Is Thor Older Than Loki?

In the Marvel films Thor is older than Loki: Odin calls Thor his firstborn, and Thor gives his age as 1,500 against roughly 1,050 for Loki, although the films do not agree on the gap. The Norse myths never say which of them was born first. Snorri calls Thor the first son Odin fathered, and Loki, a giant’s son, swore blood-brotherhood with Odin “in the early days”, but no source sets the two births side by side.

The personal characteristics of gods, heroes, and mythological figures are interesting to many of us. These characteristics relate us to gods and superheroes on a personal level.

Searching for these personal details is tricky, though. It's harder to pin down the specifics than you'd think. There are numerous interpretations of all mythical figures, and every piece of information you find might be slightly different.

One important aspect to consider is the age of the gods. We'll look at the ages of Thor and Loki today. You'll get a sense of their ages from Norse myths, Marvel comic perspectives, and the historical ages of these gods.

First, we have to explore who Thor and Loki are and why they matter.

Who Are Thor and Loki?

Thor and Loki are both counted among the Æsir, the main family of Norse gods, although Loki is a giant’s son.

They're connected, although they aren't related. The Marvel cinematic universe suggests that Thor and Loki are brothers, although that's a creation made for the plot of Marvel books and movies.

Thor's Origins

Thor was known across the Germanic world, as Donar in Germany and Þunor in England, and he is the best-attested god of the Viking Age, on runestones, on amulets and in personal names. Thor is mainly known as the Norse god of thunder. He's also linked with weather, crops, protection and strength in battle: around 1075 Adam of Bremen wrote that Thor ruled the air, thunder and lightning, wind and rain, fair weather and crops.

Thor's parents are Odin and Jörð, whose name means "Earth." Odin is a deeply complex and enigmatic Norse god. He's held with the utmost esteem and is called Alföðr, "All-father," because he is the father of all the gods and of men, although he's not the same as an almighty god. Snorri counts Jörð among the goddesses, and her role in mythology is mainly as Thor's mother. In Gylfaginning he says that Odin made his first son with her, and that son is Thor.

Loki's Origins

Loki is a trickster god. His behavior in mythological texts is erratic and mostly leans in the direction of chaos. He defies moral law, and he changes shape at will: into a mare, a fly, a salmon or a woman.

Loki's parents are Fárbauti (a giant) and Laufey, also called Nál, yet Snorri still counts him among the Æsir. Interestingly, Loki is also the mother and father of important figures in Norse mythology. With the giantess Angrboða he fathers the wolf Fenrir, the World Serpent and Hel. And he shapeshifted into a mare to lure away the stallion Svaðilfari, who was helping a giant build the wall around Asgard.

Their offspring was Sleipnir, an eight-legged horse that Odin would take as his steed.

As you can see, there are entanglements between many gods, their offspring, and their parents. This connection is part of what makes Norse myths so beautiful and complex.

The Marvel Universe

Many of us are familiar with Loki and Thor because they're popular characters alongside Tony Stark in the Marvel movies. Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, and Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, are brothers in these movies.

Their brotherhood is shattered by Loki's realization that he was not the son of Odin. Instead, he was the son of Laufey, king of the Frost Giants, making him Thor's adopted brother. This is a crucial moment for Loki's relationship with his father, sending him on the path toward chaos in search of fatherly approval.

Loki's childhood is put in a different light, driving him to cause destruction. Thor, on the other hand, stands tough as the model warrior and defender of the good.

Respective Ages in The Avengers Movies

If you're looking for a quick answer: Thor is older than Loki in the Marvel movies. There are a few twists and contradictions, though.

The ages of Thor and Loki are difficult to determine in these movies. It would be simpler if there was only one series and one timeline. Instead, there are numerous timelines. These "brothers" share the screen in Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and, through time travel, Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Throughout that journey, different comments and storylines shift the estimated ages of Thor and Loki. Note that most of the films are set roughly in the year they were released, which lets fans turn an age mentioned on screen into a rough birth date.

This helps us infer the ages of Marvel gods and heroes in human years.

Loki's Age

Whereas Laufey is Loki's mother in the mythology, Marvel's comic book mythology depicts Laufey as a frost giant and Loki's father.

As a result, Loki was born in Jotunheim, the homeland of the giants.

