Inkborne Tales
Norse · 1 min 19 s · animated short
Loki's prank and the birth of Mjölnir
Loki cuts off Sif's golden hair, bets his head against the dwarves, and gets Thor's hammer Mjölnir by accident. A Norse myth in under ninety seconds.
The telling
A single moment of mischief changed the fate of the gods forever. Loki, driven by a desire for trouble, cut off all the hair of Sif, the wife of Thor.
Thor seized Loki and threatened to break every bone in his body. To save himself, Loki swore to find the dark elves to make her new hair of gold.
The sons of Ivaldi crafted golden hair that grew like real hair. They also made the ship Skídbladnir and the spear Gungnir.
Loki then bet his own head with the dwarf Brokkr. He claimed that Brokkr's brother, Sindri, could not make three treasures better than those.
While Sindri worked the forge, Loki transformed into a fly. He bit Brokkr to make him stop working the bellows.
The treasures emerged: the boar Gullinbursti, the ring Draupnir, and the hammer Mjölnir. Because of the fly, the handle of Mjölnir came out short.
The gods judged Mjölnir to be the best treasure. Loki lost the bet, but he argued that the dwarf might take his head but not his neck. Instead, Brokkr sewed Loki's lips shut.
A silent trickster remained.
Based on
Snorri Sturluson, Prose Edda, Skáldskaparmál (the passage on Sif's hair and the treasures of the dwarves).
How we made it
Condensed to under ninety seconds, so some episodes and details are left out. The illustrations are generated with AI and animated in our studio; the narration is synthesised.