Complicated and totally weirdo personalities
Have you chanced upon total weirdos in life? I am not talking about the ones who in the pursuit of showing off skills of any kind use up all the astuteness in triumphantly making a fool of themselves! Or the ones who know nothing but still behave like a bubbling active volcano of confidence!
I am actually talking about insanely intelligent fellows who are successful in achieving a queer objective that would otherwise sound balderdash to the world… Trust me, these guys do exist in the real world and in the fiction realm!
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Recently I read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, yet again!! My love for the story renews every time I read it.
The plot explores the queer relationship between Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll achieved scientific prowess in pursuit of his pleasure which was flanked by evil motives. Jekyll prepared a draft that could transform him into another dwarfish person called Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde was an evil man. He trampled upon his victims in the dead of the night. Back again in the morning, Hyde would drink the antidote of the draft and turn himself back into Jekyll.
As time flew, the sinister objectives of Hyde overpowered Jekyll.
Poor Mr. Utterson, a decent lawyer, was trapped between his moral duty and friendship with Jekyll.
The book explores the idea that how a person can be both good and evil.
Complicated Gods in Mythology
I couldn’t help but draw a comparison between the dual personality of Dr. Jekyll and the most explored and extensively written Norse God LOKI.
Loki the trickster as we often describe him was the son of giant Farbauti was handsome as ever and far more cunning and wiser than the other Norse Gods. He had terrible children- Sleipnir (eight-legged horse), Hel, Jormunhandr (deadly serpent), and Fenrir (the wolf)
To add to the queerness of his character, Loki was the God who created troubles for the Norse Gods and also came up with timely and bright solutions to their problems. In short, Loki was the mischief-maker and problem-solver.
There was so much darkness, so much fury and so much lust inside him which often projected him as evil. These are two instances which depict the good and evil side of Loki.
Loki the savior
A certain smith once arrived at Asgard and offered to build the gods a high wall around the palace for protection. Now, the smith was a giant himself. He demanded from Odin (the king of gods) that if he completes the building of the wall in three seasons then the Gods should grant him the hand of goddess Freya in marriage, as well as the sun and moon.
The Gods discussed together. Loki persuaded the Gods to ask the smith to complete the fortification in just one winter. This task was so impossible to complete that they won’t have to give away Freya’s hand in marriage or the sun or the moon. Instead, there would be a partial wall built around the palace which could later be completed building easily by the Gods.
However, the smith asked the Gods to have his stallion with him for help. Gods agreed to it and the smith began working. Many moons passed by and smith was doing a splendid job. A night before the smith’s time was up, only the stones around the gate were to be put in place.
Anxious Gods obviously seized Loki. Loki assured the Gods that he’ll do the trick. He transformed into a mare and lured the smith’s stallion deep into the forest at night. Without the stallion, the smith could not complete building the wall. He lost the bet to the Gods.
Loki the murderer
Baldur, son of Odin, was the beloved God. He was traumatized by the nightmares he was having frequently about some misfortune befalling him. His mother, goddess Frigg, was a benevolent sorcerer. She decided to save her son from all calamities. Frigg went around Asgard taking oaths from everything in the surrounding to not hurt her son Baldur.
Having thus obtained the oaths from the cosmos, Baldur was pretty much immortal. He stood surrounded by the Gods who playfully aimed sticks, stones, other weapons at Baldur. Baldur was untouched by any harm.
Loki obviously grew more and more curious about Baldur’s armor of immortality. He took a disguise of an old woman and asked Frigg if she had asked every creature of cosmos to take an oath for Baldur’s safety. Frigg innocently told Loki that everything apart from mistletoe had pleaded Baldur’s safety.
Loki smiled cunningly and got a branch of mistletoe. He handed it to a blind God Hodr. He helped Hodr take an aim at Baldur. As soon as the mistletoe touched Baldur, he collapsed in a heap and breathed his last.
Did smith accept defeat so easily? Did smith find out Loki’s trick? What became of Loki when he was a mare?
What happened after Odin and the Gods found out of Baldur’s murder plot? Was Loki severely punished after that? What were the consequences of the death of Baldur?
To know more watch another story of Loki :
Suggested further reading:
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley
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