So I read the Hermes myth for a class and after defending himself to Zeus ("I'm just a cute little baby, I couldn't steal cattle!") he WINKS at Zeus, WINKS with his smug little baby face. I can only imagine how exasperated Zeus must've been dealing with these two.

"I was drunk, and I'm a baby."

I love how Crash Course always portrays Loki in the Marvel depiction rather than the original Norse version.

Loki was like "She baldheaded... its funny"

You skimmed that Hermes story!! Its all in the sweet details. That poor farmer that spots Hermes stealing.. How Hermes walks the cows backwards into the OCEAN so it looks like cows walked out of the sea. Its all brilliant lol

Note. Odin is not the father of Loki. They are however blood brothers.

I've ignored a lot off the errors with the Norse mythology because for the intent of this show they haven't mattered. But how could you leave out the end of Lokis story?!?! Brok claims his prize by sewing Loki's lips shut.

When Apollo wasn't looking, Hermes took 50 cakes. He took 50 cakes. That’s as many as five tens. And that’s terrible.

I'm drunk 😵 and I'm a baby 👶 lol classic trickster excuse

So basically...LOKI IS THE GOD OF LAWYERS!!...yay?! :|

So about Loki and being the worst, i feel that comment need some comments. Im a swede, as a swede i have a interest in norse mythology. I want to start with saying that i am in no way an expert, and i have no formal education in the subject. I have however read the major works (Both Eddan) and some books, because im curious (and a roleplayer, so there is that) Is Loki the worst? Why is he the worst? I dont realy agree. Loki is a complicated issue (as many Tricksters i'd imagine), but he is far from Evil. He is far from Unhelpfull. He is far from Untrustworth. If people are in need, and you ask persuade Loki to help, he will help, and you can persuade him because he aint Evil (he would more be Caotic Neutral). And if Loki says that he will help, then you can bloody well trust that he will deliver, and who knows it might be litteral and you get a magical horse in addition. The norse gods reflects the life of viking and vendel times. Odin, the elder warrior in the household, scarred by life but sharpend and wise albeit with outbursts of anger. Thor, the warrior son. The muscles in the household, the doer of things. Holds the fiery emotions of youth, but not the sharpened rage of the elder warrior. Frigg, the Honored Matron of the household. Mother of Greatness and far from power herself. When her husband is away she takes his brothers to bed, not behind her husbands back but because He is not there and can perform for her, so his blood/brothers will have to... how to i end this with grace? "Pitch in" simply wont work, will it? Perform in his stead!. And so on. Loki in this household represents so much. Ambition, Inambition, Comedy and Tragedy, Trust and Loyalty, Distrust and Disloyalty. Ingenuity and redundancy. Loki fills the role of that Hatefull thing that you Need, or that Loveable thing thats Worthless, and he brings this out of the other gods. So Loki steals Sifs hair. Classic drunk story, right? Man you should have been there, we drank so much that when Wendy passed out, the last three of us girls still standing totaly shaved her hair! Oh come on, its fassionable now. Point is, its a minor thing. He receves threats of Murder for it if he does not fix it. But he fixes it. Goes to great lengths, and clears great obstacles to fix it. And he does not only fix it, he gives her hair much finer than the hair he took. Why? Because he cares, and he was so Odin-damned drunk that it seemed like a great idea! Besides, Frigg and Freya was probably the once to come up with the idea after a wild threesome. Oh yea, lets talk about that. Is Loki the same god as Vile? I realy like the idea of it. And also, that makes Odis sons the possible sons of Loki. And if Loki is the same as Vile, then he is not a minor god, he is on par with Odin, and then serves another great role of the household: The younger Elder Warrior, loyal to a fault, or an outcast. Sometimes a spy to place among enemies. I could go on for alot longer, but one page of text roughly seems like a good enough wall. All in all, i cant say that he is the Worst. Odin is in many ways far more terrible. Or Thor for that matter. Bloody monster, Thor.

