Abduction Of Idun, Goddess-Keeper Of Golden Juvenile Apples In Norse Mythology

A. Sutherland  – AncientPages.com – Loki, in Norse mythology, is an elusive, malevolent god destined to be the gods’ adversary at Ragnarok, and yet, a constant companion to them, especially to Odin and Thor.

Loki plays an important role in countless Norse myths. In one of them, Loki is seriously involved in the kidnapping of Idun, the guardian of juvenile apples that bring back youth to the Aesir gods.

Thiazzi in eagle disguise, and Idun – Illustration by Harry George Theaker for Children’s Stories from the Northern Legends by M. Dorothy Belgrave and Hilda Hart, 1920. Public Domain

Idun, a young goddess, and wife to Bragi was most probably an important individual among the Aesir gods. However, she is only attested in two main sources.

One is the Poetic Edda (known as the Sæmundar Edda, or the Elder Edda),  a collection of Old Norse poems preserved in the Icelandic medieval manuscript Codex Regius. Another is the 13th century Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson.

The only surviving myth about Idun tells about the kidnapping of her by Thiazzi, the frost giant and father of Skadi, goddess of destruction, winter, hunters, and skiers. Thiazzi lived in Jötunheimr  (Jotunheim) and like his brothers always wanted to defeat the gods. They made attempts to defeat them in open battle, but he decided to deprive them of eternal youth.

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