Hermes and Loki and Tricksters Part 2

This chapter explores the archetype of the trickster as a culture hero—a creative force whose mischief and cunning ultimately add richness, sacred artifacts, and foundational elements to the mythological world. Focusing on Greek and Norse traditions, the lecture examines how Hermes and Loki utilize theft, cleverness, and negotiation to generate items of immense cultural and divine significance, balancing destruction with creation.

1. Defining the Trickster as a Culture Hero

• The Culture Hero Concept: Unlike purely destructive figures, tricksters are creative catalysts whose actions introduce vital cultural, technological, and artistic assets to humanity and the gods.
• Extreme Appetites and Creativity: Tricksters like Hermes are frequently associated with immense sexual appetites, chaotic energy, and profound inventiveness—a psychological and mythological link bridging primal creation with divine innovation.
• Amorality and Childishness: Their motivations are rarely noble; they operate out of boredom, gluttony, intoxication, or sheer malice, yet their chaotic interventions invariably shape the cosmos.

2. Hermes: The Divine Infant and Inventor

• Statuary and the "Herms": While Hermes is famous as the divine messenger, he holds a massive presence in ancient Greek statuary via herms—square pillars topped with a bust of his head and a male member, frequently placed at crossroads to guide travelers.
• The Tortoise and the Lyre: As a newborn infant, Hermes sneaks out of his cradle, kills a tortoise, and repurposes its shell into the first lyre, inventing musical lyrics on the spot.
• The Cattle Heist: Demonstrating early criminal genius, Hermes steals fifty sacred cattle belonging to his brother, Apollo. To cover his tracks:
  • He forces the cattle to walk backward so footprints point in the wrong direction.
  • He crafts and wears primitive backwards sandals to mask his own footsteps.
  • He slaughters and roasts two cows, hides the rest, destroys the fire, and sneaks back into his cradle.

3. The Confrontation and Resolution Between Hermes and Apollo

• Apollo's Investigation: Despite Hermes' meticulous stealth, Apollo tracks the crime to the infant and threatens to hurl him into Tartarus.
• The Defense of Infancy: Hermes brazenly denies the crime, hiding behind his literal infancy: "I'm only a baby, how could I steal 50 cows?"
• Zeus's Judgment: Brought before Zeus, the king of the gods orders the baby to return the stolen livestock.
• The Gift Exchange: To restore peace, Apollo and Hermes exchange powerful divine symbols:
  • Apollo gives Hermes: A cattle-tending whip and the caduceus, cementing Hermes' role as the herald and messenger of the gods.
  • Hermes gives Apollo: The newly invented lyre, which becomes Apollo's primary instrument and the symbol of his musical divinity.

4. Creation, Destruction, and Cultural Artifacts

• The Flipside of Creation: Hermes' creation of the lyre requires the literal slaughter of a tortoise and two cows, illustrating that in mythological frameworks, creation and destruction are fundamentally intertwined.
• Cultural Transmission: The myth of the lyre explains the origin of musical instruments and song-crafting, which served as the primary vehicle for preserving and passing down ancient Greek oral culture.
• Scholarly Perspective: Mythologist David Leeming observes that Hermes embodies the classic trickster traits of "deceitfulness, trickery, childishness, amorality, humor, extreme inventiveness, and great charm."

5. Norse Mythology: Loki and the Stolen Hair of Sif

• Loki’s Morning Mischief: Waking up after a night of heavy mead consumption, Loki decides that disappearing Sif’s (Thor’s wife) beautiful blonde hair would be a hilarious prank.
• Thor’s Wrath: Discovering his wife shorn, Thor immediately suspects Loki and threatens to break every bone in his body unless the hair is restored.
• The Quest for Better Hair: Terrified by Thor's violence, Loki promises to travel to the subterranean realm of the dwarves to secure even finer golden hair for Sif.

6. The Dwarf Forge Competition and Loki's Sabotage

• Manipulating the Smiths: Loki visits the sons of Ivaldi (master dwarf craftsmen) and plays on their pride, claiming the gods think rival dwarves Brokk and Eitri are superior. Stung by ego, the sons of Ivaldi agree to forge three magnificent treasures.
• The Wager with Brokk and Eitri: Loki then visits Brokk and Eitri, baiting them to outdo the sons of Ivaldi. Brokk accepts the challenge, staking his own head against Loki's on the outcome.
• The Biting Fly: Eitri instructs Brokk to pump the forge bellows continuously without stopping. To sabotage the work and win the bet, Loki transforms into a pesky biting fly:
  • First and Second Treasures: Loki bites Brokk's hand and neck, but Brokk maintains the bellows.
  • Third Treasure (The Hammer): Panicking as Eitri finishes the final project, Loki bites fiercely right between Brokk's eyes. Brokk momentarily wipes away the blood, breaking his rhythm and causing a slight imperfection in the forge's oxygenation.

7. The Divine Treasures of Asgard

The competition yields six legendary artifacts presented to the Norse gods:

8. The Technicality: How Loki Saves His Head

• Unanimous Verdict: The Aesir judge Brokk and Eitri's craftsmanship superior, especially praising Thor's new hammer, Mjolnir, as humanity's ultimate defense against the giants.
• Collecting the Wager: Having lost the bet, Loki faces Brokk's knife. When the dwarf moves to claim his head, Loki invokes a brilliant semantic defense:
  • The bet granted Brokk Loki's head, but explicitly did not include his neck.
  • Brokk cannot cut off the head without also slicing into the forbidden neck.
• Odin's Ruling: In an early mythological display of legalistic loophole exploitation, the All-Father Odin agrees with Loki's technicality, forcing a frustrated Brokk to pack up and leave empty-handed.

9. Comparative Trickster Analysis

Summary and Key Takeaways

• Tricksters as Culture Heroes: Trickster figures transcend mere mischief; their creative disruptions add essential artifacts, instruments, and cultural foundations to human and divine society.
• Creation Requires Destruction: Hermes' invention of the lyre from a tortoise shell emphasizes the recurrent mythological theme that creation and destruction are deeply intertwined.
• Juvenile Rationalizations: Both Hermes and Loki excuse their massive societal transgressions with childish or absurd justifications ("I'm just a baby" and "I was drunk").
• Divine Gifts Emerge from Chaos: Through theft, sabotage, and competition, tricksters inadvertently generate iconic divine symbols such as Apollo's lyre, Odin's spear, and Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.
• The Psychology of the Trickster: Defined by David Leeming, tricksters combine deceitfulness, amorality, childishness, humor, and extreme inventiveness.
• Consequences and Retribution: Unlike invincible deities, tricksters like Loki face genuine physical threats and must rely entirely on their intellect rather than brute strength to survive.
• Linguistic Loopholes: Loki demonstrates that quick thinking and technicalities can outmaneuver physical violence, cheating death by arguing over the literal definition of his "head" versus his "neck."
• Human Modeling: Tricksters provide a relatable model for mortal behavior: lacking divine magic or super-strength, humans must rely on wits and problem-solving to navigate self-made crises.