocking at a window after the youth had saved the great beast Chaurli, and who summoned a flock of ravens to bear Atreus to the realm, then guided him on to Odin. Through Huginn, and with Odin's leave, Atreus and his companions Thrud and Heimdall were granted passage between Asgard and the other realms while Atreus worked to complete the Mask of Creation. After a failed venture into Helheim that loosed Garm, Odin let Atreus return home and set Huginn to wait for him.

In the last days, the ravens fought at their master's side. Odin summoned Muninn to distract Freya and break her hold when she sought to choke him, and the raven snatched away Odin's Noose as the ground broke beneath them all. In the battle that followed, the All-Father called both ravens to aid him against Kratos, Freya, and Atreus. Huginn was struck by one of Atreus' arrows, and Muninn was caught by Freya, who snapped his neck. The death of his beloved servant drove Odin into a rage. After Asgard was destroyed, Huginn proved to be among the survivors, and was later seen perched upon a branch in Hodmimi's Holt.