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dailylogyn · 4 years ago

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Logyn Meta: Loki & Sigyn’s Relationship in Mythology

It’s a classic tale, and arguably one of the most famous in mythology: How Sigyn held a bowl above her lover’s head to shield Loki from the snake’s venom, in turn, holding back Ragnarok a little longer.

But how did Loki and Sigyn come to be married? How did they meet? How did they fall in love?

With so many questions, but few answers we are left with in what has survived with the stories today, we are often left to ponder how the story of Loki and Sigyn came to be. As have many others before me, I will be exploring my thoughts with what information we are given to ponder as to how these two lovers became a thing.

To answer this question, we must go back to the beginning where Sigyn was first introduced to us in the mythologies, presenting the ONLY information we know about their relationship -- specifically: The Poetic Edda & Prose Edda.

In the poem, Lokasenna, the most famous of poem’s with the couple, it talks of how Loki has been bound by the gods with the guts of his son, Nari, and how his son, Vari, has been turned into a wolf. The Goddess Skadi fastens a venomous snake over Loki’s face, from which venom drips. Sigyn, stated as Loki’s wife, stays by his side and holds a basin under and catches the venom so it won’t drip onto her husband, but when the basin grows full, she pulls it away to empty it, during which time venom drops onto Loki, causing him to wither so violently that earthquakes occur that shake the entire earth.

In the poem, Gylfaginning, Sigyn is introduced in Chapter 31 as being married to Loki and that they have a son by the name of “Narfi or Nari”. She is then mentioned again in Chapter 50 where events are described differently than in Lokasenna; Vali, described as a son of Loki only, is changed into a wolf by the gods and rips apart his brother, “Narfi or Nari.” The guts of Nari are then used to tie Loki to three stones, after which the guts turn to iron, and Skadi places a snake above Loki. Sigyn of course catches the venom in a bowl. This process is repeated until he breaks free, setting Ragnarok into motion.

In the poem, Skáldskaparmál, Sigyn is introduced as a goddess, an Æsir, where the gods are holding a feast for their visitors and in kennings for Loki: “husband of Sigyn” and “cargo [Loki] of incantation-fetter’s [Sigyn’s] arms.”

Now, knowing the little knowledge we have on their relationship, it’s time to explore it from the Viking’s point of view, which is where this all pretty much originated from, in order to understand it better.

Viking Way of Love and Life

I’m no expert in this category, in fact, I’m still learning about it as I go, but there are some important key things to note here about the Viking’s POV on things and how it ties into Loki & Sigyn’s relationship.

Divorce was completely acceptable in Viking Times. In fact, women could own property, request a divorce and reclaim dowries if a marriage ended. She could divorce him for a good number of reasons actually.

Women often remained faithful to their husbands, although they were known to have extramarital sex. If they were caught cheating by the husbands, it usually ended pretty badly for the women.

A Man couldn’t marry his concubine, so his wife wouldn’t have to feel threatened about competition. They usually all lived in the same household. Adultery concerning the husband was okay, but not the wife.

Vikings didn’t categorize people as homosexual, bisexual, straight or etc.They differentiated between submissive and dominant roles in sexual relationships. Homosexuality was acceptable with limits.

Poetry was a big part of Courtship.

Typically marriage was usually for alliances, set up by families and parents. However, this doesn’t mean there wasn’t romance or love between couples or potential marriages.

Family life was important to Norse Men and people usually aimed to survive: typically by marrying and having children.

How does this apply to Loki and Sigyn? Now, let’s dive into the typical hypothesis of their relationship. I call it a typical hypothesis because it hasn’t really been outright pointed out in the mythologies, but it’s something the Mythology community usually agrees on concerning Loki and Sigyn’s relationship from what we know here.

