Raven Tattoo Ideas, Designs and Meaning

What a raven tattoo means

The raven is an intelligence symbol before it is a death symbol, and people who choose one usually know that. Ravens use tools, recognise individual human faces for years, and are among the very few animals that appear to plan for the future — so the bird stands for a particular kind of watchful, unsentimental cleverness rather than for wisdom in the owl sense.

The Norse reading is the most specific. Huginn and Muninn — Thought and Memory — flew out each day and reported back to Odin, and a pair of ravens is a direct reference to that rather than a decorative choice. Odin was said to fear that Muninn might not return, which is a memory-loss image that resonates with a great many people who get the pair tattooed.

The death association is real but narrower than reputation suggests. Ravens follow wolves and armies because both produce carrion, so the bird became an omen of battle by proximity rather than by nature. A raven on a battlefield is reportage; a raven as a death omen is a later literary embellishment.

Poe fixed the modern melancholy version in 1845, and it is worth knowing that a raven perched and staring is quoting that poem whether or not you intend it. A raven in flight, or a pair, reads as Norse instead. The pose does more work here than in almost any other subject.

Where the design comes from

Ravens carry meaning in Norse, Celtic, Haida and Tlingit traditions independently — in Pacific Northwest art the Raven is a creator and trickster figure, which is a distinct lineage from the European one and drawn in a completely different formline style. Edgar Allan Poe published The Raven in 1845 and gave the bird its modern association with grief and sleeplessness. In tattooing, blackwork ravens belong largely to the last two decades and draw on woodcut and engraving conventions rather than on flash.

Choosing yours

• A raven is a black bird, which sounds simple and is the hardest part. Solid black loses all internal detail as it spreads, so a good design uses negative space — gaps left in the feathering — to keep the form readable. An artist who plans the white space is the one to book.
• Perched and in-flight are different tattoos with different placements. A perched raven is compact and vertical and suits a forearm or calf. A bird in flight is wide and wants a broad field — chest, shoulder blade, upper back.
• If you want the Norse pair, plan both at once. Two ravens designed together balance; a second one added later almost never sits right, because the first was composed as a single subject.

Common questions