Norse Mythology: Binding of Loki

After causing the death of Balder, Loki insults and pours out the secrets of everyone who makes him angry, making the gods even angrier at him. As he is responsible for Balder's death, Loki runs away and hides in deserted parts of Midgard

The trickster, fearing being tracked down, would often wake up in alarm when a gull or scree surrounded him. Loki's anxiety grew, and he considered hiding in a cauldron at the base of Franang's Falls. He feared the gods would catch up with him, but he was more afraid of vengeance and vowed to remain at large for as long as he could. The shape changer, who often turned into a salmon at dawn, felt unsafe in the cauldron. Loki's fear of vengeance led him to remain at large for as long as he could.

Loki, as a wise god, created a net with a fine mesh that could not slip through even a small fish. He threw the net into the fire and hurried out of the door, turning himself into a salmon and slipping into the boiling, icy water. Odin sent a party of gods from Asgard to capture Loki. Kvasir, the wisest, copied the pattern of gleaming white ash and created a wide net to drag the pool at the base of the falls and the river that hurried down the valley to the sea.

At dawn, the gods walked down under Franang's Falls, and Loki waded across the water to catch the salmon. They tried again, using stones to weigh the bottom of the dragnet. Loki swam ahead of them, but this time there was no safety on the river bed. He swam ahead of them, and the gods argued about how to catch the salmon. Kvasir suggested splitting into two groups, except for Thor, who wades in midstream just behind the net.

Loki swam downstream, thinking the gods might catch him before he reached the safety of deep water. He turned into a rainbow and sprang over the net, catching the salmon. Thor held onto the slippery salmon by its tail, but it could not escape. Loki was finally caught, and he knew it.

Thor and one group led Loki into a Mrilit cave, while the other group pursued Loki's two sons, Vali and Narvi. Vali was transformed into a wolf, and Narvi's body was ripped apart. The gods took over and bound Loki with his own son's gut, causing his entrails to become as hard as iron. Skadi carried a vile snake into the cave, allowing its venom to drip directly on Loki's face. Loki lay still, looking at nobody, and the gods left him to his fate and faithful Sigyn. Sigyn holds a wooden bowl over Loki's face, filling it with the snake's venom.

Sigyn carries a bowl of poison into a rock basin, leaving Loki unguarded. The snake venom splashes on Loki, causing him to shudder and writhe, and the earthquakes. Thus, Loki will remain bound this exact way until Ragnarok.

Resources Cited:

• Snorri Sturluson, Prose Edda, The Binding of Loki