Thor and Loki
In Norse Mythology, Thor and Loki have a very complex relationship. Loki, as Odin’s blood brother, has been a part of Thor’s life for an eternity and while he often led Thor into trouble, Loki usually guided him back out of it, too.
Reading the myths, it’s easy to see Loki as something of an indulgent and wild uncle, and if they were living in the modern world, I can easily imagine Loki as the person who buys the underage Thor beer so he can party with his friends, or takes him to the strip club for his 18th birthday, while Loki himself did some questionable business in a backroom.
In the myths, they go to Jotunheim to pick fights with the giants, traveling together like adventurers, and we see as the stories in the Eddas unfold, that Loki’s reasons for traveling with Thor are maybe not just the interests of “the cool uncle.” We start to see that Loki has ulterior motives, that he might be deliberately putting Thor in harm’s way, hoping for his destruction. Even in the myths, Thor, as trusting as he is, begins to realize that Loki’s tricks are turning malicious.
It’s after Thor has come to this understanding of Loki’s character (with a little help from a giantess), that the FATE OF THE GODS series takes place – and Loki had better watch out, because, as we see in this excerpt from FORGED BY FATE, Thor is getting tired of his uncle’s mischief!
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“So sullen, Thor,” Loki said, seating himself across the table in Odin’s hall. “Surely you cannot still be angry about that mischief with your wife.”
Thor curled his lip, hiding the expression behind his mug.
“I see,” Loki said, when Thor had not responded with anything more than a long drink and a glower. “A shame, really. I thought I might travel East, and as often as Sif has been away, it seemed to me you might wish for an excuse to do the same. I have heard wondrous things about the Olympian goddesses.” His green eyes glittered, feral in the firelight. “Perhaps I should ask Magni and Modi to accompany me, instead. I’m certain they would enjoy themselves immensely.”
Thor growled. “My sons have better taste than to choose you as their companion.”
Loki laughed. “There was a time you did not find me so contemptible, Thor. Or do you forget that once you called me uncle?”
“An error in judgment, corrected by Jarnsaxa’s grace.” To his younger eyes, Loki had seemed so much wiser. Brilliant and daring and, even better, always willing to embark on some adventure or another, taking time for Thor while Odin had been too busy with his own affairs.
But that had been before Thor had recognized the malice behind the Trickster’s “mischief.” Before he had met Jarnsaxa, who had borne his sons while he had still believed Sif would never have him. Jarnsaxa had died in the wars on Jotunheim, the world where Thor had been raised, where they had fled with his mother’s aid after Surt had destroyed their own lands. But Jarnsaxa had not died before she had told him all she knew of the Trickster and his role in what had come to pass, fearing for her sons. Even so, Thor had not believed Loki would go so far as to meddle with Sif, and he was not certain which stung him more: that Sif had been taken in by his silver-tongue, or that Loki had betrayed him so completely. Sif, at least, might have been fooled. Loki had known precisely what he was doing.
“Just as well,” Loki said, smiling slowly. “Sif would never forgive you if she learned you’d gone off in search of Elohim’s daughter, though it is not only I who finds it strange you did not mention such a goddess in all your reports. Surely you had heard of her.”
Thor said nothing, his jaw tense with the need to keep his silence.
“I can only imagine you had some reason for keeping her a secret,” Loki said, reaching casually across the table to take a piece of bread from Thor’s meal. “A lovechild, perhaps? It would not be your first.”
“Magni and Modi were born long before I married Sif,” he growled, catching Loki’s arm by the wrist before he touched his plate. Thor threw his hand away, his eyes burning with lightning. The color had already leached from Loki’s face and the warm yellow of the wooden table had turned gray. “Nor have I fathered any godchild since, but for Thrud.”
“And then there is that pesky business with Ullr,” Loki mused, grinning now. “Did finding Sif in my arms not make you wonder in the slightest? Sif is as much a warrior as any of us, to be forced—”
“Freyja bore witness,” he said, grinding his teeth on the words. And Sif had loved him then, as he had her. She would never have betrayed him. Not so soon after their marriage, and not while they warred against the Vanir. She was not Aphrodite to take lovers among their enemies.
“And Freyja is so reliable when it comes to these things.” Loki rolled his eyes. “Poor Jarnsaxa. She tried and she tried, and all her efforts came to nothing. You’re still as thick as you ever were.”
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You can learn more about the FATE OF THE GODS series and FORGED BY FATE, as well as my new e-novella tie-in, TEMPTING FATE on my website, http://www.amaliadillin.com and at World Weaver Press. You can also pick up a copy on Amazon or B&N, or add them on Goodreads!
~Amalia Dillin