Small welcome gift to @glokglokpopik
All the Sigyn tea you might need :3
Things we know about Sigyn from the Eddas:
Her name means "Friend of Victory" (there's an article by Riccardo Ginevra that disputed this, but his ideas are very generalistic and pretty misogynistic, and anyway, his thesis was not even based on the right pronunciation, and so it was debunked by Eliis B Wylie in her master thesis on Norse goddesses )
She's married to Loki and they had two sons together, Vali and Narvi. When Loki is punished and bond in a cave with Narvi's guts turned as chains, she's the only one who stays by his side and protects him with a bowl, until Ragnarok. When she has to go away to empty it, Loki's screams are what creates earthquakes in Midgard.
In the Eddas, one of Sigyn's kennings is "Incantation fetter", which probably means she has magic.
What we know from scholars:
In Rudolf Simek's dictionnary on Norse gods and Andy Orchard's dictionnary on the same subject, they say Sigyn has been around since the pre-Christian Scandinavia and has existed and been by Loki's side since the times of the Germanic pantheon (much earlier to the Norse one).
What we know from pagans (who are not influenced by Marvel & the mainstream media):
Pagans gave Sigyn the loveliest kennings: "Loki's Treasure", the "Delight of his hall", "Loki's sanctuary", "Beloved of Monsters", "Lady of Endurance" ...
(There's a debate over the "Meinsvarra" one: is it Angrboda or is it Sigyn? No one truly knows)
They associate her with the North star and her animal is the fox.
They also associate her with Seidr and Galdr. Galdr is a musical form of magic (it's most likely that the 'Incantations' in her official kenning in the Eddas might be musical incantations :3)
What we know from archeology
Sigyn's most famous depiction in pre-christian times is the Gosforth cross (10th century England), but there is also the Ardre images in Sweden (8th century)
Based on the little we know, and other Viking/Norse facts, some of us have tried to find out a little bit more about our favourite goddess.
We don't know her parents... but as she's associated with both Victory and magic and a form of love, many of us do believe she might be Freyja's daughter, as Freyja shares these traits with her.
Freyja is the goddess is passionate Love. Sigyn is the love that is Victorious over the gods' punishment (Omnia Vincit amor <3). Freyja is goddess of Seidr, Sigyn is associated with both Seidr and Galdr. Freyja is the Goddess of War, Sigyn is associated through her name to Victory. The name's of Freyja's daughters mean 'treasure' and 'jewel'... Sigyn is "Loki's Treasure" and what did he steal from Freyja? A jewel...
And then, there are the Valkyries...
Freyja is associated with them, and some believe she might have been one of them at some point.
Valkyries are called "Victorious women" and associated with fetters and magic... So was Sigyn also one of them? It is a possibility.
Goddess of Victory... and Spring?
In truth, in the old days, before Christianisation, the gods did not have "titles" or clear associations as people try to give them now. This was mainly decided in the 19th century, as scholars in these times NEEDED to classify EVERYTHING XD Though you might have notice they did not quite succeed as we have several gods sharing the same speciality in the Norse pantheon (Odin/Bragi for poetry, Odin/Tyr/potentially Sigyn for Victory, Odin/Freyja for war, Njord/Aegir/Ran for the sea, etc.)
You might have come across the "Goddess of Fidelity" title for Sigyn. This came from Marvel (of all places XD), but I do think that this might be the ONE things Sigyn would not complain about their depiction.
One theory I find interesting is the "Goddess of Spring", though it's not very well-known.
As you know, the cave where Loki was bound was under the earth, under Midgard (which is why Loki's screams causes the earthquakes). So to join him, Sigyn, a bit like Persephone, had to go journey underground. While they were there, it was the times before ragnarok, known as the Fimbulwinter, the eternal winter. Skadi, the Goddess of Winter, was not a huge fan of our couple. In the Lokasenna, we learn she made advances on Loki and he said no. You can imagine how she felt about his wife. She's also the one who chose the snake to torture Loki. So when Sigyn emerges from the cave, it is the end of Fimbulwinter and Skadi's reign (Skadi was married with Odin at the time)... Spring victorious Winter? If Sigyn is truly Freyja's daughter, she would be (part) Vanir, and thus, associated with nature and its regrowth...
Still, as her name means "Friend of Victory", a lot of us do believe she might have been a goddess of Victory. But what kind of Victory? Odin is the ruthless kind, winning through tricks and not afraid of cheating. Tyr is Victory through honor in battle and sacrifice...
A few months ago, I read a very interesting book on the notion of friendship in the Viking society by Jon Vidar Sigurdsson and it made me think: we always analyse the 'Victorious' part in Sigyn's name, but we forget about the "Friend' part... Even though it's just as important.
