When this post is published it will be around April Fool’s Day, so I thought it would be fitting to write about one of the most famous tricksters from world mythology: Loki. Depending on the story Loki can be a simple prankster, a master manipulator, or even the bringer of the apocalypse. While he is now most famous for his depiction in Marvel comics and the MCU, Loki has entertained, or warned, people for thousands of years.
Origins
Loki as a figure comes from the Norse pantheon, the pantheon worshipped by the pre-Christian Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, and Icelandics. However, Loki was not exclusively found in Scandinavia, with the Norse pantheon being closely linked to the Germanic pantheon and are commonly seen as being the same pantheon. Similar to how the Romans and Greeks shared the same pantheon but with them having separate names, the pagan Germans and Norse had separate names for the same gods. The All-Father Odin, for example, was called by the Germans Woden or Wotan, and one of the days is named after him, Wednesday. Norse tales were told through oral stories meaning that a variety of versions of the Norse gods exist at once, and evolved with each telling. This was so much of the case that the first written compilation of the Norse tales dates from the 1200s by Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturulson who wrote the now famous Prose Edda. However, the Prose and Poetic Edda were written centuries after the Christianisation of Iceland and the successive stories were filtered through a Christian lens. This does not invalidate them, instead it shows how religions merge and evolve.
How Loki fit into daily Norse life we don’t entirely known. Being the god of tricks, and whose tricks would often backfire, would have deterred people homaging him in the same way as Odin, Thor, or Tyr. However, we do have contemporary depictions of Loki. One is the Snaptun Stone found in Denmark, although it may have been made in Norway or Sweden, which depicted a bearded man with his lips stitched together, and it seems to have been a hearth stone. Bellows would be put into the mouth and used to keep a fire’s heat burning, and this is a reference to one of Loki’s best known stories which we’ll discuss below. Northern England came under Danish rule and was turned into the Danelaw, (fun fact, I am from the city next to the Danelaw’s capital of Jorvik, now York), and we have depictions of Loki from here. This is particularly interesting as it shows how Norse paganism managed to make its way over to England during the Danelaw era. These stones seem to depict a bound Loki, one depicting him being soothed by his wife Sigyn, which is from a story preceeding the apocalypse of Ragnarok.
Loki’s Family
Loki holds a strange place within the Norse pantheon, with the only thing that can be agreed on is that his mother was Laufey, in some cases she is a goddess but in others she is a jotunn (giantess). Loki’s father is more mysterious, with him being referred to as Laufeyson as normally surnames take after the father’s name, and one named father is Farbauti. He holds an unusual place among the gods, with this again making sense with Loki being a god of tricks, and to an extent it is not due to him being half-giant. The god Tyr is half-giant and the gods themselves are split between the Aesir and Vanir. Instead, Loki’s unusual place lies with his shifting loyalties and role among the rest of the gods. Loki’s cunning is often at the expense of the gods and eventually results in the apocalypse, but his cunning also has helped out the gods. His most famous offspring, whom he sired with the jotunn Angrboda, are the bringers of death and destruction – the giant wolf Fenrir, who has to be kept bound and will kill Odin at Ragnarok; the serpent Jorgmungandr, which surrounds the world and will kill Thor at Ragnarok; and Hel, the goddess guarding the realm of the dead, also called Hel. However, he is also the father of Sleipnir, Odin’s trusted eight-legged horse.
Loki and Dwarven Gifts
One of Loki’s most infamous tricks, and the consequences of those tricks, comes from the Prose Edda. Thor and the goddess of beauty Sif woke up in the morning only to find that Sif’s beautiful golden hair was gone and she was entirely bald. Seeing his wife’s tears Thor flew into a rage and cried out for one name: Loki. The sheepish trickster appeared and had to confess. Quoting Neil Gaiman, ‘Loki drinks too much, and he cannot guard his words or his thoughts or his deeds when he drinks‘, and after a night on the town and merry with mead he thought it would be funny to shave Sif. Loki promised to give Sif a new head of hair to stop Thor from taking his head from his own shoulders, and he knew where to look. The dwarves of Nidavellir (or Svartalfheim depending on the source) were the greatest manufacturers of the Nine Realms so Loki knew he could get hair for Sif created. Loki managed to find some of the greatest of the dwarves, the Sons of Ivaldi, and got them to make a head of golden hair. Loki paid them a bag of silver so the dwarves threw in two extra gifts for his generosity: a spear called Gungnir, fashioned from the World Tree Yggdrasil, that would never miss when thrown for Odin; and for Frey, (Odin’s brother in law through his wife Freya), a model ship called Skidbladnir that could become a full sized ship whenever Frey needed it. Happy with the gifts Loki met some of the other greatest forgers among the dwarves, the brothers Brokk and Eitri, and boasted the skill of the Ivaldis. This angered the brothers and they made a bet with Loki: they would make three gifts and if the gods preferred their gifts the brothers could take Loki’s head, for he did have a very beautiful head.
