“ | Loki: It is done, I have won. Heimdall: I can see farther than you, Odin's son Vidar killed your son Fenris Wolf, and Vidar survives, and so does Odin's son Vali, his brother. Thor is dead, but his children Magni and Modi still live, They took Mjollnir (Mjölnir) from their father's cold hand. They are strong enough and noble enough to wield it. Loki: None of this matters. The world is burning. The mortals are dead. Midgard is destroyed. I have won. |
„ |
~ Part of Loki and Heimdall's final conversation from Neil Gaiman's Norse mythology |
Loki is one of prominent figures in Norse Mythology and a Jötunn who he started off as a close friend of the Æsir and the blood-brother of the Æsir leader Odin. Despite being a Jötunn, Loki held no real loyalties to the Jötnar, but did hold some level of loyalty to the Æsir in the beginning. This was before he ultimately becomes their worst enemy for the poor treatment of his illegitimate children by the Æsir. He is also one of the two "supreme evils" or main antagonists in old Scandinavian myths, the other being Surtr.
Biography[]
Origins and Family[]
Loki was born from the Jötunn Fárbauti (ON: "Cruel Striker") and Laufey/Nál (ON: "Needle"). Although he was accepted by the Æsir as the honorary member of their people, Loki proved himself a troublemaker for being a wily striker. Despite being naturally male, Loki's gender is actually malleable owing to his shapeshifting ability and with his mare form, he is the "mother" of eight-legged, Jötunn-horse hybrid Slepnir with the stallion Svadilfari.
In addition of Slepnir and his parents, Loki's other family members are Angrboða (ON: "Anguish-Boding") (with whom he sired three children Hela the Goddess of Death, Fenrir the Wolf Jötunn, and Jörmungandr the Midgard Serpent), Sigyn (with whom he sired Váli and Narfi and Váli (noted that the latter shares his name with Odin's son through marriage with Jötunn Rindr)).
As a Member of the Æsir[]
In his early days as a ally and member of the Æsir, Loki's pranks often brings troubles for his newfound allies. For example, in the tale of The Kidnapping of Idunn, he incited the wrath of the Jötunn Thiazi who then coerced him to bring Idunn for him only to nearly doomed his fellow Æsir, since said goddess was the only one who can take care of her special apples which grant them their youthful appearance. In the same tale, he also unwittingly angered Thiazi's daughter Skadi who demanded restitution for her father's death in the same incident (when Loki took Idunn back to Ásgarðr with his falcon form, Thiazi caught them in the act and give chase with his eagle form all while recklessly entering the Gods' territory in Ásgarðr in process, provoking the guards to kill him on the spot). Since Skadi proved herself more reasonable than her father and most of her kin despite her initial vengeful rage, the tension between her and the Gods was resolved without bloodshed.
Another examples of his pranks are annoying Thor through shaving his wife Sif's golden hair clean, interfering dwarf brothers Brokkr and Sindri's progress in crafting the Thunder God's signature hammer Mjölnir (which resulted the hammer's handle being shorter than intended) to win the bet he made with them, and giving a shady Jötunn the chance to get his hands on Freya, sun, and moon should he managed to complete the fortification around Ásgarðr despite his apparent treacherous nature. In the latter's case, Loki was forced to swallow his pride to ensure said Jötunn's failure by distracting his horse Svadilfari and mating with it in process, culminating to the birth of Slepnir. Yet, it all nothing compared to the worst that Loki stored for them.
A Lust for Revenge[]
Eventually, Loki learned about poor treatment of his children by the Æsir, the very deities he was a staunch ally of. Loki's children were either killed, banished (Jormungandr was casted to the ocean while Hela was given a permanent post as the ruler of Helheim), or imprisoned (Fenrir was bound with Gleipnir by the reluctant Tyr and his fearful brethren through a trickery with the promise of freedom under the pretence of it merely testing the bindings) in a vain hope to prevent Ragnarök. These actions by the Æsir infuriated Loki and gave him a strong desire for revenge against them. After this he saw no point in maintaining his loyalty to the Æsir and thus decided to bring forth Ragnarök himself to fulfil his lust for revenge. He used his wits and charisma to manipulate the Jötnar into becoming his allies against the Æsir when Ragnarök, even if that means he would fulfil his destined role in the aforementioned apocalyptic event; avenging the death of his ancestor the first Jötunn Ymir. Regardless, Loki cared even less for the Jötnar than he did for the Æsir, and he also did not care about their prophesised role in Ragnarök. He simply wished to exact revenge on the Æsir for their poor treatment of his children and did not care about whom he had to destroy or manipulate to get what he wanted.
