In Old Norse the word ‘loki’ means knot or tangle, and he may have been considered responsible for some of the misfortunes that befell men, and therefore be a kind of trickster god, but there is little evidence for this.

While he was considered a trickster, his mischief was mostly a foil for the Aesir gods, and not for men. One way in which Loki is different from the Aesir gods is that he did not have an area of responsibility that he symbolised, such as war or fertility. For example, Thor was the son of Odin with the giantess Jord, a being that symbolised the earth. This did not make Loki so different from the Aesir gods, many of which had giant ancestors. Norse giants were not creatures of great stature, but rather being with powers quite similar to those of the Aesir gods, but rather than being dedicated to order, they embraced chaos. Not that there is much to distinguish between the gods and giants in Norse mythology. So where do modern, Marvel inspired ideas about Loki end, and the real Loki of Norse mythology begin? WHO IS LOKI?Īccording to Norse mythology, Loki lived in Asgard alongside the likes of Odin, king of the Aesir gods, and Thor, god of Thunder.īut Loki was not one of the Aesir gods, he was a giant. Loki is often called the trickster god of Norse mythology.īut in actual fact Loki was not one of the Aesir gods, and while his tricks often put the Norse gods in difficult situations, there are no surviving Norse stories of him playing havoc in the lives of men.

Loki mother of sleipnir