Veðrfölnir

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This illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript attempts the difficult task of showing a hawk on top of an eagle on top of a tree.
This illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript attempts the difficult task of showing a hawk on top of an eagle on top of a tree.

In Norse mythology, Veðrfölnir or Veðrlaufnir is the name of a hawk sitting between the eyes of an eagle in the crown of Yggdrasill, the World Tree.

Curiously, the name of the eagle isn't provided in any of the Norse sources, while the hawk is mentioned in the Gylfaginning part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. It has been speculated that this eagle could be identical to Hræsvelgr, the jötunn in eagle shape who, according to the Vafþrúðnismál, sits at the end of the skies and brings about the winds with his wings. However, there is no source in the Norse accounts to make this more than a qualified guess.

It is also speculated by John Lindow in his book Norse Mythology (2001) that since this particular eagle is said by Snorri to have an "understanding of many things", the hawk may represent the higher faculty of wisdom, possibly being sent out to acquire knowledge in a similar manner as Odin's ravens, Hugin and Munin, although again the primary sources do not support this.

Veðrfölnir means "the one bleached by the weather."

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