Loki, Norse god of Mischief
Created | Updated Oct 19, 2014
In the beginning
Loki, in the beginning was the personification of hearth fire and the spirit of life., shape shifter and trickster, the son of two giants. Fárbauti meaning cruel striker and Laufey which means needle, or possibly tree. He also has two brothers Býleistr and Helblindi. 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. He also often visited as a falcon and a horse.At the beginning of his career as the fire god, Loki was a good God by most accounts. It appears however that his love of mischief ends up leading him astray. Because of this he loses his love for good and becomes malevolent and selfish. Eventually this earned him the even more exciting job as the God of, essentially, all things evil and or treacherous. We would now describe Loki as the Devil as he became known as the originator of deceit and the prince of lies. The evil he represents shows itself in a beautiful and seductive form, this is why other Gods did not avoid him to begin with, instead they treated him as one of their own, where they went Loki was welcomed too, admitting him not only to take part in their merry making but also into their council, where more often than not they would listen to Loki's, often terrible, advice.
The Building of Asgard's Wall
Loki often used his quick wit and trickster ways to get himself out of tight situations of his own doing. For instance when the brick mason who was building Asgard's Wall demanded too high a price (the sun, moon and Freya)loki put forward the idea of the brick mason having to finish the wall within six months. The Gods all agreed with this as they thought it an impossible task for the man to finish the wall in such a short space of time. However the man owned a huge stallion, called Svadilfari who could haul massive boulders easily and quickly. Panic set in among the Gods when it dawned on them thak the man would finish the wall in time. They threatened Loki with death unless he found a way to stop the man completing the wall. Loki, fearing the Gods plans for him, shape shifted in to a mare to entice Svadilfari away so that the man could not finish the wall in the allotted time.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 quite effectively to everyone else 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 arch nemesis 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.
