Veðrfölnir and eagle

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.

In the chapter, Gangleri (described as king Gylfi in disguise) asks the enthroned figure of High what other notable facts there are to know about Yggdrasil.

High responds (Veðrfölnir is here anglicized as Vedrfolnir): John Lindow points out that Snorri does not say why a hawk should be sitting between the eyes of an eagle or what role it may play.

Lindow theorizes that "presumably the hawk is associated with the wisdom of the eagle" and that "perhaps, like Odin's ravens, it flies off acquiring and bringing back knowledge".

On the other hand, Davidson adds, some Germanic peoples are attested as worshipping their deities in open forest clearings, and that a sky god was particularly connected with the oak tree, and therefore "a central tree was a natural symbol for them also".

An illustration from a 17th-century Icelandic manuscript shows a hawk, Veðrfölnir, on top of an eagle on top of a tree, Yggdrasil.
Veðrfölnir sits atop the eagle with Ratatoskr nearby (upper right) while Odin sacrifices himself to himself upon the tree Yggdrasil (central) in an illustration (1895) by Lorenz Frølich .