We first see Sigyn in Season Of Mists chapter three (or chapter four if you include the prologue) and she lives in the Cavern Beneath The World and she spends her life holding a bowl to catch the venom from The Snake, preventing it from falling into the face of an imprisoned Loki. Once the bowl is filled, Sigyn must empty it into the pit and during those moments when the venom drips into Loki’s face, he writhes in pain and “when he writhes, the earth quakes.” (Sandman # 24, page 3, panel 2)
When Loki is taken away from the cavern, she no longer has a job and so she simply waits for her husband to return….and he always does.
In The Kindly Ones, Loki is recaptured and returned to the Cavern Beneath The World after kidnapping Daniel, the son of Lyta Hall, Odin tells Sigyn that she no longer needs to stay with Loki, that she is free to go and that Loki deserves the pain of the venom dripping into his face and burning his eyes, but she chooses to remain with her husband despite the curses. “He dissects her with his words, whips her with obscenities and bruises her with curses. She begins to cry, softly, deep in her throat; then tears well up, which she had imagined far beyond tears. The salt-warm drops fall on her husband’s face, and he winces at each drop… Each word is like a slap, a blow, a kick, a burn. And she takes it. ‘I am pleased you came back, my love,’ whispers his wife. …and he begins to laugh inanely, high and wordless.” (Sandman # 66, page 7, panel 6-10 ).
I like Scott’s portrait of Sigyn, but I think it’s more of a classical mythology look and less of a Sandman mythology version. In Sandman Sigyn is emaciated and nearly skeletal. She looks unhealthy and abused, which is how I see her in the context of the Sandman universe.
