Loki god of trickery in
every video so far in this series
There have been mentions of the god loki in some capacity
generally a negative one
Loki is one of the most widespread gods within our sources of Norse mythology and has a unique place among the tales of the gods
Although loki spends much of his time tricking the other gods or behaving in a malicious way
He is also on occasion worked for their benefit
Many of the aesir gods have threatened loki with violence and death multiple times
But most of the time loki managed to weasel his way back into their good graces
this video will cover Loki's place among the gods is odd familial history and
His eventual fate at the hands of the gods
The meaning of Loki's name has been a subject of debate for many years, and it's still not really clear what it means
The current best guess is that it relates to knots or tangles
And alludes to the idea that loki is often seen as the creator of webs with in Norse mythology
in a metaphorical sense
Loki is a jötunn the son of a jötunn father and a mother who is possibly a female jötunn
But it's never explicitly stated
Interestingly rather than having his father's name as part of his full name like other gods his name includes his mother's name
lavoy
This is likely due to the alliteration between loki and Lavoie
But it's possible that the aesir gods respected Loki's mother more than his father
Loki's time before coming to Asgard and becoming one of the aesir gods is completely unknown on
one occasion the gods were holding a feast with Loki present and things were very merry the
Gods began complimenting the servants on their work
But Loki couldn't stand to hear good things being said about the servants and so he proceeded to kill one of them
The gods chased Loki into the nearby woods, but eventually returned to feasting
Loki also eventually returned and a hush fell over the room
He demanded a seat at a table, but was told that he was unwelcome in
Response Loki reminded Odin of their early days when they became blood brothers and sworn oath
That no drink would be brought for one that wasn't also offered to the other
Odin admitted the oath to be true, and Loki was seated had a drink and proceeded to insult many of the gods
Loki is one of the most commonly appearing characters in Norse myth and
His purpose is generally to alter the status quo and bring about change in the gods lives for better, or worse
Loki often cannot keep his mouth shut and seems to enjoy raising the tempers of those around him
But almost always manages to talk his way out of any actual violence
He cut all the beautiful golden hair off of Thor's wife's head simply out of malice
But once Thor threatens to break every bone in his body he
manages to convince some dwarves to fashion a golden wig for her as well as the greatest ship ever made and
the greatest spear ever made
Loki's cowardice occasionally causes trouble for the gods as well most notably during the tale the kidnapping of doom
But again even though Loki played a key role in causing the problem in the first place. He was also instrumental in rectifying it
During the fortification of Asgard when the gods hired a yotan to construct walls are on their realm
Loki was the one to forge the agreement between them in the Jötunn
The agreement which involved the Jötunn finishing the job very quickly in exchange for the hand of a goddess in marriage was largely
Unacceptable for the gods, and they expected him to fail
After seeing that he was likely going to complete it on time then once again threatened violence upon Loki
And he knew he had to sabotage the Jötunn work in some way
Seen as the Jötunn horse was responsible for most of the heavy lifting
Loki went to the horse in the shape of a mare as Loki was a renowned shapeshifter
The horse seen the beautiful mare chased after Loki causing the Jötunn to fail his side of the agreement
Meanwhile Loki became pregnant after his interaction with the horse and soon gave birth to an eight-legged horse
Known as the greatest of horses and became Odin's personal speed
Loki giving birth to an eight-legged horse may be among the most odd things within Norse mythology
But the other children of Loki are perhaps just as strange
This topic deserves its own video to go into full detail
But notably Loki is the father of hell the goddess of the Norse underworld?
