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Finally, here's my vision of Loki (or Loptr, or Hvedrung, or Loge in "The Ring of the Nibelung" of Richard Wagner), the famous Norse "god" of malice, discord and ruse ! Although being the son of two jötnar called Farbauti and Laufey, he was adopted by the Aesir after he and Odin performed a blood pact (as reported in stanza 9 of the Eddic poem "Lokasenna" ), befriended Thor, and married the goddess Sigyn. This jötunn, with intelligence surpassing that of all gods except Mimir (the god of wisdom and hidden knowledge), with shapeshifting powers and the ability to run in the air, is renowned for his ambivalence. Clever but impulsive, cunning but irresponsible, Loki does not allow himself to be grasped

With the jötunn Angrboda, his second wife, he had three monstrous children: the giant wolf Fenrir, the sea serpent Jörmungand, and Hel, the keeper of the non-heroic dead's dwelling. Odin, having heard of their fatal role in the Ragnarök, banished all three from Asgard, unaware that by doing so, he was allowing the prophecy to come true ...

In chapter 35 of the second part of Snorri's Edda, Loki amused himself by cutting the hair of the goddess Sif while she slept, angering her husband Thor. To temper the wrath of the god of lightning, Loki proposed to seek a substitute golden hair in Nidavellir, domain of the dvergars/dwarves. After retrieving the said hair and other valuable items, including Odin's spear, he bet his head that brothers Brokk and Eitri could never forge other such powerful artifacts. Bad player, he tried to distract one of the two dvergars in the form of a fly, without success. This is where Mjöllnir, Thor's hammer, was made. Although he lost his bet, Brokk and Eitri were indulgent, and Loki just got away away with his mouth sewn up, and not his head severed.

Several times he had adventures with Thor, especially in Jötunheim, and he put him in sometimes perilous situations, although in general the latter got out without too much difficulty, for example with the giant called Geirröd, who had captured Loki while the latter turned into a hawk. When the jötunn Thrym stole Thor's hammer and asked for Freyja's hand in return, it was Loki who acted as the messenger between the two parties. Naturally, the goddess refused, but Heimdall suggested sending Thor disguised as a bride instead, which greatly amused Loki, who accompanied his embarrassed sidekick, turning into a maid. If Thor's behavior during the wedding feast aroused Thrym's suspicion somewhat, Loki undeceived him each time, and when the giant returned the hammer, the god of thunder seized it, and slaughtered his host as well as all his family.

In chapter 42 of Gylfaginning (first part of Snorri's Edda), a master builder hiding his jötunn identity proposed the Aesir to build them a fortress to protect them from the giants, and this in a year and a half. Once again, the goddess Freyja was demanded in payment, along with the sun and the moon, at least if he kept his promise. But the gods agreed, believing that this stranger could never complete his work in time. When they saw how much the horse Svadilfari made the builder's job easier, they ordered Loki to slow it down by any means. Thereupon, the latter changed into a mare to distract the stallion. The jötunn, realizing his horse was too busy frolicking, grew angry and revealed his true nature, before being struck down by Thor. The fruit of this union was the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, which was very well received by the Aesir, becoming the mount of Odin in person.

Loki also rescued the goddess Idunn when she was kidnapped by the giant Thjazi, although the kidnapping was only made possible because of Loki, who had himself been captured by Thjazi before. As for the dvergar called Andvari's cursed Ring, he probably would never have harmed anyone if Loki hadn't gotten involved ...

If the pranks of the god of mischief had so far had little impact, which he also tended to repair himself, the episode of Baldr's death (described in chapter 49 of the Gylfaginning) marks a turning point in the development of Loki's character. One day, Baldr, the god of light and beauty, dreamed of his imminent death. Worried, his mother Frigg made every element swear never to harm her son, which made him practically invulnerable. The gods then honored him by throwing objects at him that did not hurt him, which irritated the jealous Loki. But the jötunn learned that Frigg had not bothered to make mistletoe take this oath, since she considered it harmless. Loki then made an arrow from a twig of mistletoe, and handed it to Höd, the blind archer, urging him to shoot a projectile at Baldr, his brother. Before the shocked assembly, Baldr was stabbed and collapsed, dead. The messenger god Hermod might have gone to Helheim and asked Hel to let Baldr return among the living, but following another ruse from Loki, it was in vain.

