Imagine how ironic it would be if his worship was mainly from mothers that needed to deal daily with their children's mischief, and they prayed to Loki to protect them
That wouldn't be ironic, that would be prolific. Judging by his character he is both a problem solver and a maker of problems so if his origins are connected to the home, it would not be too hard to argue that he would conjure a feeling of safety for mothers, they would pray to him that their children would be safe. Hypothetically "Gods that child is such a troublemaker, better pray to Loki so that he will help them get out of trouble"
Loki: I AM ALL AND I AM NOTHING!!! I AM THE BEGINNING AND THE END!!! I WAS HERE BEFORE YOU ALL AND I WILL BE LONG AFTER YOUR NAME IS FORGOTTEN TO THE SANDS OF TIME!!! Odin: This is why we don't give him too much attention.
something this doesn't point out about the conclusion of Loki being a god of family, is that he's simultaneously a father, mother, and playful mischievous child
"Loki's name could mean The Entangler" "Loki is a mass of contradictions without a linear narrative" Ah so he's done his job perfectly to this very day
@@theknifezone given his shapeshifter abilities and the fact he never escaped those terrifying bindings in the cave....yes. I'd say he's masochistic as well.
@giadragon 666 is a number that is/has been associated with “The Beast” or Satan for a while. I’m not entirely certain of how that came to be but I can tell you that that is the relation.
All I can think of in this context are kids trying to explain a questionable point of behavior by (a) coming up with extremely lame lies or (b) outright admitting they have no fucking idea what they were thinking when they stuck a banana in their nose, or whatever idiot thing it was that they did.
Narfi: Jingle bells Hel: Odin smells Sleipnir: Loki is the rightful king Jorm: He had these feels Fenrir: Everyone kneeled Vali: Until Thor ruined everything! Loki, tearing up: I am a proud parent~
The Aesir: throws one of Loki's kids a snake into the sea, and the other newborn goddess into the realm of the dead Also The Aesir: keep a killer wolf around until he becomes the size of a mountain because aww puppy
The thing I love about Loki is even with all the trickery and mischief he never once did anything mean to humans. In one story it's said that he actually had a love for humans.
And really, you can’t call him a bad guy if he is the one parents ask to babysit their childrens souls or whatnot :) he is literally seen as the one who safeguards the innocent and weak.
It actually made me think that Loki has his realm in our world. Forget what it's called but the Norse have our world as a realm and I don't THINK I remember any god ruling here. So it makes me think his realm is here and that his war on the gods and the aftermath of Ragnarok with starting new again has the gods start anew and have new humans to protect. Also him making a fishing net. Makes me think of a god of civilization in a way. These are just my conclusions tho, don't have anything to really back it up.
Yeah, he usually goes toe to toe with the Aesir, Jotnar, Dwarves, Ljosafar/Svartalf, Vanir, etc... but never with humans. Usually his "victims" (if you can call most of them that) are beings that are just as strong as him and can fight back
"Which is more irresponsible: the guy who gives birth to a horse, or the one who rides his nephew into battle" This is one of the best written criticisms and jokes at the same time. I love this.
Loki is just pure chaotic neutral Like I can imagine him in this scenario genuinely thinking its funny "I didn't do it" "Then why are you laughing" "Cause whoever did it is a fucking genius"
Being a pure chaotic neutral may actually define who he is, the god of chaos. Random things happen all the time and can be good or bad, so people may prey to Loki for the chaos to end up good. Chaos can completely mess up the best plans. He may define why an act of god may not make sense. ("Loki's playing his tricks on the gods again")
@@ZpEB2741 I'm really sure that he at least expected something fishy. I mean. The "prize" was to feast with the giants, and he asked for an eating contest.
Wait a minute: Loki is a mischievous household spirt. We always hear that if you don't treat household spirits well, they mess with you. So in the Aesir are shown treating Loki badly, and Loki thus messing with them. Perhaps Loki's deific function is that he is the household spirt, the "Loki" of the Aesir's household. Ultimately helpful to them, but they keep messing with him. So if the Aesir are shown as flawed, perhaps one of their flaws (which would have been a flaw to the culture) is that they often mistreat their household spirit. . .and it is that flaw that ulitimately does them in.
According to my Swedish stepfather, "Don't piss off your household spirit" is practically a subgenre of Scandinavian folktales, so Loki being the Gods' household spirit who brings about the end of the world they ruled because they mistreated him feels very believable. Who knows if that was the "original" intention of Loki in the mythology, but it would make for a great premise for some Norse mythology inspired stories.
@@niserresin2006the way I interpreted it is that Loki’s domain is essentially an equivalent to Hestia is Greek mythology. At least, that’s the way it makes sense to me- 😅
It also makes more sense when you think about how most cultures have house spirits of some kind that are often times blamed for minor “tricks” like hiding things, spooking animals, or causing food to go bad.
@@BeautifulObscuritySo that's taking the cookies, not getting how to approach new animal friends, not putting the lid back on the snack container. My little brother = Loki/Brownie/demi-fey/whatever
@@BeautifulObscurity we have these things in the winter here in Norway called "loftnisser" Basicly around christmas time they are blamed for those small acts of misschief around the house, and if you wanna be kind to them, give em some porridge with a large wooden spoon And they love themselves some porridge alright, we even have christmas songs about them Fun for the kids!
I am thinking about dropping out of school to focus on my career as a star on UA-cam. I already make a lot of money on UA-cam. School bores me so much. I need more opinions and since I don't have any friends, I gotta ask you, neil
Sorri: "Ok, so there's this god, Loki, who invented lies-" Monks everywhere: "devil figure, got it Sorri: "I actually made him a jesus figure, but you do you"
@@luxinvictus9018 this what i find so ironic with Christianity wanting make him seem holyer then thou for all this....yet shun an berate anyone that doesn't fit their mold AKA doing exactly they hated people cor in bible for doing to [out-casting] Jesus. **i say this as a Christian who just also questions everything an loves looking all views an learning about various religions and beliefs. This actually part reason like many I've left the church [👀 no realize how toxic an culty it all is till take step back..]**
Loki as a protector of families and children definitely makes sense. He's basically the John Wick of mythology. You banish his daughter, banish his son, enslave his son, chain his son, kill his final children and use their intestines to bind him to a rock to suffer torture. In response, Loki brings about the end of the world and the death of the gods; seems like they had it coming. You don't mess with someones kids.
I genuinely always found the story of fenrir sad. They were so worried about him and in cruely betraying him for little real reason bought about his hate and revenge. Who knows, he may have made a powerful ally and friend. It's a good example of the norse gods being flawed, not always good beings.
Me, shedding tears as the only consistent characterization of Loki I can scrape together is “probably villainized later”: it’s what they would have wanted. It’s what they would have wanted. It’s what-
The Gosforth cross which was made in the 10th century and is in England. It’s not necessarily portraying Jesus... it may be another instance of Loki being compared to the Devil. Depicting the bound Lucifer or bound Anti-Christ...
I think he has many things in common with Prometheus: he opposes the Pantheon, he tricks them, and has an association with fire for the benefit of humanity
@@cheezemonkeyeater In Spanish folklore (I am not Spanish, btw), duendes are many types of spirits, and often household ones (the are the equivalent of gnomes I think). They are mischieveous at their best morality (downright demonic at their worse). They are so linked to everything that dissapears in the house that their name, "Duende" is short for "DUEño DE la casa", "owner of the house.
According to my Swedish stepfather, "Don't piss off your household spirit" is practically a subgenre of Scandinavian folktales, so Loki being the Gods' household spirit who brings about the end of the world because they mistreated him feels very believable.
"Huh, this fish got bigger when I put it in a bigger pond." "Weird. You gonna help me chuck Loki's serpent son into the ocean now?" -- fateful last words.
The story of Tyr and Fenris is ripe for dramatization- a man and his beloved wolf companion, ultimately made to betray his lupine friend over matters of a greater good, sacrificing a literal piece of himself while abusing Fenris' trust to capture him, losing a metaphorical piece of himself by the end of it and leaving Fenris alone and bitter, to one day join the enemy and thus fulfil the prophecy that this was meant to subvert. A great tragedy, given the right story telling and emphasis.
The even bigger tragedy is that, had Tyr and the Aesir NEVER betrayed Fenrir, then Fenrir wouldn't be out for revenge. This was a self-fulfilling prophecy
You could even go further and dramatize Loki and Odin in a similar manner, with odin being a paranoid a-hole and Loki being manipulated to look like a villain, gaslit into doing evil things and subsequently becoming the villain they all feared. Kinda like Mizu from Blue Eye Samurai.
Hel: *gets thrown into hel* World serpent: *gets thrown into the sea* Fenrir: *gets bound to an island* Loki: *bound by his son's intestines with acid dripped in his eyes for all eternity* Oden: I don't get it why do they hate me
That intestines were made because Odin had Loki's one son turned into another wolf and attack his twin brother Bright side is his wife was the only one to stay by his side Catching the acid in a basin(this is a woman who gave birth to the twins
"Anyone who says they know what Loki's deal is is trying to sell you something." *Immediately tries to sell me stickers and pins about Loki's whole deal.* How very Loki of you. I will be buying those thanks.
Loki being a "patron god" of children actually makes quite a bit of sense. Kids usually get themselves in trouble a lot- e.g. climbing a tree to get fruit but oh no, they can't get down now- and who better to help you get out of trouble than Loki, who consistently fixed the gods' messes for them?
@@ryoumakoushiro7447 That’d be really fun. He’d be like “Okay, we knocked on the door! Run! Hurry, before they come outside!” and he just laughs along with the excited and uncontrollable giggling of the children.
The story about Fenris Wolf being bound is very well written by Neil Gaiman in his book "Norse Mythology", and oddly enough is fairly emotional as well. It really showed how it wasn't just Tyr's hand that he lost, but also his friend.
The idea of Loki being "protector of the home" would also fit with the fact that most of the myths regarding him involve him solving everyone's problems
How do you learn a new language? Normal people: With time and practice, everyone goes at their own pa- Odin: *IMPALING MYSELF ON A BIG TREE UNTIL I HALLUCINATE A LANGUAGE INTO EXISTENCE*
I mean given a lot of language is learned by writing that's basically what we do with children. Only we do it with a lot of very small sticks instead of one big one.
@@Duiker36 What, you don't sacrifice your body to Odin and then spend every Wednesday for the next year feverishly writing down all your conlang/worldbuilding details?
