Loki, Norse god of Mischief
Created | Updated Apr 13, 2014
The Norse were by no means masters in the field of biology. A good example of this is the family of their god Loki. Loki was the son of two giants. One of his children was human in appearance. The other was a gigantic wolf. I'm sure that after consuming sufficient amounts of mead this must make some degree of sense, but otherwise, no. Just no.
His parenting had no bearing on his own appearance however, as by all accounts he was, at most, a previously unknown variety of midget giant. One could also refer to him as physically normal. In a completely unrelated fact, Loki had red hair. Most of the time.
Loki was reputed to have great abilities in magic, as well as the ability to change his appearance. As an example he often visited the earth in the form of an old woman. The old woman did not have red hair. He also often visited as a falcon, a horse, and inexplicably a fly.
At the beginning of his career as the fire god, Loki was a nice guy by most accounts. It appears however that he, at some point, became somewhat frustrated and his previously very amusing sense of humor became increasingly malicious. Eventually this earned him the even more exciting job as the god of, essentially, all things evil and/or treacherous. Through all of this however, he never lost his charm.
In the end, it would have been much better for all parties involved if he had lost his charm and/or been relegated to an institution for the criminally insane.
Over the course of his term as god of evil, he built up quite a reputation for practical jokes, which he would often pin on other gods to stir up trouble.
It is at this point that another god should be introduced. This god is/was Baldur. Baldur was the son of the chief Norse god Odin. Due to his parentage and favorable appearance, Baldur was given the position of "god of joy and beauty".
Upon his birth, Odin and his wife had all living things swear to do him no harm.
As a result of this the other gods decided Baldur would make a very nice target to throw knives and shoot arrows at. However, due to its small size, mistletoe was overlooked in this. Loki quickly learned this and cooked up the ultimate practical joke. (Sure it would result in at least one death and likely the torture of another, but he didn't like them very much any ways. Especially not Baldur.)
His plan was to procure a fig of mistletoe and give it to the blind god Hod (who happened to be Baldur 's twin brother) with which to participate in the sport of "brutally assault Baldur with potentially deadly weapons".
Guided by Loki 's hand, Hod threw the fig, which somehow managed to go through Baldur 's ribcage and pierce his heart, which resulted in death. Thus far the trick was both hilarious (as far as Loki was concerned) and disposed of Baldur quite conveniently.
Loki was apparently not in possession of a very good memory as he neglected to consider the fact that while he could lie his head off to everyone else (and did), Odin and Thor could make him tell the truth. Loki soon discovered that Odin did not appreciate having his children killed when he found himself chained to three uncomfortably placed boulders beneath a snake which had a terrible problem with drooling acidic venom.
Loki 's wife did not like this situation and so thought to catch the snake' s venom before it hit Loki. This worked for awhile, before the vessel in which the venom was being caught filled up. The vessel then had to be taken away to be emptied, leaving Loki open to the acidic drool.
Loki also did not like this situation. His response however was slightly different from his wife's. He decided to wait patiently for several thousand years with a snake drooling on his face. And then lead an army of monsters from hell to destroy the world. At the end of this battle he would fight his archnemisis and they would both die. All the other gods would also die, many of them killed by Loki's child, the Fenir wolf (including Odin).
After this the world was to become an idyllic (if godless) place.
His parenting had no bearing on his own appearance however, as by all accounts he was, at most, a previously unknown variety of midget giant. One could also refer to him as physically normal. In a completely unrelated fact, Loki had red hair. Most of the time.
Loki was reputed to have great abilities in magic, as well as the ability to change his appearance. As an example he often visited the earth in the form of an old woman. The old woman did not have red hair. He also often visited as a falcon, a horse, and inexplicably a fly.
At the beginning of his career as the fire god, Loki was a nice guy by most accounts. It appears however that he, at some point, became somewhat frustrated and his previously very amusing sense of humor became increasingly malicious. Eventually this earned him the even more exciting job as the god of, essentially, all things evil and/or treacherous. Through all of this however, he never lost his charm.
In the end, it would have been much better for all parties involved if he had lost his charm and/or been relegated to an institution for the criminally insane.
Over the course of his term as god of evil, he built up quite a reputation for practical jokes, which he would often pin on other gods to stir up trouble.
It is at this point that another god should be introduced. This god is/was Baldur. Baldur was the son of the chief Norse god Odin. Due to his parentage and favorable appearance, Baldur was given the position of "god of joy and beauty".
Upon his birth, Odin and his wife had all living things swear to do him no harm.
As a result of this the other gods decided Baldur would make a very nice target to throw knives and shoot arrows at. However, due to its small size, mistletoe was overlooked in this. Loki quickly learned this and cooked up the ultimate practical joke. (Sure it would result in at least one death and likely the torture of another, but he didn't like them very much any ways. Especially not Baldur.)
His plan was to procure a fig of mistletoe and give it to the blind god Hod (who happened to be Baldur 's twin brother) with which to participate in the sport of "brutally assault Baldur with potentially deadly weapons".
Guided by Loki 's hand, Hod threw the fig, which somehow managed to go through Baldur 's ribcage and pierce his heart, which resulted in death. Thus far the trick was both hilarious (as far as Loki was concerned) and disposed of Baldur quite conveniently.
Loki was apparently not in possession of a very good memory as he neglected to consider the fact that while he could lie his head off to everyone else (and did), Odin and Thor could make him tell the truth. Loki soon discovered that Odin did not appreciate having his children killed when he found himself chained to three uncomfortably placed boulders beneath a snake which had a terrible problem with drooling acidic venom.
Loki 's wife did not like this situation and so thought to catch the snake' s venom before it hit Loki. This worked for awhile, before the vessel in which the venom was being caught filled up. The vessel then had to be taken away to be emptied, leaving Loki open to the acidic drool.
Loki also did not like this situation. His response however was slightly different from his wife's. He decided to wait patiently for several thousand years with a snake drooling on his face. And then lead an army of monsters from hell to destroy the world. At the end of this battle he would fight his archnemisis and they would both die. All the other gods would also die, many of them killed by Loki's child, the Fenir wolf (including Odin).
After this the world was to become an idyllic (if godless) place.
