00:00Loki is standing over a sleeping woman with a blade in his hand.
00:04She's Sif, Thor's wife, and her hair, golden like a field of summer wheat,
00:09is the most beautiful thing in Asgard.
00:11Loki cuts all of it off, every strand, just to see the look on her face.
00:17Six hours later, Thor has him pinned to the ground,
00:20and is about to break every bone in his body, one at a time, slowly.
00:26Loki has about 10 seconds to talk his way out of this.
00:29What he comes up with will accidentally create the most famous weapon in mythology.
00:34He promises Thor new hair, real hair, golden, alive, better than what she lost,
00:41made by the only craftsman in the nine realms who could do it.
00:44The dwarves. Not the dwarves you're picturing.
00:48In Norse myth, these are the people who build the things that hold the universe together.
00:52They forge the chain that binds Fenrir, a wolf strong enough to snap iron-like thread.
00:58Out of six impossible things. And it has held him for eternity.
01:02They live deep under the mountains, in forges older than the gods themselves.
01:07And they don't work for free. Which is a problem, because Loki has nothing to pay them with.
01:12So he does what he always does.
01:14There are two dwarf families down there, and they can't stand each other.
01:18The sons of Ivaldi, the finest goldsmiths alive.
01:21And two brothers, Brock and Itri, who are convinced they're better.
01:26Loki decides he isn't going to buy anything. He's going to make them compete. For free.
01:31He goes to the sons of Ivaldi first. Brock and Itri, he tells them, have been going around calling
01:37themselves the greatest smiths who ever lived. And they've issued a challenge. Three treasures each,
01:43judged by the gods themselves. Starting with hair made of gold.
01:47The sons of Ivaldi light their forge that night.
01:50Then Loki walks across the mountain to Brock and Itri, and tells them the exact same story.
01:55With the names swapped. The Ivaldi's issued the challenge.
01:58The Ivaldi's called you second best. But these two are harder to play.
02:02Itri looks at this god who has appeared in his workshop with a story about a contest nobody else
02:08has mentioned. And before he strikes a single hammer blow, he sets one condition. If they win,
02:15Loki gives them his head. Not gold. Not a favor. His head. And Loki, who has never once in his
02:22life
02:22believed he could lose an argument, says yes. Then he walks out of that workshop, and it hits him.
02:28He invented this contest. He picked both sides. And he has just bet his life that the family he
02:34manipulated first beats the family that saw straight through him. There's only one way out.
02:41He has to sabotage the competition he created. Itri prepares the forge, and gives his brother one job.
02:48Work the bellows. Never stop. Not for a heartbeat. Because if the fire drops even once,
02:54whatever is inside is ruined. Then he puts a pigskin into the flames, and turns away to work.
03:00And somewhere in the tunnels outside, Loki changes shape. Not into a wolf. Not into a giant. Into
03:07something small enough that nobody would ever think to look at it. A fly. Black and quiet. Slipping in
03:14through a gap in the stone. It lands on Brock's hand. And drives its sting in. Brock doesn't flinch.
03:20He keeps pumping. And out of the fire comes a boar with bristles of living gold. Bright enough to turn
03:26night into day. Itri drops gold into the furnace and says the same thing. Don't stop. The fly comes
03:33back. And bites his neck this time. Hard enough to draw blood. Brock keeps pumping. Out of the fire
03:40comes an arm ring that will drop eight identical rings of gold every ninth night. Forever. Two treasures.
03:47Both perfect. Then Itri takes a block of iron. Drops it into the flames. And tells his brother that this
03:53is the one that matters. And the fly lands directly on Brock's eyelid. And bites down. With everything it
04:00has. Blood runs into his eye. He's blind. And for half a second. Half a second. His hand comes off
04:07the
04:07bellows to wipe it clear. The fire dips. Outside. In the dark of the tunnel. Loki takes his own shape
04:14again. And smiles. They carry all six treasures up to Asgard. And the gods gather to judge them.
04:23The sons of Evaldi go first. Golden hair. Which Sif lifts to her head. And it takes root. And grows.
04:29Alive. More beautiful than what she lost. Then a spear for Odin. Gungnir. Which will never miss
04:36its target. No matter who throws it. Or how badly. Then a folded square of cloth. Which opens. And keeps
04:43opening. Until it's a warship big enough to carry an army. And then folds back down small enough to put
04:48in your pocket. The gods are stunned. Loki looks like a man who has already won. Then Brock steps forward.
04:55The boar. Whose golden bristles burn like a sunrise. That runs across sky and sea faster than any horse
05:01alive. The ring that breeds gold out of nothing. Every ninth night. For eternity. Extraordinary.
05:08But the Evaldi's gifts were extraordinary too. And then he takes out the last one. The iron one.
05:14The one that came out of the fire half a second too early. A hammer. And the handle is short.
05:19Too short.
05:20Almost comically so. Sized for one hand instead of two. Loki laughs out loud. There it is. His sabotage.
05:28Sitting in the open where everyone can see it. Then Brock explains what the hammer does. It will never
05:33break. Against anything. It will never miss what it's aimed at. And no matter how far it's thrown.
05:38It returns to the hand that threw it. Its name is Mjolnir. And the gods don't even need to discuss
05:44it.
05:45Brock turns around and asks for what he's owed. Thor gets to Loki before Loki gets to the door. And
05:52here,
05:52with a dwarf holding a blade and every god and Asgard watching, the trickster does the single most
05:58Loki thing in all of Norse mythology. He points out that the bet was for his head. His head. Not
06:05his neck.
06:06And there is no way on earth to take a head without cutting through a neck that was never part
06:12of the
06:12agreement. The gods check it. Word by word. And he's right. Technically. Legally. Infuriatingly right.
06:20Brock doesn't argue. He just asks his brother for an awl. A needle for punching holes through leather.
06:26And a length of cord. And he sews Loki's mouth shut. Lip to lip. Because if he can't take the
06:32head,
06:33he'll take the thing the head does. That's where the scars come from. Every version of Loki after that
06:39night. Every carving. Every image. Every story. Shows the marks across his mouth. So the most powerful
06:45weapon ever made exists because of a bad haircut. A lie. A bet. And an insect bite that lasted half
06:52a second.
06:53If that fly had missed, Mjolnir would have had a long handle. And it would have been just… a hammer.
07:00Tell me in the comments whether Loki deserved what he got. And vote the next legend. Fenrir,
07:05the wolf that ate a god. Ragnarok, realm by realm. Or the mead of poetry, how Odin stole inspiration itself.