Btw, in Loki's feast poem in Edda, apart from some other charming accusations that fly across the table, Odin calls Loki out for living for nine years at Midgard as a lass - Loki being the shapeshifter he is changing his biology to that one of a human woman and giving birth to many kids in the meantime. Loki retorts by reminding Odin that he himself, the allfather, walked around Midgard as a prophet - that being pretty much the same thing, therefore not Odin's place to really talk. The thing is, Odin in his obsession with knowledge wished to obtain the ability of prophecy, which by aesir rules was obtainable only for women. His only chance was to live both sexually and socially as a woman at Midgard for some time, to prove himself worthy of this ability and the status of an aesir woman. Just a bit of a trans-Norse mythology fun fact, sorry.
The reason why Odin does this is not because he's "Trans" that's ridiculous. The reason is because in Pagan cultures, the Gods are shown doing acts that were outside of the norm or even illegal. Crossdressing, murder, practicing Feminine arts like Seiðr, and adultery. It was examples of not only of things not to do, but also understanding divinity, the Gods would go to great lengths to get done what needs to be done, but those things were not available to the Creation, us. Please stop using a modern filter on history, that is how you rot tradition and the faith as a whole. Odin, Loki, Thor, none of them were transgender. Crossdressing was criminal and gay sex was seen as indecent, especially if you were taking it. Distorting history distorts the present.
@blooeagle5118 ofc it wasnt a word back then but loki was definetly non binary by our standards changing with no problem lots of time with no real reason beyond cause he liked to, give it whatever name you want
Actually "Loki" being a catch-all title for spirit-protector of hearth-fire would shed a completely different view on stories concerning him and also would not be that strange - even Slavic mythology has household spirits. This would explain why Odin and co tolerate him - he appeared in Asgard because they live there, he is their household spirit-protector. Nobody invited him, he just appeared in their home and started helping or causing mischief. Also would explain why he accompanies Thor on some adventures - it's dangerous out there, take spirit-protector with you. And would be the reason why we have Uthgard-Loki and his behaviour - Uthgard-Loki would be just household spirit-protector of Uthgard and his last lines in story being basically "You guys are too scary, so I will hide my home from you. You shall never find it again" makes complete sense - Loki would probably do a similar thing if Asgard was in danger. In Slavic folklore there are stories about what will happen if you mistreat your household spirits and Loki bringing literal apocalypse upon Odin ass for treating him and his children like shit fits there quite well. It's a powerful story of "Even gods will face retribution if they mistreat their household spirit". Of course that's just my interpretation of his role in mythology.
Reading The Ancient Magus Bride tell me that household spirit/fae are usually like to create mischief, and that aligned very well with loki with the interpretation of him being a god of hearth/household/weaving also is a trickster
I just have this mental image of Red sneaking into Blue’s office and stealing some maps before he gets back home. And then bribing Cleo to not say anything.
I can't wait for the far distant future where historians somehow mix Loki from Marvel with Loki from mythology to the point where Tom Hiddleston is either thought to be Loki, a different name for Loki, or an avatar of Loki
@@mashakravchenko5796 I feel like Izanami-sama would be like... Ranting about her husband breaking his promise, while Persephone like... Headpats her or something...
"Before we all judge Loki, let's consider whose more irresponsible. The guy who gives birth to a horse or the the guy who rides his nephew into battle." XDXDXD
Adding the context that Loki might be a spirit of family and the home does make a lot of sense, and could even turn Baldr’s death into a revenge plot, a whole “this is what you get for imprisoning three of my children and riding the fourth like a show pony.”
I’ve said this before but Norse mythology seems to have an eye for an eye kind of thing. They by hel the queen of well hell and they kinda trapped her there loki in killing baldr made baldr go to hel as one of the dead. “You send my kid to hell I’ll send your kid to hell”
@animeizzy_ ninetails an eye for an eye usually means “that if a person who has been injured by another person returns the offending action to the originator in compensation” but it can also mean “you hurt me am going to hurt you” in this case am meaning the second
“Mischievous but benevolent protector of the home and family”, Loki is Norse Kevin McCalister Edit: WOW I have NEVER had a comment blow up this much before
It wasn't a mistletoe spear that killed Balder. Balder came over to visit Loki and Loki forgot to undo his security system. The death was so comical that the pantheon thought it wasn't fit for a God, so they made up the whole mistletoe story.
It's interesting that trickster figures in mythology always seem to have the most confusing and self-contradictory legends. It's ALSO interesting how many tricksters are depicted as having some association with spiders.
@@malaksafa4074 I mean, spiders are small, fast creatures that entangle prey with careful and delicately crafted webs. Plus they’re venomous and can sometimes take down larger prey. I don’t think it’s too out there to see them as cunning, intelligent or tricksy creatures.
LOKI IS LITERALLY THE FIRE IN THE HEARTH. “Mischievous” is surprisingly accurate take on fire! Like if you don’t keep your eye on it, it’ll catch something on fire or go out!
"Who's more irresponsible: the guy who gives birth to a horse or the guy who rides his nephew into battle." Wow, and I thought Norse mythology couldn't sound any weirder. XD
would be even more funny if Rick Riordan made that cannon in his world. i mean we already have bleed through for thos who worship the gods. i could just see the greeks meeting with hestia and a couple einherjar walk up and boom loki.
As a Norwegian, the reveal Askeladden (Ash Lad) might be an evolution of Loki absolutely launched my brain into outer space. It’s like hearing Mary poppins was actually derived from some eldritch god. It is of course known that Askeladden is old folklore, but it’s so alive in the current culture while the Norse gods in their original form aren’t, so it’s insanely cool.
Odin and Loki in a contest to see who can mess with their mythologies and survive into the future the best. Odin becomes Santa, Loki gets his own TV show.
You forgot to mention Skoll, Hati and Garm. The wolves who eat the Sun and Moon and kill Tyr respectively. They're all the children of Fenrir, effectively making them Loki's grandchildren.
@@niserresin2006 I’m more going off of the Pros Eda, but really that doesn’t mean anything when Skoll and Hati are ESTABLISHED characters-so it wouldn’t make sense for them to not play their intended roles. Because they are mentioned in nearly every version since, so clearly, they exist. Don’t go trying to um actually me, pal.
@@niserresin2006 Garm has got to be related because he’s a wolf giant just like Fenrir, and Garm’s parentage is unknown so a lot has to be inferred. Norse mythology is all fuzzy. And contradict all over the place. So you saying that it’s definitive is wrong because that’s only in one source. Whereas my knowledge also comes from one source. So we could be equally wrong or right. So don’t start with me
An old saying from British intelligence: "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. But once we've practiced quite a bit, we find we get quite good at it!"
@@aroncondorchoa989 I actually have my own hypothesis with regards to that. Sleipnir was actually an important figure in Shamanist practices and in myths Sleipnir is frequently used to carry the gods to Helheim to speak with Hel, both by Odin and Hermod. He may represent travel between the realms of the living and the dead. So that's why he has 2 sets of hooves, to gallop between the 2 different planes of existence. 1 set of hooves for traveling amongst the living and another set for traveling amongst the dead.
I love the "Backbiter" title because in English it sounds like a badass word for "backstabber" but in Swedish the word is "Bakbitare" which in context means something like "he who slanders/speaks ill of others" (basically it refers to the fact that Loki would insult/roast all of the Aesir). Problem is, in modern Swedish "bak" usually means "bum" so to my ears "Backbiter" translates to "He whose shenanigans comes back to bite him in the ass", which is very appropriate for Loki.
And that's why the Norse languages are amazing... everything is basically a super in depth metaphor for something else... I believe the term is a Kenning?
@@CollinMcLean It really isn't much of a metaphor. "Backbiter" and "Bakbitare" both mean someone who insults others in their respective languages. The Swedish word "bak" and the English word "back" both have the exact same function in that they are both used as prefixes to indicate a counter or as a word for part of the human body. But because "bak" refers to a different and much less dignified body part "backbiter" sounds badass while "bakbitare" sounds comical, even though the words mean the exact same thing. I just thought it was hilarious that the comical take on Loki's epithet fits him just as well as the serious one. It is obviously not the intended meaning, just a funny coincidence of linguistic drift.
it is always fun to play with translating stuff from one nordic language into another cause of false friends . . . a german youtuber translated the norwegian translation of some harry potter therms into swedish and lets just say . . . the meanings changed ^^
“Is Loki a spider? While possible and delightfully creepy, that particular spin-“ ‘Spin’ is Dutch for ‘spider’ and I find this a delightful, if probably unintended, pun with the emphasis Red puts on the word.
As a Norwegian, I can add in a phrase we use in everyday language where Loki is a verb. Example: "Slutt å loke rundt og gjør det du skal!" which translates to "Stop messing around, and do what you're told!" - where "loke" (Norwegian word for Loki is Loke, but as a verb it's with lowercase L) translates to "messing around", and is very commonly used by mothers to their children. It can also be used casually in a phone call like this: "Whatcha doin´?", answer: "Ah, jeg bare loker." - which loosely translates to "Ah, I'm just chillin´". So the verb "loke" can also mean "chillin´" or "relaxing" - not doing much. I don't know how far back this verb goes linguistically, but I think it's pretty old and it seems to fit the character of Loki quite well, so I'm positive there's a connection there.
@@GusOmega - No. She means that Loki or Loke is probably a nickname. I guess he had another (or maybe several) more ancient names. In Greece they called him (or a very similar character) Prometheus (foresight), which also sounds like a nickname. Due to their similarity, I (following Stephany 2012) suspect that the character represents a pre-Indoeuropean deity, never fully assimilated, maybe the same as Basque Sugaar (which maybe compares better to Loki's son Jormungandir, both being snake gods or dragon gods) and that the core mythology was developed in Central Europe in the time of Corded Ware (and its Vucedol offshoot, which is surely ancestral for the Greek branch) and the later Vasconic-influenced Bell Beaker period.
People have mentioned Loki as a God of the Hearth/Family/Children and Loki as a spider so; why not both? Spiders are common in houses, I see a spider almost once a week. They have eight eyes and eight legs and like to tie up webs in high up places, almost "watching over" families. Furthermore, there's a lot of stories about spinners being spiderlike (Ariadne, though likely not relevant here, is a good example) and in a country that lives in Northern, cold places, the value of spinners and cloth-makers was probably very important-- it's likely that the women, caretakers of the family, were also in charge of textile production. This also ties into the fact that he keeps getting pregnant all the time, since he would be intrinsically tied to motherhood and weaving, along with his story about the fishing-net, in a similar way to how spiders catch their prey in webs. Loki as a character would then be representative of the family in a spider-like way, always watching the family, good at hiding, and masterful at spinning both webs and nets.