This is relevant because the 2011 Thor movie shows the Frost Giants invading Earth in Norway in 965 AD. This brings war between Asgard (home of the gods) and Jotunheim. In the aftermath of the war, Odin stumbles upon baby Loki and takes him home.

We can assume that Loki was born in 965 AD in that timeline, making him 1,046 years old in 2011. The same timeline continues through Infinity War (2018), wherein Loki gets killed by Thanos at age 1,053.

Endgame's Timeline

The Disney+ series Loki follows a different Loki. In Avengers: Endgame, the heroes travel back to the Battle of New York in 2012, and in the confusion that year's Loki grabs the Tesseract and vanishes. This timeline is different from the one in the previous section.

The series picks up this variant at the moment he escapes. Counting from 965, he is about 1,047 at that point, and he never dies in Infinity War. How much time passes for him afterwards is guesswork: the show never states his age, and the Time Variance Authority, where he spends much of it, stands outside ordinary time.

Thor: Ragnarok Contradiction: Same Age

There's a line in Thor: Ragnarok that suggests Thor and Loki are the same age. Thor tells how Loki once turned himself into a snake to trick him when they were children, and adds: "We were eight at the time."

Saying that they were both eight at the time implies that they're the same age. That clashes with Thor's 1,500 years, but it fits the first film, where Odin tells the story of the war of 965 to Thor and Loki as two small boys. The films never settle the gap.

Fun fact: snakes follow Loki in the myths too. His son is the World Serpent, Jörmungandr, and the gods punish him by hanging a venomous snake over his face.

Thor's Age

Thor's age looks easier to pin down. In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Thor tells Rocket that he is 1,500 years old.

The number doesn't sit well with the first film, which shows Thor as a small boy soon after the war of 965, and Marvel's official timeline book (2023) jokes about the mismatch rather than resolving it. The order of birth is clearer: at the coronation in the 2011 film, Odin calls Thor "my heir, my firstborn." This is before Loki becomes aware of his adoption, so Odin is simply telling his sons that Thor is older. Thor: Ragnarok later overturns that line, since Odin's real firstborn turns out to be Hela, the sister Thor never knew he had. Either way, Thor is older than Loki. Imagine if you were 1,500 years old and could still lift Mjölnir!

The Oldest Avenger

Thor is the oldest of the best-known Avengers. Valkyrie (Brunnhilde in the comics), the last of Asgard's Valkyries, may be older still, but the films never give her age. The human Avengers were born in the 20th century, Captain America in 1918.

In Norse Mythology

Determining the estimated age of gods in myth is challenging, in part, because myth doesn't always operate in human years. Human years occur chronologically over shorter periods of time.

Mythology often refers to things vaguely or in terms of deep time. The best method we have to guess the ages of the gods is through their relationship to other gods and events. For example, we know that Thor is the son of Odin. That means that Odin is older than Thor by some amount of time.

Snorri does give a ranking. He calls Odin the highest and oldest of the Æsir, and he says Odin's first son was Thor. He even numbers them: Baldr is "the second son of Odin." So among Odin's sons, Thor is the eldest.

Loki's Birth Year

As far as Loki's age in earth years, it's difficult to say. There isn't a lot of interplay between Loki's parents and the rest of the mythological canon, making Loki's birth year hard to determine.

Two clues place him in Odin's generation rather than Thor's. In Lokasenna, Loki reminds Odin that in the early days the two of them mixed their blood, and that Odin swore never to drink unless Loki was served too. And among the poetic names for Loki that Snorri collects in Skáldskaparmál are "kinsman" and "uncle" (literally "father's brother") of Odin and the Æsir. No text explains how he came to be their uncle.

The birth date might not matter so much as a god's place among the gods, though. In the stories, Loki travels with Thor as a companion: in Þrymskviða he goes with him to the giant Þrymr to win back the stolen hammer, and in Gylfaginning he rides with him to the hall of Útgarða-Loki. None of these tales says which of the two is older.

Thor's Birth Year

The same is true for Thor's birth year. Snorri tells us he was Odin's first son, but there isn't evidence for when that occurred.

Thor and Loki's "Brotherhood"

Unlike in the Marvel universe, Thor and Loki aren't brothers. Loki isn't even Thor's adoptive brother; the oath that binds him to the gods is his blood-brotherhood with Odin. That means Hel, Loki's daughter, isn't Thor's niece. Marvel's Hela is a different figure again: Odin's daughter and Thor's older sister. Frigg, who mothers both boys in the films, is in the myths Odin's wife and the daughter of Fjörgyn. Thor's mother is Jörð, and Frigg's own son is Baldr.

