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Odin has two wolves to inform him about land events ... two crows to cover the skies, but what about the seas? Does Odin have fish servants?

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  • Hi. I'm not sure you can make the claim that the wolves Geri and Freki are informants for Odin in that way. Mostly they just hunt with Odin and feed on corpses after battles. Do you have a reference that shows them spying for Odin?
    – Spencer
    Nov 16, 2018 at 17:13
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin "He is often accompanied by his animal companions and familiars—the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who bring him information from all over Midgard—and rides the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into the underworld. " Nov 16, 2018 at 22:10
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    Not necessarily associating the bringing of information with anyone but Huginn and Munin. The wolves' appearance in the Eddas is limited.
    – Spencer
    Nov 16, 2018 at 22:28

1 Answer 1

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No

First, note that the the only detail that we learn about the wolves, Gere and Freke, in Snorri's Edda is that they are being fed by Odin when he sits at his table; they are not in any way explicitly associated with information gathering. That is solely the domain of the ravens Huginn and Muninn. This is emphasized by the names: "Gere" and "Freke" means 'greedy' and 'gluttonous', "Huginn" and "Muninn" 'thought' and 'memory'.

The gods in general does not seem very interested in the seas - when Thor goes fishing for the Midgard serpent, he he needs to borrow a boat from the giant Hymir. The sea is the domain of Aegir, another giants that is on good terms with the Aesir and Vaenir, but does not properly belong to them, and his wife Rán. (There is Njörðr, but he had more to do with seafarers and fishermen, not the depths themselves. He is a also a rather marginal gods in the stories).

Sources

The etymologies are from Gro Steinsland, Fornnordisk religion.

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