DEV>Trickster's Eyes

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Ah, it's been too long since I've done something narrative with Nordic myth.

This one's about Loki, who is, quite frankly, my favorite of the Nordic...beings. I say it like that because it's never really clear whether he's a giant or a god - most accounts I found state that he's the son of two frost giants, but is accepted by the Aesir because of his status as Odin's blood brother.

To me, though, that ambiguity just fits him. He's a trickster, and a shapechanger. It makes sense that he would belong to any static race, but be something in between.

Loki is known for many, many things, and there are only a few of the myths about him represented here. I'll say right now, though, that the last two stanzas (the quatrain and couplet) are complete imagination on my part. No where does it say that he will find some way to come back after Ragnarok; it just seemed like a fitting end to me, that you never know what he's going to do next, and that nothing can truly keep him out forever.

He's also sometimes believed to be a personification of wildfire.

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And now, for the explanation of names. As with Ocean's Way, I'll give a brief description of the names mentioned here, especially since this time I included kennings.

Odin: Known by many, many kennings, including the Hanged God and Father of the Slain, he was the king of the Aesir gods, and Loki's blood brother. His war horse was Sleipnir.

Freyja: The goddess of fertility, who twice barely escaped being wed to frost giants, with the help of Loki (and/or Heimdall, depending on the myth).

Sleipnir: The eight-legged war horse of Odin, and the only son of Loki who isn't demonic.

Fenrir: Loki's son; a monstrous wolf, who is also the father of Sköll and Hati, the wolves who will consume the sun and moon at Ragnarok. Fenrir (or Fenris) himself was bound by the gods, but will break free to slay Odin (again, at Ragnarok).

Hel: Loki's daughter, who became goddess of the dead. Like in Greek myth, the land of the dead was then named for it's ruler.

Jormungand: The Midgard serpent, and the third of Loki's monstrous children. He lies in the ocean, his tail griped in his mouth, waiting for Ragnarok, when he will rise to slay (and be slain by) Thor.

Balder: The son of Odin, who was slain by his twin brother, Hod.

Hod: Also Höd, Höðr, Höð, etc. The blind twin of Balder, whom he killed unwittingly with the aid of Loki, by throwing a spear of mistletoe at his brother.

Thor: The god of thunder, son of Odin, and a close friend to Loki. Following Balder's death, it was Thor who actually captured the trickster.

Narfi: Yet another son of Loki, who was slain by his brother Vali, who had been turned into a wolf. Narfi's guts were then used to bind his father to a rock for eternal punishment.

Ragnarok: The final battle between the gods and the giants, in which the entire earth shall be destroyed, except for two humans (Lif and Lifthrasir), who will survive within the great tree Yggdrasil and repopulate the world, which will be reborn without evil.

Heimdall: The god of light and dawn, who guards Bifrost. He and Loki will fight at Ragnarok and slay each other, the final two to fall.

Garm: The hound who guards Hel; he's sometimes believed to be the same hound as Fenrir, and his role in Ragnarok (killing Tyr) is sometimes questioned as well.

Bifrost: The rainbow bridge connected Midgard (land of men) to Asgard (home of the gods).

Aesir: The main race of gods (the other being the Vanir), led by Odin.

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Dear Lord, that's a lot of names...I tried to keep it short \= As with Ocean's Way, there are several other references here, those are simply the only ones directly named.

At any rate, the main myths involved here are the birth of Sleipnir, the murder of Balder, Loki's attempted escape, his punishment, and finally, his role in Ragnarok.

If you still have questions after that wall of text, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to answer.


Do the unknown parts of the poem (e.g. the names, the details of the myths) distract from the piece as a whole? Do they, combined with the length, make it hard to follow, and therefore difficult to finish reading due to lack of interest and/or excess confusion?

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