Helheim

> *"This is the gathering of the dead. If you liked it, there would be something wrong with you. Only I like it. And it is not a matter of whether she likes it or not. It must be done and done swiftly... for there are worse fates than Hel."*
>
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## Location Information

### Inhabitants

* Hela Kvichsky
* Nidhoggr
* Ganglati
* Ganglot
* Garmr
* Modgud
* Hræsvelgr
* Delaroche
* Other residents

### Owner

* Hela Kvichsky

**Helheim**, or just **Hel**, is an afterlife ruled over by Hela Kvichsky.

## Overview

Helheim, as a subterraneous place, is positioned in the cold, dark north. Although Helheim is not a place of punishment of any kind – it is far from a pleasant realm overall. This world is damp, dark, cold, dreary, and misty.

Helheim is guarded by the fearsome hound Garmr. This beast is Hela’s black hound – chained up in Gnipahellir, a cave at the entrance to the land of the dead.

As a place where the dead live on in some capacity, it is sometimes seen as a land of startlingly abundant life on the other side of death. In Helheim, the dead participate in the same activities as men and women: eating, drinking, fighting, sleeping, and so on.

## Locations

### Éljúðnir

The dark and dreary hall in Helheim is called Éljúðnir (misery), where the queen of the dead eats from a dish called “hunger” with a knife called “famine.” With these descriptions, it's indicated that no amount of food can fill the empty stomachs of the dead. She calls her bed “disease,” suggesting that there is no amount of sleep sufficient to relieve the weariness of the dead.

### Helvegr

Old Norse for "The Road to Hell". Refers to the path or route that leads straight to Helheim.

After a long journey through darkness and mist, the traveler would reach river Gjöll ("Noisy") – the river of clanging swords and spears. Then one would have to cross the bridge Gjallarbrú over that river to get closer to Hel.

After a while, the traveler would finally arrive at the wall or fence surrounding Hel (which is variously called *Helgrindr* – Fence of Hel, *Nagrindr* – corpse fence, and *Valgrindr* – fence of the fallen).

### Nástrand

The grisly Nástrand shore in Hel's kingdom is a dark and wet underground cave. All the doors of Nástrand are oriented towards the glacial north to accommodate the terrifying sounds of the winds. The walls are made of twisted snakes pouring their deadly venom. The condemned are tortured by the snakes' poisonous fangs turned towards them.

Nástrand is a destination of suffering for those guilty of murder, adultery, and oath-breaking. These are the worst possible crimes (according to Hela), and the only punishment they could get was the terrible afterlife in the horrors of Nástrand. Nidhoggr, a dreadful winged corpse-eating dragon, feeds on the corpses of the evil dead.

## Trivia

* The name of Helheim is directly taken from the Old Norse word “Hel” – meaning “hidden.” That may be a reference to Hel’s distant, underground location.
	+ The word has linguistic equivalents in all branches of the Germanic languages, including Old English *hell* (and thus Modern English *hell*), Old Frisian *helle*, Old Saxon *hellia*, Old High German *hella*, and Gothic *halja*. All these forms derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun *xaljō* – meaning “concealed place.”
	+ Helheim can also mean "house of Hel."