This is actually a good theory. Spiders are the descendants of Arachne the weaver in Greek mythology, according to the Arachne myth. A little syncretism can really affect the characterization of creatures in mythology. We also don’t really know about the OG Arachne myth, so maybe it was from Scandinavia. Weavers provide cloth which gives warmth, tying into the hearth. Spiders also are tricksters considering they trick bugs into getting stuck in the webs, tying into the trickster idea. Children are tricksters, tying into the trickster idea. Then, the hearth creates families.
Between the gender inconsistency, generally fuzzy history, use as a part of the name of other entitites, etc, I wouldn't be surprised if Loki started as a more general term for a kind of spirit that was later amalgamated into a single diety later to deeply confusing results.
Or more likely as old european deities go, regional variants fused together under the most common word. E.g. West and South slavs by regions had the same core pantheon as far as ideas but genders were often flipped based on priority. The Judge/Judgess, Old Winter/Lady Winter, Morninglight/Maiden of Morning, etc. which both had their myths mixed AND in almost all regions but the ones under foreign invasions in the end became unified as a married couple that only together represent _insert_deific_role_here_. Except for the weird or less relevant ones. Like a sulking emo, three headed dog/goat-bird-man-mountain who may or may not be either a fusion dance of other gods or a mocking of the representation of deities of heaven, earth and underworld, a magic dragon who lost his dick as a dildo to either a lady death or lady winter or a OC Donut steel that 100% isnt just Thor being so cool he invaded another mythology, etc.
Just saying, I'd be very curious to see a "Mother of Monsters" video specifically talking about that motif. It's probably not common enough to be considered a Trope, but from the short list you gave it could probably be a Miscellaneous Myth of its own (maybe even a Halloween Special if you don't have anything else planned, although for all of the "this is the source of all the troubles in the world" I'm not sure it's necessarily all that _scary_).
It could be explained with loki´s role as a scapegoat, which as Red expained , involved two scapegoats one got sacrificed(Jesus) and one got banished (Satan) and noone could agree who to equate loki to making him both
Its so very Loki to have an inconsistent, unpinable, origin and spinning legends out of legends without a singular thread to follow and I completely love it even though it is kind of sad to not have a specific story to follow. Just kind of makes him all the more interesting
How interesting that Loki, who is possibly the god worshipped as a protector of the home and hearth, ends up usually being the one that solves all of the Aesir's problems, and in a way, protecting his home.
It's sad to really think that there is so much of history that humankind will literally never know again, because there aren't any records. It makes the tattered fragments of Loki's story seem precious by comparison to all the stories that we don't even know we're missing
Even all of Norse Mythology as we know is just the tip of the iceberg of Germanic Mythology, the vast majority of which is even more lost than the Norse, leaving only far tinier hints and fragments. English, German, Dutch, Frisian, Gothic, Lombardic, all would've had similar and rich mythologies as well, but are almost entirely lost.
As I kid I was constantly told stories about the Ash-Lad, and him as a surviving part of Loki is really interesting. The Ash-Lad is definitely a witty trickster, though his morality really depends on which story. Sometimes he wins not just by being smart, but by being honest and compassionate, others he can get pretty bloody
It's so cool that Red is willing to correct herself in later videos as she does more research. The mindset of a true scholar: always willing to improve one's knowledge.
Honestly, all I just want is a scene in modern media where someone’s asking Loki about Sleipnir, asks who the mother is, and Loki just deadpanning “me”
As a Norwegian I find it frustrating that no-one knows how big of a deal it is that Loke could have evolved into Espen Askeladd. Askeladden (the Ash Lad) is a BIG deal in Norway. Everybody knows almost all of his antics by heart. Curiously though, most of his stories are in seperate continuities. He always ends up gaining the princess and half of the kingdom. Exept that one story where he tricks a troll into commiting seppuku during a porridge-eating contest. Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, it could be an interesting subject for a video just quickly going through some of his farytales.
oh man. i didn't know that Ash Lad is Norway tale and that he is so big. Here, in Slovakia, he plays role in folklore as well, but it only one, long complicated epic fairy tale when he must travel far, kill dragon, gain princes, then deal with vnegence of dragon mother... it is my favorite fairy tale. Alslo, we have movie about him. But i have no idea there is another stories with him! i must chcek it
I'd love an episode of Folklore Summarised about The Ash Lad! He sounds not too dissimilar to a sort of "Jack the Giant Killer" figure where he pops up all over the place in fairy stories.
@@clockworkkirlia7475 It also kinda reninds me of the Prince Ivan figure in lost of Slavic folklore where he's kinda just the dispirate hero of lots of stories. Different Prince Ivans but always the hero.
Yeah, as someone who grew up on Ash Lad fairy tales and norse mythology, the idea that Ash Lad and Loki is the same person BROKE my brain. That is an amazing insight that makes SO MUCH SENSE. Even if there is no proof, I love that idea.
Loki as hearthgod makes such perfect sense as I can see. Also, rather than entangler, perhaps it is of the web, in context of a hearthgod referring to the web of people that gather around the hearth. Thus moving Loki into the position of being the god of community and collaboration. This would recontextualize the deciets, hijinks, and schemes as the spontaneous creativity that can exist in a healthy community. The other gods are pretty explicitly confrontational and arrogant, so it would be bold, impressive, and understandable to attempt to deceive them to protect the community. It also contextualizes the shapeshifting, as a community is diverse, and includes all the species that make it up from the fruit tree to the mother, and so it would make sense for a god of community to have access to the breadth of forms that make up a community. So you have chaos, capriciousness, compassion, diversity, creativity, and the fostering of new life.
Loki being the chief Housespriit makes sense. If you don't appease your house spirit they start playing pranks and being cheeky little shits. If you continue to not, they start causing real problems. Odin disrespected Loki's children and so he ruined their world. Seems fitting.
This is literally so Loki. Keep him happy and amused, your life is easy. Disrespect him or his family, and you'll probably end up finding things breaking or little fires starting.
It's like Brownies, little Celtic house elves essentially. They clean and tidy things up when you sleep, but only if you give them food and treat them with respect. If you don't, they'll let your shoes get ruined, your things will start breaking, and the house will slowly go into disarray.
According to my Swedish stepfather, "it's a bad idea to tick off your household spirit" is practically a whole subgenre of Scandinavian folktales, so that definitely would fit.
Minor correction: Loki IS one of the big players with a day of the week named after him. Saturday used to be called "Logsday" after Loki, which is also where the Logsday mandela effect comes from.
"And to be honest, I don’t think there’s anything more quintessentially Loki than getting centuries worth of scholars at each other’s throats trying to figure out his one true nature." Wow. That's just deep.
One theory is that he kills Tyr. Tyr is said to face Garm which is a dog that barks to alarm the Aesir, so he's on the wrong side. Also, Odin transcends death as he's already died so can't be killed again.
Sad and ironic. If they had just left Fenrir Good Doggo alone to be best friends with Tyr, they could have had a bad ass wolf friend and Odin might not have had to die. Tragic.
I was gonna write something like “but wait, if Loki’s a protector of homes/children, what about that time he tricked that kid into breaking the leg of Thor’s goat and got him in trouble? That doesn’t seem very protector-y of him” But upon some googling and checking the ‘original’ story (aka reading Wikipedia, rewatching OSP’s video on utgard-Loki, and finding a website with the tale) theres actually no mention that Loki made the kid do it, he does it himself for the marrow. However in the Hymiskviða (the story where thor gets the giant kettle for booze) the narrator says Thor’s goats’ lameness IS the fault of Loki. So Snorri doesn’t blame Loki in the prose edda, but the Poetic Edda does. And I dunno why I spent ten minutes compiling all that into a UA-cam comment of all places, but hey, now you know.
That one throws an extra layer into his characterization because the Poetic Edda is much more of a compilation which makes accurately dating a huge pain. It's believed to have been written contemporaneously with the Prose Edda so it might actually be older but again it's hard to say because it's a collection of authors rather than a single author so many stories are probably older while some are possibly newer.
well, there was this other myth where Loki saves a child from being eaten by a hungry troll, and suceeded where Odin and the other gods failed. Anyway he hears the please of a family who is being harrased by a troll for quite somethime, wanting to eat their son. Basically, he turns the kid into an eyelash which he hides in the eye of a fish, then he sits on a boat with his net pretending to do some fishing when the troll shows up. The troll knowing that the fact since this is Loki finds it sus, and asks if he could join him. Anyway Loki quickly catches the fish he hid the kid in, turns him back, tells him to run as quickly as he can through a stone doorway. the troll sees this and proceeds to chase the kid not notcing he´s too big for the door and gets stuck. Loki then uses this opportunity to chop the monster´s head off, ensuring that the kid will never be bothered again. And since Loki is associated with nets this make sense, since it shows up in this tale
@@weirdghastlygames So I looked into that, having read nearly every single book of Norse mythology I've come across and never hearing of that one before. The specific story is apparently "Loka Tattur" which doesn't come from any of the Icelandic sagas we've found so far but instead comes from a Ballad from the Faroe Islands. And it likely came much later in the Medieval period than the Viking age or when the sagas were codified. And since the two other gods in that story were Odin and Hoenir, it's possible that "Loki" may actually be Lodurr. Who along with Odin and Hoenir helped to create the first humans. Although a not uncommon hypothesis is that Lodurr=Loki so... *shrugs*... it may be him? or not? Further research needed...
Another scapegoat thing? The child made his own decision, but the blame is placed on Loki as the god/protector of the home, thus exonerating the child and saving him from the divine punishment. PLUS, it was probably Loki who watched the kids on the journey.
@@nicolersands That's another thing... Red does some good research but the scapegoat hypothesis is... flawed for a few reasons... as are some of the other comparisons...
I just have to say, I love the drawing Red did of Fenrir and Tyr after the Aesir put Fenrir in Gleipnir. It looks so simple (not saying anything about it was simple, for the record) but they both just look so sad. Also, I noticed on that wikipedia page it described Loki's gender-fluidity as an inclusion in modern stories (while still adressing Loki's tendency to magically change gender,) and I do wanna point out that it's not as modern as wikipedia implies. In the story where Thor's hammer is stolen and Thor is disguised as Freyja and Loki is his handmaid; Thor continues to be referred to in masculine terms (husband of Sif, son of Odin, etc), while the story switches to using feminine terms when describing Loki (the handmaid.) So, even in that story, it's clear that Thor being dressed as a woman is just a disguise; but Loki's only disguise is who they're pretending to be, not what gender they are.
Imagine how ironic it would be if his worship was mainly from mothers that needed to deal daily with their children's mischief, and they prayed to Loki to protect them
That wouldn't be ironic, that would be prolific. Judging by his character he is both a problem solver and a maker of problems so if his origins are connected to the home, it would not be too hard to argue that he would conjure a feeling of safety for mothers, they would pray to him that their children would be safe.
