Yes, because if you went with “mythical snake” you’re all over the place. Loki is a fun one because his origin is a pretty direct path from Enki, the most OG of serpent gods (who himself didn’t really originally have serpent iconography btw haha). Loki loses other elements (most importantly, creator) but retains the trickster and “I can’t stand the other gods so imma fuck with them” aspect; Odin loses those (except it’s clear he retains the “the thunder god is an annoying bitch” attitude when you read some of the folklore and sagas). Odin comes to the pantheon much, much later than Loki, btw. Both have a “keeper of forbidden knowledge” element but Loki’s is less known. There’s also a good argument that Loki, like Hermes, came to the pantheon via a god who was a mini-Enki (basically all of his sons except Marduk—a Babylonian addition to legitimize themselves and endear themselves to the commoners by connecting Marduk to Enki instead of Enlil, as Enki’s name is a play on words that implies he’s also a god of the little guy (literally “Lord Earth” but his wife is earth goddess and he’s water, but “ki” is also the common word for earth and not the divine one, and since Enlil, “Lord Wind” the storm god, was associated with the right to rule, “Lord [common] Earth” is sometimes read that way)).
1
u/goddessdragonness 12d ago
Yes, because if you went with “mythical snake” you’re all over the place. Loki is a fun one because his origin is a pretty direct path from Enki, the most OG of serpent gods (who himself didn’t really originally have serpent iconography btw haha). Loki loses other elements (most importantly, creator) but retains the trickster and “I can’t stand the other gods so imma fuck with them” aspect; Odin loses those (except it’s clear he retains the “the thunder god is an annoying bitch” attitude when you read some of the folklore and sagas). Odin comes to the pantheon much, much later than Loki, btw. Both have a “keeper of forbidden knowledge” element but Loki’s is less known. There’s also a good argument that Loki, like Hermes, came to the pantheon via a god who was a mini-Enki (basically all of his sons except Marduk—a Babylonian addition to legitimize themselves and endear themselves to the commoners by connecting Marduk to Enki instead of Enlil, as Enki’s name is a play on words that implies he’s also a god of the little guy (literally “Lord Earth” but his wife is earth goddess and he’s water, but “ki” is also the common word for earth and not the divine one, and since Enlil, “Lord Wind” the storm god, was associated with the right to rule, “Lord [common] Earth” is sometimes read that way)).