Origins: The Ormangullr - Loki's Hook
The story of how Ormangullr was made
One day Loki was mocking Thor for his repeated attempts to catch the serpent Jormungandr. To which Thor angrily challenges Loki to do better.
Loki accepts the challenge and travels to the dwarven smiths to make him a fishing hook that the serpent could not resist.
So the Ormangullr was forged.
Thor watched as Loki cast the great hook into the sea, and no sooner did Jormungandr take the hook, as Loki threw the line to Thor. Thor started heaving and pullin the serpent to shore but as soon as the great serpents head was hauled above water, Loki cut the line.
Jormungandr dives back into the sea with the hook still hanging from its jaws.
"I said, Son of Odin, that I can catch the serpent. I did not say I would let you land it."
If you have not heard of this Viking story of a bet between Thor and Loki before, then don't worry. It didn't exist that long ago. I made it up. Why!? It is not to trick you, dear reader or customer. It is a hook and bait, a Lokean trick, to catch those who will without research or permission copy designs and work from others. Because... if they did their research they would read this article.
Join me on a little journey on how this unusual design came to exist. The real story of how the Ormangullr was made.
The concept
Long time ago map makers came up with a genius way to mark a map as their creation. They would insert a town or location that didn't exist in the real world. If another mapmaker copied their map, they could prove that it is a copy of their work. This is at the core of why I designed this pendant. My work gets copied and with a lot of it I cannot definitely prove I was the source of the inspiration. I wanted a way to balance things.
I wanted to create a design that looks, sounds and feels authentic and in a way is authentic to real story behind it. After all Loki is a trickster god and he is the one who commissioned the dwarven smiths of myth to create the great treasures of the Aesir, like the Mjolnir, Gullinbursti and Draupnir.
There is some archaelogical evidence to suggest that Loki was a god connected to blacksmiths, for example the Snaptun stone in Denmark. So it felt Poetic to create a pendant for Loki, even if it is a thousand years late.
The pendant is called Ormangullr, a combination of the Norse words for snake or dragon and angullr for hook. We still use that word in fishing, sif any of you have had a go at angling!
Snakes are in two ways connected to Loki. They are his punishment and are sometimes depicted in Norse imagery with him. Jormungandr, the giant snake that coils around Midgard was also Loki's offspring. I wanted to include a snake in the design. Besides the snake pendant has a long history with me as it is one of my oldest designs.
The hook part goes back to the time I used to forge fishing hooks for living history displays. The idea of combining the two for this was very inspired and came to me quickly. It was like pieces of a puzzle fitting together.
The story had to feel authentic as well, after all it is the bait. Both Loki and Thor (who were not brothers...) did hang out a lot in Norse myth and did get up to some trickery involving necklaces and giants. There also are lots of stories and depictions of Thor trying to catch Jormungandr. At the end of the world they are adversaries in the battle. I even came up with an explanation on why the snakehook didn't survive history: Because it was lost and by all accounts still hangs (or for those who live post Ragnarok: used to hang) on the jaws of Jormungandr.
The Design
I drew up a few ideas all involving knotwork as I had the Urnes style in mind and the carving on that church form the basis of many modern Loki snake pendants. Some of the more ellaborate ones had more intricate interlacing, but I ended up with the simple knot triquetra, that I use in my raven pennanular brooches. It needed to be fairly simple, not too much of a challenge to make, should someone want to take the bait. A too complex a design might deter.
Once the design was sketched onto paper it was time to create it in iron. Most of the time I start in iron with the design process anyway. It is one thing to draw a design, but it is another to let the work method determine where the design goes. This is why my sketch book is very empty and my drawer at the forge is full of miss-makes!
The first iron version came together surprisingly easy. Compared to my mother goddess and Freya pendants that both had over 10 versions and miss-forges and the design is still not where I like it to be... One day I will return to those challenges. With the Ormangullr, the snakehook, pendant the first round of forging worked so well and I was able to write the pattern down from that. I have a book of patterns that allows me to replicate a design. One day when I retire I intend to publish it, but at the moment it is my livelyhood.
Publication
As a Finn I have a policy of telling the truth, so coming up with a way to tell this story was a challenge. I intend to let every customer know the truth behind this pendant and invite them to be part of the story. If they don't want to, then they can cancel and be fully refunded. Many of them will likely be Lokeans themselves, so I am hoping they appreciate the jest, symbology and spirit of the pendant.
April 1st 2024 a short video of the story was published as a prelude to the publication. Sort of like a teaser trailer. The pendant itself and this blog post is published April 1st 2025, which is tomorrow at the time of writing. I sort of left it a bit last minute. There are at the moment of writing only 2 pendants available, but I am wiling to make more, because its the popular designs that get copied the most.
You are invited to join the ruse and any help in getting this design to "go viral" will be appreciated. Virality and not being able to keep up with demand is the best way to get copied, its like throwing chum in the water!
