Dark Side of the Moon

Question: How does Mani treat Hjuki and Bil? His page says that he considers humans to be no more than flies, yet he keeps two children in his home. He would also be upset if you took them away from him. Does the Man in the Moon have any paternal feelings for his sidekicks?

Hjuki and Bil, if they were once human, are definitely not human anymore. They're incredibly old and have been cohabiting with a Titan Avatar since time immemorial; it's not possible for them to remain true mortals, and indeed Bil is actually mentioned elsewhere in the Norse sagas as a goddess in her own right, though of what remains a mystery. It's likely that, if they once were human, Mani or others he bullied into it long ago shaped and altered them into something more suiting his purposes.

Of course, the real question is what those purposes are, and the answer is that nobody knows. The Prose Edda relates the story of Mani snatching the children from the world to accompany him through the heavens, but it does not mention why, nor what might have motivated him to choose these children and not any others. It's likely that they represent the dark spots on the moon, but why Mani would want those is difficult to say. If they really have some power over shadow or darkness, they might be helpful to him in attempting to hide from or avoid Hati, his wolfish adversary. It might be a clue that the well they were drawing water from when he snatched them is named Byrgir, literally "that which hides", which might suggest again that they can help him try to escape being eaten. Or, perhaps, that they have some hidden wisdom or secret from the well, which would fit in nicely with the general treatment of magic wells across Norse myth.

Bil being referred to as a goddess might also suggest that the two were deities, not mortals, before their kidnapping, and that Mani perhaps holds them as hostages or emissaries for the rest of the Aesir. Another interesting possibility is that they might have been ancient Scions, allowing them to be both human and eventually divine, and of course begging the question of whose children they were and why Mani stole them away (perhaps they're some of those elusive lost Vanir?). In the same vein, you could even say that they might have been Titanspawn children of Mani himself, in which case it would make perfect sense for him to have paternal feelings toward them (or, at any rate, as paternal an attitude as most Titans can have).

As with many things in Norse mythology, we know that Hjuki and Bil exist and we know what they do, but much of their background is shrouded in mystery. There's plenty of room for a Storyteller to play with where they came from and what their motivations might be; exercise that creativity!