You can find my last article on the bake kujira and the marticorases here.
Hel is the Norse goddess of the dead and ruler of Hel, a realm of the dead bearing her name. Unfortunately for us, the Norse didn’t write down a whole lot. Most of their stories were passed down orally, and so as they were told less and less, so much of Hel’s mythology was lost. Some of what we know today is because people who visited wrote down the stories and their way of life there, which is a lot like playing telephone in elementary school. That’s not to say that the Norse didn’t write down anything, just not nearly as much as other nations. Here is much of what I have found.
Hel appears most often as a half-alive, half-dead woman. The dead half is sometimes simply blue, or she has also been described as half-black and half-white, like the yin-yang. When she is described as half dead and half alive, the alive half is generally beautiful, whereas the dead half can be shown any state of decomposition, from obviously dead, but mostly whole to skeletal. Hel generally has a long-suffering or indifferent look on her face, like she is looking down on those in front of her.
Hel’s parents are Loki, god of mischief, and Angrboda a jotunn and goddess of anguish. Her brothers are Fenrir, Jormungandr, and Sleipnir. Fenrir will kill Odin during Ragnarok, Jormungandr, the world serpent who surrounds the earth, and Sleipnir, Odin’s steed. Sleipnir has a different father than his siblings but that’s a whole other article though.
Hel’s realm is referred to as “The Halls of Hel” and is beneath the world tree, Yggdrasil. It is the Underworld and is, therefore, dark and misty. I found out I was wrong about Helheim and Niflheim. There is a place in Hel, aka Helheim, called Niflhel. Niflhel is for those who were horrible. There isn’t much judgment after death in Norse mythology, so you had to be really bad to go there. Hel and Niflhel are vastly different from Niflheim, which is a primordial land of ice.
There are three places for the dead in Norse mythology. Hel, ruled by Hel, houses those who have died from old age or illness. Valhalla is for Odin’s chosen warriors, and they drink and feast, waiting for Ragnarok. Freya’s realm of the dead, Folkvangr, is for the other half of the slain warriors, maybe women and those she deems worthy. Though Odin and Freya both have realms of the dead, as we see, they are not considered death deities in the same way that Hel is. Hel takes no joy in her role, she is at best, indifferent to the living and dead, at worst, harsh and cruel. However, again, due to not many surviving stories, we don’t have a better idea of her.
There was one myth I could find featuring Hel. When Baldur dies, he is sent to Hel. The other gods sent Hermod to talk to Hel, asking her to release Baldur from her realm. She said she would only agree to do that if everyone in the universe wept for Baldur. The gods went to every being, and they all wept for him. Everyone did except one old giantess. Unfortunately, that meant that Hel’s terms weren’t met, and therefore, she didn’t have to give up the prize of having a god in her realm, especially Baldur.
What do you think of Hel? Have you heard of her outside the Marvel movie or comics? Marvel got it so very wrong. Do you think Odin and Freya would take from those she slays? I don’t think it would end well for anyone. Her brother, Sleipnir, has a very interesting origin story, so if you want to hear about it, let me know in the comments below, including the answers to any of the other questions posed. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
