LOKI WAS AN ASSH*LE!!!

Source: John Albert Bauer | Wikimedia Commons

---

You don't know nothing about the old tales ,boy

Granpa?! What are you doing here? Well, nice the more the merrier I think, Could you give us an introduction on the trickster?

Also counted among the Æsir is one whom some call the Slanderer of the Gods, the Source of Deceit and the Disgrace of All Gods and Men. Named Loki, [he is] pleasing, even beautiful to look at, but his nature is evil and he is undependable. More than others, he has the kind of wisdom known as cunning and is treacherous in all matters.
Source: I'M OLD!

• Gylfaginning, The Prose Edda

I can see he has a really bad reputation (because he's an asshole), but let's talk about the guy a little bit, he's father was Fárbauti (no Odin wasn't Loki's father, where did you found that information? Comic Books?) a jötunn or jötnar (a frost giant guys) and his mother was Laufey but we don't very much about her, he had two sons (Váli and Narfi) with his wife Sigyn, but being the trickster and liar that he is of course he had a lover, her name is Angrboða and with her had the most lovely children, Hel who recides in Hel (yeah, the same name) and recieves those who died of illness or old age, the giant wolf Fenrir and and the world serpent Jörmungandr who grew so big that could bite its won tail after surrounding the entire earth, what a colorful pack of monsters.

But because Loki was not just an asshole but a creepy and weird guy, lets start his tales of another of his children that he didn't fathered but mothered... yeah weird.

Source: GIPHY

I'll take it from here, lad

At the beginnings of Asgard just after the Æsir finished building Valhalla, they realized they needed a fortification to protect themselves against invaders and enemies, they heard of a skilled builder that was able to construct a great wall surrounding Asgard, he offerd himself to the work but he asked as reward the moon, the sun and the hand of the Goddess Freyja. The Æsir disliked this idea so they put their own conditions too, the buider was to complete the task within three seasons without the help of any other man, as a response to this condition the man made a request, to let his stallion Svaðilfari work with him, the Æsir didn't like this idea either but Loki persuade them to let him work with his horse. Soon they regret that decision as they saw how Svaðilfari transported huge boulders and stones to the construction site with ease and almost without rest. Just three day left and the construction was almost completed, the Æsir seeing this confronted Loki who was guilty of letting the builder work alongside Svaðilfari and tolf him that if he didn't find a way to fix what he have done death would find him soon, and so Loki swore to redeem himself and waited for the last night when the builder and Svaðilfari went looking for the last rocks to finish their work, Loki shapeshifted into a beautiful mare and charmed Svaðilfari who ran behind him chasing frantically the illusion of a mare, the builder couldn't catch with them and both disappeared into the forest. Without the help of his stallion the builder couldn't finish his task and his reward was denied, in his disgust he reavealed himself to be a jötnar sworn enemies of the Æsir who dispatched him with a quick death. In the meantime, Loki was impregnated by Svaðilfari and as a result of this he birthed Sleipnir an eight-legged horse, the most powerful of them all, who could ride on water, air and go as far as the land of the dead and would become the steed of Odin allfather.
Source: I'm Old, I was there

Source: Dorothy Hardy | Wikimedia Commons

Thanks granpa, that was really educative and disturbing, so let me sumarize it for you guys, basically the gods needed wall built to protect themselves from any threat, found about a guy who could do it but his price was too high but fortunately the gods make an arrangement but everything went to sh*t when Loki opened his mouth, he was threaten by the gods to make him fix what he did, in the end he polimorphed into a mare, got pregnant and gave birth to a horse with eight legs... Yeah, that seems about right, nothing wrong here people move along!

This time at least Odin got something out of Loki's mischievous behaviour (mischievous behaviour is an understatement in my opinion), but I doubt his trickery had some other benefits for others.

But there was a time when exactly that happened

Loki’s malice was in reality the occasion of the acquiring by the Æsir of all the precious weapons and treasures that served them in such good stead during their warfare with the Giants. Once upon a time Loki cut off all of Sif’s hair. When Thor found out what had happened, he seized upon Loki and threatened to crush every bone in his body; he relented only on Loki’s swearing that he would get the Dark-Elves to fashion for Sif hair from gold that would grow like other hair. Loki went with his task to certain Dwarfs known as the Sons of Ivaldi; and they, made not only the hair but also the ship Skíðblaðnir and the spear Gungnir. Loki promptly laid a wager of his own head with another Dwarf, named Brokk, that the Dwarf’s brother Sindri was not craftsman enough to make three other talismans as precious as these.

