The Witch's Heart

Loki serves as the deuteragonist and primary catalyst for conflict in the novel. He embodies the quintessential trickster archetype, and his charm and cleverness are matched only by his selfishness and his capacity for betrayal. From his first appearance, he declares his own unreliability, openly warning Angrboda, “I shall not, under any circumstances, make you a promise I can’t talk my way out of” (6). This ominous statement encapsulates his morally ambiguous nature, for although he is capable of genuine affection and acts of kindness, such as returning Angrboda’s heart, his actions are primarily driven by a desire to alleviate his own chronic boredom and insecurity. Gornichec’s version of Loki is thus a study in contradictions, embodying the intertwined nature of creation and destruction.

Loki’s central motivation stems from his status as an outsider among the Aesir. As a giant and Odin’s blood brother, he belongs neither to the world of Jotunheim nor to Asgard, and he is perpetually adrift. He craves the acceptance of the Aesir but simultaneously resents their judgments against him, and he therefore indulges in a destructive cycle of mischief-making to gain attention, followed by acts of service to regain the Aesir’s good graces. He seeks refuge with Angrboda precisely because she exists outside this social structure, in a place where he is not judged for his chaotic nature. He bestows upon her the name “Angrboda Iron-witch” (29), a title that acknowledges her formidable strength and steely disposition: qualities that he genuinely admires. However, his inability to fully detach from his ambitions in Asgard renders his betrayal of her and their children inevitable.

Loki is the narrative’s central figure for the novel’s focus on The Complexities of Love and Betrayal. His relationship with Angrboda is a source of intense connection and catastrophic pain, and although he feels a deep, sincere love for her and the children (especially their daughter, Hel), this love is not enough to override his self-serving impulses. His shape-shifting talent thus becomes a metaphor for his fluid identity and moral inconsistency. He transforms his physical form as easily as he shifts his allegiances, and ultimately, his defining tragedy is his inability to reconcile the different facets of his life. He cannot simultaneously be the loyal father in Ironwood and the celebrated trickster in Asgard, nor can he be an equally loyal husband to Angrboda and Sigyn both. In the end, his attempts to embody these conflicting roles lead to the ruin of the one place he ever truly considered home, and his bitterness at the Aesir’s mistreatment inspires him to aid in the destruction of the entire world.

Skadi, the formidable Huntress of Jotunheim, serves as a vital supporting character and a direct foil to Loki. A round yet largely static character, her core traits of independence, pragmatism, and fierce loyalty remain consistent throughout the narrative. She is introduced as a self-sufficient giantess who nearly kills Angrboda with a stray arrow before offering to share a meal with the poverty-stricken witch. Her worldview is grounded and transactional, as is evidenced when she plainly tells Angrboda, “This is a business venture, and the nature of the business is that you have to produce something in exchange for something else” (18). Her practical approach to life provides a necessary anchor for Angrboda, whose existence is often defined by volatile magic and emotional turmoil.

In a story dominated by Loki’s chaotic influence, Skadi provides the protagonist with a measure of stability, reliability, and tangible support. Loki might have been the one to return Angrboda’s heart, but it is Skadi who helps her to build a fulfilling life around it. She provides the tools, supplies, and knowledge for Angrboda to create a secure home in Ironwood, even going so far as building furniture and establish a trade partnership for the witch’s potions. This grounding in the physical world is crucial for Angrboda’s inner development, allowing her to establish the independence she needs to raise her children despite Loki’s frequent, lengthy absences. Skadi’s unwavering loyalty is first demonstrated first in her determined quest to seek justice from the Aesir for her father’s death, and the point is reiterated later in her steadfast protection and love for Angrboda.

Skadi’s relationship with Angrboda evolves from a practical partnership to a deep, romantic love, and she offers the witch a model of companionship based on mutual respect and security. This dynamic stands in stark contrast to the passionate but destructive love that Angrboda shares with Loki. Skadi’s hatred for Loki is clear from the moment she realizes how often he leaves Angrboda alone and how much his negligence hurts her. She views Loki as a traitor to the giants and labels him a “useless husband” (60) long before she learns his identity. Her steadfast presence highlights Loki’s inadequacies and provides Angrboda with a vision of a safer, more stable form of intimacy. By the end of the narrative, Skadi forsakes her place among the gods to join Angrboda in Ironwood, and as Angrboda likewise renounces her marriage to Loki, the two giantesses form a partnership that becomes a source of deep happiness and sustains them as they await the inevitable onset of Ragnarok.