Jörmungandr the world's serpent that will cause the death of Thor at Ragnarok and
Fenrir the great wolf that will devour Odin at Ragnarok
Much like Loki himself his children are directly linked to death
particularly that of the gods
Loki's connection to death is most notable in the tale of the death of Baldr son of Odin in
This story Loki's sense of mischief and spite reached a disastrous height, which not even he could talk himself out of
The tale begins with Baldr the most beloved and beautiful of the gods
Beginning to have ominous dreams of some terrible fate befallen him
This greatly concerned the other gods as they did not know what the dreams meant and so they went to Odin to find their meaning
Odin climbed upon his steed and rode down to the underworld in disguise where he forced the corpse of a wise woman to rise
He also found that the floor was covered in gold and Mead was being brewed in anticipation for someone's arrival
Upon asking the wise woman whose arrival was being anticipated in Hell she responded with Baldr
After asking how he will die the woman tells him that his brother Hodor will be responsible
Odin seeks further information, but the wise woman realizes who he is and goes back to the grave
After returning to Asgard and forming the other gods that Baldr was fated to die
Frigg Baldr's mother went to everything in the cosmos and made them swear oaths not to harm her son
She took oaths from fire water iron and other metals
stones the earth trees
diseases animals birds
poisons and snakes and everything else
Everything she went to sworn oath that they would not harm Balder
Satisfied that Baldr was now safe the gods began amusing themselves by striking and
throwing all sorts of objects at Baldr
Laughing as the God remained unharmed
This only served to anger the jealous Loki however, and he went in a disguise to Frigg
Asking her if truly everything in the world gave an oath not to harm Balder
Frigg admitted that she had not obtained an oath from a small young plant called the mistletoe
Believing it to innocent cause harm to Balder
Immediately upon hearing this loki disappeared and went to get the mistletoe
He brought it back to the assembly and approached Hodor who was blind and was standing at the edge of the group
Loki, asked the blind God why he was not joining in with the others and he said that he could not see where Baldr was
And he had no weapon
Loki, told him that he should be honoring his brother like the others are and told them that he would direct his throw he
Placed the mistletoe in holders hand directed him towards Baldr and hold her threw it at his brother
The mistletoe pierced through the God and Baldr dropped dead
The gods weep for their loss Odin most of all as he knew this event heralded the coming of Ragnarok
another son of Odin hermod
Agreed to go to hell to bargain for Baldr's return from the underworld and he rode Odin's horse down
Upon arriving at the throne of the goddess hell he saw that Baldr was sitting in the seat of Honor next to her
Hermod pleaded with hell to release his brother
Telling her of the deep sorrow that came from his passing
hell responded that if Baldr was truly so loved let everything in the world weep for him both alive and dead if
This happens she will release him back to Asgard
Hermod returned to Asgard
informing them of the arrangement the
gods sent messengers to ask everything in the world to weep for Baldr and plead for his return and
everything did so
Everything except for one woman they found in a cave
When they asked her to weep for Baldr, she said that Balder gave her no joy, and that hell should hold what she has
This of course was Loki in disguise and so Baldr remained in Hell until the time of Ragnarok
Knowing that the gods were furious beyond
Reconciliation with him Loki fled into a mountain and built himself a house that he could look out from in all directions
During his days he changed into the form of a salmon and hid beneath a waterfall
Unfortunately for him however
Odin could see all upon his throne and the god soon found Loki in
His salmon form he attempted to leap downstream
But Thor reached out and grabbed him in midair by his tail fins
And it is said that this is the reason that salmon are narrow towards the rear to this day
Loki, changed back to his normal form and he was taken to a cave along with two of his sons
They changed one of his sons into a wolf who killed his other son
They took the entrails of his slain son and tied loki to three rocks in the cave
Turning the entrails into iron chains
They then placed a poisonous snake on a rock above his head
Causing it to contain. You only drip its venom on to Loki's face
Loki's wife still faithful and loving held the bowl underneath the snake to avoid its poison dripping upon her husband's face
Every so often however she must leave to empty the bowl and during the time the poison drips onto Loki
Causing him to convulse and shake so violently that it's felt on Midgard as earthquakes
There he will remain bound and suffering until he breaks his chains at the start of Ragnarok
When Ragnarok comes Loki will lead the Jotunar are out of Jotunheim to commence the war against the gods
Loki is easily among the most unique and enigmatic characters
Not only within Norse mythology, but potentially within any mythology
Despite his importance within the tales of Norse mythology and the number of times he's mentioned
archaeological finds depicting Loki are extremely rare
whether or not he was worshipped or placated by any of the Norse peoples is a topic for discussion and
Loki in general remains a mysterious figure
While the lives of the gods may have been happy and peaceful for quite a while
Loki is proof that in the end
chaos reigns