Thursday, December 5, 2013

Loki Had Kids: a Short Mythology Lesson

Yes, Loki had children. According to Norse mythology, Loki had three children. The first was a son, named Fenrir, the second was another son, Jormungand, and the third was a daughter named Hel. They all lived in Asgard, until Odin got tired of them and their evilness, he was even warned by another god to be wary that they will endanger him and his own family. Jormungand was thrown into the sea by Odin, he is often depicted as a giant snake that bites his own tail. Loki's daughter, Hel, was sent to guard the underworld, where she would live with and look out for the dead, which she accepted without complaint. Fenrir, a wolf, was simply kept under observation as he did not seem to be much different from other wolves, until he started growing larger and larger each day. At some point he got too large for the comfort of his fellow gods, they realized that since they could not kill him, they needed to get him and his evil blood out of Asgard. They attempted to tie him up with chains called Laeding, which he breaks without much of a problem. They tried a second time, this time tying him up with chains called Dromi, which was twice as strong as the Laeding, these he too was able to break. In a panic, Odin turned to the dwarves to create a chain strong enough to hold his grandson. The chain they created was called Glepnir, which was made of some very strange things...like a woman's beard and fish spittle (yea, idk, found this in a mythology book!). When the gods attempted to put this rope around Fenrir, he demanded that as an act of good faith one of Odin's sons put his hand in Fenrir's mouth. So, Tyr (a son of Odin) put his hand in Fenrir's mouth and as the rope tightened around Fenrir, his mouth ended up tightening around Tyr, who ended up loosing his hand over this whole ordeal. He is then gagged with a sword and waits for the end of the world, which Norse mythology refers to as Ragnarok. There are some references to Fenrir breathing fire, but that part is unclear. Fenrir was, in the end, killed by Vidar (another son of Odin) during Ragnarok.

Uffdah! Well, there's an information dump for you! I'm sorry it's not terrifically written, but I thought it was interesting. I also picked up a fiction book called Fenrir, which I am anxiously waiting to read.

Oh! Note! For the next two weeks, I am going to be super stressed because my CPT exam is the 19th! Here's to hoping that I pass!!! Talk about nerve wracking! But on the plus side, my new job as a soon-to-be-personal-trainer is really teaching me a lot and I'm super excited to get started!

I hope you enjoyed the mini history lesson!
Love,
Sara :)

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