Past Mistakes

Chapter 1: History

Loki Laufeyson had once held extreme prestige in the court of Odin Borson, the Allfather. He used to be the blood brother of Odin, despite being a son of Farbauti and Laufey, two frost giants or jotuns. He was the proud husband of Sigyn and the father of Narvi, Vali, Fenrir, Hel, and Jormungandr, and the mother of Sleipnir. But none of that mattered. Not now, anyway. Everything was spoiled and everyone's life was a mess due to a mishap involving Loki and Odin's most favourite son, the perfect God beloved by all, Baldr.

Allow me to describe everything. Baldr was the most perfect definition of perfection you could possibly imagine. He was loved by all; mortals, plants, animals, rocks - everything. He was the most favourite son of Odin and Frigg, and so when Baldr told his mother that he began seeing visions of his death, she became very worried. She requested every single object in the world to swear to never harm her son. Even the most ordinary objects like grass agreed to her condition. However, Frigg forgot about one little plant; a parasitic weed called mistletoe. She believed something so harmless couldn't possibly harm Baldr, but she was wrong.

Loki, the God of Mischief and Trickery, was slightly envious of Baldr's popularity and also guilty about the fact that he had been a horrible parent to all his children. He had been a narcissistic, ignorant person not being around to take care of all his six children. This had caused problems, arguments, and depression between him and Sigyn. Each time they fought, he realised Sigyn was right. He had been a pathetic parent and a terrible husband. That's why when he found out what Frigg was doing, he disguised himself as an old lady, went up to her, and began talking. Frigg accidentally slipped the fact that mistletoe wasn't in her Baldr-proof list, and that's all what took Loki to make a mistletoe dart. He handed the dart to Baldr's blind brother Hodr, who was an archer, and encouraged him to join the other gods throwing all sorts of risky objects on Baldr to test his durability for fun. And then rest was history. Baldr fell to the ground, lifeless, and the sorrow around the world was incomparable. Odin, out of his rage, killed his own son Hodr but all of them knew Loki was the one to blame. Odin sent someone to plead to Hel, the Goddess of Death, to resurrect Baldr but she agreed only on one condition - all the creatures in the world must weep for their beloved Baldr. And all did, except a giant called Thokk which was really Loki in disguise. Therefore Hel refused to return Baldr.

Odin then ordered Thor to catch Loki and be brought before him. In the meantime, Loki's wife Sigyn, and their two sons Narvi and Vali were also brought by the Aesir to an abandoned cave lost in the sea. When Loki was captured and brought there, Odin asked Tyr - who was much more physically powerful than Loki - to hold Loki back as the Allfather turned Vali into a wolf. Sigyn was struck by shock and despair and couldn't do anything. Vali, now completely turned into a savage beast, ripped apart and disemboweled his own brother in front of their parents' eyes. And then the Aesir used Narvi's organs to make chains using which they tied up Loki to rock slabs, and hung a huge, deadly, venomous snake over his face whose mouth dripped acid continuously over his face. With that, the Aesir simply walked away.