Loki's Children [15/100]
Dec. 28th, 2012 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tilly_stratfordWith Loki's rakish good looks and unmatched charisma, it's no wonder several women (and possibly some men - and let's not forget the stallion) had children with him. Today I'd like to focus on just three of them.
Loki's conquest this time was a Jotun woman living in Ironwood (Iárnvid) in Jotunheimr. Her name was Angrboða ("she-who-offers-sorrow"), who might be identical with the witch called Iárnvidia ("she-of-Ironwood"). She had children with countless men, and it was said she only gave birth to wolf-shaped Jotuns, but Loki proved that theory wrong. One had the shape of a wolf cub. The other, the shape of a serpent. The last was a girl who looked like any human except half of her was black as coal.
At first the gods didn't worry - they'd already accepted Loki into their community, and when his long-suffering godess wife Sigyn had bore him two sons, Narfi and Vali, no harm had come of that. But Odin sought out a Volva, a seeress, who prophesized these three children growing up in Jotunheimr would be the death of both Odin and Thor.
Odin, showing no understanding of the genre, decided something had to be done to make sure the prophesy didn't come true. He commanded that the gods should bring Loki's three Jotun children to him, so that he could change their destinies.
Willy Pogany: The Children of Loki, 1920.
Odin gave the girl the title of Queen of the Underworld, and let her take up residence in the cold Realm at the far end of the world: Whether the realm is named Helr after her or if she was named after the Realm no one knows, but I've talked about her job ruling over the dead earlier.
Odin then took the serpent and threw it into the ocean, where it's grown so big these days that it can circle all of Midgard and still bite its own tail; that's why it's known as The Midgard Serpent, though technically its name is Jormungandr ("the great staff"). It's also been called Ôgseimr ("sea-thread").
The eldest, the wolf-Jotun called Fenrir ("fen-dweller"), had become so big and powerful nobody but the bravest god Týr dared to spend time with him and feed him. Odin decided the safest thing would be to bind Fenrir, and he had the gods smithe a mighty fetter named Leyding. The gods showed Fenrir the fetter and suggested he might try and break it. Fenrir said that wouldn't be a problem, and let them bind him with it. Almost immediately the fetter snapped, and Fenrir was free of Leyding.
The gods made a second fetter, as strong as they could possibly make it, and they called it Dromi. They told Fenrir he would earn the name Hróðvitnir ("fame-wolf") if he managed to break it, and even though Fenrir was apprehensive, he let them bind him. He strained against the fetter, kicked at it with his feet, and BAM, Dromi broke with such force the pieces flew far away.
Oh no! What were the gods to do? They'd used all their engineering skills making Dromi, and Fenrir was still unbound. Odin thought about it long and hard, and realized his last hope was the masters of smithing, the Dwarves of Svartalfheimr. He sent Freyr's messenger Skírnir ("bright one") to commission one, and the dwarves immediately started collecting ingredients for the world's strongest fetter: They used fish breath, women's beards, bird spit, mountain roots, the noise of catpaws, and bear sinews; And they needed so much they used up all that existed of these six things (and this is the point in the story where you have to silence the smartalecs that want to tell you several of these things technically still exist - the vikings were certain they didn't, that's the end of that).
Despite of its strenght and odd ingredients, the fetter, named Gleipnir, looked and felt just like a silken ribbon. Skírnir brought it back to the gods, who travelled with Fenrir to the island of Lyngvi to test the fetter. But when Fenrir saw Gleipnir he became suspicious. He said "If it's really a ribbon of silk I won't earn any fame by breaking it. I think instead it must be made of magic and trickery and it that case I won't let you bind me with it." The gods answered that if Fenrir wasn't even able to break a silk ribbon the gods had nothing to fear from him and they'd release him immediately.
Fenrir hesitated, but answered that instead of questioning his courage, he wanted one of the gods to place his hand in Fenrir's mouth as a sign of good faith. The gods were silent. Then Týr spoke up and said he'd do it. He placed his hand in Fenrir's mouth as the gods tied Gleipnir around the wolf.
John Bauer: Týr and Fenrir, 1911.
(I love John Bauer's art with the exception of the silly winged helmets)
When it was done, Fenrir kicked, and strained, and squirmed, but Gleipnir just became tighter around him, until he finally snapped his jaws shut and bit off Týr's hand.
The gods used a second bond, Gelgja, to secure the wolf to a slab of stone called Gjöll, which they buried deep. They used another stone, Thviti, as an anchoring peg. Fenrir howled and tried to bite the gods, but they stuck a sword into his mouth so that the hilt stood on his jaw and the point jabbed into his upper gums. Fenrir yelped and howled and the spit that ran out of his mouth formed the river Ván ("hope"), which is why Vánagandr ("monster of the river Ván") is another one of Fenrir's names.
