Occupation: Chieftain, former Ferryman

Legal Status: Citizen of Jotunheim

Identity: The general populace of Earth believes Laufey to be a mythological character.

Other Aliases: Lausus

Place of Birth: Unrevealed, possibly Jotunheim

Place of Death: Jotunheim

Marital Status: Married

Known Relatives: Utgard-Loki (possible father), mother (name unrevealed), Farbauti (wife), Loki (son), Byleist, Helbind (sons, deceased), Sigyn (daughter-in-law), Narvi, Vali (grandsons, deceased), Hela (grand-daughter), Fenrir, Jormungard (grandsons),

Group Affiliation: The Gods of Germany

Base of Operations: Jotunheim

First Appearance: Journey into Mystery #112

History: Farbaut is a member of an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Jotuns who preside in the realm of Jotunheim, one of the nine realms in the cosmology of the Asgardian gods. There are two races of Jotuns in Jotunheim, the Hrimthursar or Frost Giants, who for millennia have been the enemies of the gods of Asgard, and the Bergrimsar or Rime Giants, who live in peace with the Asgardians. According to myth, the Giants are descended from Ymir, a primeval being who appeared in Jotunheim from Ginnungagap, the region of sea that existed between Niffleheim and Muspelheim. Ymir was nourished to health by the milk from the enchanted cow Audhumla and grew to great size. He sired the first Giants, but they were visited by the god, Buri, whose descendants were often at war with the Giants. Buri's sons finally slew Ymir. According to Norse legend, when Ymir was killed, Buri's grandsons, Odin, Ve and Vili, created the Earth and sky from his remains, and the melting ice from Niffleheim drowned all the remaining Giants except for one, Bergelmir, who survived in a boat and afterward sired a new generation of Giants. Just how many of these incidents are true or apocryphal is uncertain. It is uncertain if the Giants of Asgard are of any relation to the Giants of Olympus.

A number of the Jotuns were worshipped as gods by the Saxons of Western Germany in the land that became modern Germany. Among them, Aegir was worshipped as god of the sea and Utgard-Loki was worshipped as god of the dead. Farbaut was given responsibility of ferrying the shades (spirits) of the dead into Niffleheim, the realm of the dead. Faubaut also took a wife, Laufey (later known as Farbauti), who gave birth to three sons, Loki, Byleist and Helbind. Unfortunately, the Jotuns were constantly at war with the Aesir and the Vanir, who became the Asgardians, who replaced them as gods in Germany.

According to legend, Odin, the Ruler of the Asgardian gods, met Farbaut in battle and slew him and his eldest sons in battle. In the battlefield, Odin rescued an infant who had been Farbaut’s youngest son. Odin raised the child as one of his own. The child grew up to be Loki, the god of mischief among the Gods of Asgard. However, it is believed that the Asgardians and the Jotuns have been trapped in cycles of destruction and rebirth. In subsequent cycles, Farbaut was reborn as Laufey, a minor chieftain of the Jotuns under Utgard-Loki, and his wife took the name Farbauti. Through these incarnations, Laufey’s granddaughter Hela remained goddess of the dead in concurrent incarnations of Asgard, and the Jotuns, who once looked mostly human, took on characteristics of their homeland, such as blue skin and a reliance on cold temperatures.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Strength Level: Laufey possesses possibly possesses superhuman strength but to an unknown degree. The average male Jotun can lift (press) 30 tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Laufey possesses the superhuman physical attributes of the Jotuns. He possesses vast superhuman strength, is extremely long-lived (although not immortal), and is resistant to conventional injury. His flesh and bone are far denser than similar human tissue; contributing to his superhuman strength and weight, which are also the result of his great size.

Limitations: The modern incarnation of Laufey, like all the giants of Jotunheim, required cold temperatures to maintain his existence. This seems to be a mystical dependency to the environment of Jotunheim than a physical trait; several Asgardians with Jotun ancestors seem to have lost this trait. Great heat will cause the Frost Giants to "melt," thereby shrinking in size to human size or smaller. Continued exposure to such heat supposedly would cause a Frost Giant to liquefy completely as it occurred to Ymir, eventually turning the Frost Giants into water. It is uncertain if this trait is shared by the Rime Giants, also known as Storm Giants.

Comments: This bio describes Laufey in the Marvel Universe; he is not known to have appeared in the DC Universe.

Laufey was played by actor Colm Feore in Thor (2011).

Laufey’s relatives here are based on hypothesis. In Norse myth, Utgard-Loki is considered the god of the underworld, the Norse equivalent of of the devil. Loki's father is also identified as the ferryman of the underworld and Angrboda is considered an ogress, a female giant with cannibal tendencies, so a conceptual link can be made between the characters. Furthermore, in Norse myth, Farbaut is the ferryman to the underworld, and Lausus (Laufey) is his wife. In the Marvel Universe, the genders have been reversed.