Loki

"Why what? Torture you? Continue to use you? Fight against the gods? It is my nature, Randolph!"

- Loki

Loki is a trickster Jötunn and ex-honorary Norse god, and an enemy of Magnus Chase. While treated as a nominal member of the Aesir tribe, he was known to switch his allegiance often and was destined to ultimately side with the jötnar and lead them against the gods. As a male, he is the father of Hel, Lady of the Dead, Jormungand, the World Serpent, Fenris, the Wolf, and Samirah al-Abbas. As a female, she is the mother of Sleipnir and Alex Fierro.

History
Loki was born to the Jötnar Farbautí (ON: "cruel-striker") and Laufey (ON: "leaves"). At some point in his life, Loki became Odin's blood brother and was made a nominal member of the Aesir. During his time in Asgard, Loki was as much an ally as he was a hinderence; although his sly and mischievous personality often got him into trouble with the gods (such as cutting off Sif's hair), he just as often helped them when in need (helping Thor retrieve his hammer, stopping a Jötunn mason from marrying Freyja while still getting Asgard's wall rebuilt.) One day he tricked Hod into throwing a mistletoe-dart at Balder, the only thing that could harm him, and killed him. As punishment he was bound to a slab of rock with the entrails of his sons Vali and Narvi. A snake was placed over him that dripped caustic venom on his face. His wife was present to catch the venom with a cup, but when it had to be emptied he would be burned by the venom and cause earthquakes as he writhed in pain.

In Series
Loki had a demigod son at Hotel Valhalla who dated Thor's daughter Gunilla. But the demigod broke Gunilla's heart when it was discovered that he was a spy for Loki. This incident caused Gunilla to hate and distrust the children of Loki.

The Sword of Summer
Loki frequently appears in Magnus Chase's dreams to convince him to give up tying the Fenris Wolf. The first time was when Magnus died. The second was after Magnus' first battle practice where he told Magnus he would eventually sit on Odin's throne. The third was when Magnus and friends jumped into a river to get out of Nidavellir and promised he would be reunited with his mother in Helheim if he gave the sword of summer to Randolph. Loki hopes to bring Ragnarök by manipulating Randolph Chase. After Magnus re-tied his son, Loki appears in Randolph's office, revealing he was the priest at Magnus' funeral. He gives Randolph a burn scar on his face for failing him. He says that there are many triggers for Ragnarök.

The Hammer of Thor
Loki arrives to Samirah's house to inform her grandparents that he has arranged a wedding between his daughter and the Jotunn Thyrm, he explains to them the existence of the Norse Gods, the Nine Worlds, and what their granddaughter truly is. This left them shocked.

Loki communicated with Magnus via Randolph during battle training, inviting him to the wedding. He sets to self destruct Magnus when he sees Alex, but is stopped when his child decapitates the son of Frey.

After his daughter and her friends defeat the draugr, he and Randolph appear before them.When his daughter attacks him he stops her from breathing. Loki explains why he needed them to retrieve the sword for the bride price and  the conditions that come with welding the sword. He comands Randolph to attack with the sword and stab Blitzen in the gut. After he tells them he needs the Snoknung stone in addition to the sword, he tells them where to find it and calls Randolph to leave.

At Samirah's wedding, he requests that the bride show her face to insure it is really Sam, Alex them shapeshifts into Sam while Loki thinks the maid of honor is Alex. He also requests the sword and stone. He then summons Randolph to take the sword and stone from Magnus. As the ceremony's starts he asks the bride Tom sit between him and Thrym. Once Randolph has the sword and stone, he asks his henchman to cut him free. When the fight brakes out at the wedding, he commands Randolph to use the snofnung sword to cut him free, despite women being present. His legs and right arm are freed before Magnus and friend's backup arrives. His remaining binds are frozen until Randolph chips away and cuts the last of the binding, freeing the trickster. He kills the venomous serpent that has tortured him for the last thousand years and fleed when the gods came.

Personality
Loki is sly, manipulative, charming, humorous, mischievous, quick to anger, and cruel when he needs to be (demonstrated when he burned Randolph Chase's face as punishment for failing him). Rick Riordan says he wrote Loki as he was in the myths: "[...] clever, funny, capricious, silver-tongued and quick to anger,". Loki is also extremely persuasive, to the point that he once successfully convinced Ran to lend him her magic net.

At times, he almost appears to be a casebook psychopath with a lack of remorse and any form of empathy. Even his wife, Sigyn, who has been loyally at his side for centuries was at the mercy of his temper, him wasting no time calling her a "worthless woman" when she slipped and dripped poison him. When Blitzen had been stabbed, Loki seemed to take great pleasure in it, even going so far as to make jokes at the dwarf's expense.

