Get to Know a God: Loki

A trip to Valhalla is in store for us today. I would like to share with you what has to be the most mischievous god that I have ever heard of. Of course he would be part of Norse mythology, where drinking, violence and trickery reign supreme. I speak of Loki, shape-shifter and shit disturber debonair.

How crazy is this guy? Well let me paint you a picture. Loki is the guy who is disliked by every other Norse god. He likes to hang around with the jötunn (giants) and is always playing tricks on the other gods. Upon finding out that the other gods (who are at a feast) have nothing nice to say about him, Loki decides to go to the feast to spur quarreling among the gods and "mix their mead with malice". He is the guy no one likes, but surprisingly, Loki is often looked to for help by the others.

An example of this being in the poem Þrymskviða, where Thor (the Thunder god) discovers that his mighty hammer Mjöllnir is missing. He enlists Loki, who flies off to search for it. He discovers that a jötunn named Þrymr has hidden it eight leagues under the earth and that he is willing to give it back in return for the goddess Freyja as his wife. Understandably, Freyja angrily refuses. It is then planned that Thor will dress up in woman's clothes and pretend to be Freyja. The plan goes off without a hitch, ending with Thor killing Þrymr.

Loki also left behind his fair share of kids. With his wife Sigyn, he has a son named Nari. Loki also hooks up with a female jötunn called Angrboða, resulting in the wolf Fenrir, the serpent Jörmungandr and the female Hel. He also mates with the stallion Svaðilfari, giving birth to the eight legged horse Sleipnir—"the best horse among gods and men". Yep, that's right. This guy slept with a giant and a stallion, producing strange, offbeat offspring. Someone was high when they came up with this....

So how does the story of Loki end? Well, he is caught by the gods and tied to a cliff with the entrails of his son Nari. A venomous snake was fastened above Loki's face, dripping poison onto him. His wife, Sigyn (surprising how she is still with him...) holds a basin to a catch the venom and when it is full, she carries it away. During the time when the basin is gone, the poison drips onto Loki causing him to thrash violently and subsequently cause earthquakes (volcanic eruptions must have been taken).

However, it does not stop there. There is the story of Ragnarok (a future event), where Loki escapes his prison and joins the jötunn in their war against the gods. Thor, Odin, Loki and most of the other gods are killed, resulting in the earth being swallowed by water. The earth is then reborn, with two humans repopulating the world.


And that is the story of Loki: One Bad Ass Motherfucker!!



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