Everyone loves Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of Loki, right? I don’t blame you. His Loki is attractive, conflicted, and he’s got that bad boy vibe going that you just can’t help but root for. He killed my favorite character and I still like him, which takes some serious charm. Unfortunately, Norse mythology’s Loki is quite different from Marvel’s version.
As I mentioned in my Intro to Norse Mythology, Loki is blood brothers with Odin. This was a process that involved two people cutting their wrists and pressing them together, mingling their blood while swearing an oath (Do not try this at home!). Due to this bond, Odin let Loki get away with, quite literally, murder.
Loki is sometimes portrayed as just a mischief maker rather than anything more sinister. One such story involved him shaving the head of Thor’s wife, Sif, while she was asleep. Thor quickly found him out and made him pay, taking him on an adventure that first got Thor his hammer, Mjolnir, while Loki got his lips stitched shut by an angry dwarf. Another tale involves Loki being kidnapped by giants and forced to lead Thor into a trap. The thunder god escaped said trap, but that didn’t make him any less angry with Loki. (For some reason, Thor seems to be angry with Loki a LOT. But surely that isn’t the fault of poor Loki, right? Must just be Thor’s temper getting the better of him!)
Both of those adventures show Loki in a mischievous light, but he could be downright evil. Perhaps the best example of this involves the death of Balder. This god, often called Balder the Good, was the son of Odin and was well loved by all the gods. It came about that he and Odin realized Balder’s life was in danger. His mother, Frigg, was called the Mother of All. She made every plant, stone, metal, and animal promise that they would not harm Balder - every plant but one. She considered mistletoe too weak to cause Balder any damage and so overlooked it.
Unfortunately, Loki found out about this.
Because Balder could not be harmed, his brothers had taken to attacking him with various weapons as part of a game. Loki tricked one of the gods into throwing a spear tipped with mistletoe at the kind god, which killed Balder. The gods were horrified and immediately sent a rider to the underworld to ask for Balder to be returned to life. The queen of Hel agreed, provided every living thing wept for Balder. Everything cried, save for an old hag that was Loki in disguise.
Unfortunately for him, the gods saw through his disguise. It was at this point that they realized Loki had been responsible for the death of Balder, and so they locked him away. The god of mischief was to remain imprisoned until Ragnarok set him free.
That’s the cliff notes on Loki. Questions or comments? Feel free to post below or email me! Stay tuned, next time I’ll be talking about Hel, the Queen of Hel - who is actually Loki’s daughter. Have a great Halloween, guys!
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