Hel

Hel (Hela in other versions) is the Norse goddess of the dishonourable dead. She is the daughter of Loki and Angrboda and the sister of Fenrir and Jormungandr, as well as the half-sister of Sleipnir. Hel also was the mother of Hladgunnr.
== History ==
=== Birth ===
Hel was one of three children born to Loki and Angrboða. As the children's birth were one of the catalysts for Ragnarök, she and her brothers were placed under careful watch, with Hel becoming queen of the dishonourable dead.
=== Death of Balder ===
After the death of Baldur at her father's hands, she agreed to resurrect him only if all living things cried for the fallen god. All but a giantess (Loki in disguise) wept for him, and because one person did not weep, he will stay dead until Ragnarök.
== Appearance ==
The left side of Hel's body and face is described as "heart-achingly beautiful, about twenty-five years old, with her ermine cloak shimmering like a snowdrift rippling in the wind." She has long dark hair and pale elven skin. The right side, however, is terrifying - withered skin, a skeletal hand, and leg, patches of blue ice covering decayed flesh, membrane-thin lips over rotten teeth, a milky-white eye and tufts of desiccated hair like black spider webs. She has a milky zombie gaze, which Magnus finds very unnerving.
== Personality ==
Her half-sister, Samirah, describes Hel as even more deceitful than their father, Loki. She also appears to take pity on those in her realm. In Magnus's vision, Hel is described to be cold inside and out, and extremely bitter.
== Abilities ==
Hel presumably possesses the standard powers of a goddess.
* Cryokinesis: As her world is cold and ice ridden, she may have control over ice and the cold.
** Snow Mimicry: She is able to turn into a flurry of snow, as she did when leaving Magnus.
* Necromancy: As the Goddess of the Dishonourable Dead, she has control over her subjects.
* Charmspeak: Like her father and brothers, Hel can be much persuasive to manipulate persons and possible control them, like she tried to make with Magnus' in The Sword of Summer.
* Pylikinesis (presumably): It can be implied that Hel was the one who created the hole/portal to Helheim near the Naglfar since it is her realm.
== Trivia ==
* Her Greco-Roman equivalent is Hades/Pluto.
* Her Egyptian equivalent is Osiris.
* Her name Hel means "hidden".
** Her name was also adopted by the Christians to refer to their inferno, Hell.
** Interestingly, the Old Norse word for "rime" or "hoarfrost" is Héla.
* Hel's appearance is similar to Melinoe's since one-half of their body is withered and the other half is pale. They also share scope as goddess of ghosts.
* In some myths she is said to be the mother of Krampus, a horned creature from alpine lore.
* It is very likely Hel can manipulate her appearance as she is one of Loki's children.
* In the books, it is her left side that is human and her right that is withered, however, in her portraits, it is opposite.