Angrboða and Grief

AI generated, izea.com, Hearthside Blog, Ironwood, Jotunn, Loki

I am of a few minds about Jotunn women in the Lore. To me the Jotunn represent a different tribe from the Aesir and Vanir, for better or for worse. They are often “othered” because their ways are different. (Then again, the Aesir and Vanir did not always get along either.) The Aesir have a tendency to marry or court Jotunn women, and fight with Jotunn men. So are the Jotunn really as monstrous as they are made out to be? It seems like if a Jotunn woman marries an Aesir then she becomes an Aesir.

Many have argued that the Jotunn are the raw forces of nature, that are to be respected and feared but not worshipped, but that also seems a bit reductive, like saying Thor is only the God of Thunder. Angrboða faces the same reductionist logic, with some people having suggested she is one and the same figure as Gullveig/Heiðr. They have even gone as far as to equate her with Gerðr’s mother, Aurboða, presumably just because their names are similar.

My interest in Jotunn largely is surrounding Jotunn women, and the reason for this is because women are underrepresented in detail within the Lore. As such, I think there is something to be said for looking at Jotunn women more closely. We know that the church wanted to diminish the power of women by making them seem malevolently aligned and so it is possible to imagine that Jotunn women were actually revered Goddesses, at least some of them. I think also, that the feminine encompasses creation and birth, but also death and destruction. It is easy to misunderstand these aspects of the feminine from a Christian standpoint.

With all that in mind, I find Angrboða to be an interesting figure in the Lore. She is not considered a “Goddess” because she partners with Loki who is not of the Aesir, exactly. Actually, it is quite interesting which Jotunn women are and aren’t Goddesses. Take for example Rinðr, who was essentially raped by Odin and produced a child, but is listed among the Asynjur. At best the Lore is inconsistent in painting a clear picture of legitimate unions and legitimate heirs. At worst, well… women are treated like property rather than people.

And yeah sure, “there is no evidence that Loki was worshipped historically” but then what about Sigyn? How come Sigyn is a Goddess and Angrboða isn’t? The answer to me seems to be that Loki and Angrboða produced “monstrous” children. And yes, Fenrir and Jormunganðr feature heavily in the Ragnarok story, if it is to be believed. That story is heavily Christian influenced from my view, as I have stated in previous posts.

That said, Loki has a history of producing children that are other-than-human. It is interesting that Sleipnir is considered valuable to the Aesir, but Fenrir and Jormunganðr are considered monstrous.

I am not trying to make a case here for or against the worship of Fenrir or Jormunganðr though. I do not worship them in my own practice, but if you do then 100% you do you! With this narrative I am just turning over every rock. Jormunganðr is necessary to the Nordic cosmology. His energy balances out Thor. Fenrir is more difficult to reconcile, because wolves often represent devouring death and insatiable greed and hunger in the Lore. These are scary concepts, but also necessary to the functioning of the worlds. You can’t reason with Fenrir or Jormunganðr, they just are, and put things into balance. However, they became what they are, at least in part, because it is what the Aesir made them into.

Then there is Hel, who seems to be considered less “monstrous” than her brothers. The Aesir give her a very important role and seem to respect her. Many even consider her a Goddess. So then, the union between Angrboða and Loki may not have been the contributing factor to why they produced monstrous children, if Hel was not seen as a monster. Further, maybe it was Loki who was inclined to produce unusual offspring and it did not rest with Angrboða at all. (Lokeans, don’t come at me. There are a lot of reasons this could be true. It could be as simple as Loki being a shapeshifter, for example.) Of course, it is easier to blame the Jotunn mother just the same. It is a much more convenient narrative for disempowering women in the Lore.

Let’s pause here for a moment. I am not asking you to suddenly start worshipping Jotunn, but for the sake of this post just suspend preconceived notions and see where that leads us. Do I think Angrboða is worshipful? I’ll be honest. I am not sure. I do think that an argument could be made for it. So let’s suspend our disbelief together and take a look at who Angrboða is.

