Odin: So, let me get this straight–
Freya: More like let me run this bi you
Loki: Let’s just see how this pans out.
Skadi: We should ace-ess the situation.
Hel: I’m gay.
i’m still salty for snorri sturlusson for not including the “well-known” and “long” disappeared story of heimdall and loki fighting over freyja’s jewelry in his retellings and instead just vaguely mentioning that one existed every now and then
@norsesuggestions was posting about sleipnir and how the story of loki’s horse adventures really isn’t even that weird for him overall, and that got me inspired.
There’s really not much description of how shapeshifting works in the Eddas or sagas, except that non-giants sometimes seem to need a magical item to don another shape. Deciding how to draw Loki’s shapeshifting for some future projects is a bit tricky, but I’m pretty happy with this sketch. Simplest solution is usually the best.
Sleipnir is described as “grey” in the Eddas. In old Scandinavian texts that can mean pretty much whatever in contrast to modern horse colour genetics. I still think it’s fitting – a genetically “grey” horse is born one colour, greys out quickly, and turns white with age, so a full adult “grey” horse is actually white.
Some grey horses also get tiny little freckles on their white coat as they age. What follows is that a white freckled horse is called a “fleabitten” grey in English. And if that’s not Loki, then I don’t know what is.
I’ve never seen the cartoon, but now that you said it Salvador Dalí is weirdly accurate, especially in his younger photos. Something about the eyes. (And the crazy moustache, of course, but not only that).
There was also a post about David Bowie’s Loki-like qualities floating around, and looking at 70s Bowie pictures I’m left thinking that jawline-cheekbone combo is also something I didn’t know I’ve been drawing all along.
Some of the facial features that I use for Loki I look for in Tobias Menzies (actor) and Sam Lee (folk musician).
They don’t really look anything alike, nor does either alone look like my Loki, but both have really interesting facial features. Keeping a few anchor features and fun faces in mind is a good way to solidify a character design.
odin is like “when thor was born the sun shone bright upon his beautiful face. i found loki on the sidewalk outside a taco bell”
Oðinn spake:
Bright the sun shone | at the time of Þor’s birth, And bathed his count’nance fair. Loki, wolf-father, | the trickster, the liar, I found on the cold pavement While returning in glory | from a grand hunt For a 3 AM quesadilla.
Norse mythology fails to convey the sense of terror that must have hung over Asgard every time Loki was gone for longer than eight months and three weeks
joss whedon: loki tortures and murders people for fun, and, despite being the god of CHAOS, is a fascist who says things like “it’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation”
taika waititi: loki is an annoying little shit who day-drinks, puts on theater about himself, and fucks his way to the top
joss whedon: loki and thor are gods, so they always talk proper and posh and in cryptic riddles so for no reason. it makes them seem more powerful and mystical.
taiki waititi: one time when they were kids loki turned into a snake because he knows thor loves snakes and then thor went to pick up the snake and then loki turned back into himself and screamed “yueagh, it’s me!” and then he stabbed thor
Taika Waititi has a deeper understanding of Norse mythological accuracy than Joss lol
It’s because Joss Whedon looks at all mythology and religion through a Christian-atheist lens. You can see it in Buffy and even a little in Firefly too. Even when he writes about other religions and their deities and practices, it still comes back to Christianity.
He wrote Thor and Loki as modern Western Christianity would portray Jesus and the Devil as opposed to how they actually are in mythology or the comics
That…is a really good addition as to why Whedon gets Thor and Loki
wrong and why Taika did a far better job with their
characters/personalities in Ragnarok
Spitfire Alice A Gra 
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