Introduction
Sigyn is the wife of Loki, remembered chiefly for her unwavering devotion during his punishment after Baldr's death: she sits beside his bound form, holding a bowl to catch the venom dripping from a serpent placed above him, sparing him constant agony except in the moments she must leave to empty it.
Family
- Husband: Loki
Devotion in Loki's binding
After Loki was captured and bound with his own son's entrails as punishment for causing Baldr's death, a serpent was fastened above his face to drip venom onto him continuously. Sigyn remains at his side, catching the venom in a bowl to spare him the worst of the pain; when the bowl fills and she must step away to empty it, the venom falls directly on Loki, and his violent writhing and screaming in agony is said, in Norse tradition, to be the cause of earthquakes.
Sons
Sigyn is named as the mother of sons by Loki in various sources, though accounts of their names and fates differ; in the fullest telling, one of these sons is transformed into a wolf and tears apart his own brother, whose entrails are then used to bind Loki, a grim detail that makes Sigyn's later devotion at her husband's side all the more striking.