Pretty creative. He probably went to a Montessori School. for some reason, I died of laughter there

Sewing Loki's mouth closed was too gruesome for Thought Bubble?

That "You get my head, but not my neck" technicality is revisited in The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare. In it, Shylock, a Jewish merchant, is promised the heart of a man who has wronged him. After insisting on it in court, the (frankly kangaroo) court decides that Shylock may have the heart, but not a single drop of blood.

Its a funny story: My brother's name is Lokesh and he introduces himself as Loki. I come up after him and say "You guessed it, I'm Thor." B| :P

You know, Sif and Thor symbolise the relation between wheat and the rains. When Loki cuts her hair, it means he destroyed the harvest of wheat (which is terrible). And oh, I've seen somewhere that Loki gets his mouth sewn by the dwarf for his treacherous promise at least.

Hermes is like Diet Loki. All the mischief, without the maliciousness. As far as I know, Hermes never brought about the death of a God, or helped to bring about Ragnorok

Tricksters are so much fun. Too bad there aren't any in Hindu mythology. I guess Krishna seems a little like Loki but he only does that when he's a child. And he only tricks humans, namely his mother and some women taking a bath. I guess early Vedic societies didn't value trickery or consider it divine. Loki is the best trickster ever.

If I was Brok after Loki's little "you can't touch my neck" trick, I would have been like "okay I'll be back when I need something off your head keep it safe for me". The sewing his lips shut was a sweet touch

It bothers me that they keep making Loki look like a comic book character, but I take comfort in the fact that they got Thor's red hair right.

Hermes apparently was the original minecraft, finding a cave for a hideout and stealing cows and cooking them, then storing the meat and not eating it.

Okay, who else thinks Mike's "I was drunk... and 'I'm a baby!'" bit needs to be on loop? I rewatched it because it made me laugh out loud XD

Surprised you didn't mention that Loki actually had his lips sewn shut as a result of that incident with Sif's hair and the four dwarves.

Hermes: its just a prank, bro

I desperately hope they cover Coyote, he's the coolest trickster god, by far!

I love Norse Loki stories! I used to listen to them as a kid and I remember the time Loki tried to dress Thor as a woman to get his hammer back. It was hilarious.

Hermes, Loki, Two of my favorite gods Talked about in this video This is the video for me

I'd say the multiplying golden armband is a big deal because as a Germanic warlord you confer favour and status on others by gifting them some of your jewellery, specifically armbands, and they show their loyalty to you by wearing them. So it's a magical symbol of kingship.

9:32 The detail in Merchant of Venice whereby Shylock is deprived of the pound of flesh he is owed always reminded me of Loki's trick here.

Gasp! Brock and Loki was the prototype for Shakespeare's, "You may have your pound of flesh, but not a drop of his blood," technicality from the Merchant of Venice!

One might say that Loki thought Sif's disappearing hair would be... hailarious... :D

I prefer the Hermes myth where instead of giving each other the gifts as an apology present they instead trade roles, cementing Hermes a god of merchants as well as thieves... As weird as that combination may sound. You also forgot the bit about The dwarves stitching Loki's mouth shut.

Loki would totally be that guy who "didn't hear" the doorbell when the pizza is delivered, so it took over a half hour, so it's definitely free

I think there's more than one version of this. I remember Loki as losing his neck to the dwarves, but the other gods placing his his head directly upon his shoulders. Which is why Loki couldn't turn his head when he was later sentenced to be chained to a rock until Ragnarok. Kind of important when you have a snake dripping poison on your forehead.

This time with sound! Thanks, we appreciate it :)

This kind of explanation helps me to remember and understand who the characters are and their relations to each other. In mythology you get so many characters that I can never remember who is related to who. Doing them in stories like this with designs really helps me to remember not only the stories and names, but the messages behind them. Thank you for your efforts!