Loki, however, was a cheater. He turned himself into a horsefly and flew into the brothers’s forge where Eitri instructed Brokk to keep the bellows churning so the fire could remain burning. Eitri through a boar hide onto the fire, and Loki flew onto Brokk’s fingers and bit, but the dwarf kept on pumping. From the forge Eitri pulled a giant boar that glittered gold; a gift for Frey, Gullinborsti could run through the sky faster than any horse and light up the sky. Eitri threw some metal on the forge, Brokk kept pumping the bellows, and horsefly bit Brokk on the arm, but he kept on regardless. Eitri pulled a splendid golden arm ring from the forge; for Odin the ring Draupnir would spawn eight more rings every ninth night. Finally, the brothers started on the final gift and Loki was determined to disrupt the process. He bit Brokk on his eyelid causing blood to run into his eye. For the second that Brokk reduced his pace to wipe the blood from his eye the forge’s temperature fluctuated making the last gift, the hammer Mjolnir for Thor, to have too short a handle. Before the gods Loki, and Brokk and Eitri presented their gifts. They were all pleased with the gifts, especially Sif whose new hair was more beautiful than her old hair, and Odin and Frey declared both of their gifts to be equal in value leaving Thor with the deciding vote. Loki rubbed his hands with glee knowing the shorter handle of Mjolnir made it imperfect. Depending on the telling Mjolnir could change its size to better fit Thor, but my personal preference has Thor falling in love with the short-handled Mjolnir.
With Thor enamoured with his hammer this meant that the brothers had won their bet. The gods were somewhat relieved, as this meant that the troublesome Loki would be out of their hair. Eitri and Brokk pulled out their knives ready to take Loki’s head, but Loki is a trickster after all and his ability to argue his way out of a pickle rivals that of Saul Goodman. While Loki admitted that the brothers do own his head they could not take it without harming his neck which was not part of the deal. The gods pondered and reluctantly agreed with Loki, there was no way for the brothers to get Loki’s head without harming the neck so the trickster could keep it. The frustrated dwarves would have their due regardless. They sowed the trickster’s mouth shut to silence his lying mouth. That is why the Snaptun Stone exists as it does. It is used to help maintain a fire and is made to look like Loki’s head, so in this way the brothers could have their reward for their gifts.
Loki, Thor, and the Wedding
This is my favourite Norse story, although Rosalind Kerven argues it may have actually been a Christian era story due to it making Thor a comical character. Thor was revered and treated with upmost respect, but depending on the telling I would argue it shows Thor’s willingness to defend Asgard. It also comes from the Poetic Edda which features more comical stories compared to the Prose. Anyway, Mjolnir had proved essential in defending Asgard from jotunn attacks, so when it went missing Thor was not the only one to panic when it went missing. Freya (also called Frigg), gave her feathered cloak to Loki so the trickster could turn into a hawk and look for the hammer, and he did. It was in the possession of a jotunn called Thrym, so Loki tried to negotiate the hammer’s return. Thrym wanted a lot in return for Mjolnir: Freya’s hand in marriage. Freya and the gods were outraged, but they needed the hammer. It depends on the telling who comes up with the ensuing plan: some say Loki, others say Heimdell, and Kerven has Thor himself suggest it. Thor would dress as Freya and go to the wedding to get the hammer back – in Kerven’s telling Thor sees it as his duty to protect Asgard no matter the cost. Also Loki had to be the handmaiden. If Thor had to pass as Freya he needed the greatest liar in the Nine Realms with him.
