Loki Bound Beneath the Snake

Why does the earth shake when Loki struggles?

In Gylfaginning, the captured Loki is taken to a cave. The gods set 3 flat stones on edge. They turn his son Vali into a wolf, and he tears his brother Narvi to death.

The gods bind Loki with Narvi's guts. The stones support his shoulders, his hips, and the backs of his knees. His bonds turn to iron. In the prose ending of "Loki's Quarrel," however, Narvi is the son who becomes a wolf, and Vali's guts are used to bind Loki.

Skadi hangs a snake above Loki so that its venom drips onto his face. His wife Sigyn catches the venom in a bowl. Whenever the bowl fills, she steps away to empty it. While she is gone, venom falls onto Loki's face.

Loki writhes so violently that the whole earth shakes. This is what causes earthquakes, Gylfaginning tells us. In "The Seeress's Prophecy," Sigyn sits sorrowfully beside a bound figure who resembles Loki.

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