I’ve seen quite a few people drawing connections between Loki and Agni. How well established is that connection? Can it actually be argued that Loki has Indo-European roots, despite the fact that he’s only attested in Scandinavia?
Well, the only way I can see why they’d do that is because they see an association with Loki and fire, which as @lokeanwelcomingcommittee​ point out here, has dubious provenance:
But there really isn’t any solid evidence for a connection between Loki and fire before Jacob Grimm. Based on a theory that has since been disproven, he conflated Loki with Logi, the god of fire, who is explicitly a separate figure in the lore. Logi even beats Loki in an eating contest in one myth. (Here’s an excellent thread that goes into this distinction further.)
But Wagner used Grimm’s scholarship when writing his immensely popular Ring Cycle, which, up until recently, remained many people’s first introduction to Norse myth. He too combined Loki with Logi, and took other artistic liberties with the Nibelungenlied as well. People ran with Wagner’s version of things, kind of like how many people today run with Marvel’s version of things. And since then, there have been a ton of fiery depictions of Loki floating around that pop culture continues to perpetuate.
@edderkopper points out here:
Drawing from a South Asian text composed before 1000 BCE and applying it to texts from medieval Iceland does not seem like a remotely sound practice to me. Most scholars are hesitant to accept late medieval Scandinavian practices as an accurate reflection of pre-Christian Scandinavian beliefs, let alone something two millenia older from an entirely different continent. Both cultures being Indo-European only gets you so far.
Especially since Loptson’s theory openly contradicts other medieval Icelandic texts. Egil’s saga refers to Odin, not Loki, as the guardian of sacrificial fire. I have never seen Loptson or any of his adherents attempt to address this.
Again, if you personally see Loki as a god of fire due to personal gnosis, that’s fine. Your personal beliefs are your personal business. Just don’t aggressively ignore sound scholarly practices to claim that your UPG is backed up by historical evidence, or present it to others as fact.
If you’re looking for PIE roots for Loki, they’re probably not found there - hell, PIE evidence around Odin is contentious enough, and then there’s the fact that Agni and Loki have very different characters. Again, I don’t want to harsh Loptson’s UPG but academically it’s quite a shallow comparison in my personal view. And again, I find it irritating that such things are presented as facts.
