Surprisingly, not much, and not just because Sigyn isn’t on my radar, but because there’s not that much info on her on the lore and the only UPG I’ve seen on the subject is from Raven Kaldera and friends, and they have a bad habit of passing off their UPG as fact. GLE has a post regarding Sigyn’s relationship with Loki and whether or not it was abusive that mentions when Sigyn is referenced in the lore.
Some UPG I have read:
Sigyn was a runaway who was adopted by Njord.
Sigyn is in conflict with Angrboda, who believes Loki should have married into his tribe. (Note that Angrboda is mentioned exactly once in the lore and her exact relationship to Loki is not talked about).
A lot of people (IME) focus on the bowl holder aspect of Sigyn, which makes sense because it’s one of the only times she’s mentioned as doing anything rather than the text just saying “oh, she’s Loki’s wife” but I think, like some of the other goddesses she has a strength to her that many of us moderns don’t see because she isn’t involved in battle or any “interesting” activities (ie. things that men like).
I would like to talk about something that I think is going to piss people off, and that’s the “child-bride” aspect that is in GK and Kaldera’s books (at least, that’s where I first heard it). I can’t help but find this line of thought to be sort of creepy in that it implies a) that Loki is a pedophile/hebephile, and it feels, to me at least, almost like they’re infantilizing her in the same way that mortal women are constantly referred to as “girls” and not given respect as adults. This isn’t the first time Kaldera has written some questionable things about goddesses. I should note that I say this as someone whose deities are frequently incestuous.
She’s not a heathen really but @loptrcoptr / @daysoffuturepasta has some opinions about Sigyn and might be able to point you toward info about her.
As @kaynarune said, I’m not a practicing heathen, so I hope it would not be out of line for me to comment on Sigyn here.
As a non-practicing heathen, I don’t have any UPG to speak of; the closest I come to UPG is a wealth of opinions, based upon Eddic verse/symbolism/etc. As someone on the academic side of Norse religion, my whole world revolves around what the Eddas do, don’t and might say. For instance, there’s nothing in the Eddas about Njord as an adopted daddy figure, or tension and rivalry between Angurboda and Sigyn. Both are fine theories, because hey: make shit up, it’s a free world, have your own opinions. I personally like to think that Angurboda and Sigyn are in rather frequent communication, and that Sigyn’s beef is with Loki for stepping out, not with his “other woman”. This theory is held together by the ever-debated idea of Sigyn’s lineage: what manner of being is Sigyn? Snorri lists her among the Ásynjur present upon Gylfi’s visit in Gylfaginning, but does that really say anything about her lineage? Many of the Æsir gathered brides from among the Jǫtnar (Skadi, Gerd) who are considered Ásynjur, but what’s the number-one scandal in so many of the Eddic lays? a giant asking to marry a goddess. (Think of Freyja snorting so hard that the Brysingamen falls apart. Oh, the indignity.) And so we have to ask ourselves: Loki, though considered one of the Æsir, is still not “relieved” of his Jotunn background and is the only one of the gods who is addressed with a matronymic instead of patronymic (Loki Laufeyjarson), and the Vanir are not addressed with any outstanding funny monikers, so it stands to reason that Loki’s Jotunn heritage is not forgotten by anyone, ever. And no Jotunn has ever been allowed to marry a goddess. So Sigyn, by that logic, cannot be born into the Ásynjur. This is a theory that I ascribe to. But it begs the question, still: what is Sigyn? Surely she cannot be one of the Vanir, who the Æsir hold so near-and-dear, unlike Jotunn pals like Loki and Ægir? Is she a Jotunn, then? That’s my opinion, but we have no concrete proof, naturally. I’m also of the opinion that Nari and Vali are both her sons, and that she was there when they (or one of them) died. But that is entirely speculation, and as close to UPG as I get.