Thrym was so pleased to have Freya as his bride that he didn’t notice how the bride seemed to have bulding muscles under her dress – or he maybe, and understandably, was into that. Thrym orders a great feast to be brought forward and according to the Poetic Edda ‘then ale was borne on etins’ table/ate there an ox and eight salmon,/bolted all dainties dealt for women/three measures of mead drank Mjolnir’s wielder.‘ When Thrym questioned his bride’s appetite Loki said that Freya had been so nervous about her wedding that she had not eaten for eight days. A satisfied Thrym had a peak under his bride’s veil to see two flaming red eyes. ‘Why are so fearful Freya’s eyes?/ Methinks that fire flames in her eyes‘. Loki again had an answer; Freya had been so nervous that she had not slept for eight nights. Again, a satisfied Thrym announced that it is time to give his gift to his bride, Mjolnir, and also announced that it had been a ruse. He never intended to return Mjolnir, he said just as the hammer was placed in Freya’s lap. Then Thor tore of the veil, grabbed Mjolnir, and let his anger out on Thrym’s head.
Loki and the Stallion
The gods were tired of fighting against the jotunn attacks on Asgard so decided that a mighty wall should be build for better defence. Loki had the answer, one of Jotunheim’s greatest builders who offered to build the wall in return for the sun and moon itself. Odin refused such a payment so the wall builder demanded Freya’s hand, again we see a goddess reduced to a pawn in the wider patriarchal society. While Freya does have her own autonomy in tales, she is often reduced to a puppet for male-driven narratives. Once again Loki has put Freya in this situation, but he has the answer to get her out of it. He tells Odin that they would accept the wall builder’s payment with some conditions: he had until spring to complete the wall and could not use others to help him. The jotunn’s pride would mean he would push himself to complete most of the wall by himself, leaving the gods a nearly complete wall so they would just have to finish it off. The jotunn agreed to the conditions and brought a mighty stallion called Svadilfari to pull the massive boulders to construct the wall. Odin also gave a threat to Loki: if the builder finished the wall Loki’s days would be numbered.
The builder set to work with his horse and day by day the wall rose. Each day that passed Freya and Loki grew more and more worried. The autumn suns began to set and the last leaves fell from the tree. The winds and snows came but the builder soldiered on with Svadilfari. As the snows began to melt and the buds were getting ready to open it seemed that the wall would actually be finished by the time spring came, so Loki intervened once again. With one day to go, in a very unsual move, Loki transformed himself into mare on heat which caught the attention of Svadilfari. The amorous stallion chased after the Loki-mare leaving the builder unable to move the boulders. When the stallion returned the first day of spring had come and with the giant narrowly losing his bet he flew into a murderous rage – a rage quickly ended by Thor’s hammer. While the gods were relieved they were still very angry, Loki had almost seen Freya wedded to the giant and they were mad but the trickster was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the trickster was in the forest and heavily pregnant. After several months a bedraggled Loki walked into Asgard with an eight-legged horse, one of the finest horses in all the realms, called Sleipnir which he gifted to Odin. Why do I feel that Disney might not allow this to be adapted in the Loki TV show?
Loki and the Apocalypse
Loki regularly appeared in Norse tales, but we will look at one final ‘arc’ that shows a dramatic shift in Loki. Here, he went from a trickster and prankster to an outright murderer and bringer of the apocalypse. We need to quickly introduce another god, Baldr or Baldur, who was the son of Odin and Freya/Frigg. With Baldr we see the Christian influence on the Eddas as Baldr was a pure and honest being, whose tragic death causes mourning and bleaker times. Freya loved her son more than life itself so she went to every living thing and had them promise to never harm Baldr. The only thing she didn’t get a promise from was mistletoe as it was a parasite and required others to survive meaning it couldn’t harm Baldr. From the smallest things the greatest tragedies come. Loki was jealous of the adoration Baldr got, and this jealousy turned into malicious and then murderous. The gods at times were effectively frat boys and found a fun game of throwing missiles at Baldr to watch them fly off of his body, except for Baldr’s brother Hodr who was blind. That is until a voice promised to help him take part and gave him an arrow. The voice helped Hodr throw the arrow at Baldr, but it did not bounce off of him, instead it pierced his body and killed him for the arrow was made of mistletoe. Of course that voice was Loki. Despite it being an accident on Hodr’s part, his brother Vali killed him to avenge Hodr, something Carolyne Larrington argues represents the futility of kinship violence as it simply leaves Odin’s family with more pain and trauma. Freya is determined to save her son so organises a party to go to Hel and convince Hel herself to return Baldr to the living. She agrees on one condition, everything has to shed a tear for Baldr for her to release him. The gods travel far and wide telling the tale of Baldr’s death and everything, including metals which Snorri Sturulson argues is how condensation came into the world, cries, except for the giantess Pokk. However, Pokk is secretly Loki whose refusal to cry ensures that Baldr remains in Hel.