Thor, Loki, and Odin are interwoven in many ways. The oath of blood did not stop Loki from bringing ruin on Odin's family: he guided the throw that killed Baldr, and his children Fenrir and the World Serpent will be the deaths of Odin and Thor at Ragnarök. With Thor his record is mixed. He cut off the hair of Thor's wife Sif, and to save his skin he got the dwarves to forge new golden hair for her and, along with other treasures, Thor's hammer Mjölnir. As we noted, Loki also gave birth to Sleipnir, Odin's prized eight-legged horse. There's also a symbolic connection between Loki and Thor that modern readers often draw.

Symbolic Brotherhood

In a popular modern reading, Loki and Thor are symbolically intertwined: Loki represents chaos, uncertainty, fortune, misfortune, and trickery, and Thor represents fertility, the sky, the weather, and more. The medieval texts never put it that way; this is interpretation.

Personifications of Natural Forces

When people can make offerings and worship an embodiment of the sky, the uncertainty of the sky feels a little more controlled. If you do right by Thor, for example, he might provide a forgiving sky for your crops to grow. Adam of Bremen wrote that when plague or famine threatened, offerings were made to Thor.

Loki, though, had no cult that we know of: no place names, no personal names built on his, and no report of offerings. So nobody was warding him off with sacrifices. As an image, the modern pairing still works: two essential aspects of life that are easier to understand when separated, like two sides of the same coin.

Historical Ages in Culture

Nordic mythology is older than the Viking Age, although we know it mostly from sources written down much later.

The Viking era is usually dated from the raid on Lindisfarne in 793 to about 1066. Germanic peoples were predominantly oral groups. That means most of their stories were passed down by word of mouth rather than in writing, and the myths were written down in Iceland, in Old Norse, the language the Vikings spoke, mostly in the 13th century, long after the conversion to Christianity.

The Edda Texts

The two main sources for Nordic myth are the books called the Eddas. The Prose Edda is a handbook for poets written by the Icelander Snorri Sturluson around 1220, and the Poetic Edda is a collection of anonymous poems preserved in a manuscript, the Codex Regius, written around 1270. Between them they give a fairly comprehensive account of the mythology, including most of the primary gods, origins, and relationships.

Although there isn't a definite date that we see Thor or Loki pop up in culture, we can look to a few contextual clues to estimate who came first.

Thor's Significance

It's important to note that Thor is a thunder god, and his scope contains lightning, thunder, rain, and prosperity. The sky is imperative to the health and wellness of all life, which is why sky and weather gods are some of the oldest deities we can trace.

Thor's Mythological Cousins

Linguists reconstruct the gods of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, who left no writing, from the languages descended from theirs. At the head stands Dyēus, the daylight-sky god. Beside him is Perkwunos, the god of thunder and storms. His name is usually explained as "the Striker" or "god of the oak," and in the reconstruction he fights a serpent with his weapon. In Thor's hands that weapon was a hammer. Thor's own name is a different word, Proto-Germanic *Þunraz, "thunder," but his role follows the old pattern closely.

Even Hindu gods bear a resemblance to Thor and other Norse gods. Indra, for example, is associated with weather, lightning, thunder, and the sky, and like Thor he kills a great serpent. Thor and Indra are cousins rather than ancestor and descendant, and it's worth noting that most polytheistic religions have deities that represent the sky.

Polytheistic Gods

More specifically, polytheistic religions (those with multiple gods) tend to have close equivalents to Thor. This is significant when thinking about Thor's age because Thor as we know him likely grew out of earlier gods with similar roles. If the reconstruction is right, the thunder god behind him is thousands of years older than any written record of Thor.

Loki's Significance

Loki is an archetypal trickster. He's also a giant's son counted among the gods, which puts him in between the gods and their enemies. Unlike Thor, he leaves almost no trace outside the stories. One of the earliest poems to name him, Haustlöng, is traditionally dated to around 900, and there is no evidence that he was ever worshipped.

Tricksters Throughout Culture

Trickster gods are present in most cultures and mythologies around the world. From Coyote in many Native American traditions to Anansi in the Akan stories of Ghana, trickster gods hold important positions in various mythologies. One could even draw a correlation between Loki and Satan, depending on how you interpret both myths.

