Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

the other hand, rightly regarded Nari and Narvi as simply variations of the same name,
and accordingly let them designate the same son of Loki. When he wrote chapter 33, he
did not know what name to give to the other, and consequently omitted him entirely. But
when he got to the 50th chapter, a light had risen for him in regard to the name of the
other. And the light doubtless came from the following half strophe in Völuspá:
þá kná Vála
vígbönd snúa,
heldur voru harðgjör
höft úr þörmum.
This half strophe says that those were strong chains (for Loki) that were made of
entrails, and these fetters were "twisted" from "Váli's vígbönd." Víg as a legal term means
a murder, slaughter. Vála víg was interpreted as a murder committed by Vali; and Vála
vígbönd as the bonds or fetters obtained by the slaughter committed by Vali. 10 It was
known that Loki was chained with the entrails of his son, and here it was thought to
appear that this son was slain by a certain Vali. And as he was slain by a brother
according to the myth, then Vali must be the brother of the slain son of Loki. Accordingly
chapter 50 of Gylfaginning could tell us what chapter 33 did not yet know, namely, that
the two sons of Loki were named Vali and Nari or Narvi, and that Vali changed to a wolf,
tore the brother "Nari or Narvi" into pieces.
The next step was taken by Skáldskaparmál, or more probably by one of the
transcribers of Skáldskaparmál. As Vali and Ali in the mythology designated the same
person (viz., Baldur's avenger, the son of Odin), the son of Loki, changed into a wolf,
"Vali" received as a gift the name "Ali." It is by no means impossible that the transcriber
regarded Baldur's avenger, Vali, and the son of Loki as identical. The oldest manuscript
we have of Skáldskaparmál is the Upsala Codex, which is no older than the beginning of
the fourteenth century. The mythic traditions were then in the continuation of that rapid
decay which had begun in the eleventh century, and not long thereafter the Icelandic saga
writings saw Valhall peopled by giants and all sorts of monsters, which were called
einherjes, and Thor himself transferred to the places of torture where he drank venom
from "the auroch's horn," presented to him by the daughter of Loki.
In the interpretation of the above-cited half strophe of Völuspá, we must therefore
leave out the supposed son of Loki, Vali. The Germanic mythology, like the other Indo-
European mythologies, applied many names and epithets to the same person, but it
seldom gave two or more persons one and the same name, unless the latter was a
10 Ursula Dronke translates these lines as "Then did Váli slaughter bonds twist, made fairly grim were the
fetters of guts." She takes Váli to be the son of Odin and observes "Nowhere, except in H (Hauksbók) is he
said to have placed the bonds upon Loki, but as he was expressly begotten to avenge Baldr, it is logical
enough that the binding of Loki should be attributed to him."
She continues "Snorri, …has found these lines interesting. Out of them he has invented a new son for
Loki, Váli Lokason. He appears to have interpreted the H text Vála vígbönd as 'bonds from Váli's act of
slaughter' since he relates that Váli Lokason was changed into a wolf by the Æesir and straightaway tore
apart his brother Narfi. …The story is found in a variant form in the prose epilogue to Lokasenna, but
without reference to Váli." (PE II, pg. 76)