Lokis Greatest Triumph: The Binding of The Mighty Fenrir

From The Immortal Gazette Studio ⚜️

Forgotten Tales, Twisted Truths & Legends told by Alice, Rumple, and their ever-growing cast of troublemakers.

Loki's Greatest Triumph: The Binding of the Mighty Fenrir

The Immortal Gazette studio was rarely organized.

That was simply a fact everyone had accepted.

Scrolls appeared in places they had no business being. Ancient books somehow migrated from shelves to desks overnight. Someone was always experimenting with something they probably shouldn't, and Alice had long ago stopped asking why there was occasionally smoke coming from Rumplestiltskin's corner of the room.

Today was no different.

Thorn was stretched across a velvet chair near the window, looking far too comfortable for someone who claimed he was "only observing." A strange little clockwork raven sat beside him, occasionally making clicking noises as it stared at the collection of Norse manuscripts spread across the table.

Alice looked at the raven.

Then at Thorn.

Then back at the raven.

"Should I ask?"

"No," Thorn replied immediately.

She nodded. "Good. Because I already know I won't like the answer."

Across the room, Rumplestiltskin was carefully unrolling a weathered scroll depicting one of the most infamous figures in Norse mythology.

Loki.

Alice noticed his expression.

"Oh no."

Rumple looked up. "What?"

"That face."

"What face?"

"The one where you are about to defend someone everyone else considers a disaster."

Rumple smiled.

"Today, Alice, we discuss Loki's greatest triumph."

Thorn sat up slightly.

"Now this should be entertaining."

Alice crossed her arms. "You mean the story where Loki's son Fenrir is bound by the gods because they fear what he will become?"

"Yes."

"And you call that Loki's triumph?"

Rumplestiltskin placed the scroll on the table.

"Not because Fenrir was defeated."

He tapped the illustration.

"Because Loki understood something the gods failed to see."

Alice tilted her head. "And that would be?"

"That fear makes people predictable."

The room shifted into the familiar rhythm of the Gazette.

Not a lecture.

Not a history lesson.

A conversation.

A debate.

A collection of immortals arguing over the mistakes of those who came before them.

Fenrir was one of Loki's most unusual children. Born of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, the great wolf grew quickly, and with every passing year, the gods of Asgard became more uneasy.

They saw his size.

They saw his strength.

They saw the prophecies surrounding Ragnarök.

And they became afraid.

"Which, naturally," Rumple said, "is where everyone begins making excellent decisions."

Alice gave him a look.

"You mean terrible decisions."

"Exactly."

Thorn grinned. "The best disasters always start with someone saying, 'We have everything under control.'"

The gods attempted to contain Fenrir. They brought chains, each stronger than the last.

Each one failed.

Fenrir broke free every time.

And with every broken chain, the gods became more certain that the wolf was a threat.

Alice glanced at the scroll.

"Did anyone ever stop and wonder if treating him like a monster would eventually make him act like one?"

Rumple smiled slightly.

"Now you're asking the important questions."

The gods eventually turned to the dwarves, who created the impossible binding known as Gleipnir.

Unlike the previous chains, it looked harmless.

A delicate ribbon.

Soft.

Thin.

Almost beautiful.

"Which should have been the first warning," Thorn said.

"Naturally," Rumple replied. "The more harmless something appears, the more likely someone is hiding something."

Alice sighed.

"That is possibly the most Rumple sentence you've ever spoken."

He ignored her.

Fenrir was suspicious. He was powerful, but he was not foolish. He understood that the gods had not brought him a magical ribbon simply because they wanted to see if he could break it.

He sensed the deception.

So he demanded proof.

One god would have to place their hand inside his jaws while he was bound.

If they meant no harm, they had nothing to fear.

Alice looked toward Rumple.

"Of course they needed a sacrifice."

"Not a sacrifice," Rumple corrected. "A promise."

"And who made it?"

"Týr."

The room grew quieter.

Unlike the others, Týr understood the cost. He knew Fenrir would bite down if the gods betrayed him.

But he still placed his hand inside the wolf's mouth.

Because someone had to take responsibility for the oath.

The gods bound Fenrir.

The ribbon tightened.

The impossible chain held.

Fenrir pulled with all his strength, but Gleipnir did not break.

And in that moment, the wolf understood.

The gods had tricked him.

His jaws closed.

Týr lost his hand.

Alice looked away from the scroll.

"That story always gets told as Fenrir's defeat."

Rumple nodded.

"But Loki would have seen something else."

Thorn leaned forward.

"The gods revealed themselves."

"Exactly."

Rumplestiltskin walked slowly around the table.

"Loki was never simply a god of tricks. He was a god of consequences. He exposed arrogance. He revealed weaknesses. He showed people the flaws they desperately wanted to ignore."

Alice raised an eyebrow.

"You're making Loki sound like some kind of misunderstood philosopher."

"I am saying," Rumple replied, "that sometimes the trickster is the only person willing to point out that everyone else is lying to themselves."

Thorn smiled.

"And sometimes everyone hates the person who tells the truth because the truth is inconvenient."

Alice looked back at the illustration of Fenrir.

"But Loki's greatest triumph wasn't that Fenrir was bound."

"No," Rumple agreed.

"It was that the gods, through fear, created exactly what they were trying to prevent."

The prophecy.

The hatred.

The inevitable conflict.