Hypothetically "Gods that child is such a troublemaker, better pray to Loki so that he will help them get out of trouble"
@@Southseapirate that interpretation is honestly super sweet.
aMAZING
@@Southseapirate headcannon accepted
YES! Many pieces of the puzzle fall into place under this schema. Very cool
"And he's canonically pretty so the fanfic kinda writes itself"
*_W H E E Z E_*
Is this a Shenpai joke?
And Marvel made it even better by having Tom Hiddleston play as Loki in the Marvel Films.
Loki. That one pretty god no one knows the domains of.
@@Climbacliffandjumpoff OF WHAR
@@nevergonnagiveyouup894 That would make him like, what the fifth one in Norse mythology?
“Loki is a mass of contradictions.”
Honestly, I think that’s exactly what Loki wanted in the first place.
I've heard that Sobek has the same problem. But in his case, it wasn't on purpose.
@@desrochessimon3044 changed with the Nile...
lol
I mean it's Loki
Loki: I AM ALL AND I AM NOTHING!!! I AM THE BEGINNING AND THE END!!! I WAS HERE BEFORE YOU ALL AND I WILL BE LONG AFTER YOUR NAME IS FORGOTTEN TO THE SANDS OF TIME!!!
Odin: This is why we don't give him too much attention.
something this doesn't point out about the conclusion of Loki being a god of family, is that he's simultaneously a father, mother, and playful mischievous child
He is whole package
the father, the son and the mother
Yes
*starts writing conspiracy theories about Loki being the holy trinity but with a norse name*
1K like! Also yea that's Loki
"You can't be Jesus and Satan at the same time"
Loki: "Observe"
Agreed.
🙄😅😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
He could do what now?
He should work at McDonald’s.
He just can be whoever he wants a male or female, a human or horse, satan or Jesus
he’s just that ｍｙｓｔｅｒｉｏｕｓ
"Loki's name could mean The Entangler"
"Loki is a mass of contradictions without a linear narrative"
Ah so he's done his job perfectly to this very day
Entangler is another term for rigger, so loki God of BDSM confirmed?
@@theknifezone given his shapeshifter abilities and the fact he never escaped those terrifying bindings in the cave....yes. I'd say he's masochistic as well.
Why is it that you have 666 likes? Must it be that you’ve been called here by humans? Those wished to pay you tribute?
@@diavoloalexander485 why does that number matter?
@giadragon
666 is a number that is/has been associated with “The Beast” or Satan for a while. I’m not entirely certain of how that came to be but I can tell you that that is the relation.
Honestly, Loki being a deity of children would honestly explain a lot, and I mean a *lot* about him.
XD your right your right
Santa Clause? Maybe a Crampus connection.
All I can think of in this context are kids trying to explain a questionable point of behavior by (a) coming up with extremely lame lies or (b) outright admitting they have no fucking idea what they were thinking when they stuck a banana in their nose, or whatever idiot thing it was that they did.
@@erikrungemadsen2081 That might also go with the fact that one of the people Santa is based on, other than St Nick is Odin....
Narfi: Jingle bells
Hel: Odin smells
Sleipnir: Loki is the rightful king
Jorm: He had these feels
Fenrir: Everyone kneeled
Vali: Until Thor ruined everything!
Loki, tearing up: I am a proud parent~
"8 legged horse."
"Invented the net"
"Loki" or other variants meaning spider in modern scandinavian.
Yeah, Loki is the spider god.
Where's my Loki as Spider-Man fanfic?
Based on the vid we just watched, domestic-fire-illusion-trans-parent-spider god sounds more accurate 😜
@@ThePugDawg3 Anansi
I see this and raise you: Octopus god.
Mostly because Octopi are clever lil fuckers and are known for being fairly tricksy as far as invertebrates go.
@@SerDerpish ah so he's like Apollo attributed to a lot of things, worshiped for a couple of things
“*Arrested for fish crimes* and also murder” is absolutely fantastic
Loki has always been a bit fishy
@@benikujaku4567 I'm pretty sure he handles salmon suspiciously
@@Ropetrick6 is that fucking FISH JENGA
IS THAT FUCKING FISH JENGA?!
*fintastic
The Aesir: throws one of Loki's kids a snake into the sea, and the other newborn goddess into the realm of the dead
Also The Aesir: keep a killer wolf around until he becomes the size of a mountain because aww puppy
Good doggo
good snek
"snek bad doggo good"
-The Æsir, probably.
Half dead girl. Creepy, really, really creepy.
But Puppy!!!
The fact that even modern scholars are sacrificing their sanity to identify him makes Loki the ultimate trickster god.
He's probably enjoying all this very much lol
Oh look, Loki _does_ have sacrifices after all. Still does, in fact.
Scholars: go mad from stress
Loki: lol get prankt nerds I don't mean anything
Somewere Loki is sitting with a horn of mead giggling his arse of screaming “screw your thesis little mortal.”
He’s looking at us with a funny smile
The thing I love about Loki is even with all the trickery and mischief he never once did anything mean to humans. In one story it's said that he actually had a love for humans.
Probably cause we're chaotic as all hell.
And really, you can’t call him a bad guy if he is the one parents ask to babysit their childrens souls or whatnot :) he is literally seen as the one who safeguards the innocent and weak.
It actually made me think that Loki has his realm in our world. Forget what it's called but the Norse have our world as a realm and I don't THINK I remember any god ruling here. So it makes me think his realm is here and that his war on the gods and the aftermath of Ragnarok with starting new again has the gods start anew and have new humans to protect. Also him making a fishing net. Makes me think of a god of civilization in a way.
These are just my conclusions tho, don't have anything to really back it up.
@@jacobfoxfires964 our realm is Midgard. But I have a feeling you are right.
Yeah, he usually goes toe to toe with the Aesir, Jotnar, Dwarves, Ljosafar/Svartalf, Vanir, etc... but never with humans. Usually his "victims" (if you can call most of them that) are beings that are just as strong as him and can fight back
"Which is more irresponsible: the guy who gives birth to a horse, or the one who rides his nephew into battle"
This is one of the best written criticisms and jokes at the same time. I love this.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?
@@Klaaism I think it's "Would you help your uncle Jack, off a horse?"
This is somewhat off topic but do y'all know which video there's a little scene where Loki covers up the image of the marvel actor?
@@darkryder4698 I think it's the poetic edda video
What about the guys who show up to your city in a giant wooden horse?
“Loki finds a half-burned heart, eats it, and becomes pregnant”
Another Tuesday
*Half*-burned.
Yeah that's Hel.
Loki _Athena'd_ Hel!
Another Tyr's day
Woah slow down there. Don't bring Týr into this mess.
It's Friday
@@thewraithwriter22 Nobody's talking about Freya, we're talking about Loki.
Loki is just pure chaotic neutral
Like I can imagine him in this scenario genuinely thinking its funny
"I didn't do it"
"Then why are you laughing"
"Cause whoever did it is a fucking genius"
Thats the visiting Uthgard story in a nutshell.
Utgard-Loki: _Sike!_ You've been in an eating contest with a _wildfire_ this whole time!
Loki: >:O
Also Loki: Well played
@@ZpEB2741 Loki: "Outstanding move."
Being a pure chaotic neutral may actually define who he is, the god of chaos. Random things happen all the time and can be good or bad, so people may prey to Loki for the chaos to end up good. Chaos can completely mess up the best plans. He may define why an act of god may not make sense. ("Loki's playing his tricks on the gods again")
@@ZpEB2741 I'm really sure that he at least expected something fishy. I mean. The "prize" was to feast with the giants, and he asked for an eating contest.
Wait a minute: Loki is a mischievous household spirt. We always hear that if you don't treat household spirits well, they mess with you. So in the Aesir are shown treating Loki badly, and Loki thus messing with them. Perhaps Loki's deific function is that he is the household spirt, the "Loki" of the Aesir's household. Ultimately helpful to them, but they keep messing with him. So if the Aesir are shown as flawed, perhaps one of their flaws (which would have been a flaw to the culture) is that they often mistreat their household spirit. . .and it is that flaw that ulitimately does them in.
So he's a household spirit, but for the entire world?
According to my Swedish stepfather, "Don't piss off your household spirit" is practically a subgenre of Scandinavian folktales, so Loki being the Gods' household spirit who brings about the end of the world they ruled because they mistreated him feels very believable.
Who knows if that was the "original" intention of Loki in the mythology, but it would make for a great premise for some Norse mythology inspired stories.
Yeah! Maybe Loki was just the word for a household spirit? Maybe Utgard-Loki is just the Loki for that castle, which is why he protects it?
Wait a minute! Does that mean that the white smurf that curses Nills Holgersson is Loki?
@@niserresin2006the way I interpreted it is that Loki’s domain is essentially an equivalent to Hestia is Greek mythology. At least, that’s the way it makes sense to me- 😅
Loki being a mischievous household deity makes even more sense once you consider that households usually have kids.
And kids play pranks.
It also makes more sense when you think about how most cultures have house spirits of some kind that are often times blamed for minor “tricks” like hiding things, spooking animals, or causing food to go bad.
@@BeautifulObscuritySo that's taking the cookies, not getting how to approach new animal friends, not putting the lid back on the snack container.
My little brother = Loki/Brownie/demi-fey/whatever
@@BeautifulObscurity So Loki’s the one who’s making my socks disappear in the laundry
@@doubleoof7907 yes
@@BeautifulObscurity we have these things in the winter here in Norway called "loftnisser"
Basicly around christmas time they are blamed for those small acts of misschief around the house, and if you wanna be kind to them, give em some porridge with a large wooden spoon
And they love themselves some porridge alright, we even have christmas songs about them
Fun for the kids!
I feel like the whole "Loki's history being frustrating to try and figure out" thing is the biggest long con from everyone's favorite green trickster.
💯
But WAS he actually green in the first place? The plot thickens...
I am thinking about dropping out of school to focus on my career as a star on UA-cam. I already make a lot of money on UA-cam. School bores me so much. I need more opinions and since I don't have any friends, I gotta ask you, neil
@@AxxLAfriku you should keep doing both,that's my opinion
@@marcindzamroga8945 Yeah, isn't he red haired or something?
Sorri: "Ok, so there's this god, Loki, who invented lies-"
Monks everywhere: "devil figure, got it
Sorri: "I actually made him a jesus figure, but you do you"
Like, the ones calling him a devil figure weren't monks.
@@i.cs.z
Just add more irony onto the pile.
At this point I wouldmt be surprised if Loki's deific epithet was that of irony
If Loki had similarities to Prometheus to start with, Snorri might not have had to change THAT much.
