Gods and Myths of Northern Europe

is the being described in the Shorter Voluspa:

One was born in olden days,

of strength surpassing, kin to the Powers.

He, nail-resplendent, was born to nine

giant maids, on the edge of earth.

We have already seen that the idea of maidens of mighty strength, dwelling beneath the sea, is familiar in both Scandinavian and Irish tradition, and that they are linked with the giantesses of the underworld who play an important part in Norse mythology. It is further said in the poem quoted above:

To him was added the might of earth,

of ice-cold sea, and sacred swine-blood.

The swine we know to have been sacred to Freyr and the Vanir, and they in turn have close links with the giantesses. The strange word used in the poem, ‘nail-resplendent’, is found also applied to a great giant of the underworld, the father of the maid Menglo?, ‘necklace-glad’, who is believed to be connected with Freyja. To the Vanir and the powers of the underworld, then, Heimdall seems in some way to belong.

It is true that this connexion with the Vanir is implied rather than clearly obvious, but it is implied at several different points. Heimdall seems to have special links with Freyja. One of her names, Mardoll, is the counterpart of his, with mar, ‘sea’, replacing heim, ‘earth’. In ?rymskvi?a it is Heimdall who gives counsel how Freyja is to be saved from the giants, and there his name is linked with the Vanir, although unfortunately one cannot be sure from the context whether he is regarded as one of them or merely resembling them in his knowledge of hidden things. Freyja is also linked with the sea, and the power of the Vanir extended over water as well as land. Heimdall is said to have done battle with Loki, and their conflict is referred to in a tenth-century poem Haustlong. Once more we are unlucky in that the text of this is exceedingly obscure, and scholars have been unable to agree as to the exact meaning of the words. It seems that Heimdall was successful in the struggle, and was left in possession of the ‘precious stone’, which has been thought to be Freyja’s necklace, Brisingamen, stolen from her by Loki.

Much more could be said about Heimdall, but it would mean heaping up complexities and conflicting theories. The lost poem known to Snorri, Heimdallargaldr, is sorely needed to throw more light on the perplexing figure of the watcher of the gods. Voluspa begins with an invocation to the ‘sons of Heimdall’ to keep silent, and seems to imply that the sons of Heimdall are men, and that he is therefore regarded, as in Rigs?ula, as the father of mankind. In what sense he was so regarded it is difficult to determine. There is no indication of any cult associated with him, and place-names do not help us here. Yet the widely differing references to the White God have a convincing ring, and their very variety and inconsistency are an argument against the theory that Heimdall is a composite figure pieced together by the poets and Snorri. The link with the Vanir seems the most helpful clue to our understanding of him, since these would account for the different aspects in which he appears, his association with the protection of Asgard, with the sea, with the World Tree and the underworld, and finally with the fathering of mankind.

6. Loki

The place which Loki occupies in the circle at Asgard is as puzzling as that of Heimdall, although he is an even more prominent figure, and plays an important part in most of the well-known myths. Indeed to a reader of Snorri Loki is perhaps the most outstanding character among the northern gods, the chief actor in the most amusing stories, and the motivating force in a large number of plots. It is he who brings comedy into the realm of the gods, and tragedy into the story of Balder. On the other hand, to a reader of the poems Loki is a vaguer, more powerful and sinister figure. He is evidently an ambivalent character, neither wholly good nor wholly bad, although in Snorri’s tales the bad side predominates. By the late Viking age the wicked and dangerous side of his character seems to have been strengthened by comparison with the Christian Devil. Loki appears in Snorri to have been directly responsible for the death of Balder, but outside Snorri the evidence is slender, and many have thought that the picture of him as Balder’s murderer is a late development due to the gradual blackening of his reputation.¹ This is perhaps the most difficult of the many problems connected with Loki.

A characteristic of Loki, shared by no other gods except Odin and Thor, is his sociability. He has adventures in company with nearly all the important inhabitants of Asgard, Freyr being the exception. He is the companion of Odin and Thor; he fights Heimdall and kills Balder; he plays a part in both the creation and destruction of the world; he helps in the building of Asgard; he is at home among the giants and the monsters as well as the gods. There is no doubt as to his importance in the mythology of the north. Unsuccessful attempts have been made to identify him with the mysterious god Lo?urr, who is said to have taken part in the creation of man, but of whom little is known. But it has not been found possible to establish Loki as a major deity who has come down in the world of the gods, for there is no evidence of his worship among men, as in the case of Freyr and Thor, and even Tyr.

Here it is proposed to examine the picture of Loki given in the poems and the myths to see how far it is a consistent one. As to the age and reliability of the various sources in which he is mentioned, more will be said later.

It may be noted that even the Loki of Snorri’s tales is a mischievous rather than a wicked being. Sometimes his actions cause inconvenience and suffering to the gods, as when he helps a giant to steal the apples of immortality, or, in his desire to steal a salmon, kills an otter who has powerful relations to avenge him. Yet on other occasions it is Loki who rescues the gods from serious predicaments, as when he helps to regain Thor’s hammer by dressing him up as bride. Sometimes Loki acts under compulsion, either because the giants get him into their power or the angry gods insist on his righting some wrong he has done them. There is no doubt however that many of his acts, like the cutting off of Sif’s hair, are the doings of a naughty boy rather than crimes against the righteous gods. While he is both cunning and ingenious, it may be noted that his plans do not by any means always succeed.

Loki has certain magic powers, and the most outstanding is the ability to change his shape. When the giant was building the walls of Asgard, Loki turned himself into a mare and lured away the giant’s horse which served him so faithfully. It was while he was in mare’s form, according to Snorri, that Loki gave birth to Sleipnir, Odin’s eight- legged steed. When he was concerned in the theft of the apples, Loki was in bird form. When he went to look for Thor’s hammer, he was said to borrow the ‘feather form’ of Freyja, which meant flying in the shape of a bird. To prevent the clever dwarfs from winning their wager, he turned himself into a fly and stung the smith at a critical moment. He is said to have taken the form of a flea when he wanted to steal Freyja’s necklace. One interpretation of a difficult verse in Haustlong implies that Heimdall and Loki fought in the form of seals, while at the end of Lokasenna he is said to have become a salmon in the river to escape the anger of the gods. According to Snorri, Loki took on the form of an old woman to prevent Balder coming back to Asgard. Finally, as well as giving birth to Sleipnir, he is said to be the father of monsters, and thus to have been responsible for the creation of the wolf Fenrir and the World Serpent, as well as the terrible goddess Hel, the guardian of the realm of death.

In this way, Loki is connected with the darker elements in the northern mythical world, and this tie is at least as early as the skaldic poets of the ninth century. It has been explained by some scholars as a derivation from medieval works on demonology like those of Isidore of Seville. We cannot however rule out the possibility that the kennings which link Loki with the monsters are founded on genuine heathen tradition, even though they have a vague general resemblance to learned speculation on the origin of monsters and devils. The binding of Loki may also be an early tradition, although here again it is difficult to be sure how far there has been influence from learned works. Old English accounts of the Genesis story certainly emphasize the binding of the Devil to a surprising extent, and it was a favourite subject for illustration in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts of the tenth century. This may have been because the idea of a bound giant was already familiar in heathen times. In northern England there are carved stones from the Viking age showing monstrous bound figures, which could be identified with either Satan or Loki. On the Gosforth Cross in particular we have what seems to be a faithful representation of the story of Loki’s binding as told by Snorri. The bound figure is lying in a position where snakes can drop venom on him from above, while a