What happens next depends on whether you read the Prose Edda or Poetic Edda. In both versions the gods have realised that Loki is behind Baldr’s death and being tapped in Hel. In the Prose they are more direct and quickly go after Loki. He makes a hideout in a cave with a waterfall where the gods track him to. Transforming into a salmon Loki hides in the waterfall just before the gods arrive. Wondering where he went one of the gods notices Loki’s fishing line and realises that Loki must have turned himself into a fish, so they cast a net and catch the trickster. In the Poetic there is an event just before this. The story Lokasenna sees the gods conversing in a hall when Loki enters and takes part in the flyting – imagine an early rap battle. Loki insults a god, another god chirps in to defend them, so Loki turns his attention to the next god, and so on and so forth. Odin is called an oath-breaker, various gods are accused of cowardness, various goddesses charged with infidelity, and Freya is taunted over Baldr’s death. Larrington hypothesis that this section could be of the Christian era, as Loki’s accusations and airing of dirty laundry was meant to humiliate the pagan gods and expose their hypocrises, thereby showing the morality of the Christian faith. Regardless, the gods are angry about this and the salmon chase then proceeds.
When captured the vengeful gods truly wanted to punish Loki. They summoned his two sons from his marriage to Sigyn, Nari and Narfi, where they transformed Narfi into a ferocious wolf. Narfi tore apart Naria and with his entrails an unbreakable rope was made to bound Loki to a rock. As further punishment Stadi, a giantess who resided with the gods, summoned a serpent who would drip poison onto Loki for all time. The ever devoteful Sigyn was allowed to catch the poison in a cup, but she would have to empty it at times which meant that the burning poison would drop onto Loki’s face. Loki would remained bound here for all time, until the coming of the apocalyptic Ragnarok. We have written about the events of Ragnarok which you can read here for the complete tale, but before the apocalypse the devastating Fimbulwinter covers the land. This event cracks the land and allows Loki to be freed from his bonds. A vengeful Loki, now fallen to his darkest instincts, would then lead an army of giants and the living dead to Asgard. Gods, giants, and monsters all die in this battle. Loki personally fought the all-seeing god Heimdall where they both slay one another, thus ending Loki’s infamy. At least for now. The survivors of Ragnarok, with a resurrected Baldr and Hodr, sit around telling stories, and in Neil Gaiman’s telling compare chess pieces to the fallen gods, giants, demons, and monsters. From there the world is slowly reborn and the stories with it.
And that is how the Norse gods live on: through stories. Loki has appeared in many more tales which I have not even mentioned here but narrating each story in one post misses the point of the Norse myths. Rosalind Kerven quotes a thirteenth-century author which I feel sums this up well, ‘One man’s tale is only half a tale‘. Loki shifted and changed in his stories, but also shifted and changed thanks to the author. They were meant to be adapted and changed which allowed them to be so compelling over a thousand years later.
Bibliography:
- Rosalind Kerven, Viking Myths and Sagas: Retold from Ancient Norse Texts, (Morpeth: Talking Stone, 2015)
- Carolyne Hudson, The Norse Myths: A Guide to the Gods and Heroes, (London: Thames & Hudson, 2017)
- Andy Orchard, Dictionary of Norse Myth & Legend, (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997)
- Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, (New York: W.W. Norton, 2017)
- Snorri Sturulson, The Prose Edda, Trans. Jean Young, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966)
- The Poetic Edda, Trans. Lee Hollander, Second Edition, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996)
- James Frankki, ‘Cross-Dressing in the Poetic Edda: Mic Munno Aesir argan kalla‘, Scandinavian Studies, 84:4, (2012), 425-437
- Kevin Wanner, ‘Cunning Intelligence in Norse Myth: Loki, Óðinn, and the Limits of Sovereignty’, History of Religions, 48:3, (2009), 211-246
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