Veðrfölnir_and_eagle
Veðrfölnir and eagle
Mythical creature in Norse mythology
In Norse mythology, Veðrfölnir (Old Norse "storm pale",[1] "wind bleached",[2] or "wind-witherer"[3]) is a hawk sitting between the eyes of an unnamed eagle that is perched on top of the world tree Yggdrasil. Veðrfölnir is sometimes modernly anglicized as Vedrfolnir, Vedurfolnir or Vetrfolnir.
The unnamed eagle is attested in both the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, while Veðrfölnir is solely attested in the Prose Edda. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, the squirrel Ratatoskr carries messages between the unnamed eagle and Nidhöggr, the worm that resides below the world tree. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the birds.