Read several books about Loki and Sigyn, which were marked with hashtag ‘justice for sigyn’. All of them are written by really talented people (I’m often baffled by situations when fans write better stories than professional writers – why do the latter get their money?). After reading I can’t agree on some specific points in these books that rubbed me wrong.
Contains spoilers!
Cat Rector ‘The Goddess of Nothing at all’ – the story is strong. A well-written book, pleasure to read. But. Even here, on Tumblr, I read lots of meta and criticism ‘Angrboda wasn’t Loki’s mistress! She was his wife before Sigyn!’. And the author goes this standard way ‘Angrboda is Loki’s mistress’. It works for this story, but it’s in lots and lots of books about Norse myths! Why NOT make her a mistress? Why go a typical way? The ending – I loved the ending. A new All-mother Sigyn – chef’s kiss.
Nicki Chapelway ‘The Harbinger of the end’ (1st book) – an interesting take on Volsung saga, the adventures were really engaging. But, frankly, I didn’t understand why Sigyn fell in love with Loki. I mean, they never had any meaningful conversations or actions between two of them to start love. She just decides ‘I’m a wife, I must love him, and also he’s handsome’. That’s it! Next morning she acts as if she’s deeply in love with him. It seemed as if the author wanted to go into slowburn, but didn’t manage to pull it off and just jumped to the moment when they’re already in love.
Lyra Wolf ‘Truth and other lies’ – again, where’s Sigyn as the Goddess of Victory? So much for all these cries in the internet and on Tumblr specifically ‘but she’s not the Goddess of Fidelity! Marvel just made it up!’. Then WHY use this trope? Not saying it’s a bad idea in and on itself, but it’s so established in general public’s mind. Why not change it? Why not at least combine these two elements – fidelity AND victory?
Surprisingly, only Melvin Burgess writes Sigyn as the Goddess of Victory. Burgess! It was the single thing I liked in this book. Of course, he didn’t give justice to her, but at least he named her title right.
Of course, I guess, nothing can beat the Marvel comics – they’re the first to blame for this Fidelity mess and general treatment of Sigyn. Lots of nowadays popular books are based on comics portrayal. I believe fan books should go as far from these typical Logyn tropes as possible.
Cop: sit on that chair, this is an interrogation
Sigyn, whispering: deny everything
Loki confidently: that isn’t a chair
Loki: Well, what can I do? Fenrir is hungry… That boy needs to eat
Odin: BUT WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE ME???
Sol: Hey, he eats me too! Yet, you don’t see me raping people or murdering kids to try and avoid it…
Loki: She’s got a point…
Loki: I hate the universe and everything in it. I cannot wait until I shuffle off this disgusting mortal coil.
Sigyn: Hi, babe! I'm back from the market and - I know you didn't ask - but I brought back some of your favorite treats! Loki: The universe is full of infinite magic and wonder. I hope this beautiful existence goes on forever.
Reblog if you love Gregory House
*Sigyn preparing stuff for dinner while Loki watches, drinking something*
"Thanks for helping me milk the cows darling!"
"Of course! If I have no better things to do I'll happily help you get some chores done"
"Loki?"
"Yes dear?"
"Were you ever a cow before?"
*chokes on drink*
"No..?! Who told you that!!"
"No one!! But are you implying you were..?"
"Yes, I mean what animals haven't I been."
"Good point!"
*Goes back to what she was doing, becoming thoughtful and turning back to him*
"You're just unusually skilled in milking them, makes me wonder if you've ever been a milkmaid-"
"SIGYN STOP-"
Hades: Looking left cause you don’t treat me right.
Yama: Looking right because you left.
Anubis: Looking up cause you let me down.
Ereshkigal: Looking down cause you fucked up.
Hel: What is wrong with you guys?
"but loki's the villain !!1!!1!" who gives a shit this was hot
I randomly had a thought that children of loki look at the mcu's portrayal of loki and either think "I wish that was my dad/mom" or "Ew, that's how people think dad/mom look and act? What the fuck?"
You know, the more I think about the Gospel of Loki the more I hate it. At first the anger was mostly depicted at how Sigyn was portrayed. Like I saw how she was described in the character list, got a bad feeling and after reading a couple of chapters gave up and skipped ahead and read the scene with Loki’s punishment to see how she was portrayed. And oh boy was that bad, unique, but still so bad. Couldn’t finish the book after that I was pissed off.
But the more I’ve thought about it, the more the whole Loki is a demon pisses me off too, maybe even more than the Sigyn stuff.
Like why in hell would you make the very Norse god Loki a demon, a creature from Christianity a whole other religion. Where is the logic in this decision? Honestly that choice is really insulting especially considering Christianity and Norse’s history. And how Loki was never considered a good or bad God by the original Norse people, but thanks to Christianity has been demonized and made the bad guy. And don’t even get me started on how wrong it is that Loki doesn’t love his kids. There is a reason his son were killed as part of his punishment. I just can’t believe someone with such a fundamental misunderstanding about Loki would write a novel about him.
Honestly it’s like the author saw how Snorri brought in Christian illusions in his writing down of the myths and went that’s what Loki needs- more Christianity! Then again I suppose I should have seen this coming, the title is called the Gospel of Loki.
Honestly I thought Marvel gave us the worst depiction of Sigyn and Loki’s relationship but this book really takes the cake. Even Marvel knew to keep Loki as a giant and they love to just ignore Norse mythology. The only good thing Gospel of Loki did was was the whole animals follow Sigyn around like a Disney Princess. But even that she fucks up later by making her like the snake hurting Loki. I hope Loki finds her and kicks her ass one day.
My major headcanon for Loki and Sigyn is that before marriage they agreed to have open relantionship. Of course, Loki is the one who benefits the most. Sigyn could have more partners too, but chooses to be loyal to her husband. She doesn't get mad at all of his romances and he would not be angry if she had someone too. Sigyn is also pan, meaning she could be with anyone (as long as they are Loki in disguise).
Same, except I think Sigyn does have more partners as well. Maybe less than Loki, but still. (This is also influenced by my headcanon that Sigyn could have demigod children as well in MCGA)