A Hypothesis into Loki & Sigyn’s Marriage

The marriage between the two of them alone is usually questioned by others, especially concerning Loki’s chaotic nature and Sigyn’s undying loyalty. Obviously, she could have divorced him whenever she wanted to if things were bad, but instead she remains by his side which leads us to the fact, not only does she truly love Loki, but she also knows more to him than we do -- as if there is a secret hidden side to the god of Mischief.

It is sometimes implied that the marriage between Loki and Sigyn was an arranged one to establish position in Asgard -- as marriages typically were in Viking Times. This doesn’t mean there wasn’t love between them, In fact, it could have been a perfectly arranged marriage.

Sigyn isn’t blind to Loki’s flaws, knowing perfectly well how her lover is and accepting him flaws and all -- unlike the other gods. It’s more than likely she knows about his other children: Jormungandr, Sleipnir, Hel and Fenrir, just as she probably knows about his affair with Angrboda. Again, this wasn’t an uncommon thing in Viking Times for a man to have another lover and other children with them.

Loki is very much a family person, just as he enjoys having fun. There has never been anything alluding to him abandoning his family or abusing Sigyn and his kids despite what pop culture or other versions may say. Instead, they have been taken away from him by others in someway (ex: Vali having to kill Narvi as the gods use his insides as Loki’s bindings. Odin taking away all of Loki’s children, making Hel the ruler of the underworld, Jory the serpent of Midgard’s sea and Fenrir locked in bonds. Lets also not forget Sleipnir becoming Odin’s horse and most of his children dying during Ragnarok because of said gods. Sigyn’s whereabouts are unknown and Angrboda is dead. Case in point: I’d wanna start Ragnarok too.)

Vikings typically used motifs or symbolism with their writings. This is where the “opposites attract/compliment each other aka Balance of nature’ comes into play. While Loki is outright known as a Trickster God, hence the God of Mischief (which is typically harmless pranks or fun), but it usually ends with bad results for him, turning into Chaos. And what’s the opposite of Chaos? Constancy and Order. Although it isn’t outright stated, she is pointed out as Loki’s loyal wife and seems to offer that Constancy to his Chaos. Hence, some of us refer to them as “Different Sides of the Same Coin.”

Conclusion

Loki and Sigyn’s relationship is typically misunderstood by others nowadays thanks to how little information we have on them in the texts, some peoples own interpretations of their relationship (*coughs* MARVEL COMICS *coughs*) and how much Sigyn still remains to be unknown by others.

I believe that if their relationship was to be portrayed in the proper way, taking everything here into note and not given to writers who don’t understand or refuse to take the time to understand their relationships/characters, they might actually be understood better overall. A good example of this I’ve found myself is from the German Movie: Mara and the Firebringer and Neil Gaiman’s book: Norse Mythology. They both explore Loki and Sigyn’s relationship in a proper light, not undermining either of them and exploring their thought process and actions in ways that only strength their relationship and one another as individual characters bonded together in marriage.

Bonus mention to The Bifrost Incident by The Mechanisms for their interpretation of Loki and Sigyn’s relationship as well.

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SOURCES:

Viking Love: 8 Facts about Love and Love making from the Vikings - https://historycollection.com/eight-facts-love-marriage-viking-style/

The Love Life of the Vikings - https://historyofyesterday.com/love-life-of-vikings-f21c9ed58d4e

Norse Mythology Character Tropes - https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/NorseMythology

Mara and the Firebringer TV Tropes (SPOILERS BEWARE) - https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/MaraAndTheFirebringer

Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology (Book) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_Mythology_(book)

The respective Edda’s are linked above by their names.

#logyn #norse mythology #sigyn #loki #Constancy & Chaos (Logyn)#loki x sigyn #loki and sigyn #logyn meta #the bifrost incident #mara and the firebringer

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hyperesthesias · 6 years ago

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Loki x Sigyn

Sanguis Vinculum | Sonnet LXXV

Rating: PG

Notes: I needed something to write. So I cleansed my pallet with everyone’s favourite SadTP. Shoutout to @serafina-constantine because they’ve wanted me to write more Logyn, and to @ladyjthewriter just because. This is a prequel drabble to #fic:-love-never-dies.

