How was the deceitful god Loki punished after killing the Norse god of light Balder?

Loki was tied to a stone with his son’s lap, and day by day he was tormented to pay the price for his sins.

In Norse mythology, Loki is perhaps the most controversial god when he plays tricks on the gods and helps them in many difficult problems. Thanks to being adopted by the god Odin (or fraternal, depending on the version), Loki is in the world of the gods despite the blood of giants – sworn enemies with the gods. However, Loki’s deceitful, prankster nature was still fully promoted when he was around the gods, causing them to encounter many troubles and was also the root cause of Balder’s death.

Loki – Muddy God

Loki is fathered by Farbauti and mother is Laufey, brother of Helblindi and Bysleistr. Despite being a giant, Loki’s physique is very small, almost similar to the gods in Asgard. In the land of the gods, Loki married Sigyn, with whom they had two sons, Nafri and Vali. This would have been a peaceful life for Loki, had he not met and had children with the giantess Angrboda. The three children Loki had with Angrboda were the wolf Fenrir, the snake Jormundgan and the goddess Hel. They were considered a harbinger of the end of the world, so the gods imprisoned them to avoid disaster.

However, no matter how cautious the gods were, the gods did not anticipate that Loki would play the game of killing Balder, creating the first foreshadowing of Ragnarok.

Crime and escape

Loki tricked the goddess Frigg into revealing Baldr’s weakness and then caused her other son, Hoor, to kill Balder by throwing a mistletoe at his brother. Baldr died instantly. The deceitful god continued to disguise himself as the giant Pokk to refuse to forgive Baldr, causing the god to stay in hell until the end of Ragnarok.

Loki’s crime against Baldr ended his relationship with the Asgardians. Loki must flee Asgard to escape the wrath of the gods. He ran to a high mountain, built himself a house on the top of the mountain. This house has four doors for viewing in all directions. During the day, Loki transforms into a salmon and hides beneath a waterfall near his house. At night he weaves his own fishing nets for food.

However, from the high throne in the palace, Odin observed where Loki resided. The gods immediately came to find him. When he saw the gods arrive, Loki threw his net into the fire and turned into a salmon to escape. The gods saw the net and guessed that he had turned into a fish, so they made a new net and hunted for Loki. The deceitful god still escaped. Finally Thor took advantage of Loki jumping out of the net, grabbing the fish’s tail. From then on salmon had a very slender tail.

Terrible punishment for Loki

After the gods captured Loki, they dragged him to a dark cave and tied him to a rock with a special chain. This chain is made from the entrails of Nafri – the son of Loki and his wife Sigyn. Before that, the gods had turned Vali – Nafri’s brother – into a wolf, causing Vali to bite his brother Nafri to death. Then they eviscerated Nafri to make a chain to bind Loki.

Every day, Loki would have to lie on a rock, letting the venom of the tooth that Shakdi hung above the small head poisoned his face. Only Loki’s faithful wife, Sigyn, dared to stay with her husband in the dark cave. She raised the bowl to the snake’s mouth to absorb the poison. When the bowl is full, Sigyn turns his back to throw the venom, causing the poison to drip into Loki’s face. The terrible pain that the poison caused made Loki writhe, screaming for heaven and earth. Perhaps that is why the people of Northern Europe believe that Loki’s cry of pain causes earthquakes.

It wasn’t until much later when Ragnarok took place that Loki was freed from punishment. With his mighty army and three hideous children, he came to Asgard to slay the gods.