Tolkien and Norse Mythology

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

The other link I've been pondering is whether the Trickster in Tolkien's world might be found in the figure of Melkor as he bears some remarkable similarities to Loki.

Yup. That was, actually, one of the first things (let's say, third) which I thought of when I first read the Valaquenta. But Melkor is rather a deciever, not a trickster: in this way, Loki is sort of "light version" of Melkor; but ultimately, Loki is far worse fella...
...now it came to me, what about Loki and Saruman? Now this is an idea! Because Loki was actually most of the time disguised as one friend of the other gods, so was Saruman. Melkor revealed himself quite early and with the supreme evidence brought in by Eru. But Saruman seems for me to fit more with the trickster element: all those White-council delays, and so on...
...or Wormtongue. (seems we are lessening and lessening the divine aspect of this)