4/29/2023 0 Comments Loki trickster![]() The etymology of the name Loki has been extensively debated. Loki has been depicted in or is referenced in a variety of media in modern popular culture. Scholars have debated Loki’s origins and role in Norse mythology, which some have described as that of a trickster god. Loki may be depicted on the Snaptun Stone, the Kirkby Stephen Stone, and the Gosforth Cross. Loki is referred to in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson the Norwegian Rune Poems, in the poetry of skalds, and in Scandinavian folklore. With the onset of Ragnarök, Loki is foretold to slip free from his bonds and to fight against the gods among the forces of the jötnar, at which time he will encounter the god Heimdallr, and the two will slay each other. The serpent drips venom from above him that Sigyn collects into a bowl however, she must empty the bowl when it is full, and the venom that drips in the meantime causes Loki to writhe in pain, thereby causing earthquakes. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, the goddess Skaði is responsible for placing a serpent above him while he is bound. Loki’s positive relations with the gods end with his role in engineering the death of the god Baldr, and eventually, Váli binds Loki with the entrails of one of his sons. Loki is a shape shifter and in separate incidents appears in the form of a salmon, a mare, a fly, and possibly an elderly woman named Þökk (Old Norse ‘thanks’). Loki’s relation with the gods varies by source Loki sometimes assists the gods and sometimes behaves maliciously towards them. In addition, Loki is referred to as the father of Váli in Prose Edda, though this source also refers to Odin as the father of Váli twice, and Váli is found mentioned as a son of Loki only once. By the stallion Svaðilfari, Loki is the mother-giving birth in the form of a mare-to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Narfi and/or Nari. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. Loki is in some sources the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. ![]() Loki is referred to in 13th-century Scandinavian poems and folklore. Loki with a fishing net (per Reginsmál) as depicted on a 18th-century Icelandic manuscript (SÁM 66). ![]()
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