Despite his negative traits, Loki does harbor affection for his children, especially Vali, and Narvi. When speaking to Magnus on Naglfar, Loki is visibly upset and grieved about the shocking fate that his sons Vali and Narvi suffered as part of Loki's punishment for killing Balder - with them being slain by the gods, and their entrails used instead of ropes to bind Loki to a the slab of rock under a serpent.

However, his affection for his kids (at least his demigod ones) may be an act as he didn't think twice about attempting to murder them in The Hammer of Thor nor did he think twice about using force to manipulate them against their free will, even going as far as to tease and jeer at them as he did so. He was also plenty willing to treat his children as tools in his schemes, using Sam as a bargaining chip to get the Skofnung sword.

Loki has actively made to ruin his demigod children's lives. He even succeeded in doing so in Alex's life, ruining his/her home stability and turning his/her family against her. He attempted the same thing with Sam by trying to ruin his/her relationship with Amir and her grandparents. Thankfully, Sam was able to resolve the situation.

Appearance
In The Sword of Summer, Loki has dirty blonde feathery hair (with red, blonde, and yellow tints), tousled in a fashionable I-just-got-out-of-bed-and-I-look-this-good sort of way, and he is seen wearing a Red Sox jersey, jeans, and white tennis shoes. Loki is considered shockingly handsome, though his appearance is somewhat ruined by his scars - burn tissue splashed across the bridge of his nose and his cheekbones (caused by the snake venom dripping onto his face), like impact lines on the moon's surface, while Loki's lips are marred by a row of welts all the way around his mouth, much like many piercing holes that had closed over (marks from the time his lips used to be sewn together by the dwarves).

In The Hammer of Thor, Loki's true, grotesque appearance is revealed. When projecting, Loki is able to manipulate himself to appear extremely handsome. In reality, Loki's hair is bleached white from centuries of toxins, his face is no more than a melted mask of scar tissue, and he is deathly skinny.

In female form, Loki appears as a young woman with long red hair and dazzling eyes.

Loki's eyes have an intense glow to them, much like those of his daughter Samirah, with his gaze flitting restlessly, like fire in a hearth, pushed by the wind, looking for anything it could set ablaze.

Abilities

 * Illusions: Loki can cast illusions of himself anywhere he pleases. He can still enter demigods' dreams, even as his actual body remains securely imprisoned (until Ragnarök). However, Loki's illusions can not pick up magical weapons.
 * Shapeshifting: Loki is able to change into various forms including, but not limited to, a salmon, a mare (in this form he even gave birth to the colt Sleipnir), a seal, a fly, and an elderly woman called Thokk.
 * Enhanced Strength: When Loki grabs Magnus' wrist, the latter claims that his grip was "like steel."
 * Serpent Venom Pain Transferral: While touching Randolph Chase's face in The Sword of Summer, Loki was able to make the latter feel the extreme pain that the serpent venom causes when it drips onto the trapped god's face from time to time. As revealed in The Hammer of Thor, Loki can transfer his pain to any close relatives of his victims, as he did with Randolph and Magnus.
 * Consciousness Splintering: Despite being securely imprisoned by the gods, Loki can still make part of his consciousness materialize into another physical body from time to time, like when he visits Randolph in the epilogue of The Sword of Summer. If done incorrectly, however, this process can cause him intense pain.
 * Pyrokinesis: Loki can create fire, shown when he created still houses of Randolph's wife and daughters made out of fire in his hand in The Sword of Summer epilogue.
 * Control over Children: As revealed in The Hammer of Thor, Loki has control over his demigod children's bodies. He has displayed this ability by stopping Samirah from breathing and threatening to put her in a permanent coma.
 * Alf Sign Language: Loki is able to understand ASL, doing so to tell Magnus and company where the Snoknung stone is.

Trivia

 * A joke was made in The Sword of Summer about Loki's name being similar to the English phrase "low-key."
 * During Ragnarök, Loki is destined to kill Heimdall, but is also destined to be killed by the latter.
 * He was the one who tricked dwarves into making Odin's spear, Gungnir, and Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.
 * According to Utgard-Loki, the name Loki is a common one among the Jotnar.
 * In some versions, Loki was represented as the god of fire.
 * His Greek equivalent is Dolos.
 * In 'The Sword of Summer', Thor hints that Loki is Odin's blood brother. Some versions depict Loki as Odin's stepson.