The Liminality of Loki

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article, the 2018 winner of the AASSC Gurli Aagaard Woods Undergraduate Publication Award, compares Victor Turner’s concept of liminality with common characteristics of trickster figures to show how the Norse god Loki is not only a trickster figure, but also a liminal one. As this article demonstrates, both trickster and liminal figures comment on a society’s social norms by challenging those social norms in order to enact change. Therefore, by closely examining the boundary-breaking nature of trickster figures as it relates to liminality, this article provides a fuller understanding of Loki’s character and his motivations. This critical analysis then points to the significance of what the presence of these figures could have meant for Old Norse society, as well as society today.