#dvergue

One day, Odin, Hoenir, and Loki were travelling together across various lands.  They came upon an otter by a river, and Loki slew and skinned the animal.  Odin and Hoenir congratulated Loki on the excellent work, and the three continued to the estate of Hreidmarr, king of the dvergues/dwarves.

Hreidmarr took them into his home, intending to show them hospitality.  His intent changed, however, when he caught sight of Loki’s fine otter pelt.  Hreidmarr’s son Otr possessed the ability to change his shape into that of an otter, and it was Hreidmarr’s son whom Loki had killed.

Hreidmarr bound the gods so they could not escape, and it seemed that they would be trapped there forever, if not killed.  Loki attempted to explain that it had been an accident, but it could not dismiss the pain and rage Hreidmarr felt at the loss of his son.  Loki would need to resort to craftier methods.

The dvergue king Hreidmarr was well-known to be a great lover of gold.  In fact, his own castle was constructed with gold.  Loki appealed to Hreidmarr’s avarice, promising to repay Hreidmarr handsomely for the death of his son.  Hreidmarr was hesitant at first, but as Loki described in detail the wondrous riches that Hreidmarr could acquire, he eventually relented.  He released Loki to obtain the reward, and would hold Odin and Hoenir until Loki returned.  The amount of treasure to be brought back would need to completely cover Otr’s pelt.

Loki knew that no ordinary treasure would satisfy Hreidmarr enough to save Odin and Hoenir, so he resolved to obtain the greatest treasure he knew, the collection of the dvergue Andvari.  It included several sets of enchanted armour, beautiful red gold, and a ring Andvaranaut that led its owner to more gold.

Loki stole the treasure of Andvari, but Andvari escaped with the most important piece of the treasure, Andvaranaut, by turning himself into a salmon.  But Loki was not to be discouraged, and he soon captured Andvari and forced him to relinquish the ring.

Angry at the loss of his treasure, Andvari secretly cursed the ring before giving it to Loki, ensuring that the owner of the ring would encounter great tragedy.

Unaware of the curse on the ring, Loki initially wanted to keep the ring for himself.  However, when he covered Otr’s pelt with Andvari’s treasure, a small fraction of the pelt was uncovered.  Loki was unwilling to part with the ring, but the rescue of Odin and Hoenir was much more important, so he eventually added Andvaranaut to the pile.

Odin and Hoenir were released, and the three gods were allowed to return to Asgard.  Unfortunately, the curse of Andvaranaut did indeed cause tragedy for Hreidmarr.  Hreidmarr’s sons, Fafnir and Regin, wanted a share in the treasure, but Hreidmarr refused.  In response, Fafnir murdered Hreidmarr and drove his brother away.  Fafnir’s greed turned him into a dragon, and, consumed with greed, he sat upon his glittering pile of treasure, guarding it from anyone who fancied it for himself.

Sif, the fellow Aesir whom Thor had married, possessed beautiful, long, golden hair.  Both Thor and Sif were extremely proud of this lovely hair; Sif for the beauty it afforded her, and Thor for being associated with a wife of great beauty.  Loki, in his role as a trickster, lived to introduce chaos where there was order, doubt where there was none, and humility where there was pride.  In Loki’s mind, the pride over Sif’s hair warranted a lesson in humility.

While Sif slept one night, Loki stole into her chambers and cut all of her hair from her head.  Loki was subtle in his movements, so Sif did not wake until the morning as she naturally did.

When she woke and realised her hair was gone, Sif was devastated.  When Thor returned home to find his wife without her hair, his blood boiled with rage toward the obvious culprit, Loki.

As was common in his life, Loki was threatened with various horrific fates, as punishment for his actions.  Always one to talk his way out of trouble though, Loki assured Thor he could correct the situation.  More than that, he would make Sif’s hair even more golden and beautiful than before.  Thor agreed to the offer, and so Loki went on his way, having escaped a terrible punishment yet again.

Loki travelled to Svartalfheimr and commissioned a group of Dvergues, the sons of Ivaldi, with the task of forging a crown of hair for Sif.  Loki specified that it needed to be golden like the sun, and to grow like normal hair.  The Dvergues made the crown for Loki, and then Loki further enlisted their help to make great gifts that would endear Loki to the Aesir, and help them to forget about the hair-cutting fiasco.  Loki was a constant target for animosity, even when he acted just as the gods dictated, so this time he would do much more than had been asked of him.  He would bring much more than just Sif’s hair.

In addition to the hair, the Dvergues had made two special items.  The first was Gungnir, a finely crafted spear that Loki presented to Odin.  The second, presented to Freyr, was Skidbladnir: the finest of all ships, which could be folded like cloth and stored in a pocket.  These gifts were great, but Loki saw a chance to gain even more gifts for no cost at all.

Sindri was a Dvergue thought by most to be the finest craftsman in all the world’s tree.  Loki approached Sindri’s brother Brokkr, boasting that no one could craft anything so fine as the works he had gained from the sons of Ivaldi (Gungnir, Skidbladnir, and Sif’s crown of hair).  Brokkr challenged Loki that his brother could do better, and so a wage was made.  If Sindri could craft a weapon finer than Gungnir, a transport faster than Skidbladnir, and an accessory more beautiful than Sif’s hair, then Brokkr would have Loki’s head.

