Why was Loki bound, really? I grew up believing it was all because of Baldur. But murder, especially by proxy, was not quite the capital crime in the age or heroes as it is today. _(Not to mention, what's the rationale for "We really love this guy so much and he's nigh-invincible. Hey, I know, let's throw axes at him all day to express our affection!" Is it just me, or were they asking for trouble?)_ As an adult however, I came to believe Loki's binding was actually because of the flyting delivered to the self-satisfied gods who denied him his due honor. _(And let's face it, Loki's gifts were pretty sweet--Sleipnir and the walls of Asgard come to mind.)_ So what's the answer? Is it black & white or shades of grey?

In a way, you could say that Loki was bound to fufill a prophecy. As the cosmological poem Voluspa tells us, when Loki frees himself from his bonds, the doom of the gods will begin. So Loki has to be bound so he can get free and lead the giants against the gods.

One of the most convincing explanations I've ever seen for Loki's behaviour in _Lokasenna_ is that he wants the gods to bind him so that he can bring on the end. His first step in that direction was to kill Baldr, so now he has to force the gods to doom themselves. (John McKinnell's "Motivation in Lokasenna" is one article that takes this view. You can see the pdf here.)