The Assassination of Baldr[]
While planning his revenge, he maintained the façade of still being a devoted ally of the Æsir, up until he overheard that Baldr was having prophetic nightmares about his alleged upcoming death. Baldr's nightmares prompted Frigg to make him invulnerable to everything outside of mistletoe to which she either forgot about or deemed too harmless at the moment. While the Æsir tested this out and were amazed, Loki forged a weapon out of mistletoe and arranged for it to be thrown at Baldr which killed him. Frigg was deeply upset by this and was overcome with grief. For a good measure, he assumed the form of a female jötunn named Þökk who vehemently refused to mourn Baldr's death during Frigg and Hermod's attempt to negotiate with Hela to bring the deceased deity back under the condition of all objects alive and dead would weep for him. The news of Baldr had to remain in Helheim satisfied Loki, for it being the first step to enact Ragnarök.
Severing his ties with the Æsir and Capture[]
The Æsir were quick to realize what truly happened and began to talk of how they hated him for his troubles during a party which they deliberately not invite the trickster God into. Unamused, Loki barged in (some sources stated that he forced Odin to let him join by reminding the blood oath they established with one another long ago while others stated he merely barged in while drunk) and unveiled his true colours as he insulted the Gods only to realize his error and retreated just as Thor joined the insulting contest.
Escaping to Franang's Falls, a waterfall located in a certain mountain at Midgard, Loki built himself a safehouse with four doors to watch for his pursuers from all direction in order to bid his time for the next step of his destructive quest. He turned himself into a salmon while maintaining his cover beneath said waterfall by day and sat by his fire and weaved a net for fishing for his food by night. At this point, however, the Æsir opted not to take any chances and as soon as Odin discovered his hideout, the Allfather and his fellow Gods made haste to capture him. Despite of him burnt his net to cover his escape while in the form of salmon, they ultimately managed to capture him with Thor's assistance and eventually forced him to return to his original humanoid form before binding him into a cave. In some versions of this part of tale, he was bound with chains while others described said bindings being fashioned from entrails of his son Narfi. Regardless, an immortal serpent has been placed above him so it would forever drip its venom into his face. The only mercy in such punishment was the Gods had Sigyn periodically use a bowl to catch the venom thus provide brief respite since she must dump it out while her husband underwent another brief torture.
The Events of Ragnarök and Death[]
When the day of Ragnarök eventually arrived, Loki eventually broke free from his prison and proceed to join forces with his children and the Jötnar, Hela included for her provided him reinforcement in form of dishonourable dead for their war against the Æsir and their allies. During such apocalyptic event, majorities of the Æsir were killed and Loki would face Heimdallr where they committed a mutual kill. In his dying breath, Loki pointed out despite his death, he still won and destroyed the world he came to hate thus fulfilled his dream of getting his revenge. Though Heimdallr retort that many of the Æsir had survived Ragnarök and so did the mortals, thus the world would start anew, meaning Loki ultimately failed. Loki merely scoffed at Heimdallr's words before dying from his wounds.
Powers and Abilities[]
Loki is a Jötunn, a race of primordial deities who are a rival group to his former allies, the Æsir-Vanir deities. Loki, like any Jötunn, is proficient in the usage of magical abilities and illusions. However, his most greatest asset is his immense charisma and cunning.
- Supernatural Strength: Though not to the same level as Thor's, Loki nevertheless displayed enough brute force to cause earthquakes with his bare hands, as shown when he tried to break free from his bindings during his fateful imprisonment. Thor himself acknowledged Loki's strength as the Nordic Thunder God initially suspected him to be the one who stole Mjölnir only to realize the Trickster God won't be foolish enough to do such a thing.
- Immortality: As with his fellow Jötunn, Loki can live forever. While more potent as he didn't rely on mystical apples provided by Iðunn to maintain his prime condition, his immortality nonetheless extends only to immense durability and decelerated ageing since he can be killed by beings with sufficient power, most notably his destined bane Heimdallr.
- Magical Abilities: Loki is a proficient magic user as much as Odin, though his focus leaned to Transmogrification. He also has special equipment which helps him with magic, such as his enchanted shoes.
- Transmogrification: Befitting to his status as the malicious Trickster God, Loki excels in magically alter all forms of matter and energies into anything else he wishes to. Most notably, he transformed Iðunn into a nut in order to conveniently smuggle her out of Þrymheimr (Þjazi's stronghold at Jötunheim) and fashioned an arrow (or spear) out of mistletoe instantaneously before giving it to Hodr who accidentally killed Baldr.