@@luxinvictus9018 this what i find so ironic with Christianity wanting make him seem holyer then thou for all this....yet shun an berate anyone that doesn't fit their mold AKA doing exactly they hated people cor in bible for doing to [out-casting] Jesus.
**i say this as a Christian who just also questions everything an loves looking all views an learning about various religions and beliefs. This actually part reason like many I've left the church [👀 no realize how toxic an culty it all is till take step back..]**
@@luxinvictus9018 GOATMAN, IM DANCING ON YOUR BRIDGE
Loki as a protector of families and children definitely makes sense. He's basically the John Wick of mythology. You banish his daughter, banish his son, enslave his son, chain his son, kill his final children and use their intestines to bind him to a rock to suffer torture. In response, Loki brings about the end of the world and the death of the gods; seems like they had it coming. You don't mess with someones kids.
Kratos will remember that…
Pretty sure Loki used to be some kind of mother goddess that got gender-switched somewhere along the line of oral tradition.
No, you don't! 🙂👍👍
Well he also murdered the god of goodness soooo…he kinda had it coming?
And don't forget killing his dog.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who saw Odin yeeting Loki's kids into various abysses and thought "Ah yes. The beginning of the revenge arc."
That's the power of tropes, baby!
Sounds like a perfect story to turn into a tragic tale of fatherhood for modern audiences
@@3asianassassin The MCU fanfic writers are already on it lol.
And of course, the classic self fulfilling prophecy. Which is usually more of a Greek thing, but it works.
I genuinely always found the story of fenrir sad. They were so worried about him and in cruely betraying him for little real reason bought about his hate and revenge. Who knows, he may have made a powerful ally and friend.
It's a good example of the norse gods being flawed, not always good beings.
Loki’s whole convoluted history is what he would have wanted.
Me, shedding tears as the only consistent characterization of Loki I can scrape together is “probably villainized later”: it’s what they would have wanted. It’s what they would have wanted. It’s what-
You win my internet point of the day, congrats!
If I'm going to have a backstory, I want it to be multiple choice.
... Maybe.
Or would he?
Loki, the God of: We’ve been tricked, we’ve been backstabbed, and we’ve been quite possibly bamboozled
For a God of Trickery, being utterly confusing as a character makes a lot of sense
Loki: God of being smeckledorfed
Dionysus God of wine and getting drunk. Will come to bless me and get drunk with me? Oh great Dionysus God of wine.
I swear to fuk if he is to be referred by that title
God of trickery, backstabbing and bamboozling
Or God of Information
"Loki, please watch over my kids."
"Sure thing, I have so many kids, what's a few million or so more?"
So Loki's backstory, character, powers and meaning in the mythology are a complete mystery. This is the most Loki thing Loki could have done.
Being a jesus figure just to mess things up even more is also a very Loki thing to do.
It hurts how much this makes sense
The Gosforth cross which was made in the 10th century and is in England. It’s not necessarily portraying Jesus... it may be another instance of Loki being compared to the Devil. Depicting the bound Lucifer or bound Anti-Christ...
I think he has many things in common with Prometheus: he opposes the Pantheon, he tricks them, and has an association with fire for the benefit of humanity
@@polarknight5376 "Your Savior is here!"
"27 minutes to say we legitimately don't know" - you are now a fully qualified historian.
Hahahahaha
Hahahahaha
Hahahahaha
Hahahahaha
Hahahahaha
Loki being the God of "What are you even God of?!"/"Confusing the hell out of everyone who talks about him" sounds like the most Loki thing possible
Yes 😌
Yes
Odin: Loki stop picking on the historians!
Loki: Can't stop me from playing the long game one-eye! Suck it!
@@jordanloux3883 Odin:... ah fine it's a good one anyways..... Hey wanna see me convince Gahndie to commit genocide?
So, basically Loki is the god of trolling.
Loki being a household spirit does kind of make sense. In other folklore, household spirits are often mischievous or tricksy.
Every time I wash my socks, they steal one - and ONLY one - from the dryer.
@@cheezemonkeyeater In Spanish folklore (I am not Spanish, btw), duendes are many types of spirits, and often household ones (the are the equivalent of gnomes I think). They are mischieveous at their best morality (downright demonic at their worse). They are so linked to everything that dissapears in the house that their name, "Duende" is short for "DUEño DE la casa", "owner of the house.
According to my Swedish stepfather, "Don't piss off your household spirit" is practically a subgenre of Scandinavian folktales, so Loki being the Gods' household spirit who brings about the end of the world because they mistreated him feels very believable.
@@cheezemonkeyeater Trolls are real! They steal your socks! But only your left ones. -Gobber
Okay, that picture of him holding his children is legitimately adorable.
Timestamp?
@@christinagarrett7696 also this 7:35
@@zEr-ne5ri Thanks!
@@christinagarrett7696 you’re welcome
@@christinagarrett7696 26:42 Think I found it.
Odin to Baldr’s Corpse: Bro, trust me, this will be totally worth it in a couple centuries.
Imagine if he just whispered something like "You smell like updog."
Imagine if he whispered "why are you called Balder. I am going Balder. "
@@LuckySketches Baldr sits up like "what's updog?"
and everyone laughs
"Sooooo....can I have your things? I mean, it's not like you need them anymore...."
@@Mo7amed_obaid no
"Huh, this fish got bigger when I put it in a bigger pond."
"Weird. You gonna help me chuck Loki's serpent son into the ocean now?"
-- fateful last words.
Jormungander is female, afaik.
The story of Tyr and Fenris is ripe for dramatization- a man and his beloved wolf companion, ultimately made to betray his lupine friend over matters of a greater good, sacrificing a literal piece of himself while abusing Fenris' trust to capture him, losing a metaphorical piece of himself by the end of it and leaving Fenris alone and bitter, to one day join the enemy and thus fulfil the prophecy that this was meant to subvert.
A great tragedy, given the right story telling and emphasis.
The even bigger tragedy is that, had Tyr and the Aesir NEVER betrayed Fenrir, then Fenrir wouldn't be out for revenge. This was a self-fulfilling prophecy
You could even go further and dramatize Loki and Odin in a similar manner, with odin being a paranoid a-hole and Loki being manipulated to look like a villain, gaslit into doing evil things and subsequently becoming the villain they all feared. Kinda like Mizu from Blue Eye Samurai.
Tyr is often canonically portrayed as a god of oathkeeping for this reason, and this has always been my favourite myth in the cycle
Hel: *gets thrown into hel*
World serpent: *gets thrown into the sea*
Fenrir: *gets bound to an island*
Loki: *bound by his son's intestines with acid dripped in his eyes for all eternity*
Oden: I don't get it why do they hate me
Modern parenting in a nutshell
That intestines were made because
Odin had Loki's one son turned into another wolf and attack his twin brother
Bright side is his wife was the only one to stay by his side
Catching the acid in a basin(this is a woman who gave birth to the twins
Loki: betrays the gods
Odin: surprised pikachu
@@roseforest8950 of course I'm going to betray you after all this shit
Saddest thing is that Odin and Loki were once something like best friends
"Anyone who says they know what Loki's deal is is trying to sell you something."
*Immediately tries to sell me stickers and pins about Loki's whole deal.*
How very Loki of you. I will be buying those thanks.
I will now add how very loki of you in my personal lexicon. Thank you good sir.
I mean she did admit to it in the apology video
@@catfoy8888 wait apology for what?
@@nadineehab8834 it's an april fools video
Loki being a "patron god" of children actually makes quite a bit of sense. Kids usually get themselves in trouble a lot- e.g. climbing a tree to get fruit but oh no, they can't get down now- and who better to help you get out of trouble than Loki, who consistently fixed the gods' messes for them?
Plus, children are easily thr most Chaotic humans that exist
He’d probably be the one to encourage them into doing harmless pranks
@@hugsandchaos9554 While helping them get away with that
@@ryoumakoushiro7447 That’d be really fun. He’d be like “Okay, we knocked on the door! Run! Hurry, before they come outside!” and he just laughs along with the excited and uncontrollable giggling of the children.
@@hugsandchaos9554 Oh, he'd ABSOLUTELY do that
The story about Fenris Wolf being bound is very well written by Neil Gaiman in his book "Norse Mythology", and oddly enough is fairly emotional as well. It really showed how it wasn't just Tyr's hand that he lost, but also his friend.
Oh Neil...
The idea of Loki being "protector of the home" would also fit with the fact that most of the myths regarding him involve him solving everyone's problems
And him, you know, literally being a mother, albeit to a horse
Provided he often had a hand in causing those problems to begin with...
Is he, by chance, an ISFJ?
@@emanuelly.santos ???
@@emanuelly.santos Nah... I'd say he's more ESFP or ESTP...
How fitting is it that the “Inventor of lies & trickery” has the most confusing and cryptic history ever
Indeed
there are some interpretations that loki wrote his own stories because he would wouldn't he?
Essentially is DnD Asmodeus
And may have some Jesus vibes in some interpretations
@@joaomrtins that's what he wants you to think
How do you learn a new language?
Normal people: With time and practice, everyone goes at their own pa-
Odin: *IMPALING MYSELF ON A BIG TREE UNTIL I HALLUCINATE A LANGUAGE INTO EXISTENCE*
Lol, mood
Isn't that learning to write a language you already know?
I mean given a lot of language is learned by writing that's basically what we do with children. Only we do it with a lot of very small sticks instead of one big one.
Look, conlanging is hard, okay.
@@Duiker36 What, you don't sacrifice your body to Odin and then spend every Wednesday for the next year feverishly writing down all your conlang/worldbuilding details?
Btw, in Loki's feast poem in Edda, apart from some other charming accusations that fly across the table, Odin calls Loki out for living for nine years at Midgard as a lass - Loki being the shapeshifter he is changing his biology to that one of a human woman and giving birth to many kids in the meantime. Loki retorts by reminding Odin that he himself, the allfather, walked around Midgard as a prophet - that being pretty much the same thing, therefore not Odin's place to really talk. The thing is, Odin in his obsession with knowledge wished to obtain the ability of prophecy, which by aesir rules was obtainable only for women. His only chance was to live both sexually and socially as a woman at Midgard for some time, to prove himself worthy of this ability and the status of an aesir woman. Just a bit of a trans-Norse mythology fun fact, sorry.
Yes the Allfather lived as a female witch to obtain his/her Wiccan knowledge LOL.
Haha well hey if it means power I'll live as anything to get it
The reason why Odin does this is not because he's "Trans" that's ridiculous.
The reason is because in Pagan cultures, the Gods are shown doing acts that were outside of the norm or even illegal. Crossdressing, murder, practicing Feminine arts like Seiðr, and adultery. It was examples of not only of things not to do, but also understanding divinity, the Gods would go to great lengths to get done what needs to be done, but those things were not available to the Creation, us.
