Thought and Memory were old friends of Odin, tied deeply to him. He could send them out, away from Asgard, yet see through their eyes and know what they knew from the comfort of his home. They appeared in three episodes of Twilight of the Gods.
History[]
Sigrid becomes iron-clad.
When Odin heard of a shield maiden who was hunting his son, Thor, he had his ravens, Thought and Memory venture out into the mortal realm to find the revenge hunter, Sigrid. They witnessed her acquisition of Antler, a weapon made from god-killing iron, and her subsequent iron cladding gained by hardening the blood of Hel's red door in the Nidavellir river. This new strength made her a more formidable foe, so Odin began to worry for his son.[1]
The Seid-Kona takes Memory.
In Odin's search for the foresight to see his own fate, he was eventually led to the Seid-Kona, who, using that foresight, made her way to Odin, first. He asked what he wanted of her and she hesitated to give it, stating that it would come with a price. Odin was willing to pay it, whatever it was. As Thought and Memory circled, the Seid-Kona snatched Memory from the air and bit into it, revealing its entrails. Her magic was the magic of entrails and seeing the future required pulling them from the body. Only a sacrifice as important as Memory would do, but this would also take Odin's memory from him.
The sacrifice was successful, though it did not show Odin a favorable future. Thought was later seen picking at Memory's corpse.[2]
Members[]
Norse origins[]
Huginn and Muninn, translated to "Thought" and "Memory" from Old Norse, were ravens that flew around the world bringing information to Odin. It was said that Odin could enter a trance-like state and experience what they experienced. In addition, Odin gave them the ability to speak. Apart from speaking, these things are all seen or mentioned in Twilight of the Gods. The sacrifice of Memory seen in Twilight is not based on Norse mythology.
Heliand, an epic poem of Germanic origin, introduced Jesus from Christianity into the Norse pantheon. Many lamented the wane of the Norse belief system as Christianity began to take over, but Heliand sought to maintain a quality of the old beliefs in the new. One such feature was having a dove perch on Jesus' shoulder, which was something Huginn and Muninn would do with Odin. This symbology was similar to, but not present within Christian texts at the time and was meant to help pass the torch from Odin to Jesus and smooth the transition between faiths.
References[]
- ↑ Caitlin Parrish (writer) & Jay Oliva (director). September 19, 2024. Twilight of the Gods episode 2, "Heretic Spear."
- ↑ Eric Carrasco (writer) & Zack Snyder (director). September 19, 2024. Twilight of the Gods episode 8, "Song of Sigrid."