We’ve been
hitting the Greeks pretty hard with these spotlight posts, but now it’s time to
lighten things up with the apocalypse. And who better to start things off than
the Norse?
One of the
more important aspects of Ragnarok is to understand what led up to it. Odin has
been trying to delay the start of Ragnarok thanks to gaining knowledge from the
Well of Mimir and his sacrifice on Yggdrasil, which means that certain checkpoints
will either hasten or delay the onset, and the biggest of these is the death of
the god Baldur, who is loved by all of the gods.
Now, this
story, like most of the truly good Norse stories, involves Loki. Thanks to the
Thor and the Avengers movies, Loki has seen a resurgence in popularity. Tom
Hiddleston is absolutely perfect for the role, and the characterization is
absolutely perfect. The only real difference between the movie version and
mythology version is the sense of humor. Loki is a trickster god, so he plays
more tricks. While they can turn out to be very sadistic, they are always funny
to Loki. One of the best stories is where he shaves Sif’s (Thor’s wife) head
completely bald (but that’s a different myth).
So pair the
death of Baldur up with a sadistic practical joker like Loki, and already this
story is going to be interesting. This all began because Baldur had some bad
dreams. Being good parents, Odin and Frigga took oaths from everyone and everything
that they would not harm Baldur. And, being Norse, all the gods decided to get
together to test the theory, throwing things at Baldur, making a party out of
it. This sounds like just about any group of guys, especially when alcohol is
involved. It works! He’s invulnerable, even to Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir.
Loki arrives and is confused, so he
takes the shape of a woman and asks Frigga about the whole thing. Frigga,
however, did overlook the mistletoe, which she thought was harmless. Worse
still, she told Loki about this.
We have to pause here as this is an
important bit. According to the myth, as “a wife of Odin, Frigga was incapable
of lying” (Bierlein 232). I think the lying thing extends beyond simply Odin’s
wife. Both Odin and Frigga obtained oaths from everything (except the mistletoe
because Frigga didn’t bother to ask) that they would not harm Baldur. Odin even
went so far as to get oaths from Hel, the goddess of death, and her mother
Angerbode.
The oaths are enough for Odin and
Frigga. This implies that the ideas of an honor code, of keeping one’s word,
and holding to the truth are important to the culture. I think it’s safe to say
that it even goes beyond this to indicate the importance of truth in the
culture. The wording is specific, too. Frigga is incapable of lying. Breaking the truth cannot be done. It’s not
that she chose not to; she had no choice in the matter.
The truth and oaths are irrevocable
concepts to the Norse gods, then. Even those gods and beings who would
supposedly be reviled such as Hel and Angerbode are bound by oaths and the
truth. However, this also points out the fatal flaw to everything. Loki is a
trickster god. His very nature is that he does not speak the truth. There could be no tricks without deception and
falsehood. He must be capable of
lying in order to obey his very nature.
The idea that other gods are
incapable of breaking oath or telling anything but the truth magnifies Loki’s
power. He is alone in a world of truth tellers, where he can eagerly lie and
deceive at will. Anything gained by deception is his, even as he deceives
Frigga by changing his shape into a woman. This is also an important
distinction. Frigga could not lie, but neither is she required to give an
answer, but she did not perceive any danger from a woman (much like the mistletoe)
and so spoke.
I have to bring this back to the
Norse knowledge myth, where Odin got his runes. Those runes form the basis of
the Norse language, and are words of truth. Likewise, Odin exchanged his eye in
order to see the truth of what is and what is to be. Yet here we have Loki who
has power built on falsehoods. If Odin’s power of truth is to forestall the
onset of Ragnarok, then Loki’s can only hasten it.
Loki’s good at his job.