I was still hoping for the fish net story and the origin of earthquakes, but the golden hair story was certainly the best of Loki for this particular episode.

the Big Banana origin at 7:46 (magnus chase reference for those who dont understand)

Loki isn't the worst, he's just blown out of proportion by people.

Learning about these Norse stories really helps my appreciation of the Magnus Chase series.

In some versions of the myth, Loke's mouth is sewn shut. Just putting that out there.

They completely skipped over the part where Brook sews Loki's mouth shut, and that's allowed because his mouth is part of his head. So as it turns out Loki didn't get away quite as easily or completely as you said. Almost like they skipped that part on purpose because it didn't fit with the theme they were going for... Oops.

Worth looking at Bricriu in the Ulster cycle. Similar, a provoker, occasionally cowardly, often bad news but still part of society. These guys are the spice, the joy, the cruel. All things. Loki protects Asgard with the wall, Gungnir and Mjolnir coming from him. Without him Asgard doesn't survive til Ragnarok with the loss only of Baldur. Then again Loki (arguably as a pawn of Gulveig's vengeance) brings Ragnarok. Huh! Makes it interesting!

Hermes and Loki and Tricksters Part 2: Crash Course World Mythology version 2: Electric boogaloo. Seriously though great episode, keep em coming.

didn't the dwarf sew Loki's mouth shut before he went away?

Tricksters are basically the "drunk or a kid" game- mythology adition

I love learning new things about mythology. Before this my only experiences with tricksters were from supernatural and old stories about mercury. I think I might research more about tricksters now. Keep up the great content.

Woo!! Two legendary tricksters at once!! 🍹

Loki biting Broch is very much similar to the story of Mahabharta where Indra bites Karna to prevent him serving his teacher. The difference of technicality has very well shown in the Narsimha avatar of Vishnu.

"Classic dad move"? Should that be classic brother move? After all Odina and Loki are blood bros.

Hermes invented the lyre and wrote lyrics. Hmmmm. "Lyre" and "lyrics" are perhaps etymologically related? It's not that I'm too lazy to look it up--I'm just all worn out after figuring out how to spell 'etymologically.'

Anyone reading Magnus Chase who also feels like that boat is absolutely gonna be the one they are going to sail to the old norse lands? 😅

HILARIOUS. Mike is a brilliant narrator.

he sounded so adorable when he said "I am a baby"

Loki: Best Lawyer ever. XD

That's not the best Loki story. You should have picked the one about how Asgard got its walls and Odin got his horse/step-grandchild? Instead of a gadfly Loki shifts into a super hot mare to distract a stallion and winds up preggers. Here is a list of things that have come out of Loki's vagina: 1. Eight legged super horse, 2. Midgard's largest snake (by a LOT), 3. Evil uber Dire Wolf, and 4. Hel. Yep, in the MCU Tom Hiddleston is Cate Blanchette's mom. Freaky.

What happens when a trickster meets up with a trickster? Jacob vs Laban. Then you have to know about the past of trickster Jacob. But never fear, both tricksters prosper.

Divine Figure Tricks Brilliant Artisans

I imagine Apollo got the lyre and was like,"oh thanks little brother I love it" and throw away when hermes wasn't looking out of spite of killing his cattle, remaking it later

Thank you for sharing my favourite tale in norse mythology. As an odinist, I I often look to the stories of my gods and the other mythical figures when I need inspiration or guidance, and the dwarves Brokkr and Eitri are important models of creativity and perseverance. You did leave a one important thing out of the story, though. Although Loki was able to avoid paying with his head, Brokkr was still pissed. So, Brokkr tried to seal Loki's mouth with a thong (not that kind of thong), but Loki began to flee. Luckily, Þór was willing to help out and quickly grabbed Loki and returned him to Brokkr. Brokkr then tried to cut through Loki's lips with his knife, but the knife could not pierce. Brokkr thought that this would be much easier with his brother, Eitri's, awl. As soon as he named it, the awl appeared in his hands. Brokkr then proceeded to stitch Loki's lips together. Loki immediately ripped the thong from his mouth, and for some reason, this thong was given a name: Vartari.