I usually like to start with etymology. Some people say that is a waste of time and we can never truly know if that is what was meant by the Elder Heathens by various names. The truth is there are a lot of things that we will never truly know the historical validity of in our modern practice. It is more important that we can create a meaningful and livable modern tradition with what we can piece together. Angrboða is a compound of angr, and boða. Angr is cognate with our modern “anger” in English. Historically it had the meaning of grief, sorrow, harm, resentment, or distress. Boða means roughly to forebode something historically or to proclaim it. It is similar to the modern English “bode” which is almost exclusively used to say something does not bode well. It is an omen or a foreshadowing. The modern English bode can also mean to bid. Piecing together these two parts Angrboða is often interpreted as she who “brings grief” or “offers sorrow.” She might also be called, “harm bidder.” This suggests that it is her who brings for the monstrous children who bring about Ragnarok and destruction.

I want to suggest a slightly different interpretation. Perhaps Angrboða does not bring grief, but rather grief is what comes to her. An argument can be made that all of Loki’s family is associated with death in some shape or form. Who sees more grief than Angrboða, other than perhaps Sigyn?

Let me tell a story for you and let you make what you will of it. Angrboða and Loki fall for each other. Loki spends enough time with Angrboða to produce 3 children, before he decides he wants to go back and live among the Aesir. He brings their children with him, in hopes of giving them a better life, but the Aesir have had a prophecy that Fenrir will end it all. They are afraid of Jormunganðr and Fenrir.

They throw Jormunganðr out of Asgard and into the oceans of Midgard. At least this environment suits him and he thrives in it, even if he is separated from any sense of community.

The Aesir do not cast Fenrir out, because they think he is better to keep a close eye on. They do not welcome him among them though. No one but Tyr will even go near him. When Fenrir does not act how they wish of him they decide to trick him and bind him. Now, it is true that Fenrir had an insatiable hunger and he could not be allowed to continue as he was, but the deception of the Aesir is ultimately what turns him against them.

Hel is not as frightening to the Aesir as her brothers, but she does make them uncomfortable. Instead of letting her live among them Odin gifts her the underworld, and entrusts the dead to her oversight. It becomes known as Helheim.

Now imagine that Angrboða sees her children go through all of this and be rejected by the Aesir, but that is not even the end of it. She loves her children and she loves Loki. She is in an open relationship with Loki and is cool with him and Sigyn. She wants Loki to be happy. And Loki is happy among the Aesir… or at least he is until he is not invited to Aegir’s feast. Odin swore that Loki would always be welcome to drink with him and Odin is an oath-breaker. Loki calls him out on this and then is permitted to stay, but he is still angry and lets his words get him into trouble with the Aesir. The end result of which being that the Aesir are angered enough to bind Loki alone in a cave with snake venom dripping on him. Loki’s child with Sigyn is slaughtered and his entrails used to bind Loki. Angrboða and Sigyn both are left to grieve for their beloved Loki. Sigyn tries to ease Loki’s suffering by holding a bowl to catch the venom, but Angrboða has already suffered so much that she is consumed by her grief.

Everything Angrboða loves is taken from her. So in a way the Aesir make her into a monster that she was never meant to be. The part we fail to consider is that she doesn’t have to stay a monster either, despite all that has happened to her. We can heal from grief although it never truly leaves us. We don’t have to be monstrous when monstrous things happen to us. Grief changes us permanently, but we can find meaning beyond our grief.

Angrboða embodies grief but also healing from grief. She can also embody lineage healing. Some modern Heathens associate her with the Disir. Like many of the Jotunn women, she has a sort of primal energy. We could see her as the ultimate female ancestor. She teaches us about the stages of grief and how to move through them. She represents the big and unpleasant feelings we have to work through in the process. Sigyn tries to hold the bowl to keep the venom from hurting Loki, but perhaps that isn’t helping anyone. Loki too must feel the pain of his grief. I imagine that if it were Angrboða there is that cave with Loki she would sip the venom right from that bowl, she would allow herself to feel all of it fully and encourage Loki to do the same. Together they would work through their grief, just as our families and community help us to work through our grief.

Is the story of Angrboða one about someone who is othered because they are monstrous, or is it a story of someone who the community does not support and who is therefore unable to move beyond the grief they caused her? A lot of the Lore is cautionary tales of how not to act. Neither Kings nor Gods are immune to making mistakes. Perhaps the lesson to us is to not act like the Aesir, to instead be inclusive to people who are not like us as long as they are not there to harm the community. It may be a lesson in not judging people before we get to know them. Judging Fenrir and Jormungandr as monstrous caused the Gods’ own downfall. Not accepting Angrboða into the community and considering her a witch who mothered monsters meant her grief could not heal her, and instead it made her a prisoner of her emotions, acting out in anger, perhaps without her even realizing it.

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Angrboða and Grief

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