When it comes to Scandinavian mythology, the first character that comes to mind is Thor, with the influence of Marvel movies. Loki is depicted as Thor’s insatiable and jealous brother.

According to mythology, Loki was very handsome, playful, sly and lovable. Although he often found himself in punishment with his intelligence and games, he was often full of anger, greed and jealousy. Loki’s father was Farbauti, the ice giant that “shook the ground to the sky,” and his mother was another ice giant known as Laufey or Nal. So Loki was actually a giant.

Although it is not known by other gods when Loki came to Asgard, although he was an evil person or committed evil deeds, he was accepted as one of the Aesir members and became Odin’s blood brother. In other words, it is wrong to portray Thor and Loki as brothers in those popular movies.

Although Loki is known as a bad and trickster, he put his intelligence into Aesir’s service when needed. So neither with or without Loki …

Children of Loki

Loki married a woman named Sigyn. He had two children named Narfi and Vali from this marriage. Loki, on the other hand, had three other children. These kids were not from Sigyn. Loki did not come home for a long time three times, and even though Sigyn looked for him he was nowhere to be found, but Loki returned home as if nothing had happened after three long separations.

One day, Odin summoned Loki to join him. He told him that he had a dream and knew he had three more children. These children would cause great trouble for the gods. The three children were taken from their mother, the giant Angrboda, and brought before the gods.

The first child was a snake named Jormungundr. Odin released him into the sea beyond all realms to keep him in check. The snake grew by the day and surrounded the earth.

The second child was a girl named Hel. Those looking from the right side of the girl saw a beautiful girl, while those looking from the left side saw a body beginning to die. Odin sent him underground, ruling all the dead in the nine realms.

Loki’s Wolf child: Fenrir

The third child was a wolf named Fenrir. The homeland was left on earth, but Tyr would take care of it. As Tyr fed him, Fenrir grew bigger and wilder and grew bigger. Odin, on the other hand, was seeing the eyes of this boy in his dreams and said that he should be rid of him. Fenrir was tied up and asked if you could break these chains, Fenrir broke easily. Later, stronger chains were brought and Fenrir broke them as well. The gods understood that they had to do something stronger.

Six different items were brought together:

• The first was the cat’s footprints.
• The second was the beard of the woman.
• The third was the roots of the mountain.
• The fourth was the bear’s muscle wire.
• The fifth was the breath of the fish.
• It was the sixth and last of a bird’s spit.

The ingredients were brought together. The chain is made. Fenrir was very confident that he broke every chain made. He allowed them to tie these chains as well, but could not get rid of them. So the gods got what they wanted, and the wolf remained in chains forever.

Loki Who Killed Balder

Loki was also responsible for the death of Odin’s son Balder. According to the sources, what drove him so crazy was that Balder was loved and respected by all.

Balder was the son of Odin and Frigg. He won the love of the gods for his good deeds. Balder was having nightmares. In his nightmares he saw the end of the realms, the Sun and the Moon being swallowed by a wolf, the darkness, the pain, and the death. One day he woke up crying from his dreams and told the gods his dreams. Everyone was afraid and horrified that Balder would die. Except for one …

Odin set out to understand Balder’s bad dreams. On the way, he sought answers to dreams, he finally arrived somewhere. Here they said a wise woman could help her, but the woman was dead unfortunately …

Odin went to the land of the dead, where he found the wise woman. The woman told him that Balder was going to die, and soon Odin realized that he was not really the wise woman, but Angrboda, Loki’s lover. Odin was aware of the facts that even the gods could not change fate …

Odin returned home and told his wife Frigg what he had seen and learned. Frigg did not admit that he was someone who could hate Balder, so he went on the road and asked for an oath from mountain stone to everything on earth to be right to Balder’s love and not to harm him. He returned home and threw a stone at Balder in front of everyone, which fell over Balder and fell to the ground. The gods threw weapons at him and he fell to the ground before they could reach him, and everyone was delighted. Except for two people …

There were two people who did not share Balder’s happiness: Loki and Hod

Both eyes of Balder’s brother Hod were blind, so he couldn’t understand why people were so happy. Everyone was enjoying it happily, but Hod could not understand what was happening. Loki approached Hod and told him what had happened and told him that he had to throw something at Badler so he could join the fun. Hoping that he would eventually join the joy and everyone would applaud him, he threw the arrow of mistletoe from Loki at Balder. There was a great silence. Then the screaming and crying sounds covered everywhere. Frigg had told a gentle woman who came to visit him that not only mistletoe, but everyone else. This kind woman was of course none other than Loki …

Only one person was smiling face now …
Odin’s servant Hermod volunteered to bring Balder back from the underworld. Loki’s daughter and queen of the underworld went to Hel. Hel said that if everyone and everything on earth loves Balder and cries for her, she will give her back. But there was only one person who didn’t like Balder, and Balder stayed with Hel forever.

Sources:

• GAIMAN Neil, İskandinav Mitolojisi, İthaki Yayınları, İstanbul, 2019
• MUNCH Peter Andreas, İskandinav Mitolojisi, Maya Kitap, İstanbul, 2020
• tarihiolay.com/mitoloji/iskandinav-mitolojisi/loki/