But Baldr was the son of Odin, and, for the Allfather and the other gods, it was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Hunted like an animal, Loki hid in a house with an opening in each wall, preventing anyone from approaching him without being seen. But to feed, he turned into a salmon in a nearby river, and that's when the Aesir got hold of him. Taken to a cave, Loki was tied up with the entrails of one of the sons he had with the goddess Sigyn, the other son having torn his brother apart after being changed into a wolf by the gods. A snake let its venom trickle down the traitor's face, but Sigyn, loyal to the end, held a bowl over his head. However, every time she had to empty the container, the venom trickled down Loki's face, who was writhing in such pain that he caused tremors.

It will be so until Ragnarök, where the Aesir will lead their last battle against the jötnar and their allies. Loki will free himself, and wishing for revenge, will side with the giants and his three monstrous children, once banished by the gods. Fenrir will devour Odin and Sleipnir before being slain by Vidar, while Thor and Jörmungand kill each other. Hel will empty her domain, and lead an army of the dead onto the battlefield, while Surt, the leader of the fire giants, will set the nine worlds ablaze. Loki, meanwhile, will face off against Heimdall the white, but none of them shall survive ...

The increasingly serious actions of Loki would be, for several researchers such as Régis Boyer or Axel Olrik, symptomatic of the rise of Christianity and the decline of original Norse Paganism. As time passed, Loki moved away from the amoral but sometimes helpful rascal who always more or less repaired his mistakes, to approach a purely evil and unambiguous antagonist. Where Loki is, at the end, more or less assimilated to Christianity's Lucifer, his last adversary Heimdall is, him, to be compared to an Archangel, by his role as guardian of Asgard and his "pure" side. But to have a concrete idea of how the Norse peoples perceived Loki before the arrival of Christians remains difficult ... Likewise, Richard Wagner will have merged Loki with the fire jötunn Logi to conceive the character of Loge, of capital importance in the opera "The Rhinegold". But because of this, it happens that the original Loki is perceived as a god of fire, wrongly

And here's some fitting music : youtu.be/dmouaoB4fmg

Description

Finally, here's my vision of Loki (or Loptr, or Hvedrung, or Loge in "The Ring of the Nibelung" of Richard Wagner), the famous Norse "god" of malice, discord and ruse ! Although being the son of two jötnar called Farbauti and Laufey, he was adopted by the Aesir after he and Odin performed a blood pact (as reported in stanza 9 of the Eddic poem "Lokasenna" ), befriended Thor, and married the goddess Sigyn. This jötunn, with intelligence surpassing that of all gods except Mimir (the god of wisdom and hidden knowledge), with shapeshifting powers and the ability to run in the air, is renowned for his ambivalence. Clever but impulsive, cunning but irresponsible, Loki does not allow himself to be grasped

With the jötunn Angrboda, his second wife, he had three monstrous children: the giant wolf Fenrir, the sea serpent Jörmungand, and Hel, the keeper of the non-heroic dead's dwelling. Odin, having heard of their fatal role in the Ragnarök, banished all three from Asgard, unaware that by doing so, he was allowing the prophecy to come true ...

In chapter 35 of the second part of Snorri's Edda, Loki amused himself by cutting the hair of the goddess Sif while she slept, angering her husband Thor. To temper the wrath of the god of lightning, Loki proposed to seek a substitute golden hair in Nidavellir, domain of the dvergars/dwarves. After retrieving the said hair and other valuable items, including Odin's spear, he bet his head that brothers Brokk and Eitri could never forge other such powerful artifacts. Bad player, he tried to distract one of the two dvergars in the form of a fly, without success. This is where Mjöllnir, Thor's hammer, was made. Although he lost his bet, Brokk and Eitri were indulgent, and Loki just got away away with his mouth sewn up, and not his head severed.

Several times he had adventures with Thor, especially in Jötunheim, and he put him in sometimes perilous situations, although in general the latter got out without too much difficulty, for example with the giant called Geirröd, who had captured Loki while the latter turned into a hawk. When the jötunn Thrym stole Thor's hammer and asked for Freyja's hand in return, it was Loki who acted as the messenger between the two parties. Naturally, the goddess refused, but Heimdall suggested sending Thor disguised as a bride instead, which greatly amused Loki, who accompanied his embarrassed sidekick, turning into a maid. If Thor's behavior during the wedding feast aroused Thrym's suspicion somewhat, Loki undeceived him each time, and when the giant returned the hammer, the god of thunder seized it, and slaughtered his host as well as all his family.

