The Binding of Loki

Loki, the trickster god was in trouble, and he knew it. When you are

responsible for the death of one of the most favoured of the gods, you

have to know that there are going to be consequences! What follows is

the story of the binding of Loki, which does not specifically mention

Odin’s ravens, but they are never far away and when a god tries to hide,

it would not be too big a jump to suspect Odin had his avian eyes

looking for him.

We should start at the beginning, which is the death of the god, Balder.

Balder was the son of Odin and his wife Frigg. As he was a beautiful and

just god, he was a favourite with the other gods and generally well liked

by all. Balder could not be harmed by most things and sometimes the

gods would amuse themselves by throwing things at him, knowing he

could not be harmed. However, there was one thing that could harm him

and Loki tricked Höd, the blind god, into throwing the one thing that

could kill Balder – mistletoe. To make matters worse, Loki disguised

himself as the giantess Thäck and refused to cry at Balder’s funeral

meaning Balder could not be released from death. All in all, Loki messed

up and angered the other gods, including Odin who had lost his son to

Loki’s tricks.

The gods were mourning the loss of Balder, but once the time of

mourning had passed, then the time of anger and revenge would follow.

Loki was not stupid, and he knew that he needed to get as far away from

Asgard as he could before Odin came for him.

So, he fled to Midgard, looking for somewhere he would be safe from the

anger of Odin and the gods. Loki settled in the mountains surrounding

Franang’s falls where he built himself a house and hid.

Loki was on edge and every sound he heard made him believe that he

had been discovered. Loki was not stupid, and he knew that it was a

matter of when Odin came for him and not if he came. All Loki could

hope was that he would be able to avoid his fate for as long as possible.

Loki is a shapeshifter and so thinking he may be safer in another form,

he changed into a salmon and jumped into the pool at the base of the

falls, hiding amongst the other fish.

Odin, however, sees all and no matter how hard Loki tried to hide, Odin

knew where he was. Finally, Odin acted and sent out a group of gods to

capture Loki. Loki was sitting in his house when he saw a group of his

follow gods approaching. He had been making a fishing net to capture

even the smallest of fish, but he threw the net onto the fire and ran to the

falls, once again hiding in the form of a salmon.

The gods arrived at Loki’s house and saw the net burning on the fire.

Kvasir, the wisest of the gods, realised what it was and told the other

gods that they should prepare their own net and go fishing.

The gods tried three times to catch Loki in his salmon form until they

were successful when Thor managed to grab Loki by his tail and hold

him tight. Loki knew that his freedom was over and now this punishment

would begin.

The next part of the story is not for the faint hearted as Loki’s

punishment was harsh and bloody. Unfortunately, he was not the only

member of his family to be punished for the death of Balder; Loki’s sons

also paid a very heavy price for their father’s sins. Whilst Thor took Loki

to a dark, dank, cave, a group of gods when to find Loki’s sons, Vali and

Narvi. When they returned, they turned Vali into a wolf who immediately

attacked his brother Narvi, tearing him limb from limb before running

away towards Jotunheim.

Once Vali had departed, the gods finished off Narvi and pulled his guts

from his body which they then used to secure Loki to three slabs of

stone. Once they have completed tying Loki, Narvi’s guts turned as hard

as iron.

At this point, we should probably mention that Loki’s wife, Sigyn, and the

mother of both Vali and Narvi, was watching as her son was

disembowelled and her husband tied up with his insides! She was,

understandably, distraught!

Once Loki was tied tight, Skadi, a giantess and goddess associated with

winter, hunting, and the mountains, brough a snake to the cave placing it

so that its venom would forever drip onto Loki’s face. The gods left Loki

to his fate, but his devoted wife remained with him, holding a bowl above

his face to catch the dripping venom before it reached Loki. However,

every now and then, she had to empty the bowl into a rock crevice which

resulted in a pool of poison. Whilst she emptied to bowl, there was

nothing to prevent the venom from hitting Loki’s skin and he would writhe

in agony whilst he waited for the loyal Sigyn to return to hold the bowl

over his face.

Loki will remain where he is, bound by the entrails of his son, until the

time of Ragnarök when he will be free.