Inside and against the group
Gylfaginning identifies Loki as the son of Fárbauti and Laufey and places him among the gods despite his disruptive conduct. He is also a parent of Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel by Angrboða. Those relationships make the gods’ threats part of an extended web of kinship, not an unrelated population outside the narrative.
In the hammer-recovery poem, Loki’s quick answers keep Thor’s disguise intact. In the prose Baldr story, the same resourcefulness exposes the gap in Frigg’s protection and helps turn a game into a killing. “Trickster” is a convenient comparative label, but it does not explain away the sharply different consequences of these acts.
Sources: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation); The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Þrymskviða 3–8, 26–28; Gylfaginning, chapter IX, §§33–34; chapter XV, §50
A changing narrative role
After Baldr’s death, Gylfaginning describes Loki’s capture and binding. Sigyn catches dripping venom above him; when she empties the vessel, his pain causes the earth to shake. At Ragnarök he is free and fights on the opposing side. The prose pairs him with Heimdall in a mutually fatal duel.
The atlas does not turn Loki into a Christian devil or a modern franchise character. Neither comparison can substitute for reading what a particular witness says. His role is especially useful for source comparison because some poems leave actions merely alluded to, while Snorri’s prose supplies explicit connections.
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §54; chapter XVI, §56
- Period / witness
- Poetic Edda witnesses chiefly thirteenth century CE; Prose Edda composed c.1220 and preserved in later copies. Mythic events are undated.
- Recording context
- Medieval Icelandic textual preservation; the principal Poetic Edda manuscript, Codex Regius, dates to c.1270. Recording and copying locations do not establish the birthplace of a story.
A recording location is not necessarily a story’s origin. Dates of texts, copies, and translations answer different questions.
Explore time & place →Read the sources
These references support the explanation above. Rights and edition notes are recorded individually.
The Poetic Edda (1923 translation) ↗
Anonymous Old Norse poets; translated by Henry Adams Bellows (1885–1939) · 1923 translation; medieval poems preserved principally in manuscripts of the thirteenth century
Edition & rights noteThe Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) ↗
Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241); translated by Rasmus B. Anderson (1846–1936) · 1901 printing of Anderson’s translation (copyright 1879); medieval work composed in Iceland around the 1220s
Edition & rights note