Loke, eller den som er i midten
The following article was written by Elisabeth Keller of Forn Sed Norway. She is currently reading for a Master’s degree in Nordic, Viking and Medieval Culture at University. She works at the Norwegian Folk Museum. The original was in Norwegian so I thought I would translate it so that others may enjoy it. I have used some translations that include potentially offensive language (such as “gender bender” and “female magic”) but these are the closest translations and I did not wish to colour the article with my own interpretations.
Loki, “The One in the Middle”
Loki is without doubt one of the more controversial characters in the Old Norse pantheon. In this article I will examine his position as a mediator. Loki is constantly between the extremes. This applies to his allegiances, behaviour, morals, ancestry and more. I want to look more closely at three of these different aspects of Loki. His position in the middle of opposing forces, his position between man and woman and especially his intermediary position between the elements of fire, water and air.
Loki is one of the most frequently occurring characters in the Norse myths but does not seem to have had his own following in the Viking Age, since we have not found archeological evidence of a cult or place of worship. The closest we come is the Snaptun Stone, an example of a rock that would protect the blower from the heat of a forge, which appears to be decorated with a figure with a sewn mouth. Such a stone is placed between the fire and blower, roughly halfway between the two.
He is often described as a beautiful young man, who has a bad character. In this aspect (along with some others) he resembles the Christian devil and he has been compared with both the name and function. I have no doubt that Christian ideas have played an important role in how the Norse myths were written down, and in all likelihood that the representation of Loki will be influenced by Christian ideals and made meaner in the process. It seems only logical, not least because it has the same thing that happened to the Christian devil too. Much of the earlier research has characterised him as a so-called ”evil god” or as a carrier of culture. I would argue that he is both and neither.
In my opinion, Loki is the element that causes change - both good and bad. He is the one who stands in the middle between extremes. Ursula Dronke has suggested that Lodur is part of Loki. This makes sense if we regard Loki as an intermediary between the beginning and the end. In the beginning, Lodur gives the very life blood to the first humans, Ask and Embla. Finally at Ragnarok, Loki leads the giants against the gods. One possible interpretation of Loki’s name is that it can mean “close”, but this is far from certain and there are several other possible explanations.
Some believe that, as a catalyst of advancement, Loki only contributed to the invention of the fishing net but, if we allow a broader definition of catalyst, I think Loki hass had many a success. Constantly challenging or forcing the gods to seek out new “technologies”, new solutions and not to get stuck in their ways. Ultimately to be prepared for the final battle. He is not chaos, although his actions may seem chaotic, but he has a predetermined goal as he works against the other Æsir. He is the force that drives the story forward, toward its inevitable conclusion at Ragnarok.
As a rogue god Loki breaks all the rules, he is witty and cunning, funny and insulting, but he is not just playing any pranks. He has a silver tongue and can convince anyone of what he wants but also causes much trouble with his tongue and so he gets his mouth sewn together.
He is a liar, a thief and a murderer, but friends of both Thor and Odin. He is a beloved husband, that commands the devotion of his patient and kind wife Sigyn after he is punished for the death of Balder. He sometimes causes both the gods and himself to get into trouble, both by lying and stealing, but usually it is also him who gets them out of it again. He does not do all this for his own amusement alone, but because he has to make sure that the cycle of existence for the world proceeds as it should. At the same time he also makes sure that everyone is prepared for the events at the end of the world.
Another great aspect of Loki as the middle person is his ability to change his shape. He is the child of giants but he is counted among the Æsir as a blood brother to Odin himself. Both he and Odin have forbidden knowledge of the female magic called seidr. As Brit Solli points out, this gives him the abilities and characteristics of a shaman. Apparently these skills transferred to him when he mixed his blood with Odin.
He is also a very liberal person and is not ashamed to transform or disguise himself as a women, unlike the other gods who regard this as perverse and shameful (as Thor does when he disguises himself as Freya). Loki has even given birth to several children in addition to being the father of a many too.
Loki’s disguises and transformations are a complete transformation, where he actually becomes whatever he turns into, rather than just taking on the appearance. When he becomes a mare to seduce the stallion Svaðilfari, he later gives birth a foal - Sleipnir.
In Lokasenna, Odin accuses Loki of having survived underground as a woman for eight years while he milked cows and gave birth. On one occasion he alleges that Loki must have eaten a woman’s heart and due to this he is the mother of all witches. His role as a mother is stressed several times, not least in terms of kennings attached to him. As a man or a woman, he is difficult to define. Using seidr magic he stays in this unsteady and intermediate position. A figure that is hard to understand, who consciously lives somewhere in between what is acceptable for most and that which seems unacceptable to many. Loki defies words and even gender norms and limits.
Loki, “Between The Elements”:
The third and final aspect of Loki’s nature that I want to take a look at is his connection to the elements. He has been proposed as a personification of three different elements. I think he should represent both all and none. Fire and water can only exist if there is something between them. The element with a mythological correlation between these elements must be considered to be air.
The most commonly proposed elementary link with Loki is that he is or may have been a fire god but he loses in a competition against wildfire fire and so I do not see him as a general deity of fire. He is commonly called flammehår and it is not unlikely that Logi is another aspect of him. Logi literally means “fire” and is the brother of Hler (water) and Kari (air). Which interestingly enough are the other two elements he is more or less often connected. Noke is said to be again another aspect of Loke and this name is connected to the element of air. He is also called the celestial wanderer and sky traveller, which are connected with the air and the sky. Loki turned into a fly in order to win a bet against dwarf blacksmith. He has also been interpreted as a water deity because many of his transformations are water-related. He does, for example, transform to both salmon and seals. If we are to accept Lodur as part of Loki, we can also use this to link him to the water-related domain. It is Lodur providing the first people with the life-giving blood and can be interpreted as a parallel to the life-giving water. In addition, he also brought the fishing net to the people, although Anna Birgitta Rooth has suggested that this is one of things that marked him as a spider-god.
In my eyes, the three elements on their own are unlikely to be found as representations in one person, especially since two of them would annihilate each other. Again I find the solution to this is in the intermediate area with Loki. He is extremity and also situated between extremes - fire, water and air.
As I have shown in this brief essay, Loki is not so much a god of contradictions, but a deity or spirit for those between extremes. He is the child of giants but counted among the Æsir by becoming a blood brother to Odin himself. Thus he puts himself in a intermediate position. He is a vile murderer but a beloved husband. A monster and a lover. He is a prolific and excessive man but not ashamed to be a woman. He is a handsome young man, but often with an ugly character. He can convince everyone, but also lie without scruples. He has been suggested as a fire, water and air spirit among many other things. He creates difficulties for both gods and himself, both by lying and by stealing, yet he is also the one that gets them out of the predicament again, often with new acquisitions for the Æsir.
He is neither good nor evil, despite his role in the death of Balder and Ragnarok. He is the agent of renewal and progress in the cosmic plan who always drives the action in the stories toward its inevitable conclusion.
Brunvand, Jan Harold: Review in Midwest Folklore, Vol. 12, No. 4, Bloomington, 1962
Dronke, Ursula: The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems, Oxford 1997
Golther, Wolfgang: Handbuch der Germanischen Mythologie, Leipzig 1895, new edition from Wiesbaden 2004
Holtsmark, Anne: Norrøn mytologi – Tru och mytar i vikingtida, Oslo 1990 Solli, Brit: Seid, Oslo 2002
Steinsland, Gro: Norrøn religion, Oslo 2005
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