On Wed, 2003-12-17 at 06:30, Chad Walstrom wrote: > On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 17:51:47 -0800, Russ Allbery <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > > Well, it depends on what mythology you're working from. In the > > Christian mythology, which is probably the dominant context for > > evaluating that sort of question, > > On Tue, Dec 16, 2003 at 01:29:15PM -0600, Manoj Srivastava wrote: > > And, pray tell, why is that? Hindu mythology had demons far longer > > than Christianity (indeed, probably longer than any of the faiths of > > the descendents of Abraham). So what makes the Christian mythology > > "more dominant"? > > I don't think Russ was digging for a fight when he made that statement. > Most likely his mind was wandering on more interesting topics, so he > didn't qualify each statement with a disclaimer about his opinion. > > I'm still amused that people equate Loki with evil. ;-) He's just > misunderstood!
It's Lokis' association with other factors such as fire and famine that tend to lend a connotation of evil to his reputation in the minds of some people, that's all. Pre Charlie Daniels, there was a guy that won a competition with the devil (again involving a fiddle playing contest), and the devils' part of the deal was to leave forever, and never bother mankind again. 'Fair is fair', he said, 'You won, and I'll go, but before I do, think about this. From now on, who are you going to blame it on.' Lots of people need to keep the devil around in some form or another, but they're not existentialists.