Please stop using a modern filter on history, that is how you rot tradition and the faith as a whole. Odin, Loki, Thor, none of them were transgender. Crossdressing was criminal and gay sex was seen as indecent, especially if you were taking it. Distorting history distorts the present.
@blooeagle5118 ofc it wasnt a word back then but loki was definetly non binary by our standards changing with no problem lots of time with no real reason beyond cause he liked to, give it whatever name you want
Loose me with the transphobia and homophobia disguised as being historically accurate bs
Actually "Loki" being a catch-all title for spirit-protector of hearth-fire would shed a completely different view on stories concerning him and also would not be that strange - even Slavic mythology has household spirits.
This would explain why Odin and co tolerate him - he appeared in Asgard because they live there, he is their household spirit-protector. Nobody invited him, he just appeared in their home and started helping or causing mischief.
Also would explain why he accompanies Thor on some adventures - it's dangerous out there, take spirit-protector with you.
And would be the reason why we have Uthgard-Loki and his behaviour - Uthgard-Loki would be just household spirit-protector of Uthgard and his last lines in story being basically "You guys are too scary, so I will hide my home from you. You shall never find it again" makes complete sense - Loki would probably do a similar thing if Asgard was in danger.
In Slavic folklore there are stories about what will happen if you mistreat your household spirits and Loki bringing literal apocalypse upon Odin ass for treating him and his children like shit fits there quite well. It's a powerful story of "Even gods will face retribution if they mistreat their household spirit".
Of course that's just my interpretation of his role in mythology.
Reading The Ancient Magus Bride tell me that household spirit/fae are usually like to create mischief, and that aligned very well with loki with the interpretation of him being a god of hearth/household/weaving also is a trickster
I like this. This is good.
*Please* write a book
hmm yeah, don’t piss off the domovoi
Oh yeahh this amkes a lot of sense
I just have this mental image of Red sneaking into Blue’s office and stealing some maps before he gets back home.
And then bribing Cleo to not say anything.
Cleo: I gotcha back, sis!
I bet Blue is going to make such a fuss once he sees the video, and it could go both ways
Or Cleo is already dead probably
@@Sevren_ That's an unseemly thought
Red: *Slides $20 to Cleo*
The god of mischief's last act before being supplanted by Christianity was to make a living hell out of anyone trying to research him.
Sounds right
That is so him
It’s what he would have wanted.
Nice pfp
It would be cool if they do Pokémon mythology
I can't wait for the far distant future where historians somehow mix Loki from Marvel with Loki from mythology to the point where Tom Hiddleston is either thought to be Loki, a different name for Loki, or an avatar of Loki
Hades: I can't believe they mixed me with Satan!
Loki: First time?
I wonder what would those two get up too? Well more like hades and Persephone meat hel.
@@willnorman-bargo Yeah. Hades, Persephone, Hel, Ereshkigal and Izanami. And Loki... Loki is Hestia 😂 (24:45)
@@mashakravchenko5796 I feel like Izanami-sama would be like... Ranting about her husband breaking his promise, while Persephone like... Headpats her or something...
@@shanedoesyoutube8001 Headcanon approved!
@@mashakravchenko5796 Double approved! Oooh, while Loki plays with Cerberus and tells him about Fenris!😍
“Whatcha got there?”
“A smoothie."
Welp, that’s adorable
Loki: Kids, I'm going to Greece. Stay off of the Internet.
I think that’s an iCarly reference to when Spencer comes into the apartment with an Ostrich. And a smoothie.
(time stamp) 7:35
Plot twist: The smoothie _was_ his kid!
@@AnimeWolf5193 (checks my charts)
Yep. That is a possibility
Can we appreciate that Red worked on this video for roughly two years?
We stan a research-thorough queen
Holy shit really??
@@NicaremE check the description
@@nooneisheretryagain that we do my friend that we do
Holy shit you’re right
"Before we all judge Loki, let's consider whose more irresponsible. The guy who gives birth to a horse or the the guy who rides his nephew into battle." XDXDXD
Adding the context that Loki might be a spirit of family and the home does make a lot of sense, and could even turn Baldr’s death into a revenge plot, a whole “this is what you get for imprisoning three of my children and riding the fourth like a show pony.”
YES
dog
I’ve said this before but Norse mythology seems to have an eye for an eye kind of thing. They by hel the queen of well hell and they kinda trapped her there loki in killing baldr made baldr go to hel as one of the dead. “You send my kid to hell I’ll send your kid to hell”
@animeizzy_ ninetails an eye for an eye usually means “that if a person who has been injured by another person returns the offending action to the originator in compensation” but it can also mean “you hurt me am going to hurt you” in this case am meaning the second
@animeizzy_ ninetails I see that let me change that sorry Idk why I did I that
Schoolers: Furiously research and debate
Loki: rolling on back laughing, "I can't believe they took the bait"
That sounds like him
um... *scholars
Was that pun intended?
Let be honest.... Loki owns reddit
@@craytherlaygaming2852 this this doesn’t need to be explained
“Mischievous but benevolent protector of the home and family”, Loki is Norse Kevin McCalister
Edit: WOW I have NEVER had a comment blow up this much before
this is so perfect!
That makes too much sense...
I’m fucking rolling
It wasn't a mistletoe spear that killed Balder. Balder came over to visit Loki and Loki forgot to undo his security system. The death was so comical that the pantheon thought it wasn't fit for a God, so they made up the whole mistletoe story.
Kevin McCslister is an avatar of Loki
It's interesting that trickster figures in mythology always seem to have the most confusing and self-contradictory legends.
It's ALSO interesting how many tricksters are depicted as having some association with spiders.
Ancient Aliens be like: did the spider people decide to screw up mythological history to troll modern people.
Spider-myth, spider-myth, does whatever a spider-myth can.
You could say they liked to....weave a web of lies?
@@malaksafa4074 Take my like, now go stand in the corner and think about what you’ve done.
@@malaksafa4074 I mean, spiders are small, fast creatures that entangle prey with careful and delicately crafted webs. Plus they’re venomous and can sometimes take down larger prey.
I don’t think it’s too out there to see them as cunning, intelligent or tricksy creatures.
Loki is like the joker card. He can play any role you want in the narrative.
I literally cannot see the words Loki and Joker together because of Shuake brainrot help
Yes but now I want a production where every character is Loki.
@@little_tornado1804 Romeo and Juliet but everyone is played by Loki.
@@maxortof8553 Huh, I didn't expect to see another shuake brainrotter here. Dope
Loki: “If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice.”
“Step up your game, Duolingo.” You are very brave to challenge the eldritch abomination known as Duo.
Well, at least she'll arrive in Folkvangr to great applause...
Brave? Or foolish?
I bet don't time this century somebody is gonna be doing this type of a video about that particular eldritch being
WHAT. DUO FOLLOWED ME HERE? DUO, PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR SKIPPING YESTERDAY MY SINUSES WERE REALLY BAD DON'T HURT MY FAMILY
It’s simple: Spanish or vanish
I think Red likes talking about Loki so much because she relates to his chaotic nature so much.
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
She is a Loki, remember
That’s makes Sense
Chaos superiority.
I read that as catholic and was rather confused. 😂 😂 😂
LOKI IS LITERALLY THE FIRE IN THE HEARTH. “Mischievous” is surprisingly accurate take on fire! Like if you don’t keep your eye on it, it’ll catch something on fire or go out!
"Who's more irresponsible: the guy who gives birth to a horse or the guy who rides his nephew into battle."
Wow, and I thought Norse mythology couldn't sound any weirder. XD
Are they not the same person?
Both
@@alexritch6747 no, Loki gave birth to the horse and Odin (his bloodbrother) rides it into battle
For real... I didn't know Odin's horse was Loki's child. I just thought Odin or someone created a horse when he was too lazy to walk.
@@charlottekraker4152 But later in the video she says that maybe they are aspects of each other
can't believe Loki is Hestia, all the way down to "we have no histories about them because they remained on their own corner of housekeeping"
The most unexpected takeway of this video tbh.
would be even more funny if Rick Riordan made that cannon in his world. i mean we already have bleed through for thos who worship the gods. i could just see the greeks meeting with hestia and a couple einherjar walk up and boom loki.
Clearly there both patreon gods of gamers
@@alexandersen1372 That would be epic no lie
*brain explodes*
Odin: “What are you the god of, again?”
Loki: “Hell if I know!”
Karmic justice.
Literally my favourite comment
Hel: "Yes Dad?"
Hel: pa? what you want?
Loki: sorry my adorable little daughter
As a Norwegian, the reveal Askeladden (Ash Lad) might be an evolution of Loki absolutely launched my brain into outer space. It’s like hearing Mary poppins was actually derived from some eldritch god. It is of course known that Askeladden is old folklore, but it’s so alive in the current culture while the Norse gods in their original form aren’t, so it’s insanely cool.
Sidenote to this, I kinda wanna see what myths about Mary Poppins evolving out of an eldritch being would be like now…
"Comfy in there?"
"If I say yes, will you let me go?"
"Not a chance."
I lost it here.
Followed closely by "and he's *canonically pretty* so the fanfic kinda writes itself." OH LAWD. XD
i liked at 420 lol
I like the idea of Loki actually making his myth muddled so people would debate about it for centuries.
Odin and Loki in a contest to see who can mess with their mythologies and survive into the future the best. Odin becomes Santa, Loki gets his own TV show.
Sounds like a sitcom
That’s a very Loki thing to do.
@@mistletoecanary I think it is…?
Edit: oh wait that show was about him seeing/meeting other myths of him, not creating them
@@artemis_smith plot twist
Tom Hiddleston is Loki, playing a mortal, playing a fictional version of himself
I love how Loki is drawn as clearly having fun in all his roles, even Cartoon Lucifer, but he is visibly uncomfortable as the Antihero!
I am
I find it a little funny though considering Red has an entire video about why anti-heroes aren't really an actual thing.
I want to thumbs up this comment but it's at 666 👍 right now and Cartoon Lucifer Loki won't let me 😅
You forgot to mention Skoll, Hati and Garm. The wolves who eat the Sun and Moon and kill Tyr respectively. They're all the children of Fenrir, effectively making them Loki's grandchildren.
Fun fact, in the Poetic Edda Fenrir is the one who eats the moon, and there's no mention of garm being related to Fenrir
@@niserresin2006 I’m more going off of the Pros Eda, but really that doesn’t mean anything when Skoll and Hati are ESTABLISHED characters-so it wouldn’t make sense for them to not play their intended roles. Because they are mentioned in nearly every version since, so clearly, they exist. Don’t go trying to um actually me, pal.
