A reader at 2Blowhards: Depiction of trickster gods in West Africa seems a bit positive, at worst morally neutral. In Northern Europe, Loki was a clear-cut villain. Could that contrast come from selection-induced personality differences?
Greg Cochran: And yet Bugs Bunny is our hero. I think this line of analysis is about as sound and solid as Citibank.
He was? In the Eddic literature, he’s certainly not: the city of the gods could not have been built; without him, Thor’s hammer could not have been reclaimed from the frost giants; and he must have done Odin a good turn indeed for him to consent to becoming a blood-brother and thereby numbering Loki among the Aesir. Yes, he did many bad things, but let’s not forget the good—that’s why Norse scholars have such difficulty with Loki.
This seemed terribly appropriate.
A reader at 2Blowhards: Depiction of trickster gods in West Africa seems a bit positive, at worst morally neutral. In Northern Europe, Loki was a clear-cut villain. Could that contrast come from selection-induced personality differences?
Greg Cochran: And yet Bugs Bunny is our hero. I think this line of analysis is about as sound and solid as Citibank.
He was? In the Eddic literature, he’s certainly not: the city of the gods could not have been built; without him, Thor’s hammer could not have been reclaimed from the frost giants; and he must have done Odin a good turn indeed for him to consent to becoming a blood-brother and thereby numbering Loki among the Aesir. Yes, he did many bad things, but let’s not forget the good—that’s why Norse scholars have such difficulty with Loki.