The Enigmatic Loki, a Trickster among Gods in Norse Mythology

The Norse trickster god, Loki is undoubtedly the most debated figure from Norse mythology to this day. Though he appears to be a scheming, mischievous deity who has no real loyalties, scholars still explore what his purpose might have been in the ancient stories. Was he merely a plot device, a foil for the AEsir, the pantheon of gods in Norse religion? His character surely meant more to the non-Christian Scandinavians than can be gleaned now, and though that purpose cannot be fully realized due to a lack of sufficient sources, an overview of who Loki was and what he did can loosely be outlined.

According to Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda, Loki was the son of Fárbauti, a jötunn (giant), and Laufey, a lesser known female god. His jötunn heritage does aid in explaining the complexity of his character, as the jötunns once went to war against the AEsir and are considered, in many ways, their enemies. Loki, as the son of a giant as well as a goddess, straddles the two warring factions, a trait which plagues his character throughout his mythology. He marries the minor goddess Sigyn, but has many affairs, his most notable with the giantess Angrboða, by whom he gives birth to Hel, the queen of Niflheim; Fenrir, the oversized wolf who is fated to kill Odin at Ragnarök; and Jörmungandr, the World Serpent banished to the seas. The trickster god also, interestingly enough, is the mother of Odin's great eight-legged steed Sleipnir, as Loki mated with a powerful male stallion while disguised as a mare. As his parentage and his progeny are all outside the normal state of affairs even in the godly world, scholars believe that there must have been pertinence to his connection to so many dark and powerful figures in the Norse pantheon.

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