@@niserresin2006 Garm has got to be related because he’s a wolf giant just like Fenrir, and Garm’s parentage is unknown so a lot has to be inferred.
Norse mythology is all fuzzy. And contradict all over the place. So you saying that it’s definitive is wrong because that’s only in one source. Whereas my knowledge also comes from one source. So we could be equally wrong or right.
So don’t start with me
@@Kaijugan I didn't intend for my comment to be nearly as combative as you're interpreting it as. If anything you're the one starting with me.
@@niserresin2006 It seemed to be rather combative from the way it was written. Seems I misinterpreted.
"Oh, such tangled webs we weave,
So tangled we catch centuries' worth of future scholars in it"
- Loki, probably
Ok I snorted 🤣😂🤣
Why did I hear that in MCU!Loki's voice? (curse you Tom Hiddleston)
An old saying from British intelligence: "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. But once we've practiced quite a bit, we find we get quite good at it!"
"Break the contract at any cost."
"Any cost except the actual price?"
The background jokes omg
Red: Loki doesn't seem to have any connections to spiders.
Loki: *has a child with a horse that literally is born with eight legs*
You are onto something.
@@aroncondorchoa989 I actually have my own hypothesis with regards to that.
Sleipnir was actually an important figure in Shamanist practices and in myths Sleipnir is frequently used to carry the gods to Helheim to speak with Hel, both by Odin and Hermod. He may represent travel between the realms of the living and the dead.
So that's why he has 2 sets of hooves, to gallop between the 2 different planes of existence. 1 set of hooves for traveling amongst the living and another set for traveling amongst the dead.
OH GOD
YOU JUST BLEW MY MIND
@@CollinMcLean That's an interesting theory. It seems pretty plausible.
Peter Parker: Am I joke to you?
Hypothetically if Loki was a god of the hearth and family, could Ragnarok have been a warning on betraying family?
Võluspá says that family will turn against family during Ragnarok, so yeah.
That makes sense to me
I love the "Backbiter" title because in English it sounds like a badass word for "backstabber" but in Swedish the word is "Bakbitare" which in context means something like "he who slanders/speaks ill of others" (basically it refers to the fact that Loki would insult/roast all of the Aesir). Problem is, in modern Swedish "bak" usually means "bum" so to my ears "Backbiter" translates to "He whose shenanigans comes back to bite him in the ass", which is very appropriate for Loki.
And that's why the Norse languages are amazing... everything is basically a super in depth metaphor for something else... I believe the term is a Kenning?
that's so fucking cool hahaha
Backstabber...sounds suspiciously like...Blackadder! There! Debate solved! Loki’s history is actually just Norse Blackadder.
@@CollinMcLean It really isn't much of a metaphor. "Backbiter" and "Bakbitare" both mean someone who insults others in their respective languages. The Swedish word "bak" and the English word "back" both have the exact same function in that they are both used as prefixes to indicate a counter or as a word for part of the human body. But because "bak" refers to a different and much less dignified body part "backbiter" sounds badass while "bakbitare" sounds comical, even though the words mean the exact same thing.
I just thought it was hilarious that the comical take on Loki's epithet fits him just as well as the serious one. It is obviously not the intended meaning, just a funny coincidence of linguistic drift.
it is always fun to play with translating stuff from one nordic language into another cause of false friends . . . a german youtuber translated the norwegian translation of some harry potter therms into swedish and lets just say . . . the meanings changed ^^
“Is Loki a spider? While possible and delightfully creepy, that particular spin-“
‘Spin’ is Dutch for ‘spider’ and I find this a delightful, if probably unintended, pun with the emphasis Red puts on the word.
It was already a pun! Spiders spin webs after all. Double puns!
oh, no, definitely intended. After all, spiders spin webs, no?
@@chaonis24601 Yeah... forgot about that. Still, double the pun, double the fun.
Anansi enters the chat
As a Norwegian, I can add in a phrase we use in everyday language where Loki is a verb. Example: "Slutt å loke rundt og gjør det du skal!" which translates to "Stop messing around, and do what you're told!" - where "loke" (Norwegian word for Loki is Loke, but as a verb it's with lowercase L) translates to "messing around", and is very commonly used by mothers to their children. It can also be used casually in a phone call like this: "Whatcha doin´?", answer: "Ah, jeg bare loker." - which loosely translates to "Ah, I'm just chillin´". So the verb "loke" can also mean "chillin´" or "relaxing" - not doing much. I don't know how far back this verb goes linguistically, but I think it's pretty old and it seems to fit the character of Loki quite well, so I'm positive there's a connection there.
Cool
That's great etymological insight, TY.
...Are you telling me Loker meaning Chilled like his ice giant roots?
@@GusOmega - No. She means that Loki or Loke is probably a nickname. I guess he had another (or maybe several) more ancient names. In Greece they called him (or a very similar character) Prometheus (foresight), which also sounds like a nickname. Due to their similarity, I (following Stephany 2012) suspect that the character represents a pre-Indoeuropean deity, never fully assimilated, maybe the same as Basque Sugaar (which maybe compares better to Loki's son Jormungandir, both being snake gods or dragon gods) and that the core mythology was developed in Central Europe in the time of Corded Ware (and its Vucedol offshoot, which is surely ancestral for the Greek branch) and the later Vasconic-influenced Bell Beaker period.
Im danish so i understand Half of What your saying but i also dont understand What your saying.
People have mentioned Loki as a God of the Hearth/Family/Children and Loki as a spider so; why not both?
Spiders are common in houses, I see a spider almost once a week. They have eight eyes and eight legs and like to tie up webs in high up places, almost "watching over" families. Furthermore, there's a lot of stories about spinners being spiderlike (Ariadne, though likely not relevant here, is a good example) and in a country that lives in Northern, cold places, the value of spinners and cloth-makers was probably very important-- it's likely that the women, caretakers of the family, were also in charge of textile production. This also ties into the fact that he keeps getting pregnant all the time, since he would be intrinsically tied to motherhood and weaving, along with his story about the fishing-net, in a similar way to how spiders catch their prey in webs.
Loki as a character would then be representative of the family in a spider-like way, always watching the family, good at hiding, and masterful at spinning both webs and nets.
This is actually a good theory. Spiders are the descendants of Arachne the weaver in Greek mythology, according to the Arachne myth. A little syncretism can really affect the characterization of creatures in mythology. We also don’t really know about the OG Arachne myth, so maybe it was from Scandinavia. Weavers provide cloth which gives warmth, tying into the hearth. Spiders also are tricksters considering they trick bugs into getting stuck in the webs, tying into the trickster idea. Children are tricksters, tying into the trickster idea. Then, the hearth creates families.
I kinda love that Loki is both "mother of monsters" and maybe has Hestia-like origins, besides being Mercury-ish and even a tad Jesus-y.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Would that mean he's a Jack of all Trades?
Mercury, Jesus, Hearth, scars
Now let simmer for one hour on low add some cheese and BAM Loki
It’s honestly iconic that the god of mischief is so hard to track down and analyze
Well, he was just too low key for anyone to notice. ;-)
Loki did that himself
Between the gender inconsistency, generally fuzzy history, use as a part of the name of other entitites, etc, I wouldn't be surprised if Loki started as a more general term for a kind of spirit that was later amalgamated into a single diety later to deeply confusing results.
kinda like the title of kami versus the name the Namekian called Kami, but much more misleading to a Western audience lol
That would actually make sense
Or more likely as old european deities go, regional variants fused together under the most common word.
E.g. West and South slavs by regions had the same core pantheon as far as ideas but genders were often flipped based on priority. The Judge/Judgess, Old Winter/Lady Winter, Morninglight/Maiden of Morning, etc. which both had their myths mixed AND in almost all regions but the ones under foreign invasions in the end became unified as a married couple that only together represent _insert_deific_role_here_. Except for the weird or less relevant ones. Like a sulking emo, three headed dog/goat-bird-man-mountain who may or may not be either a fusion dance of other gods or a mocking of the representation of deities of heaven, earth and underworld, a magic dragon who lost his dick as a dildo to either a lady death or lady winter or a OC Donut steel that 100% isnt just Thor being so cool he invaded another mythology, etc.
This happens a lot around the world. Could be the case in the Norse culture too
That's what I was thinking.
Just saying, I'd be very curious to see a "Mother of Monsters" video specifically talking about that motif. It's probably not common enough to be considered a Trope, but from the short list you gave it could probably be a Miscellaneous Myth of its own (maybe even a Halloween Special if you don't have anything else planned, although for all of the "this is the source of all the troubles in the world" I'm not sure it's necessarily all that _scary_).
Red: So Loki is a Satan figure... and also a Jesus figure.
Audience: ... What!?
Loki: PARKOUR
I mean, one of his epithets is Skywalker.
I read that as Susan
@@Duiker36 WTF
It could be explained with loki´s role as a scapegoat, which as Red expained , involved two scapegoats one got sacrificed(Jesus) and one got banished (Satan) and noone could agree who to equate loki to making him both
Red: "Loki's name could me the entangler"
Also Red: makes entire web flow chart full of Loki conspiracies trying to figure out his nature
Exactly
You've done it. You've solved it.
RED IS LOKI
@@ivy-ql7uz (Weren't thy Sun WuKong?)
@@fantasyshadows3207 They can be both
Loki being a deity of the hearth and family makes a lot of sense. Few things in this world are as chaotic as family.
I can drink to that 🍻
I can drink to that 🍻
Sounds about right
sounds about right mate, cheers! 🥂
Cheers!
Its so very Loki to have an inconsistent, unpinable, origin and spinning legends out of legends without a singular thread to follow and I completely love it even though it is kind of sad to not have a specific story to follow. Just kind of makes him all the more interesting
How interesting that Loki, who is possibly the god worshipped as a protector of the home and hearth, ends up usually being the one that solves all of the Aesir's problems, and in a way, protecting his home.
Not the most conventional protector, but damn if he doesn't protecc!
It's sad to really think that there is so much of history that humankind will literally never know again, because there aren't any records. It makes the tattered fragments of Loki's story seem precious by comparison to all the stories that we don't even know we're missing
On the other hand, consider the amount of dogshit scholars would have to wade through if Twitter and Facebook had already existed back then..
@@robpaul7544 xd
They even had inepventions that we could have used in modern day architecture
kind of a terrifying thought tbh. thinking what we missed
Even all of Norse Mythology as we know is just the tip of the iceberg of Germanic Mythology, the vast majority of which is even more lost than the Norse, leaving only far tinier hints and fragments. English, German, Dutch, Frisian, Gothic, Lombardic, all would've had similar and rich mythologies as well, but are almost entirely lost.