Friendship was a major societal value in the Viking world. It played a part in trade deals, but also on the battlefield. And in many cases, Friendship was what led to Victory.
An interesting fact: friendship was replaced by a more fedual system around the 12th century... more or less the same period where Sigyn seems to be erased from the narrative... little by little, to be replaced by Angrboda...
In my practice as a Pagan, Sigyn is always the one to remind me of Loki's first wife, Angrboda, and how I must be respectful and never forget to honour her too.
Loki's whole family has the most beautiful bond and it's a pleasure to see. Sigyn and Angrboda get along splendidly, and the kids just adore each other. There's no "half". They're just a happy pack, as Fenrir would say.
However, historically speaking, Angrboda was not always there. Scholars such as Simek and Orchard have studied her name, and it turns out, Angrboda was added after the 12th century.
The 3 special kids already existed before that time, so it's most likely that in the original version, Loki had them after eating the witch's heart. The monks and Snorri introduced her because they were most likely tired of Loki's single mother shenanigans XD
When you truly analyse how they wrote Angrboda as "the witch of the Iron woods", you see how very Christian their vision is: in the original tale, the kids' appearance was due to magic, and Hel being half dead was most likely due to her mother/the witch being dead before her birth.
Still, Snorri made her Loki's first wife. In later version, Angrboda became a mistress (THE DISRESPECT), and so the kids' appearance was now caused by their parents' sin (something that makes 0 sense in Norse mythology, as the other Gods cheat ALL THE TIME with Jotun ladies and their kids are FINE).
Anyway. After the 12th century, you have, for instance, the volva talking to Freyja about the gods' family tree, she talks about Loki's family, but there's NOT A WORD about Sigyn, Vali or Narvi... Only Angrboda and her kids are named.
That erasure started then... and became way worse nowadays...
Modern depictions in mainstream media
As I just said, it started with some Christian writers ... first, they chose Loki as their main villain. Why? They had the perfect foe with Odin, but they chose to turn him into this "wise all-knowing king". And so, Loki became the Devil... WHEN HE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO.
Loki is the fire from the hearth (a Vatte). He protects you, keep you warm (only plays tricks on you if you mess with him or with his family). Logi is the destructive fire... I guess you could blame Wagner for the confusion.
That culminated with Marvel comics in the 60's to the reboot in the 2011, where Loki was depicted in many stories as the "God of Evil". And of course, he could not have a loving wife... Nope. they had to destroy it all. If you research a little, you might find some disturning things about Sigyn, how she's "an abused wife", how "Loki hates her", etc.
This first originated in some pro-Odin Norse mythology books who depicted Sigyn as Loki's "unfortunate victim", but most of all, Marvel's influence played a huge part and stroke a fatal blow to Sigyn's reputation and the way mainstream writers wrote their mariage in more recent retellings.
In the prologue to his Norse mythology book, Neil Gaiman (who had only read two Norse mythology books to write his own) said that he grew up reading Thor comics. And gods, does it show ^^'
First in Sandman, where his Loki tries to kill a baby (THE PROTECTOR OF CHILDREN), and insults poor Sigyn who is only trying to help (on the show, they had Odin said that being married to Sigyn is Loki's punishment) and then his own Norse mythology book, who is barely better as far as Sigyn is concerned... ^^'
But he's not the only one... Joanne Harris's "Gospel of Loki", with her evil Loki who HATES Sigyn for gosssiping and baking pies (and has a character called the Enchantress) is clearly Marvel inspired too...
Harris' book is worse than Gaiman as it was unfortunately taken MUCH too seriously by some pagans (and some lokeans) and when you ask them why they hate Sigyn, they start quoting this damn book as it was actual Gospel... The "Sigyn is a tradwife" accusations come from there, by the way. You might come across some of them in your research journey, so I'd rather warn you ^^'
Recently, we had Melvin Burgess who wrote Sigyn as a cheater who betrays Loki and is blamed for Vali & Narvi's deaths. I am still traumatized by that book ^^'
We have no official description for Sigyn in the Eddas. No mention of her hair color or eye color or height or weight or complexion. And I think it quite fit her and Loki. These are deities and so, they can adapt their shape and form. To many people, Sigyn appears as blonde, other see her as brunette, other as a POC, and it's ok. They're gods. They're above all of this.
I picture her as a red head, because I believe it fits her association with foxes :-)
As a community, it's important to keep an open mind and an open heart, as this is what Sigyn would want.
I think she's more upset about the "tradwife/hated by her husband" depictions, than the liberties we might take with her general appearance ^^'
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask :)
(Sorry for the rant and the information dumping ^^')