Loki's balance of Good and Evil

Unlike a devil, though, Loki creates chaos and has a way of cleaning up his mess. Snorri says he often got the gods into serious trouble and often got them out of it again with his cunning.

He weaves in and out of the good graces of the gods, peppering their lives with misfortune. It could also be argued that the gods needed Loki.

Mythology Needs Tricksters

Change and uncertainty are inherent in life. Without change, all of the diversity and drama of life wouldn't exist. If change weren't a factor in life, species would never evolve, seasons wouldn't change, and life as we know it wouldn't be possible. Most trickster gods are nuanced in this way. They have very unpleasant qualities but they typically have inherent goodness and try to benefit the world in some way. Loki's story ends darker than most: he arranges Baldr's death, and at Ragnarök he fights on the side of the giants.

So, Who is Older Thor or Loki?

All of the information above might have you scratching your head wondering, "how old are these gods? What's Loki's birth year?" Unfortunately, there might not be a clear answer for you.

Infinity War Recap: Thor is Older

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we get a clear idea of each hero's age.

Is Thor Older in Marvel Comics?

If you're thinking in terms of Thor, the strongest Avenger, then by his own count he's 1,500. That makes him the oldest of the best-known Avengers. Thor is older than Loki in these movies, and the comics follow the same pattern: there too, Odin takes in the infant Loki after killing Laufey and raises him alongside Thor, who is usually treated as the elder.

Odin's favorite son has a pretty clear age when he's standing next to Captain America in Infinity War. Captain America is nowhere to be found in Norse mythology, though.

What About Loki?

Loki, who was never an Avenger himself, is about 1,053 in Infinity War, and the variant in the Disney+ series escapes in 2012 at about 1,047. Odin's second son, though adopted into the royal family, is the younger, by about 450 years if you take Thor's 1,500 at face value.

Ages are Uncertain in Norse Myth

In the myths, no one gives either god a birthday, and no text says which of them was born first. What the sources do say is this: Thor is the first son Odin fathered, while Loki mixed blood with Odin in the early days and is called an uncle of the Æsir. Pressed hard, those hints make Loki the elder, a figure of Odin's generation, but that is an inference, not something any source states.

Throughout The Ages

If we look at Thor and Loki as figures in history, the answer runs the other way. On the surviving evidence Thor is far older: Roman writers already describe Germanic peoples sacrificing to a god they called Hercules, usually taken to be the thunder god, and his worship is recorded across the Germanic world centuries before the earliest Norse poems that name Loki, from around 900. Sky gods and trickster gods are two of the most fundamental symbols in mythology, and humans may have personified the forces of fertility and chaos as soon as they created mythologies and religions.

Those gods wouldn't have been exactly the same or have the same names, but they would refer to the same things. There may never be a way to know which one of these timeless deities is older, though.

Want to Learn More About Nordic Culture?

So, is Thor older than Loki? In the Marvel movies, yes. In the myths, no source says, and the few hints put Loki in Odin's generation. There's a lot more to learn about these gods and their importance, though. We're here to give you more insight into everything you need to know.

Explore our site for more insights into different gods, Viking items, Norse culture, and much more.

Thor and Loki Age FAQ

Is Thor older than Loki?

In the Marvel films, yes: Odin calls Thor his firstborn, and Thor gives his age as 1,500 against about 1,050 for Loki. The Norse myths never say which was born first. Snorri makes Thor the first son Odin fathered, while Loki, a giant's son, swore blood-brotherhood with Odin in the early days, which hints that he belongs to Odin's generation.

Are Thor and Loki brothers?

Not in Norse mythology. Loki is the son of the giant Fárbauti and of Laufey, and his tie to the gods is an oath of blood-brotherhood with Odin, recalled in Lokasenna. He travels with Thor as a companion. The adopted-brother storyline comes from Marvel's comics and films.

How old is Loki in the Marvel movies?

Counting from 965 AD, when the 2011 Thor film has Odin find him as a baby after the war with the Frost Giants, Loki is about 1,053 when Thanos kills him in Infinity War. The Loki of the Disney+ series is a variant who escapes in 2012 at about 1,047, and the show never gives his age.

Who is the oldest Avenger?

Among the best-known Avengers, Thor, at 1,500 years old by his own account, is the oldest. Valkyrie (Brunnhilde in the comics) may be older still, but the films never give her age.