Loki as a "mischievous but ultimately benevolent guardian of the hearth and home" is a FASCINATING concept
It would be cool if they do Pokémon mythology
I KNOW! When she said that I was just !!! That's so COOL!!! I'd love a story like that
As I kid I was constantly told stories about the Ash-Lad, and him as a surviving part of Loki is really interesting. The Ash-Lad is definitely a witty trickster, though his morality really depends on which story. Sometimes he wins not just by being smart, but by being honest and compassionate, others he can get pretty bloody
@@marzi8087
Must you insist on spamming this comment?
@@marzi8087 pokemon isnt a mythology, and quit writing the same comment over and over, thats called spamming
Loki playing the "multiple choices backstory" card before it was cool.
All this convinces me of what I’ve always known, Bugs Bunny is the purest form of Loki.
Seems about right ✅
That, I believe, is Brer Rabbit, which is congent to the hare in many African myths
I mean, the cross dressing/gender fluidity, the trickery, the trolling while still being benevolent... It all fits perfectly.
oh he absolutely is
Does that imply Daffy or Elmer is Odin?
It's so cool that Red is willing to correct herself in later videos as she does more research. The mindset of a true scholar: always willing to improve one's knowledge.
Honestly, all I just want is a scene in modern media where someone’s asking Loki about Sleipnir, asks who the mother is, and Loki just deadpanning “me”
dont bring up sleipnir, he hates it when you bring it up.
@@kronoscamron7412 yes, because you wouldn't hate to have to answer the question "whos the mother of this 8 Legged horse" with "me"
I mean at least Loki was a horse when the "mating" happened. So........at least they risk dying like some who try to mate with horses and bulls.
Loki is the guy that made the "there's no cock like horse cock" song
With like, no soul visible in his eyes. (I’m thinking of what this would look like as a comic, sorry)
Fun Norse fact: the Norse used to try to “scare” away eclipses with battle cries. They thought that the sun was being eaten
I mean... if you can scare off a wolf bigger than a fucking star....
you're pretty badass
Tbh- a lot of acient cultures did think that
As a Norwegian I find it frustrating that no-one knows how big of a deal it is that Loke could have evolved into Espen Askeladd. Askeladden (the Ash Lad) is a BIG deal in Norway.
Everybody knows almost all of his antics by heart. Curiously though, most of his stories are in seperate continuities. He always ends up gaining the princess and half of the kingdom. Exept that one story where he tricks a troll into commiting seppuku during a porridge-eating contest.
Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, it could be an interesting subject for a video just quickly going through some of his farytales.
oh man. i didn't know that Ash Lad is Norway tale and that he is so big. Here, in Slovakia, he plays role in folklore as well, but it only one, long complicated epic fairy tale when he must travel far, kill dragon, gain princes, then deal with vnegence of dragon mother... it is my favorite fairy tale. Alslo, we have movie about him. But i have no idea there is another stories with him! i must chcek it
@@jurajbury995 I didn’t know that. I always think I just assumed he was an isolated figure. Thank you for sharing this.
I'd love an episode of Folklore Summarised about The Ash Lad! He sounds not too dissimilar to a sort of "Jack the Giant Killer" figure where he pops up all over the place in fairy stories.
@@clockworkkirlia7475 It also kinda reninds me of the Prince Ivan figure in lost of Slavic folklore where he's kinda just the dispirate hero of lots of stories. Different Prince Ivans but always the hero.
Yeah, as someone who grew up on Ash Lad fairy tales and norse mythology, the idea that Ash Lad and Loki is the same person BROKE my brain.
That is an amazing insight that makes SO MUCH SENSE. Even if there is no proof, I love that idea.
The fact that the stories of Loki have him as fairly fluid in shape, sexuality, and gender, it's point fitting his mythology are pretty fluid as well.
I mean with shape shifting (there is so much shape shifting in the myths about the gods), it makes sense.
Loki is whatever you want Loki to be
Ooh possibly gay
@@neroquin **gasp** HE’S A CAT NOW YOU CAN’T STOP ME
Like the SCP Foundation?
My favorite quote from the Loki wiki page is "No conclusions about Loki could be made"
Loki as hearthgod makes such perfect sense as I can see. Also, rather than entangler, perhaps it is of the web, in context of a hearthgod referring to the web of people that gather around the hearth. Thus moving Loki into the position of being the god of community and collaboration. This would recontextualize the deciets, hijinks, and schemes as the spontaneous creativity that can exist in a healthy community. The other gods are pretty explicitly confrontational and arrogant, so it would be bold, impressive, and understandable to attempt to deceive them to protect the community. It also contextualizes the shapeshifting, as a community is diverse, and includes all the species that make it up from the fruit tree to the mother, and so it would make sense for a god of community to have access to the breadth of forms that make up a community. So you have chaos, capriciousness, compassion, diversity, creativity, and the fostering of new life.
I love that Red decided that "Ancient Aliens" can be used as a verb.
That and "For ritual purposes"
Anything can, if you try hard enough
That gives me an idea.
Never thought I'd ever hear Loki and Jesus figure in the same sentence.
I foo
I'll tell you one more believable
Loki tricked a jesus figure. There.
turning wine into clamato
@@minecraftgirl8733 Or Loki killed the Jesus-figure Baldr :p
Your saviour is here!
Loki being the chief Housespriit makes sense. If you don't appease your house spirit they start playing pranks and being cheeky little shits.
If you continue to not, they start causing real problems. Odin disrespected Loki's children and so he ruined their world.
Seems fitting.
This is literally so Loki. Keep him happy and amused, your life is easy. Disrespect him or his family, and you'll probably end up finding things breaking or little fires starting.
can confirm, live with one
really likes the pillows to be stacked a certain way
It's like Brownies, little Celtic house elves essentially. They clean and tidy things up when you sleep, but only if you give them food and treat them with respect. If you don't, they'll let your shoes get ruined, your things will start breaking, and the house will slowly go into disarray.
According to my Swedish stepfather, "it's a bad idea to tick off your household spirit" is practically a whole subgenre of Scandinavian folktales, so that definitely would fit.
So Loki is a Godlike Brownie
Minor correction: Loki IS one of the big players with a day of the week named after him. Saturday used to be called "Logsday" after Loki, which is also where the Logsday mandela effect comes from.
"And to be honest, I don’t think there’s anything more quintessentially Loki than getting centuries worth of scholars at each other’s throats trying to figure out his one true nature."
Wow. That's just deep.
Loki: *sitting in his office eating popcorn and drinking soda while watching tis video* "It is a delightfully hilarious joke I must say"
I feel so bad for Fenrir. He was just a cute doggo hanging out 😔
One theory is that he kills Tyr.
Tyr is said to face Garm which is a dog that barks to alarm the Aesir, so he's on the wrong side.
Also, Odin transcends death as he's already died so can't be killed again.
Loki: "How adorable like a puppy. KILL IT!"
@@winggweeps dude that's his son
And red just had to make him extra cute and fluffy in this video :,(
Sad and ironic. If they had just left Fenrir Good Doggo alone to be best friends with Tyr, they could have had a bad ass wolf friend and Odin might not have had to die. Tragic.
I was gonna write something like “but wait, if Loki’s a protector of homes/children, what about that time he tricked that kid into breaking the leg of Thor’s goat and got him in trouble? That doesn’t seem very protector-y of him” But upon some googling and checking the ‘original’ story (aka reading Wikipedia, rewatching OSP’s video on utgard-Loki, and finding a website with the tale) theres actually no mention that Loki made the kid do it, he does it himself for the marrow.
However in the Hymiskviða (the story where thor gets the giant kettle for booze) the narrator says Thor’s goats’ lameness IS the fault of Loki. So Snorri doesn’t blame Loki in the prose edda, but the Poetic Edda does.
And I dunno why I spent ten minutes compiling all that into a UA-cam comment of all places, but hey, now you know.
That one throws an extra layer into his characterization because the Poetic Edda is much more of a compilation which makes accurately dating a huge pain. It's believed to have been written contemporaneously with the Prose Edda so it might actually be older but again it's hard to say because it's a collection of authors rather than a single author so many stories are probably older while some are possibly newer.
well, there was this other myth where Loki saves a child from being eaten by a hungry troll, and suceeded where Odin and the other gods failed.
Anyway he hears the please of a family who is being harrased by a troll for quite somethime, wanting to eat their son.
Basically, he turns the kid into an eyelash which he hides in the eye of a fish, then he sits on a boat with his net pretending to do some fishing when the troll shows up.
The troll knowing that the fact since this is Loki finds it sus, and asks if he could join him.
Anyway Loki quickly catches the fish he hid the kid in, turns him back, tells him to run as quickly as he can through a stone doorway.
the troll sees this and proceeds to chase the kid not notcing he´s too big for the door and gets stuck.
Loki then uses this opportunity to chop the monster´s head off, ensuring that the kid will never be bothered again.
And since Loki is associated with nets this make sense, since it shows up in this tale
@@weirdghastlygames So I looked into that, having read nearly every single book of Norse mythology I've come across and never hearing of that one before. The specific story is apparently "Loka Tattur" which doesn't come from any of the Icelandic sagas we've found so far but instead comes from a Ballad from the Faroe Islands. And it likely came much later in the Medieval period than the Viking age or when the sagas were codified.
And since the two other gods in that story were Odin and Hoenir, it's possible that "Loki" may actually be Lodurr. Who along with Odin and Hoenir helped to create the first humans. Although a not uncommon hypothesis is that Lodurr=Loki so... *shrugs*... it may be him? or not?
Further research needed...
Another scapegoat thing? The child made his own decision, but the blame is placed on Loki as the god/protector of the home, thus exonerating the child and saving him from the divine punishment. PLUS, it was probably Loki who watched the kids on the journey.
@@nicolersands That's another thing... Red does some good research but the scapegoat hypothesis is... flawed for a few reasons... as are some of the other comparisons...
I just have to say, I love the drawing Red did of Fenrir and Tyr after the Aesir put Fenrir in Gleipnir. It looks so simple (not saying anything about it was simple, for the record) but they both just look so sad.
Also, I noticed on that wikipedia page it described Loki's gender-fluidity as an inclusion in modern stories (while still adressing Loki's tendency to magically change gender,) and I do wanna point out that it's not as modern as wikipedia implies. In the story where Thor's hammer is stolen and Thor is disguised as Freyja and Loki is his handmaid; Thor continues to be referred to in masculine terms (husband of Sif, son of Odin, etc), while the story switches to using feminine terms when describing Loki (the handmaid.) So, even in that story, it's clear that Thor being dressed as a woman is just a disguise; but Loki's only disguise is who they're pretending to be, not what gender they are.