Loki

The Clever God of Mischief

The medieval sources do not give Loki one tidy job such as “god of mischief”. They call him cunning and deceitful, and Snorri lists him among the Aesir while stressing his dangerous nature. No clear evidence shows a widespread cult devoted to Loki in the Viking Age. He is above all a character in stories, where his words and transformations keep events moving. Early adventures often begin with Loki making a mistake. He cuts off Sif’s hair as a prank, and Thor threatens to break every bone in him. Loki visits skilled dwarfs and persuades them to make replacement hair of real gold. A competition between craftsmen also produces Odin’s spear Gungnir, Freyr’s ship Skidbladnir, the ring Draupnir, the boar Gullinbursti and Thor’s hammer Mjolnir.

Loki nearly loses his head in the bargain and escapes only through tricky wording. When the jötunn Thjazi kidnaps the goddess Idunn, Loki is partly responsible. Without her apples, the gods begin to age. They force Loki to rescue her, so he borrows Freyja’s falcon shape, turns Idunn into a nut and flies home with Thjazi chasing him as an eagle. The gods light a fire that kills the pursuer. Loki repairs the disaster, but only after helping to create it. Loki’s shape-changing goes much further. During the building of Asgard’s wall, a mysterious builder uses a powerful stallion named Svadilfari. The gods will owe an impossible payment if the wall is finished on time, so Loki becomes a mare and lures the stallion away.

Loki later gives birth to Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged horse. With the jötunn Angrboda, Loki is also parent of Fenrir, Jormungandr and Hel. His sharp tongue dominates Lokasenna. Loki enters a feast and accuses nearly every god and goddess of shameful behaviour. Some insults may preserve unknown myths, while others are designed simply to wound. Thor eventually arrives and threatens him into silence. This poem shows Loki as an outsider who knows everybody’s secrets and uses truth, exaggeration and abuse together. The turning point is Baldr’s death. In Snorri’s account, Loki learns that mistletoe has not sworn to spare Baldr. He makes a weapon from it and guides blind Hodr’s throw.

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