Hel

**Pantheon**: Norse

**Title**: Goddess of the Underworld

**Also Known As:** Hella; Hela

Once upon a time, being sent to Hel may have been inevitable, but it wasn’t perceived as punishment: Hel, daughter of Angerboda and Loki, rules the Norse realm of the dead. She is the keeper of the souls of the departed. Those who die at sea or in battle have other destinations; everyone else goes to Hel, who welcomes them into her home, Helhaim, regardless of whether they were good, bad, sinful, or saintly while alive.

Hel’s realm is not a sulphurous, fiery torture chamber. Rather it is a kind of inn or way station for the dead, although once checked in, one can never check out. Helhaim is a bleak, gray, damp, misty realm: the concept of heat as punishment was imported from hotter, southern climes alongside Christianity. Lack of warmth with no hope of Spring was the Norse equivalent of desolation. That said, some regions of Helhaim are more comfortable than others: Hel judges and decides exactly where each individual soul is directed.

Hel’s name may derive from the Old German halja, meaning “covering.” She may or may not be the same spirit as Hulda (Holle). Hel and her brothers, a wolf and a snake, were raised by their mother, the witch Angerboda, in the Iron Wood. Prophecy suggested that the siblings would someday lead a Host of Destruction against the Aesir, and so Odin had them “brought” to Asgard, where each was ultimately entrapped. Odin personally seized Hel and flung her as far as he could: she landed in the Realm of Death and became its Queen. She lives in a great hall, Eliudnir, within Helhaim. She remains destined to lead an uprising of rebellious spirits and ghosts.

Hel manifests in dreams, most famously to Balder, Odin’s son. She appeared to him three days before his death, advising him (accurately) that in three days she would clasp him in her arms. Because her father was instrumental in killing Balder, it’s unclear how much inside information Hel possessed.

**Manifestations:** Hel is simultaneously half-dead and half-alive. Half of her body (cut vertically) is that of a fair, beautiful woman; the other half is necrotized flesh. She is half living woman, half corpse.

**Attributes:** Rake and broom: the Black Plague was especially devastating in Scandinavia. Allegedly Hel roamed the land armed with her rake and broom. Villages totally wiped out by the Plague were said to have been swept away; where there were survivors, Hel had raked instead.

**Spirit allies:** Hel’s staff includes servants named “Delay” (male) and “Slowness” (female).

**Colours:** Black and white

**Rune:** Hagalaz

**Mount:** Hel rides a black mare.

**Animals:** She has a pack of dogs, the original Hell Hounds, as well as horses and wolves.

**Places:** Mount Hekla, an active volcano in southern Iceland, was allegedly among the entrances to Hel’s realm. A nearby town is named Hella. Some have suggested that the mountain shares its name with the goddess, although others protest that Hekla means “slab” or “covering,” which would still make it cognate with Hel as that is what her name means, too. It’s also theorized that the Belgian city of Hal may be named in her honor.

**See Also:** Angerboda; Balder; Black Madonna of Hal; Hulda; Loki; Modgud; Odin

## Smite Lore

Both beautiful and terrible, the Goddess Hel is keeper of the dead, lays judgment on souls, and decides who is reborn. She is both sides of two extremes.

As the daughter of Loki, the trickster God, Hel's destiny, much like her brothers Fenrir and Jormungandr, was doomed to darkness from the start. Odin, the All-Father, uncovered prophecies that Hel and her siblings would be the source of great calamity resulting in Ragnarök, the battle that would end all things. In an effort to prevent this, he cast each of the three into different realms; not quite a prison, though far from freedom. For Hel, Odin gave her charge of the realm of the dead, specifically those that died of sickness and old age. For himself, Odin retained Valhalla for those that died in battle.

At birth, Hel's face was cast half in shadow, half in light; she was both living and dead, so took immediately and graciously to her new role, gifting Odin with the ravens Huginn and Muninn in appreciation. As the spirits of the kind-hearted, the sick, the elderly were brought to her, she cared for them, gave them comfort, yet those she deemed evil she mercilessly hurled into the frozen depths of Niflheim.

Yet, despite Odin's efforts, destiny cannot be averted. Hel's conflicting struggle between benevolence and malice will force her to one extreme or the other. A time will come when Hel will fulfill her prophecy, though it is yet unknown if she will be a shadow of darkness or a force of light.

## Appearance in Modern Media

From Age of MythologyFrom SmiteFrom Shin Megami TenseiFrom DislyteFrom Reign of DragonsFrom Blood BrothersFrom Dawn of GodsFrom Monster StrikeFrom Tower of SaviorsFrom Unison LeagueFrom Age of IshtariaFrom Aura Kingdom
## Information Source

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses by Judika Illes