Editing Loki (section)

{{Short description|Norse deity}}
{{For-multi|the Marvel character|Loki (Marvel Comics)|and|Loki (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|other uses}}
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[[File:Processed SAM loki.jpg|thumb|Loki with a fishing net (per ''[[Reginsmál]]'') as depicted on an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript (SÁM 66)]]
'''Loki''' is a [[Æsir|god]] in [[Norse mythology]]. He is the son of [[Fárbauti]] (a [[jötunn]]) and [[Laufey (mythology)|Laufey]] (a goddess), and the brother of [[Helblindi]] and [[Býleistr]]. Loki is married to the goddess [[Sigyn]] and they have two sons, [[Narfi (son of Loki)|Narfi or Nari]] and [[Váli (son of Loki)|Váli]]. By the [[jötunn]] [[Angrboða]], Loki is the father of [[Hel (being)|Hel]], the wolf [[Fenrir]] and the world serpent [[Jörmungandr]]. In the form of a [[mare]], Loki was impregnated by the stallion [[Svaðilfari]] and gave birth to the eight-legged horse [[Sleipnir]].

Like other gods, Loki is a [[Shapeshifting|shape shifter]] and in separate sources appears in the form of a [[salmon]], a [[mare]], a [[Fly (animal)|fly]], and possibly an elderly woman named [[Þökk]] (Old Norse 'thanks'). While sometimes friendly with the gods, Loki engineers the death of the beloved god [[Baldr]]. For this, [[Odin]]'s specially engendered son [[Váli]] binds Loki with the entrails of one of his sons, where he writhes in pain. In the ''[[Prose Edda]]'', this son, Nari or Narfi, is killed by another of Loki's sons, who is also called [[Váli (son of Loki)|Váli]]. The goddess [[Skaði]] is responsible for placing a serpent above him while he is bound. The serpent drips venom from above him that [[Sigyn]] collects into 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.

Loki is foretold to eventually break free from his bonds and, among the forces of the [[jötunn|jötnar]], to go to battle with the gods, during which time his children play a key role in the destruction of [[Líf and Lífþrasir|all but two humans]] over the events of [[Ragnarök]]. Loki has a particular enmity with the god [[Heimdallr]]. The two are in fact prophesied to kill one another during Ragnarök.

Loki is attested in the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources: the ''Prose Edda'' and ''[[Heimskringla]]'', written in the 13th century by [[Snorri Sturluson]]; the [[Rune Poems|Norwegian Rune Poems]], in the poetry of [[skald]]s, and in Scandinavian folklore. Loki may be depicted on the [[Snaptun Stone]], the [[#Kirkby Stephen Stone and Gosforth Cross|Kirkby Stephen Stone]] and the [[Gosforth Cross]]. Scholars have debated Loki's origins and role in Norse mythology, which some have described as that of a [[trickster god]]. Loki has been depicted in, or referenced in, a variety of media in modern popular culture.