What giant eagle creates the wind by flapping its wings?

What giant eagle creates the wind by flapping its wings? Hræsvelgr. In Norse mythology, Hræsvelgr is a jötunn who takes the form of an enormous eagle and generates the wind with his wings.

The idea appears in Vafþrúðnismál, one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. There, Odin asks what causes the wind, and the answer points to the eagle-shaped figure at the edge of the heavens. Snorri Sturluson later retells the image in Gylfaginning, placing Hræsvelgr at the northern end of the sky and explaining that winds arise beneath his wings when he flies.

The name Hræsvelgr is commonly translated as “corpse-swallower,” though interpretations also connect it with a shipwreck or strong current. Despite the question’s wording, Hræsvelgr is not simply an ordinary eagle: he is a giant or jötunn whose eagle appearance explains a natural force.

He is easily confused with Vedrfölnir, the bird associated with the crown of Yggdrasil’s eagle. Vedrfölnir does not create the wind; that role belongs to Hræsvelgr.