In western culture, God is a being that people look up to and strive to be. He is nothing like humans are, yet westerners constantly endeavor to live, act and think in His likeness. The Norse viewed their gods and goddesses differently. They were still indisputably powerful, and the Norse fought to live their lives in a way that pleased the gods. But their gods were greedy and jealous and wrathful, which means they are not perfect as Christians see their God. The Norse deities were relatable because of their too-human qualities. Some were more human than others, which lead to strife and power differences and overall difficulty understanding each other. While Loki’s god-status ensures his membership …show more content…
In that case, Odin and his wife, Frigg, would be Loki’s parents, and his siblings would, most notably, be Baldr and Thor. Another common misconception concerns Loki being the god of mischief. Since he was most likely not worshipped, he would not be the patron god of anything, but our western culture makes sense of his existence by calling him the god of mischief, because his chief role was that of Trickster (Seigfried). One last thing to remember before this next myth is that, while it is a stereotype, brothers are commonly seen as bothersome. Loki, being one of the more human gods, is no exception to this …show more content…
Night after night, Baldr had the same recurring dream about his downfall. His parents, rightfully concerned, begin to search for ways to prevent this. Odin, his identity concealed, visits the underworld to call upon a deceased oracle. When he inquires about Baldr’s possible demise, she joyously narrates how the god of light meets his mortality. Odin returns to Asgard to deliver her prophecies to the other gods. (204-216).
In the Prose Edda, by the same people as the Poetic Edda, the “Gylfaginning” delivers the rest of the myth. Frigg, Odin’s wife and Baldr’s mother, does not accept her son’s fate so easily (72). She travels the land, obtaining the vows of all of creation that they will not harm Baldr. She asks all but mistletoe, seeing it as too meager and inconsequential to do any harm to her son (Lattimore). Because of these promises, Baldr is seen as invulnerable, and the gods make it a game to hurl objects at him to prove his invincibility (The Prose