✿

His breath stung on his lips -- cracked and dry from the heat that’d weathered them. Sweat trickled along his brow, trailed into his eyes, and they squeezed shut out of instinct. But though it hurt, though his eyes watered at the presence of salt, he couldn’t keep them closed. He couldn’t miss a moment; he had to focus. Such little energy was left within his bones, and whatever lay within his sinew was already claimed -- taken and set aside by his master. The one who thought he was his master. Though, truly, Loki had no master. For none could control nor rein the likes of Loki.

That was what he had been telling himself. It was how he’d survived Odin. It was how he had survived this long beneath the caged hand of Thanos. It would be the reason he persisted through the coming battle of Midgard. It was how he’d survived all along. The notion that none could have him, that none could grapple with the bit in his mouth -- not even death itself.

Except for one.

But her hands were never harsh with binding ropes. Her words were never orders, though she was his commander. The blood bond which he shared with her was never an acridity that burned in his chest, though her blood ran hot; it was a comfort, it was a Constancy, she was home. The one -- the only one -- who controlled Loki’s soul was Sigyn, his Beloved.

Many battles had he seen, apart from her and at her side. But there were none so important as the one he was about to enter; the battle for Midgard was also the battle for her soul. For her freedom beyond the Veil of Death. He wanted no throne, he desired little power beyond the fantasy in which he could revel by her side. He wanted nothing but her -- and the Tesseract’s power to revive her. To hold her in his arms again, and this time not limply, not weighted with death. To have her laugh within his ear as he pulled her off the ground and swung her round. To have her smile shine brightly upon him as a celestial fixture -- a contrast to the ashen pallor upon her lips in silence. But even still, he noted as he recalled her, it seemed as though she smiled even in death.

A remarkable creature! A wonderful specimen of contradiction -- something that enchanted and enticed him all at once. Such a contradictory thing was the only thing that could possibly understand him. While he had been royal, yet cast out, she had been commoner turned royal. While he was surpassed by others in the means of brutish battle, yet excellent in violent sorcery, she had battled with spear in hand, and become a magical healer. While he was cold of blood, he desired the warmth of love, only to find the woman whose cold and terrifying reputation was fallacy, held the warmth for which he’d always longed.

She was, had been, and is, the other part of himself. The thing which he sought, though he didn’t know he’d been looking.

And she’d been stolen from him.

“I’ve returned, my love,” his voice is quiet -- as if he’ll wake her -- but it rasps along the emptiness that surrounds the two. He chastises himself at the hoarseness, that he should not approach his Queen in such a rude state. But it is all he has, all he has he placed before he and he knelt beside a stone altar.

Sigyn lain atop it, silent as she had been for some few years, does not respond to her beloved. She is adorned in the royal, regal robes in which she’d died, her hair, that once felt as intensely as her skin, ornamented with flowers that have kept their youth, along with Sigyn’s body. She breathed her last, and not a cell within her had died.

Loki struggled with his breath as he took her gentle hand, small and entirely encompassed in his own, and placed it over his lips. He kissed her, tenderly, resting his brow upon her knuckles, he started at the dryness of her skin. It does not matter how long she has been gone; such vacant signs of life still disturbs him. He forced a swallow down his dry throat and brushed the beaded sweat from her knuckles that he’d left there, and again he chided himself for defiling her. He’s frantic in the strokes of his thumb -- he had to get it off, get it off of her. No signs of torment should be upon her, whether she’d know them or not.

