"I'm a bit of a trickster myself," Loki says. "And I like to skulk around and listen to what's going on before I say anything. I imagine those are snake-like qualities. The panther turned out to be the same thing, truly, but I rather like the color green so I imagined it would always be a snake."

There is a strength and dignity to his primary form that the snake doesn't have, though, even if both are elegant. Loki suspects that's the difference.