Loki

Loki is a god in Norse mythology. Loki engineers the death of the beloved god Baldr and is bound by the gods and suffers from serpent venom. His wife Sigyn collects the venom in a bowl. However, she must empty the bowl when it is full and the venom that drips in the meantime causes Loki to writhe in pain, thereby causing earthquakes.

As part of the events of Ragnarök, Loki is foretold to eventually break free from his bonds and, among the forces of the jötnar, to go to battle with the gods, during which time he and his monstrous children play a key role in the destruction of humanity down to all but two humans. Loki has a particular enmity with the god Heimdallr, and they are foretold to kill one another during Ragnarök.

He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Nari and Váli. By the jötunnAngrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir and the world serpent Jörmungandr.

In the form of a mare, Loki was chased down and impregnated by the stallion Svaðilfari and gave birth to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Like other gods, Loki is a shape shifter. In addition to the shape of a mare, he appears in the form of a salmon, a fly, and possibly an elderly woman named Þökk (Old Norse 'thanks').

Loki is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources: the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, composed or compiled in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; the Norwegian Rune Poem, in the poetry of skalds, and in Scandinavian folklore.

Loki may be depicted with his mouth stitched closed on the Snaptun Stone, the Kirkby Stephen Stone and bound on the Gosforth Cross.

Scholars have debated Loki's origins and role in Norse mythology, noting that he is unlikely to have received any kind of veneration but played a notable role in myth. Some have described him as a trickster god. Loki has been depicted in, or referenced in, a variety of media in modern popular culture.