Such a thought only makes his heart beat faster and he stops brushing her hand for fear of harming her -- knowing she could not feel it. The thought is too much to bear. He replaces her hand upon her stomach and lands his head against the edge of the stone altar. He was sure that if he lifted his head, he’d find the stone had soaked every nuance of sweat within it, and he’d still have more to spare. It was cool, though. The stone was cold, and the chill is sent through his body seemed to counteract the sweat that persisted its heavy assault upon every facet of his skin. He despised the sweat, he despised the heat that still lingered beneath the few layers of clothing, skin, muscle. They’d absorbed Thanos’ inspiration, his encouragement to fulfill his wishes upon Midgard, they’d absorbed the torture he’d inflicted upon his Jotunn blood and he despised his body for betraying him, for grasping the Mad Titan’s wrath and maintaining it.

The battle was about to begin, he was to start the invasion and call upon the Chitauri when the final toll of the battle was heard -- and Midgard would be ripe for taking. But still, he could find nothing he wanted from it. Save for the stone that could restore life into his beloved’s heart, the colour in his cheeks, and laughter upon her lips.

Loki moved and stretched to stroke her hair. He found himself smiling despite the weakness that gripped at his lips’ points. Had she been awake, she would have purred with glee at the feeling of his hand through her hair. There were nights he’d brush it for her, gently tugging the brush through the long strands that spun to the floor, that’d been piled in a spiral on the bed. She would get so upset when he brushed her hair mindlessly, too harshly, too quickly. He found a listless laugh in his throat -- what he would give! for her nips of displeasure.

“Soon, my love,” he whispered and buried his face in her hair, in the crook of her neck. “I will have you return’d to me, soon, my love. You will be...in my arms again,” he cannot bring himself to say ‘alive’. He almost expected her to reply, to turn her head and say in that way, that knowing hum that had seen much, felt even more -- ‘I know.’ But, alas, she was silent.

It was the silence that was the hardest. How Loki reveled in quiet thoughts, surrounded by chaos. But there was nothing quiet in his mind about the silence of his wife.

“You wer--are my everything,” he breathed in the wetness that’d begun to return to his mouth as the cold returned to his blood. “You are my life, my love. For without you, I would be dead.” She had saved his life once before, and it was now his time to return the favour. “You are my life.

“So you are to my thoughts as food to life, Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground; And for the peace of you I hold such strife, As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found. Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon, Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure; Now counting best to be with you alone, Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure, Sometime all full with feasting on your sight, And by and by clean starved for a look; Possessing or pursuing no delight Save what is had, or must from you be took. Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day, Or gluttoning on all, or all away.”

His hand brushed against her brow as he spoke, and as he recited, he noted the way his breathed meddled in the wisps of her hair, on her brows, eyelashes. Some strange movement that he convinced himself she was merely sleeping, and not -- That she was merely resting soundly, peacefully, quietly. That she would wake if he were not too careful -- thus careful he was, more so.

“Odin had a book of sonnets from other realms in his vast collection; I often found myself there as a boy. This one felt reasonable in more than one account,” he smiled, as if expecting her to smile in return. “And when I am done with Midgard -- when I have my revenge,” he began to seethe, feeling the heat of not outward torment, but rage conflicted within his soul -- and he quelled himself quickly, afraid that the seed of anger would disrupt wherever her soul might’ve lain away from her altar. “When I am done,” he began again, “when I have the Tesseract -- there will be no further thoughts of parting.”

Loki leaned over her, placing his lips on her brow, cementing a kiss within her mind -- that, on the chance, for there are infinite chances of the unknown, she might be able to feel it, to feel him, to know him, hear him, she would. And that she would know his love for her has never died. And never will it.

“I must leave, my Queen,” he whispered as he lifted and stood. “But it shall not be the last we see each other.” With one more caress against the locks of her hair that spilt along the floor of the magic realm in which he had her stasis, he vanished from its empty walls.

And returned to the present, finding a scepter in his hand and its stone, within his veins, and within his mind.

#logyn #loki x sigyn #sigyn x loki #sigyn #loki #marvel fanfic #marvel #*#ship: logyn #fic: sanguis vinculum

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