Norse goddess of the underworld and the dead
Hel
Hel is the Norse goddess who rules Helheim, the realm of the dead that shares her name, where those who die of sickness or old age go. Her appearance, half living and half corpse, makes her one of the most unsettling figures in Germanic and Scandinavian mythology.
The myth
Hel is the daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, sister of the wolf Fenrir, the serpent Jörmungandr and other children of the same family. According to the Prose Edda, when the gods learned from prophecies that these siblings would bring them great trouble, Odin had them brought before him. He cast Jörmungandr into the deep sea that surrounds the lands and sent Hel to Niflheim, giving her authority over nine worlds. Her task was to provide lodging and food to those who died of sickness or old age.
Her realm, also called Hel or Helheim, lies beneath one of the roots of Yggdrasil. It has vast mansions, towering walls and enormous gates, a hall called Éljúðnir, and objects with telling names: a dish called Hunger, a knife called Famine and a bed called Sick-bed. Hel is described as half black and half flesh-coloured, which makes her easy to recognize, and her face is gloomy and fierce.
The best-known episode is the death of Baldr. Frigg asks which of the Æsir will ride to Hel to try to free him, and Hermóðr sets off on Sleipnir, finds his brother in her hall and asks for his return. Hel agrees on one condition: everything in the world, living or dead, must weep for him. All things weep except the giantess Þökk, who is really Loki in disguise, so Baldr must remain with Hel until Ragnarök.
Other tales tell of figures such as Sigurd and Brynhild who also reach her realm. According to the texts, those who fell in battle went to Odin's Valhalla, noble women were received by Freyja and those drowned at sea belonged to Ran. Hel received the dead of dry land who had no other destination.
Legacy
Her name is related to the English words hell and hall, both descended from an Indo-European root meaning to cover or conceal. The goddess shares her name with the place she rules, and in Old English the word survives in compounds such as helle-rúne, a term for a sorceress.
Ancient sources: Poetic Edda (Völuspá, Grímnismál, Baldrs draumar), Prose Edda (Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál) and Heimskringla (Ynglinga saga).