Sindri placed a golden swine skin on the furnace, and instructed Brokkr to work the bellows until he returned.  Loki, not wishing to lose his head, went to the forge as a gadfly, and attempted to make Sindri’s work flawed by biting Brokkr on the arm.  Brokkr did not falter, and the resulting gift was a golden boar called Gullinbursti.  Sindri placed red gold on the furnace, and gave Brokkr the same instructions.  Loki tried biting harder, but to no avail.  Sindri removed from the fire a beautiful arm ring called Draupnir, which would replicate every nine nights.  He then placed iron on the furnace, and left Brokkr with the same words.  Brokkr held to his task fairly well, but when the gadfly Loki bit him on the eyelid, the resulting blood obscured his vision for a moment, so the last gift was partially flawed.  The last gift was Mjolnir, soon to be Thor’s famous hammer.  It’s flaw was a shortened handle, so that it could only be held by one hand, and not two.

Gullinbursti was presented to Freyr, Draupnir to Odin, and Mjolnir to Thor.  Loki had succeeded in gaining three free gifts for the gods, but unfortunately for him, the works of Sindri were judged to be better than those forged by the sons of Ivaldi.  That meant that Loki’s head was forfeit.  Ever the clever wordsmith, Loki reasoned that there was no way he could give them his head.  After all, in order to cut off the head, the neck would also be damaged.  The neck was not part of the bargain – only the head – so it was impossible for them to obtain Loki’s head.

Sindri and Brokkr were forced to admit they could not take Loki’s head, as per the agreement.  However, they were far from pleased for being cheated in such a way, so in retribution, they sewed Loki’s lips together.  Loki pulled the thread out, but his lips were scarred from the act.  For this, Loki is often referred to as “Scar Lip”.

Loki was only ever obligated to replace Sif’s hair, but in the end, he had done far more.  In addition to restoring Sif’s hair, more beautiful than before, Loki also gained for the gods Odin’s spear Gungnir, Freyr’s ship Skidbladnir, Freyr’s golden boar Gullinbursti, Odin’s ring Draupnir, and most importantly, Thor’s hammer Mjolnir.  Loki had been mischievous in cutting Sif’s hair, but he had proceeded to go to great lengths as well as pains to redeem himself, replacing what was lost and gaining significantly more for Asgard.

The Jotunn were the chief enemies of the gods, but it was, for the most part, in a political sense.  Jotunn are often characterised as vicious beasts on a rampage, whose destruction is celebrated as a noble deed.  The distinction between god and Jotunn was not so black and white.

Jotunn were, in fact, very similar to the Aesir themselves.  Some possessed great strength, some magical powers, and some intellect.  Some favoured a more hostile approach to dealing with the gods, some simply kept to themselves, and others were hospitable and even helpful to the Aesir.  Attitudes varied depending on the individual, and depending on how the gods had treated him in the past.  The only real difference between Jotunn and god seemed to be in appearance.  Some Jotunn looked just like the gods, and could be described as beautiful, but most often Jotunn were described as ugly, dirty, and monstrous in appearance.  Some had extra limbs, or even multiple heads.

Appearance seemed to vary a great deal between one Jotunn and another, but a displeasing appearance was fairly common, and while a fair appearance would often endear a Jotunn to the gods, a monstrous one would invite hostility.  Disagreements between Jotunn and Aesir as a whole seemed to be, most often, individuals squabbling over resources.  There was a deeper underlying hatred though, that persisted throughout time despite dealings with completely pleasant Jotunn.  There were indeed many wicked Jotunn, and unfortunately it may have been they that gained the hatred of the Aesir for their entire race.

Loki was a Jotunn who had been invited to live in Asgard, and he was described as one of the beautiful Jotunn, similar in appearance to the gods.  But Loki was not the only Jotunn whom they valued.  The Jotunn Skadi also became one of the Aesir, and married with the Vanir Njordr.  Freyr fell hopelessly in love with the Jotunn Gerdr, and essentially blackmailed her into marrying him.  Thor himself was born by Odin and the Jotunn called Jord.  Odin produced many other children by various Jotunn mistresses.  Thor also took a Jotunn mistress at one point, Jarnsaxa, and by her produced his son Magni, who famously rescued Thor when he had been trapped under a fallen Jotunn’s foot.  The Jotunn Gridr, mother of Vidarr, housed Thor and Loki when they were travelling past her home, and helped equip Thor for a battle he had been tricked into attending without any weapons or armour.

Many considerations of Loki’s heritage as a Jotunn conclude that Loki is inherently evil because of his race.  Such an assumption is often made because Loki’s motives behind his rampant mischievousness are often difficult to understand (this will be addressed in detail in a later post), and it is much easier to simply decide he is evil because he is Jotunn.  This, however, makes very little sense.  Thor, the champion of the gods, was also born of a Jotunn mother.  It is better to realise that all individuals, be they Aesir, Vanir, Jotunn, Alf, Dvergue, or something in between, choose their own lives, and cannot be judged based on race.