Many years ago, when Bor, ruler of Asgard, was battling frost giants, he followed a wounded giant to a powerful sorcerer that was waiting for him. The sorcerer caught him unaware, turning Bor into snow. Bor's son, Odin, found his father as he was blowing away; Bor begged Odin to find a sorcerer to free him, but Odin made no attempt to save his father. Bor cursed Odin saying that he would take in the son of a fallen king and raise it as his own. Not a week later, Odin himself led the Asgardians into battle against the Frost Giants and killed Laufey, who was the King, in personal combat. After slaying Laufey, Odin found a small Asgardian-sized child hidden within the primary stronghold of the Frost Giants. The child was Loki; Laufey having kept him hidden from the Frost Giant people due to his shame over his son's small size. Odin took the child, out of a combination of pity, to appease the memory of his father, and because he was the child of a worthy adversary slain in honorable combat, and raised as his own alongside his biological son Thor. Throughout his childhood and into adolescence, Loki was resentful of the differences between how Thor and himself were treated by the citizens of Asgard. The Asgardians valued great strength, tenacity, and bravery in battle above all things, and Loki was clearly inferior to his brother Thor in those areas. What he lacked in size and strength, however, he made up for in power and skill, particularly as a sorcerer. As Loki grew to adulthood, his natural talent for causing mischief would make itself manifest and earned him a nickname as the "God of Mischief"; his mischievousness eventually became malice as his hunger for power and revenge grew stronger. Several times he tried to use tricks to get rid of Thor, such as telling him to guard a hole in the wall that he himself had made. In time, his reputation grew from being a playful and mischievous trickster to the "God of Evil". Over the centuries, Loki attempted on many occasions to seize the rulership of Asgard and to destroy Thor, even helping the Storm Giant Ghan to escape Thor planning to get a debt from him later, and aided other enemies of Asgard, planning to take over. Odin, who had grown weary of Loki's mischief, magically imprisoned him within a tree until someone would shed a tear for his plight. Loki eventually freed himself by causing a leaf to strike Heimdall, the guardian of Bifrost, in the eye, which made him shed a tear. Loki compiled an extensive criminal record in Asgard, and was frequently exiled. He later met the Sorcerer Eldred, who taught him black magic, repaying Eldred by later giving him to the Fire demon Surtur.
Loki, in Norse mythology, a cunning trickster who had the ability to change his shape and sex. Although his father was the giant Fárbauti, he was included among the Aesir (a tribe of gods). Loki was represented as the companion of the great gods Odin and Thor, helping them with his clever plans but sometimes causing embarrassment and difficulty for them and himself. He also appeared as the enemy of the gods, entering their banquet uninvited and demanding their drink. He was the principal cause of the death of the god Balder. Loki was bound to a rock (by the entrails of one or more of his sons, according to some sources) as punishment, thus in many ways resembling the Greek figures Prometheus and Tantalus. Also like Prometheus, Loki is considered a god of fire.