What Does It All Mean? A Literary Breakdown

This game was written to be deliberately obtuse, channeling the works of the Iliad or Genji Monogatari where you’re drowned by names of people and places that you know nothing of. House of Loki is tame in comparison — but a few weeks later (and having my dad read it who knows nothing about Norse mythology), I realized the barrier of entry may have been higher than anticipated. So I wanted to provide a brief literary analysis that explains some important scenes for both people unfamiliar with Norse mythology and those seeking a deeper understanding of the subtext.

Text from the game will be italicized, followed by my intentions.

1. The intro summarizes the entire game, though you wouldn’t know it until the end.

Deep in the Ironwoods of Jotunheimr, Loki hid three of his most wicked secrets.

Loki is the God of Mischief, beloved and hated by all. His three secrets are his children, of which you (Hel) are one.

Nightmares to the one-eyed All-Father whose dreams they haunt by mere existence.

The All-Father is the omniscient Odin, god of gods. He is haunted by visions of the three children. 

For the Norns witnessed their threads of destiny and saw only… 

The Norns are like the Greek Fates, determining destinies with thread. And what they saw was…

Ragnarok.

The end of the world.

Revisiting the intro after a full playthrough, you might realize the game ends as it begins — "Ragnarok". The last word of the intro is Ragnarok, and the last word of the game is Ragnarok. In this way the prophecy, Odin’s nightmare, is fulfilled despite his efforts to prevent it. 

2.  Your choice whether to take something from the dead or not subtly affects Odin’s final edict due to his connection to ravens.

A doubled kraa-kraa draws your attention to a silver-eyed raven perched on a tree. Its watchful gaze puts you on edge and you feel a certain reprieve you left the dead undisturbed. 

The raven is closely associated with Odin and acts as his eyes. In particular there are two: Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory). They take daily flights and return to report their findings, paying particularly close attention to battlefields.

3. The Norns, Fate, and Judgement.

You awake on the white loam shores of a lake beneath an ash tree that pierces the skies. At the base of its trunk that spans the horizon, three women pour water onto its roots. 

Yggdrasil is the world tree that connects all nine realms and is said to be an immense ash tree in the center of the cosmos. Beneath its roots lies the Well of Urðr (Wyrd), described as a lake. Here the Norns reside, pouring this holy water onto the roots of Yggdrasil to keep it from decaying. Their actions contrast the three children’s upbringing, hence the following dialogue when you ask what they’re doing:

“Nurturing.”
“Tending.”
“As all living things require.”
“No matter how unspoken their desire.”

The above encapsulates my interpretation of an unspoken theme in the original myth. If the children weren’t ostracized and feared, but were taken in and cared for, would Ragnarok still have happened? In this way, the myth of Loki’s children is a tragic, self-fulfilling prophecy.

4. The final scene is a poem because I thought only a poem could express the profound betrayal and heartache that would later grow to destroy the world. 

Hermod, deliver my heart 
To blood bound by sorrow.

Hermod is a son of Odin and a messenger to the gods.
Blood here refers to kin, her brothers — bound together by loss. The sorrow here is a deeper reflection of their upbringing.

Let no distance spare  
The rage within my marrow. 

Having been banished to Helheim, Hela's rage will cross any distance for retribution.

May Odin’s rule make him sloth 
As we forge our strength with age, 

Odin’s rule here is a double entendre referring to his ruling to banish the siblings but also to his kingship. Hel prays that Odin's decision gives him a false sense of security.
Meanwhile, time is the siblings only ally, as they mature from children into the beasts Odin feared.

Let him know what he hath wroth,
When we break free from our cage. 

The second line is a reference to the legend of Fenrir who is shackled by Odin. When he finally breaks the chains, Ragnarok will begin.

Til their blood swells the seas,
Til our bones burn to ash,
They will know havoc,
On the dawn of Ragnarok.

These lines serve to set the foundation for an emotional state that would eventually set Hel on the path to kill the gods. It was important that the game feels unfair to justify that extreme reaction. Let me know if I succeeded in that regard. 
Ragnarok means 'Twilight of the Gods', hence the word choice for 'dawn', the beginning of twilight. 

BONUS. This next line is a deep cut but one I quite enjoy. If you choose to honor the dead:

A red deer hart lies half exposed. Its antlers drip icicles, though not nearly enough to form rivers as the stories would have you believe.

Interpretations vary regarding the symbolism of harts (stags). Some say there are four, symbolic of the four winds or the four seasons, while others say there is only one named Eikthyrnir. The morning dew gathers on their horns and form the rivers of the world. But here they are frozen. Eikthyrnir in particular is said to reside in Valhalla — the realm of the honored dead in Odin’s hall. Combining the two interpretations, this line is both a testament to winter and an ironic joke in the context of the scene. Among the bodies of those who sought Valhalla, Eikthyrnir lies beside them. Perhaps Valhalla is here on earth?

I hope you enjoyed this literary breakdown of House of Loki. I try to be extremely deliberate with my choice of words, and hopefully this sheds some light on my writing style. Thanks for reading!