Loki

Loki is Odin’s blood-brother. Snorri says they swore an oath that neither would drink unless a cup was offered to the other. The oath made Loki an insider among the Æsir, but nothing in the sources suggests the gods trusted him. They tolerated him because the oath bound them, and because he was useful.

The Children

By the giantess Angrboða, Loki fathered three creatures. Fenrir, the wolf who would swallow Odin at Ragnarök. Jormungandr, the serpent who encircles the world and will kill Thor. Hel, who rules the dead in the realm that bears her name. The gods dealt with each child by exile: Fenrir was bound, Jormungandr was thrown into the sea, and Hel was cast into the underworld. Loki also gave birth to Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged horse, after shapeshifting into a mare and mating with the stallion Svaðilfari.

The Death of Baldr

Loki discovered that Frigg had overlooked the mistletoe when extracting oaths from all things. He fashioned a dart from it and placed it in the hands of the blind god Höðr, guiding his aim. The dart struck Baldr and killed him. When the gods sent a messenger to Hel to ransom Baldr back, Hel demanded that every being in creation weep for him. Every being did, except one giantess named Þökk. Most sources assume Þökk was Loki in disguise.

The Binding

The gods caught Loki in a river, where he had transformed into a salmon. They killed his son Narfi and used the boy’s intestines as chains. They bound Loki to three stones beneath a serpent that drips venom onto his face. His wife Sigyn sits beside him, holding a bowl to catch the poison. When she turns away to empty it, the venom falls on Loki’s face. He convulses. The Norse explanation for earthquakes.

He will break free at Ragnarök and sail against the gods on a ship made of dead men’s fingernails.