As far as this “child bride” thing is concerned…. I’ll try to react with some semblance of chill, but I find the notion blatantly appalling and crass. First of all, the only god we know to have had a childhood was Freyr, the only other kids we see are the gods’ kids and Thor’s servants, who are not gods. So what is Loki meant to have done, scooped up a little human girl from a happy little Midgard village, or did he rob a Jotunn cradle, is that it? ok, I lied, I can’t be chill about this, it’s idiotic and perverse, and there is zero evidence for it: none of the gods are shown to have child brides, why should Loki? Kaldera can come and fight me. And what is this in reaction to, the long-upheld notion of Sigyn as this figure of “devotion” and “innocence”, thus she must be childlike? Is that it? The Norse pantheon is made up of figures with many, many attributes, and quite a few of these deities even share attributes, yeah? (Freyr and Thor both take care of every-man farmers, etc.) but we know so very little about the Ásynjur (eternal bummer), and what we do know we gleaned largely from Snorri, who himself knew so little about them that he ascribed each woman one attribute alone, and some– like Sigyn– got none at all and remained unmentioned in his list (further proof for my Sigyn-is-a-Jotunn theory, but I digress). So let it be known that the notion of Sigyn as a goddess of fidelity, loyalty, innocence, or faith is an idea not presented in the Eddas, and one that stems largely, I would argue, from popular culture, ie: Marvel’s Sigyn is the “goddess of fidelity”. Viewing Sigyn as this pillar of sweet devotion is by no means wrong: you do you. But it is, I think, it’s own form of UPG, and I believe that we should all be careful when discussing Sigyn if we’re discussing her on an academic or religious platform and make certain we’re not slipping into our own opinions and stating them as fact: there are no facts about Sigyn. Like… really. Let’s look at the actual Sigyn facts:
1. She exists. Arguably.
2. She is cited as Loki’s wife in Lokasenna and in Snorri
3. She does her bowl thing
4. Nari and Vali (or whatever iterations of their names you prefer) are either both her sons, or one of them is
5. Sigyn is present in Gylfaginning
6. And that is literally it
Sigyn is a lacuna. It’s part of what I love about her: Sigyn can be anyone you want her to be. Woohoo! As far as scholarly theories on Sigyn go, there’s the question of her heritage and the possibility of Jotunn lineage, as I mentioned above. Also, it is a popular notion in scholarship (my Old Norse professor, who is extremely well known in the field, holds to this theory) that Sigyn is a late eddic character and not original to the myths. There are two parts to this argument, 1) why should Loki have such a nice wife to help him out? Some believe this is all Christian influence, others cite the influence of romantic epics, which brings us to part 2) the belief that Sigyn is a late influence derived from the character of Sigune in the romance Parzival, an early 13th century German romance. It is hard to hear that Sigyn could be a “late” invention, but that makes her role no less key or her lack of description no less interesting. In fact, the character of Sigune is very central in aiding and guiding Parzival on his journey, even giving him his “true” name (what is more Norse-lit than that)– a guiding soul who helps him out in his hours of need? Sounds like Sigyn to me! Not only that, but the act of name-giving could be used to argue for Sigyn’s role as a Valkyrja, methinks, if that is something that sounds good to you. But when the name-game is done, I have a counter for this theory of Sigyn as a “late” copy of Sigune: 1) find me an Old Norse name prefix more popular than “Sig”, and 2) even if Sigyn’s name could be proved to be a simple copy of Sigune’s, could it not be an equally simple name change? Couldn’t she be an older goddess with a new name attached? Or, to play devil’s advocate, maybe she does directly stem from this romance character and no others, we don’t rightly know. Even if she is “late”, it doesn’t take away from the fact that she is a Norse goddess ta the end of the day. My personal theory regarding her origins as a character is that Sigyn is also related very distantly (by extremely strained etymologies) to Sinthgunt of the second Merseburg charm, aiding Vuolla (Fulla) and Sunna, her sister (possibly Sól), but this is a theory I cannot prove. Yet. >:)
Like @answersfromvanaheim said, I think it’s easy for people to see nothingness, or even weakness, in Sigyn due to her lack of description, action, or agency in the Eddas. But I think it’s important, when looking at Sigyn as a figure and a person with motivations and senses, to wonder about her lone action, the only real glimpse we get of Sigyn: catching hissing venom in a precariously balanced bowl, keeping it from sliding down and melting the face of her husband, a husband who has been unfaithful, who has murdered, who has sown the seeds of anger amongst the gods; a husband who challenged a warrior-woman in cold blood to kill his son. And Sigyn waits there beside him, bowl in hand, as he writhes against chains wrought from her child, and she keeps him alive and holds the end of all things at bay. Why? We don’t know. What seems “weak” and “boring” about a woman like that?
Anyway, I hope adding some scholarly opinions to the pot helped answer the question a little. Maybe. Sorry if I babbled on too much! And @kemetiwitch, if you’re looking for more info/interpretations regarding Sigyn, you’re welcome to join the @sigyndefensesquad: it’s a place for Sigyn lovers and their theories, be they devotees or fans. And if there’s anything I said that was confusing or unclear, i am always around and happy to talk about Sigyn at any time. 🙂
Like I said, she has opionions on this matter. 😉
Devotional blog dedicated to the Goddess Sigyn offering support to those who are "holding the bowl" within difficult relationships.
Holding the Bowl 