- Shape-shifting: One of Loki's notorious feat in transmogrification is assuming different forms, such as a salmon, a mare, a fly, and his female alter-ego named Þökk (Old Norse: Thanks), all fo which helped him greatly in eluding and tricking others. He performed this through either reciting specific spells or magical focus such as Freya's falcon cloak.
- Gender Transformation: Loki's shape-shifting abilities also enables him to change his gender, be in his natural form or any of his disguises.
- Shape-shifting: One of Loki's notorious feat in transmogrification is assuming different forms, such as a salmon, a mare, a fly, and his female alter-ego named Þökk (Old Norse: Thanks), all fo which helped him greatly in eluding and tricking others. He performed this through either reciting specific spells or magical focus such as Freya's falcon cloak.
- Fire Manipulation: It's implied that Loki can manipulate fire like Logi, the Eldthur (fire Jötunn) and personification of fire he confused with in some accounts. Assuming it to be the case, it can be inferred that Loki is indeed an Eldthur like the the latter and share same fire-based abilities albeit pale in comparison. That said, it's ambiguous whether his pyrokinetic ability being magical.
- Levitation / Flight: Loki has enchanted shoes which gives him the power of high speed flight. When escaping the Dwarves after they won the wager, he was able to use the power of his enchanted shoes to fly through the air and over the sea at high speeds.
- Transmogrification: Befitting to his status as the malicious Trickster God, Loki excels in magically alter all forms of matter and energies into anything else he wishes to. Most notably, he transformed Iðunn into a nut in order to conveniently smuggle her out of Þrymheimr (Þjazi's stronghold at Jötunheim) and fashioned an arrow (or spear) out of mistletoe instantaneously before giving it to Hodr who accidentally killed Baldr.
- Supernatural Wits: Despite being an ally of the Æsir, he would still pull pranks on them and toy with them from time to time. He is able to use his superior wits to toy with the Æsir, the Vanir, the Jötnar and even mortal sorcerers over and over again and managed to always get himself out of trouble by using his superior wits to talk his way out of it. Up until he decided to sever his ties with the Æsir and their allies by killing Baldr, he managed to maintain his place among them by undoing damages from his pranks and minimize comeuppances from his actions.
- Manipulative Charisma: Befitting to his status as a trickster, Loki is extremely charismatic and is surprisingly cunning as well. He is able to use his mastery of manipulation to persuade others to do what he wants, putting up efforts in flyting (insulting contest), and outwit people he has made deals with. After the poor treatment of his illegitimate children by the Æsir, he defected to the Jötnar without the Æsir realizing until Baldr's death.
- Military Protocols: During the Ragnarök, Loki proved himself as a capable leader to his army that comprised of his fellow Jötnar and undead dishonourable warriors.
- Master Strategist: Loki can formulate schemes to get what he wants, from pulling pranks to determine best course or actions in the war.
- Master Combatant: As expected from being leader of forces of evil who would wage war against the Æsir and their allies during Ragnarök, Loki was a formidable combatant matched only by his destined bane Heimdallr, wielding a powerful weapon known as Lævateinn.
In Modern Media[]
Loki is one of the most infamous of the Norse gods and has been described in many films, comics, videogames, and books, as well as traditional lore - his monstrous children are equally famous in the form of the giant wolf-monster Fenrir, the world-serpent Jormungandr and last his own daughter, the Norse goddess of the underworld named Hela (who is the child of the immortal giantess Angrboda, Loki's first wife).
Some of the most famous incarnations of Loki in modern fiction has been his supervillainous counterpart from Marvel Comics, in which he is basically a slightly updated and toned-down version of the trickster god of folklore and his counterpart from Son of the Mask - who was considerably less like his mythical counterpart and more in line with a run-of-the-mill evil magician/prankster.
Loki has also appeared in the Stargate series - in which he was a rogue Asgardian conducting illegal experiments on humans. This version of Loki is even less like the mythological one, being archetypical alien invader akin to the Greys. Other incarnations of Loki and characters inspired by him have appeared in innumerable works of fiction - probably too many to list here, these are just a sample of the few that are aware of by all.
In Apsulov: End of Gods, Loki appears as the game's main antagonist.
In Brawlhalla, Loki is the unseen antagonist who responsible for some of fighters's problems such as kaiju invasion repelled by Red Raptor. As of Patch 7.13, he finally made his debut as katar and/or scythe-wielding fighter.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Poetic Edda states that Loki became evil after eating a witch's heart, but this fact is never mentioned again in any other works. It's even suggested that the witch's identity would be none other than Angrboða, Loki's first wife.