1/6/20
Modern Mythology 2020
Angel Li
PD 1
Aim: How does Norse mythology demonstrate lessons of promises and consequences through Loki's character?
Group 1: Zuting Chen, Junhong Li, Serena Low, Belinda Zhang, Benjamin Zhu, Andrew Ou
Do Now: Pair-Share
1. What is the role of the antagonist in a story? Why are they important?
2. To you, what excuses deception
Our group discussed that the role of the antagonist is to provide conflict and trouble to the main characters. They act as an obstacle that the protagonist has to try to overcome in some way or form. The antagonist builds the plot and is usually the one who everyone dislikes. They are important because they are the reason why the story exists and is entertaining.
For the second question, deception can be excused if it is for the right reason. An example of this would be trying to hide the truth to prevent hurt feelings or trying to surprise a friend for their birthday. However, if deception is used in a negative way such as harming a person’s character, that is when deception can not be excused.
After this Do Now, the presentation moved on to discuss Loki.
Discuss: What do you know about Loki? Why is he a “foreigner” in a way, among the gods?
Loki is the trickster among the gods. He defines himself as clever and stunning and always tries to find ways to stir up trouble. He technically was suppose to be a frost giant but was too weak to become one. As a result, he made an oath with Odin to become blood brothers. He often does not cooperate with the other gods, and that plays a part in his mischief. The origin of his name ‘luk’ means one who causes knots
He is known for being a prankster, cleverness, and ability to solve problems. Loki is not evil, but good as he works for his own benefits. Related by a blood oath between him and the all-father Odin.
The Treasures of the Gods is a myth that explains the origin of many items like that of Mjolnir, Thor’s Hammer.
The story went like this:
Thor loved everything about his wife, especially her long hair. One morning he woke up and saw that all her hair was missing and immediately blamed it on Loki. After threatening Loki to help solve the problem and put hair back onto Sif, Loki sought to the dwarves for help. He convinces Brokk and Eitri to take on 3 of Ivaldi in a test of skills - make 3 treasures better than them, and if they win the challenge, Brokk would get Loki’s head. Brokk and Eitri were convinced by this because of all the amusing inventions they could make with that head of Loki’s and agreed to the challenge. While crafting the treasures, Loki shapeshifts into a black fly to try to disrupt the two brothers to ensure that they don't lose the challenge. Tragically, the two brothers create magical weapons that grab the attention of the gods and were convinced. Specifically, Thor was introduced to his new unbreakable hammer.
The 3 brothers of Ivaldi created
- Gungnir which is a spear carved with intricate runes, and will penetrate anything and will always find its mark. Oaths sworn on it are unbreakable
- Golden Hair which is made of real gold and attaches itself to someone who needs it
- Skíðblaðnir which was a silk scarf, if unfolded it will discover a ship, will always have a fair wind, biggest ship you can imagine will still fold up into a cloth
The 2 brothers Broke and Eitri created :
- Draupnir where every 9th night, 8 gold arm-rings of equal beauty will drip from it. Odin can reward people with them to store them and his wealth will increase
- Gullinbursti which is a huge boar with bristles made of gold. It will race across the sky and over the sea faster than the fastest hours, never tire and never fail
- Mjollnir, a lightning maker, which will always be undamaged. If you throw the hammer, it will never miss, it will always return to your hand, and the hammer can change in size.
All three Gods were extremely impressed by the 2 brothers and choose them as the winner. And since they were the winner, they wanted to collect Loki’s head. However, through loopholes, he had made an oath with Odin that his neck would be protected. And there would be no way to get his head without cutting off his neck, and therefore Loki escapes losing once again.
The second myth that was discussed in the class was The Master Builder
A video was shown that described what this “Master Builder” did.
Summary:
Thor left Asgard to fight against giants someplace else. Left unprotected, the gods decided they had to do something to protect themselves. Their conclusion - build a wall so thick and tall that no giant could break or cross. A mysterious explorer offers to build a wall for them in exchange for the god Freya’s hand, the sun, and the moon. At first, the gods were hesitant about going through with this and came to the consensus of the answer ‘no’. However, Loki convinces them all that this is an impossible feat to complete in one season, and the gods swear on their weapons that this unknown person would reap the rewards if he was successfully able to build the wall. They soon find out this mysterious person was a giant. The builder works alongside his stallion, Svadilfari and on the last day of the season, he was nearing the completion of the wall. Loki, being nervous about his death as punishment, turned into a beautiful chestnut mare and chased the stallion away. As a result, the builder was unable to finish the wall and was eventually killed by Thor as he returned.
The lessons and morals that could be taught by this story are:
- You never try to deceive others otherwise you could potentially face extreme consequences. This was the case for Loki, and if it hadn’t been for the fact he made an oath with Odin, his head would be cut off right now.
- Another lesson that can be learned from the two myths is to not make promises that you can’t keep. Time and time again, Loki makes promises that he can not fulfill. Once with the two brothers, Brokk and Eitri since he had made an oath with Odin, his neck could not be cut off, and therefore he could not have his head cut off. This is also seen when Loki promises that the builder was not going to be able to finish building the wall but gets proven wrong on the last day of its completion. In both cases, without Loki finding loopholes, he would have been dead.
- Things aren’t always as they seem. The two dwarves were eager to finish their inventions even with Loki as a fly pestering them and trying to create havoc. The builder was actually a giant and the gods at Asgard despised giants
- You must treat all with respect. While trying to build a wall that keeps all giants out, they unintentionally invite one in.
Reflection:
After this amazing presentation given by fellow classmates, I learned how intricate Norse mythology is and its uniqueness compared to other mythologies. More specifically, I learned about the duality of mischief, and that it's not always good, but sometimes it is the necessary thing to do. This is seen twice by Loki's cleverness by manipulating others to work for him in his favor and to fix the mistakes he made. In the story of The Treasures, Loki had to fix his mistake of making Sif have no hair. He had no other option, other than having to trick the dwarves otherwise he would have to die for it. As a result, he manipulated dwarves to help him fix this problem. Another time his mischief was necessary to protect against frost giants from attacking Asgard when Thor wasn't in town. Although this wouldn't be the most moral way, it was something Loki had to do, and again showcases the duality of mischief.
I learned all of this because there are clear morals and lessons to be learned from these stories. A general one would be to not deceive others otherwise there may be extreme consequences. It applies to everyday life, such as while talking to friends. Deceiving them to hide something would only create more trouble. Another one would be that not everything is as it seems. It has a direct connection to the modern-day because, with media and all, it is very easy to spread false information. Through such Norse mythologies, it teaches us to be careful when given information that may seem too good to be true.
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