The Norse Gods are Terrible People
According to Neil Gaiman, Odin is the Biggest Crook of the Bunch
The Norse gods are terrible people. Really, they are.
Just think about it like this: if the guys from Marvel (in movies like The Avengers and Thor: Ragnarok) have shown that the Norse gods are poor family members, it’s Neil Gaiman that takes this up a notch. As far as the English fantasy writer is concerned, Odin and his friends aren’t “just” horrible partners and siblings. They aren’t even just bad rulers. In truth, they are full-on terrible people.
In Gaiman’s book Norse Mythology, the author makes this point crystal clear. And it’s not just the usual black sheep Loki that ends up being a villain. In the chapter The Children of Loki, it’s the noble All-Father Odin that turns out to be the wolf in sheep’s clothing. If sheep had a beard and one eye, that is.
The Deceit of the Gods
Let’s be clear about one thing: Loki is a fraud. He is, after all, the God of Lies.
Just take a look at his behavior: he cheated on his wife, spawned three bastards, and lied about it to Odin. Surely, the All-Father would be above this kind of stuff, right?
Sadly, he wasn’t. He and his fellow gods snatched Loki’s three bastard children from the care of their mother, and tried to get rid of them.
The first two of these children were easily disposed of. But Loki’s third bastard ended up making things very interesting for the gods.
Fenrir Rising
This third child, a wolf cub named Fenrir, proved to be a handful. Fenrir possessed the ability to speak in “the language of the gods,” intimidating Odin’s gods by combining the strength of a wolf with the intellect of a god.
Terrified about what Fenrir might become, the gods decided to tie the beast in chains. Odin’s crew crafted heavy chains and shackles in the forges of the gods, and presented the bindings to Fenrir:
“Here!” said the gods, as if suggesting a new game. “You have grown so fast, Fenrir. It is time to test your strength. We have here the heaviest chains and shackles. Do you think you can break them?”
Fenrir agreed, and escaped easily. Frustrated by the failure of their scheme, the gods returned, challenging the wolf once again to break free from a new set of chains.
What Fenrir didn’t know, however, is that the gods had now brought magical chains that were impossible to break. So when the wolf accepted their new challenge, he unknowingly submitted to his own demise.
The Children of Loki
In the end, the gods acted like a bunch of bullies daring the new kid to cross the river on a tightrope, who then removed the rope as he crossed. And just like bullies do, the Norse gods delighted in the spectacle of watching their victim drown.
As such, the Children of Loki’s title is more than a direct reference to the bastards of the God of Lies. It presents the mortal reader with a literary mirror: after all, the selfish behavior of human bullies is not much better than the antics of the gods.
In this poetic sense, human beings are the children of Loki too.
All citations drawn from: Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology (London: Bloomsbury, 2017).