Hel is the first of Angrboda and Loki’s children and becomes a key symbolic figure in the narrative. A dynamic character, she evolves from a preternaturally solemn infant into the powerful, resentful ruler of the dead. She is born with the lower half of her body dead and decaying, and she also experiences lifelong symptoms of breathlessness and poor circulation due to her weak hearth. Her unusual physical ailments are a direct manifestation of her mother’s trauma, reflecting also the unnatural way that Angrboda used her seid magic to pull Hel back from the brink of death when the girl was still in the womb. Hel’s half-living, half-dead state symbolizes the inherited consequences of defying fate and the deep-seated wounds that are often passed down from parent to child. Her quiet, observant nature as a child makes her wise beyond her years, and she forms an immediate, powerful bond with her father, Loki.

Later, after being abducted by the Aesir, she briefly meets the kind Baldur, son of Odin. However, Odin soon casts her into the dark, misty realm of Niflheim, where she bitterly succumbs to a deep sense of abandonment. Bereft of Angrboda’s healing salves, she watches as her dead legs decay, and although she soon grows into her power as queen of the dead, she harbors a lasting anger toward her mother, whom she blames for both her physical state and for her ongoing isolation. When Angrboda finally reaches Hel’s realm through the use of seid, Hel greets her with cold accusation, stating, “You should have come for me, Mother” (256). This confrontation highlights the gentle Hel’s transformation from a vulnerable child into a formidable, wounded ruler. In the end, her journey is one of reconciling her power with her pain. Her eventual reunion with the resurrected Baldur (and Loki’s role in orchestrating it) allows her to find a measure of peace and happiness in the world that rises up after Ragnarok, and her new life fulfills her mother’s deepest desire to see her safe and loved.

Fenrir, the great wolf, and Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, are Angrboda’s second and third children. Although their early innocence contrasts sharply with the bitter resentment and ferocity that they harbor for the Aesir in their adulthood, the two brothers function mainly as symbols and plot catalysts and are not fully developed characters. To Angrboda, they are simply her sons, but to the gods, the brothers’ prophesied roles in Ragnarok make them threats to be controlled or eliminated. Their very existence challenges the Aesir’s rigid definitions of what is natural, and ironically, they never see themselves as monstrous until they are labeled as such. Instead, it is their wrath at the injustices against their family that fuels their participation in Ragnarok. Their persecution at the hands of the Aesir recontextualizes the original myth by casting these two notorious antagonists in a sympathetic light. In Gornichec’s retelling, they are merely the innocent children at the heart of Angrboda’s family, and the Aesir’s violent actions have driven them to add to the final destruction of the world.

Like Jormungand, Fenrir is characterized by his animalistic nature and immense strength, a wildness he struggles to control as he grows. His binding by the gods through trickery becomes a key event in the mythology of Ragnarok. Jormungand is more enigmatic than his brother and less skilled with words, so he remains a silent and watchful presence as he grows to an immense size. Together, the brothers represent a primal, untamable manifestation of power that the gods deeply fear. Though the two have few lines of dialogue, their presence looms over the story, a constant reminder of the prophecy that haunts their family and the rest of the world. Their brief, violent reunion with their parents just before Ragnarok becomes a moment of catharsis. Once they confirm that their allegiance lies with their family, they pursue their desire for vengeance against the gods who have wronged them.

Odin, the All-father of the Aesir, serves as the primary antagonist of the novel. He is depicted as a cold and calculating figure whose actions are dictated by his overriding determination to acquire the forbidden knowledge that will allow him to exert some form of control over fate itself. His relentless pursuit of prophecy directly instigates the story’s central conflicts, for his desire to learn seid first leads him to Angrboda when she is still the witch he names Gullveig. His cruelty in repeatedly burning her also sets the tragic events of her life in motion. Though he often acts from a distance, his presence is a constant, oppressive force in her life, fueling her fears and compelling her to hide her children from the world and weave spells to shield them from his sight. In Gornichec’s retelling, Odin represents the patriarchal and authoritarian power of Asgard, a system that seeks to define, dominate, or destroy anything that falls outside its control, including Angrboda’s magic and her “monstrous” children.

Sigyn, Loki’s Aesir wife, embodies the ideal of a loyal, patient goddess. Her confrontation with Angrboda stands as the climax of the novel’s central conflict, for because she is so deeply horrified by the sight of Angrboda’s non-human children, she utters the terrified accusation that they are “monsters” (153). This cruel label echoes Loki’s recent utterance of a similar epithet, and as Angrboda’s shocked and wounded children realize how the world views them, they begin to harbor hatred and resentment toward the Aesir. This incident also serves as the catalyst for the gods’ attack on Angrboda and her family. In this pivotal moment, Sigyn represents the rarified world of Asgard, which Loki can never fully leave and Angrboda can never join.