Loki

Loki, a demigod in the Scandinavian mythology. He did not belong to the race of the Æsir, but to an older dynasty. His appearance is beautiful, and he is possessed of great knowledge and cunning. He often brings the new gods into difficulties, from which, however, he again extricates them. Hence he is to be regarded as the principle of strife and disturbance in the Scandinavian mythology; the 'Spirit of Evil,' as it were, mingling freely with, yet essentially opposed to, the other inhabitants of the Norse heaven, very much like the Satan of the Book of Job. By his artful malice he caused the death of Balder (q.v.). See SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.