It was all for nought, of course, Loki's children are still going to kill Odin and Thor, more on that later.
And that's why you don't set about trying to change prophesies!
Loki's conquest this time was a Jotun woman living in Ironwood (Iárnvid) in Jotunheimr. Her name was Angrboða ("she-who-offers-sorrow"), who might be identical with the witch called Iárnvidia ("she-of-Ironwood"). She had children with countless men, and it was said she only gave birth to wolf-shaped Jotuns, but Loki proved that theory wrong. One had the shape of a wolf cub. The other, the shape of a serpent. The last was a girl who looked like any human except half of her was black as coal.
At first the gods didn't worry - they'd already accepted Loki into their community, and when his long-suffering godess wife Sigyn had bore him two sons, Narfi and Vali, no harm had come of that. But Odin sought out a Volva, a seeress, who prophesized these three children growing up in Jotunheimr would be the death of both Odin and Thor.
Odin, showing no understanding of the genre, decided something had to be done to make sure the prophesy didn't come true. He commanded that the gods should bring Loki's three Jotun children to him, so that he could change their destinies.
Willy Pogany: The Children of Loki, 1920.
Odin gave the girl the title of Queen of the Underworld, and let her take up residence in the cold Realm at the far end of the world: Whether the realm is named Helr after her or if she was named after the Realm no one knows, but I've talked about her job ruling over the dead earlier.
Odin then took the serpent and threw it into the ocean, where it's grown so big these days that it can circle all of Midgard and still bite its own tail; that's why it's known as The Midgard Serpent, though technically its name is Jormungandr ("the great staff"). It's also been called Ôgseimr ("sea-thread").
The eldest, the wolf-Jotun called Fenrir ("fen-dweller"), had become so big and powerful nobody but the bravest god Týr dared to spend time with him and feed him. Odin decided the safest thing would be to bind Fenrir, and he had the gods smithe a mighty fetter named Leyding. The gods showed Fenrir the fetter and suggested he might try and break it. Fenrir said that wouldn't be a problem, and let them bind him with it. Almost immediately the fetter snapped, and Fenrir was free of Leyding.
The gods made a second fetter, as strong as they could possibly make it, and they called it Dromi. They told Fenrir he would earn the name Hróðvitnir ("fame-wolf") if he managed to break it, and even though Fenrir was apprehensive, he let them bind him. He strained against the fetter, kicked at it with his feet, and BAM, Dromi broke with such force the pieces flew far away.
Oh no! What were the gods to do? They'd used all their engineering skills making Dromi, and Fenrir was still unbound. Odin thought about it long and hard, and realized his last hope was the masters of smithing, the Dwarves of Svartalfheimr. He sent Freyr's messenger Skírnir ("bright one") to commission one, and the dwarves immediately started collecting ingredients for the world's strongest fetter: They used fish breath, women's beards, bird spit, mountain roots, the noise of catpaws, and bear sinews; And they needed so much they used up all that existed of these six things (and this is the point in the story where you have to silence the smartalecs that want to tell you several of these things technically still exist - the vikings were certain they didn't, that's the end of that).
Despite of its strenght and odd ingredients, the fetter, named Gleipnir, looked and felt just like a silken ribbon. Skírnir brought it back to the gods, who travelled with Fenrir to the island of Lyngvi to test the fetter. But when Fenrir saw Gleipnir he became suspicious. He said "If it's really a ribbon of silk I won't earn any fame by breaking it. I think instead it must be made of magic and trickery and it that case I won't let you bind me with it." The gods answered that if Fenrir wasn't even able to break a silk ribbon the gods had nothing to fear from him and they'd release him immediately.
Fenrir hesitated, but answered that instead of questioning his courage, he wanted one of the gods to place his hand in Fenrir's mouth as a sign of good faith. The gods were silent. Then Týr spoke up and said he'd do it. He placed his hand in Fenrir's mouth as the gods tied Gleipnir around the wolf.
John Bauer: Týr and Fenrir, 1911.
(I love John Bauer's art with the exception of the silly winged helmets)
When it was done, Fenrir kicked, and strained, and squirmed, but Gleipnir just became tighter around him, until he finally snapped his jaws shut and bit off Týr's hand.
The gods used a second bond, Gelgja, to secure the wolf to a slab of stone called Gjöll, which they buried deep. They used another stone, Thviti, as an anchoring peg. Fenrir howled and tried to bite the gods, but they stuck a sword into his mouth so that the hilt stood on his jaw and the point jabbed into his upper gums. Fenrir yelped and howled and the spit that ran out of his mouth formed the river Ván ("hope"), which is why Vánagandr ("monster of the river Ván") is another one of Fenrir's names.
It was all for nought, of course, Loki's children are still going to kill Odin and Thor, more on that later.
And that's why you don't set about trying to change prophesies!
