Nari

"Narrow?" In Gylfaginning, Nari or Narfi is a son of Loki and Sigyn, and the brother of Váli. He was killed by the Æsir to punish his father for his involvement in Baldr's death; his entrails were used to bind Loki.

In the story, Loki had fled to the mountains where he hid himself in the Fránangr waterfall, but the Æsir discovered his hiding place and captured him:

Now Loki was taken truceless, and was brought with them to a certain cave. Thereupon they took three flat stones, and set them on edge and drilled a hole in each stone. Then were taken Loki's sons, Váli and Nari or Narfi; the Æsir changed Váli into the form of a wolf, and he tore asunder Narfi his brother. And the Æsir took his entrails and bound Loki with them over the three stones: one stands under his shoulders, the second under his loins, the third under his boughs; and those bonds were turned to iron.

According to the prose note to Lokasenna, Loki fled because of his verbal abuse of the gods. He was captured and bound with the entrails of his son Nari, and his other son Narfi was changed into a wolf.

The brothers only appear in the story of Loki's binding. A kenning for Loki is Father of Nari.

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References

Sources

  • Gylfaginning, 50.
  • Lokasenna, 50, note.
  • Skáldskaparmál, 16.