I actually like seeing loki in the marvel form and they do take the time to show other renditions of him anyways so I see no real issue.

Love this series particularly this episode! Now i know how my favorite mythical spear was created!

Oh Loki... This is why I want tattoos of Norse mythology. Already have Ratatoskr :P

My favourite episodes so far, and Mike looks more comfortable than before!

If I recall correctly, there was another version of the Loki myth from this video. They didn't get his head, but they did sew his mouth shut. From then on he could still shapeshift, but every form he took had scars around the mouth from it

My mind is blown. These are getting too good.

The sound is back! Thanks, Thor.

Hermes stealing Apollo's moo-nwalking cattle and Loki giving Thor's wife a dramatic haircut... two great tricks; how often since childhood have I marvelled at these awesome tricksters' charm and creativity!

Fun fact: in the Viking society, shorn hair on women was a sign of adultery. Loki cut Sif's hair off and later in the Lokasenna implies that she cheated on Thor with...well, Loki. I think that says it all. It also explains why everyone made a fuss about her hair (and also because she was presumably a goddess of grains). ^^

"I'm a baby" sounds like a pretty valid excuse to me! ∆ ∆ ∆

@crash course as a person who asked for you to cover trickers around the world and their similarly on day 1 I thank you

Brokk did get the last laugh though. Since he was tired with Loki's lying, sly, untrustworthy mouth Brokk sowed Loki's lips together.

Either the Greeks would have a good laugh at how we found their old Hermes statues and thought the penises were being used to point the way, _or they'd laugh at our strange culture where we DON'T do that._

I can't wait for the excuse "I'm a drunk baby!".

This show is so fun! I’ve only seen a couple of videos now and while I would complain they don’t go too deeply into the mythology for present very many stories it’s still so fun to watch that I don’t mind. This is a crash course and not a complete encyclopedia of theology’s. The animation and the host are both so entertaining!

Would love to have the Fortification of Asgard discussed one day. Maybe do some videos on Gods and Buildings/Architecture.

Baby Hermes is adorable.

Lost it at "I'm a baby!"

I've been waiting for this episode for a long time

God dammit Crash Course! Double views ya tricksters. Still a great video though.

Do you have any ideas relating to Artemis? She's my favorite Goddess and I would love to hear your take on her stories.

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR

This is my favourite episode so far!

Oh my god I went to a Montessori school! I haven't heard that name in ages!

Can't wait for the Ragnarok video, which I'm sure will probably come out around the same time the Marvel movie debuts

They deleted the previous one too! 😂

That Samson joke was incredible

in one version of"sif lost her har!", loki explains that Brokk can't have the stuff on his head for example his eyebrows and lips

I would rebuke Loki's argument with "An axe in the mouth it is. I'll settle for just the top half, you can even keep the ears! Anybody got a... hammer? **Looks at Thor & anachronistically dons shades** BD"

When no one was looking, Hermes stole fifty cows. He stole fifty cows. That's as many as five tens. And that's terrible.

Interesting how Hermes reminds us of many other characters in pop-culture, such as Doctor Who.

Loki escaping with his neck reminds me a lot of Antonio's escape from paying 'a pound of flesh' in 'The Merchant of Venice' by Shakespeare.

My thoughts on what Loki was thinking about Sif's hair and why he cut it off: Ooohhh, shiny!

Everyone: wtf Hermes?!? Hermes: im baby

Thank you!!! I've been waiting for this since the muted one this morning lol.

So "The Merchant of Venice" stole the excuse for taking only the pound of flesh (but only that, no blood must be taken) from norse mythology about Loki and the dwarves... Wow, you learn something new everyday.

There we go. Sounds!

Yeah! Loki! I was expecting you. I actually commented about last episode. Hahaha

So good! Would love to see some Australian Aboriginal myths!

I'm so glad I can hear