Why Everybody Hates Loki | Norse Mythology Explained

Loki is a character that's kind of hard to get a grasp on. This is true for Loki in the Marvel universe, and the Disney Loki — if you want to view the Loki series as its own thing. Every depiction of Loki walks the line between good and evil, and walks it so well that is hard to know whether Loki is a hero or a villain.

The thing is though... in Norse mythology, the answer is clear: Loki is evil. Loki is literally the reason why Ragnarök will consume the cosmos in its all-ending flames. There is not a shadow of a doubt that mythology's Loki is a bad guy, and that's what I will dive deeper into in this episode:

Episode 2 Of Keeping Up With The Norse Gods — The Agent of Chaos: Loki

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Notes:

***Baldur could be harmed by mistletoe, not laurel. I recently recorded an Apollo video and he turned someone into a laurel tree, so I had laurel on my mind during the Loki video and mixed the two up***

Mythology is a tough puzzle to piece together, because these stories are literally thousands of years old and have been re-told over and over again. This is true for any mythology, including the Norse one. With every tale, there are hundreds of different versions that were told in various regions over various eras. For the sake of this video — and all my videos — I try to streamline these as much as possible and leave out some details that are tedious and would make the videos less fun.Many historians make this stuff so boring exactly because they get caught up in these details that are much less relevant than the bigger picture. I'm changing that.
So... is this accurate and well researched? Absolutely, 100%. Is this the only interpretation of Loki, the God of Mischief? No, but subjectively speaking… it’s the way I liked it the most.

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I get a lot of questions about my artwork and where it’s from or rather who draws it. Well the answer is that I create it — I don’t draw it. I use AI to create the artwork, using specific prompts, specific style influences from 18th and 19th century artists, and I spend about 6 hours per video just on the artwork. Each video has roughly double the artwork of what you actually see in the video, so a lot of it is unused. The good news here though is that you can get all that artwork on my Patreon — the artwork I do use, and the artwork I don’t use. Plus, by subscribing to my Patreon you are making a major contribution to Briefed and helping me to keep this channel going, because this is my full time job and the survival of the channel and quality of the videos greatly depends on said support. In return for supporting, you get more than the artwork though — you also get exclusive videos and producer credit, as well as access to a producer group that gets to vote on thumbnails, gets behind the scenes etc.
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Sources:
A lot of people ask me about my sources, and… to be honest, they are a mixed bag. One major source is my lifelong interest in storytelling and mythology. Another is the beautiful endless library that is the internet, and, third, I read the occasional book from time to time, which I’m happy to recommend to you, but also… I’m planning to write my own book on mythology, so, in due time it will be…:
Source? Me. Yay.

[Marcus-xlkr]

Hahaha "he needs a vasectomy his seed is dangerous" 😂😂

[litepaw]

It’s sad to me that people called Loki’s kids evil. None of them did anything wrong if you think About it.

Odín exiled Hel and treated her like trash while still a kid, tossed The world Serpent into the sea and the worst of all betrayed Fenrir. They tied him up then Stabbed an Sword into his snout which caused constant pain and irritation, Fenrir was a well behaved and loyal wolf. Betraying Fenrir caused their doom.

[johnburnside]

So glad I've discovered your marvelous videos! I would quibble, though, about your statement that Loki is the source for all trickster characters. There are trickster gods in all mythologies around the world and they didn't come from Loki. He's just the one who's had the best PR, particularly recently.

[AlbAlPasa]

The music. The paintings. The fonts. This channel is ART.

[renz]

Hope this channel grows as much as the tiktok account!

[AdemolaDaelight]

I hope you do a video on Anansi. Since we’re talking about Trickster Gods. 👀

[peabody]

I like this. Intelligent, witty and genuine.

[shay]

The "You're still the cutest!" moment with your dog, put the biggest smile on my face!! I really enjoy how you do your videos. You mix facts and humor into a fun story and I also enjoy the extra facts at the end of the video!

[imqxla]

I absolutely enjoy your videos! Definitely has re-ignited my love for mythology. Keep them coming!

[simonaczech]

Your comments are epic. Thank you for making these stories. Very entertaining funny and absolutely educational.

[LoneHermit]

I'll never get over that divine booty thirst speed joke

[Philliwolf]

I'm loving your channel and your way of telling the mythological stories!! 3rd video I've watched, so I'm subbing. Well done!

[Mich]

Thank you for the video, the editing and delivery was so good! So glad I found your channel 💕

[bht]

This channel is going to explode with subs. I have to say, honestly, this is the best freaking source on YouTube for beginners to familiarize themselves with mythology. I know Norse Mythology very well and can attest that you know wtf you are talking about. Beautiful production on your videos. Just… wow!!!

[adamt]

Marvel is not lying it's a depiction of Loki not the history of Loki if anyone gets their history from Comic books we are all doomed

[MattCosta-zwqu]

.. and do we remember what Odin did with Loki's family prior to the slaying of Balder?.. kind of takes the assumptions of pointless maliciousness right out of the equation.. .. the gods had major hand in creating the monster Loki became.. if anything Ragnarok should be viewed as a warning story about how we treat our outcasts ..

[camdenthompson]

I remember hearing once that one of the people who translated a whole collection of myths (I believe it was the poetic edea, but it could have also been the prose edea, either way its commonly pointed out that its usually considered inaccurate, I just thought its interesting to mention) actually made Loki a good guy


basically, they characterized several of the Aesir gods as kinda horrible people. if there was a problem they had, they would either blame Loki or have Loki fix said problem, regardless of whether or not it was him who actually caused it. as well, apparently Odin had actually sacrificed himself which is one way he obtains some of his knowledge, mainly by stabbing himself with a spear on the world tree, which was a thing the Norse did apparently (although I'm not sure, I learned it through Overly Sarcastic Productions video on Loki, so I could be remembering wrong)and could explain Baldur's death.

the last thing I wanted to point out, was that Loki throughout most of the myths he's in isn't just a trickster, but a scapegoat. which when you think about a different person from a different part of the world...and the people from that particular religion had encounters with the Norse....and the person who wrote the Collection of myths was part of the religion AS it was replacing the old how the aftermath of Ragnarok is again the Poetic edea/ or prose edea (again, not sure exactly) could be incorrect and inaccurate, so I could be entirely wrong, but still thought to point it out


Now I don't know what's weirder, the fact that Hades was the only Olympian who was an actually decent person, or this

[PhoenixPhire]

I found you on TT and I am SO EXCITED you’re here!!

[silvs.enigma]

Would be cool if you could tell us more about Sigyn. There's not much info about her, sadly.
Absolutely hooked to your channel as well as your narrator skills, by the way! Finding you in the Internet was a true gift ✨ Keep up the good work! 😊

[GeneJ]

Great video. I’ll be waiting on the next video of Loki taking his revenge. Can’t wait for that.