The point I am trying to make here is that there are enough contradictions and enigmas concerning Loki's role on Baldr's death to make one question whether or not the versions we have may not have been altered to cause Loki to appear as the Norse Satan. My opinion is that the truth of the tale of Baldr's murder is some where between Saxo's and Snorri's. Davidson seems to support this when she says, “On the whole it seems that both Saxo and Snorri, when they came to tell the tale of Balder's death, where dealing with obscure and puzzling sources, of the kind which cause us considerable bewilderment when we meet them in the Edda collection, poems full of esoteric allusions to magic and the Other World. Both writers have no doubt tried to clarify and to some extent rationalize their material, as we know them to have done elsewhere. Snorri has come out by far the best in the contest. His version appears in all the popular mythologies, while little attention is paid to Saxo.”

 There is a lot of debate as to whether or not Loki is a “god of fire.” My own personal opinion is that his power is akin to fire and I hope to show that it is indeed possible according to the Lore and Folklore we have. One of the three sons of Fornjótr (Ynglingatal 27) is Logi. Logi also appears at the court of Utgarthloki's court where he participates in an eating contest with Loki. (Gylfaginning 45 and 46 ) Some are of the opinion that because Loki and Logi appear against each other in a contest in Utgarthaloki's court, that Loki cannot be the same as Logi nor could Loki be a “god of fire.” While I agree that Loki and Logi are not the same “person” I do not think this shows that Loki is not connected with fire. Each person was matched up with a contestant that was similar to them in some way. I think that the fact that Loki was matched up with Logi would tend to support the association of Loki with fire. Simek gives some of the Folk customs concerning Loki:

“Folk ideas concerning Loki- The various ideas given in folklore in which Loki occurs are intereseting in helping to determine his position in folk-belief, although useless for an interpretation of Loki in mythology itself. Numerous references have been collected together in two essays by Olrik and in Dumézil's monograph. One which is of special interest is the Faroese ballad Lokka-tattur in which Odin, Hoenir and Loki appear. In Iceland Loki can be found in various proverbs and idioms, among them 'There's a loki in it' referring to a caught thread and lokabrenna for the dog-days in high summer. In Norway Loki is linked with the kitchen fire and when the fire in the stove crackles, they say that 'Lokje is beating his children'; left-overs are thrown into the fire 'for Lokje'. One figure in folklore from Flanders, Lodder, has also been connected with Loki and attempts have been made to derive a strengthening of the assumed connection between Loki and Lothurr from this.”

And from Grimm's Teutonic Mythology we have the following:

“Thorlacius (spec. 7, 43) has proved that in the phrase 'Loki fer yfir akra' (passes over the fields), and in the Danish 'Locke dricker vand' (drinks water), fire and the burning sun are meant, just as we say the sun is drawing water, when he shines through in bright streaks between two clouds. Loka daun (Lokii odor) is Icelandic for the ignis fatuus exhaling brimstone (ibid. 44); Lokabrenna (Lokii incendium) for Sirius; Loka spoenir are chips for firing. In the north of Jutland, a weed very noxious to cattle (polytrichum comm.) is called Lokkena havre, and there is a proverb 'Nu saaer Lokken sin havre,' now Locke sows his oats, i.e., the devil his tares; the Danish lexicon translates Lokeshavre avena fatua, others make it the rhinanthus crista galli. When the fire crackles, they say 'Lokje smacks his children,' Faye p. 6. Molbech's Dial. lex. p. 330 says, the Jutland phrase 'Lokke saaer havre idag (to-day),' or what is equivalent 'Lokke driver idag med sine geder (drives out his goats),' is spoken of vapours that hang about the ground in the heat of the sun. When birds drop their feathers in moulting time, people say that 'gaae i Lokkis arri (pass under L.'s harrow?)'; 'at hore paa Lockens eventyr (adventures)' means to listen to lies or idle tales (P. Syv's gamle danske ordsprog 2, 72), According to Sjoborg's Nomenklatur, there is in Vestergotland a giant's grave named Lokehall. All of them conceptions well deserving notice, which linger to this day among the common people, and in which Loki is by turns taken for a beneficent and for a hurtful being, for sun, fire, giant or devil. Exactly the same sort of harm is in Germany ascribed to the devil, and the kindly god of light is thought of as a devastating flame (see Suppl.).”

 In Scandinavia the “Heat Haze” a sign of the coming of spring, is said of, “the Locke Man or Locke sows his oats.” In Icelandic is the saying “walk like Loki over the fields.” Also in Sweden is the interesting custom of throwing a milk tooth in the fire with the accompanying saying: “Locke, locke give me a bone-tooth instead of a gold-tooth." In Smaland spiders are regarded as sacred there, and if one should want to destroy spiders and spider's webs, this is always done by throwing them into the fire in order to prevent all destruction and misfortune that might come from it.

It is easy to see from these references from Simek and from Grimm that Loki was indeed very closely associated with fire. Also interesting is that Simek says that, “Lopt possibly comes from lopt-eldr = “Lightning” or “one who tends lightning.” Lopt is normally translated as air or the airy one. The connection between lightning strikes causing forest fires makes this interpretation very interesting in my opinion. It has long been my belief that one can find truths about the lore through the surviving Folklore. In this case I do not think it is possible to deny the possibility that Loki was associated with fire. It is also easy to see possibly why Loki was chosen as the Norse version of Satan. If he was associated with fire it would be easy to see why Christians with their fiery version of Hell might choose Loki as their Lucifer.

 An interesting trait that can be noted about Loki that is in common with the trickster gods of other cultures is that although his actions do benefit others it is a by-product many times of his desire to somehow benefit himself that is the primary motivation and the benfits to others, i.e. the Aesir are by products of that. This is shown many times in the tales we have of Loki, though it is not universal. So although many of the benefits that Loki brings to the Aesir result from him trying to get himself out of a jam after having caused the situation in the first place, not all them fit that model and therefore it seems to me that a mere trickster is perhaps an over simplification of his role.

 In her book “Loki in Scandinavian Mythology,” Anna Birgitta Rooth makes the case for the connection between Loki and the Spider, a common trickster figure in some Native American Indian lore. She points out that despite the scholars objections that Loki and Locke cannot be connected by tracing through sound laws the lay Torsvisa, recoreded in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, does refer to Loki by both Locke and Loki. Torsvisa (Thorr's Song) is a telling of the lay of Thrymskvitha where Loki helps Thorr recover his stolen hammer. She gives the following translations used as names for Loki:

Norwegian:  Laakien (1750), Lokke Lagenson (1695)

Swedish: Locke Lewe, Locke Loye (recorded 1650-1700)

Danish:  Loche, Lochy, Lochii, Lokke, with the addition Leymand,
Leymandt (1695)
Lokki Laejermand, Lirmand (modern Jutish)
liden, lidel, Locke (modern Jutish)

Icelandic: Loki Laufeyar sonr (Þrymskviða 17)
Lóður (Þrymlur I, 21) (Lokrur I, 11; III, 15, 50; IV, 20)
Loptur (Þrymlur I, 18)

Faeroese:  Lokki.