I knew this tale was too tame for the likes of Loki, I was beginning to became suspicious

Source: GIPHY

Brokk and Sindri repaired to the smithy, where Sindri, laying a pig’s hide in the forge, asked Brokk to blow the bellows without pause until he himself returned to take the hide out again. No sooner had Sindri gone than a fly alighted on Brokk’s arm and stung him; he kept the bellows going nevertheless, and when Sindri lifted his workmanship from the forge, it turned out to be a boar with golden bristles. Next he laid some gold in the forge, asked Brokk to blow as before, and went away; at once the fly came back, settled on Brokk’s neck, and stung him twice as hard as the first time. Brokk notwithstanding held out until Sindri returned and lifted from the forge the gold ring Draupnir. Then he laid some iron in the fire and asked Brokk to blow, insisting that the work would be spoiled if the blowing stopped; but the fly came once more, settled between Brokk’s eyes, and stung him on the eyelids so that the blood ran down and blinded him. He could not refrain from loosing his hold on the bellows with one hand to drive the fly away.

I bet that fly was Loki in disguise, everybody boo him BOO!!!

Source: GIPHY

Just at that moment the smith returned and declared that his handiwork had been on the very point of coming to naught; he lifted it from the forge, and it proved to be a hammer. Giving all three pieces to Brokk, he told him to make his way to Asgard and demand payment of the wager. The Æsir took their places on the judgment seats and came to the decision that Odin, Thor, and Freyr were to judge between Loki and Brokk. Loki gave to Odin the spear Gungnir, which never failed of its mark; to Thor he gave the golden hair, which took root as soon as it was fixed on Sif’s head; and to Freyr he gave the ship Skíðblaðnir, which always found favoring winds and which could be folded up and placed in a pocket as occasion might befall. Brokk gave to Odin the ring Draupnir, from which each ninth night there dropped eight other rings as heavy as itself. To Freyr he gave the boar Gullinbursti, who was able to run through the air and over the sea more swiftly than any horse; no night was so black, no murky region so dark as not to be illumined by his passage, so powerful was the light that shone from his bristles. To Thor he gave the hammer Mjolnir; with it he could strike as hard a blow as he pleased at anything that came in his way, and yet the hammer suffered not the least dent; he could throw it so as always to hit what he aimed at, and the hammer would return to his hand of its own power; when he so desired, he could make it small and put it in his pocket; he had but one fault to find: the shaft was rather short. The Æsir promptly judged that Brokk had won the wager; in Mjolnir they had acquired the very best defence against the Rime-Thursar.

Hey, hey Loki I bet this went exactly as you planned right? Right, Loki?

Source: GIPHY

Loki wanted to redeem his head, but the Dwarf would not consent. “Catch me if you can,” said Loki; and no sooner had he spoken than he was far away, for he wore shoes that could carry him through the air and over the seas. The Dwarf asked Thor to seize him, and Thor did so. Brokk was about to cut off Loki’s head, but Loki declared that the wager called for his head only, and not for his neck. Brokk then began sewing Loki’s lips together. He was unable to make an incision with his own knife, but with his brother’s awl he managed to make openings through which, he could sew the mouth up tight; that done, he tore out through the lips the thong he had used in sewing them together.
Source: I'm Old, I put the seats for the gods

• Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes, Peter Andreas Munch, 1926

I bet those were the most silent, peacefull and chill days in Asgard, unless all the gods gathered to makes a feast celebrating that nobody had to hear anything from or about Loki, that would be... a Hel of a party (oh yeah guys that was totally intended).

My lad, I need a rest

All this talking about gods and great deeds got me really tired, I think I'm gonna fetch some mead and take a well deserved rest

Of course granpa, you're the best, you know you're always welcome here.

Source: GIPHY

---

Do you like Myth, Stories and Epic Tales? Are you curious about something and want a post about it?
Leave me a comment below

Other Sources

Norse Mythology - The Tale Of Loki
Loki the Trickster in Norse Mythology
Journey through Norse Mythology | Loki & the tressures for the gods
Exploring Norse Mythology: Loki, God of Trickery
The Norse Pantheon: Crash Course World Mythology #10
Hermes and Loki and Tricksters Part 2: Crash Course World Mythology #21
Ragnarok: Crash Course World Mythology #24
Loki | Wikipedia
Ragnarök | Wikipedia
Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes | Peter Andreas Munch

THANKS FOR READING!

Source: GIPHY