In chapter 42 of Gylfaginning (first part of Snorri's Edda), a master builder hiding his jötunn identity proposed the Aesir to build them a fortress to protect them from the giants, and this in a year and a half. Once again, the goddess Freyja was demanded in payment, along with the sun and the moon, at least if he kept his promise. But the gods agreed, believing that this stranger could never complete his work in time. When they saw how much the horse Svadilfari made the builder's job easier, they ordered Loki to slow it down by any means. Thereupon, the latter changed into a mare to distract the stallion. The jötunn, realizing his horse was too busy frolicking, grew angry and revealed his true nature, before being struck down by Thor. The fruit of this union was the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, which was very well received by the Aesir, becoming the mount of Odin in person.

Loki also rescued the goddess Idunn when she was kidnapped by the giant Thjazi, although the kidnapping was only made possible because of Loki, who had himself been captured by Thjazi before. As for the dvergar called Andvari's cursed Ring, he probably would never have harmed anyone if Loki hadn't gotten involved ...

If the pranks of the god of mischief had so far had little impact, which he also tended to repair himself, the episode of Baldr's death (described in chapter 49 of the Gylfaginning) marks a turning point in the development of Loki's character. One day, Baldr, the god of light and beauty, dreamed of his imminent death. Worried, his mother Frigg made every element swear never to harm her son, which made him practically invulnerable. The gods then honored him by throwing objects at him that did not hurt him, which irritated the jealous Loki. But the jötunn learned that Frigg had not bothered to make mistletoe take this oath, since she considered it harmless. Loki then made an arrow from a twig of mistletoe, and handed it to Höd, the blind archer, urging him to shoot a projectile at Baldr, his brother. Before the shocked assembly, Baldr was stabbed and collapsed, dead. The messenger god Hermod might have gone to Helheim and asked Hel to let Baldr return among the living, but following another ruse from Loki, it was in vain.

But Baldr was the son of Odin, and, for the Allfather and the other gods, it was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Hunted like an animal, Loki hid in a house with an opening in each wall, preventing anyone from approaching him without being seen. But to feed, he turned into a salmon in a nearby river, and that's when the Aesir got hold of him. Taken to a cave, Loki was tied up with the entrails of one of the sons he had with the goddess Sigyn, the other son having torn his brother apart after being changed into a wolf by the gods. A snake let its venom trickle down the traitor's face, but Sigyn, loyal to the end, held a bowl over his head. However, every time she had to empty the container, the venom trickled down Loki's face, who was writhing in such pain that he caused tremors.

It will be so until Ragnarök, where the Aesir will lead their last battle against the jötnar and their allies. Loki will free himself, and wishing for revenge, will side with the giants and his three monstrous children, once banished by the gods. Fenrir will devour Odin and Sleipnir before being slain by Vidar, while Thor and Jörmungand kill each other. Hel will empty her domain, and lead an army of the dead onto the battlefield, while Surt, the leader of the fire giants, will set the nine worlds ablaze. Loki, meanwhile, will face off against Heimdall the white, but none of them shall survive ...

The increasingly serious actions of Loki would be, for several researchers such as Régis Boyer or Axel Olrik, symptomatic of the rise of Christianity and the decline of original Norse Paganism. As time passed, Loki moved away from the amoral but sometimes helpful rascal who always more or less repaired his mistakes, to approach a purely evil and unambiguous antagonist. Where Loki is, at the end, more or less assimilated to Christianity's Lucifer, his last adversary Heimdall is, him, to be compared to an Archangel, by his role as guardian of Asgard and his "pure" side. But to have a concrete idea of how the Norse peoples perceived Loki before the arrival of Christians remains difficult ... Likewise, Richard Wagner will have merged Loki with the fire jötunn Logi to conceive the character of Loge, of capital importance in the opera "The Rhinegold". But because of this, it happens that the original Loki is perceived as a god of fire, wrongly

And here's some fitting music : youtu.be/dmouaoB4fmg