Loki's Punishment: The Bound God and the Serpent’s Venom

The Great Betrayal After Loki orchestrated the death of the beloved god Baldur, the gods of Asgard finally reached the limit of their patience. Loki fled, transforming himself into a salmon to hide in a waterfall, but the gods caught him with a net of his own invention. They dragged him to a cold, dark cave in the bowels of the earth to face a punishment that was as cruel as it was eternal.

The Chains of Kinship The gods did not just bind Loki with iron; they used a much darker magic. They brought his two sons, Vali and Narfi, into the cave. They transformed Vali into a wolf, who then turned upon his brother Narfi. The gods took Narfi’s intestines and used them to bind Loki to three sharp rocks. As a final touch of cruelty, these bonds were turned into unbreakable iron.

The Venom and the Earthquake Above Loki’s face, the giantess Skadi placed a venomous serpent. The snake constantly dripped burning poison onto Loki’s eyes and skin. However, Loki was not entirely alone. His faithful wife, Sigyn, stood by his side. She held a large bowl above his face to catch the dripping venom. For aeons, she stood there, unmoving, protecting her husband from the burn. But whenever the bowl became full, she had to turn away for a brief moment to empty it. In those seconds, the poison would strike Loki’s face, and he would writhe in such agony that the entire earth shook. This, the Vikings believed, was the cause of earthquakes.