Hel
Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, Hemskringla, Egils Saga, and the Gesta Danorum. Her name appears on bracteates, Skaldic poetry, and the Setre Comb, a 6th-century artifact. Hel, sometimes anglicized as Hela, is a figure often misunderstood and misrepresented, particularly in the light of later Christianization. Her name, meaning "hidden" or "to cover," refers to the Underworld she rules, a place that was once much more complex and nuanced than the Christian Hell it was transformed into.
Hel is the daughter of Loki and Angrboða, making her the sister of Fenrir and Jörmungandr. She was tasked by Óðin to rule over those who die of sickness or old age—those who die a "straw death." She is described as half beautiful and alive, and half cold and blue, the color of dead flesh. This duality in her form speaks to the liminality of death itself—a theme found throughout Norse mythology.
Her realm, often confused with the Christian concept of Hell, is far more nuanced. Hel’s domain is situated in Niflheim, the primordial realm of mist and ice. It is said to be farthest north of Miðgarðr, beneath it in the Underworld. A beautiful golden bridge guards the way to her hall, Éljar. Here, she graciously hosts Baldr and Nanna, welcoming them with respect and care, a far cry from the torturous depictions found in later Christian writings. In the older lore, Hel is a gracious hostess, not a tyrant of suffering.
Unlike the Christian Hell, which was formed from Christian biases and later literary embellishments, Hel's realm was one of diverse topography and complex duality. Her world contained moments of brightness, just as life contains moments of darkness and light.
At Ragnarök, Hel’s role becomes pivotal as she continues to rule over the dead, although she will face a challenge from the forces of fire, led by Surtr. She, like other death figures, is involved in the cycles of destruction and rebirth that mark the end of one world and the beginning of the next.
Thoughts on Hel
Hel is often misunderstood. Her domain has been warped and reinterpreted by Christian writers and scholars, most notably by Dante in his Inferno. What was once a place of divine order, where the dead were honored and received in peace, became the symbol of eternal suffering in the Christian worldview. Modern interpretations, however, can return Hel to her rightful place as a goddess of wisdom, death, and the cycle of life. Hel represents the natural course of life and death—birth, life, decay, and return.
In her original form, Hel is a goddess who provides sanctuary for the dead, especially those who have passed through no fault of their own. She is a goddess of ancestral wisdom, memory, and peace. Her appearance as both life and death in one being is a reflection of the sacred balance that governs existence in Norse cosmology. Death is not the end but a necessary part of the cycle, and Hel guards that threshold.
Her connection to death is not to be feared but understood as an essential, neutral force. She is a figure who gathers souls not to torment them but to offer them rest, awaiting the rebirth of the world that will follow Ragnarök.
Signs and Symbols
Dark horses, ravens, graveyards, and corpses
Tombs and burials, brooms and rakes
Witches on brooms, plague, and death by natural causes
The colors black and dark blue
Hoods, body bags, coverings, and funerary rites
Photographs of the dead, memorials, and celebrations of life
Rotting things, mold, fungi, and disease
The rune Hagall (hail, destructive forces of nature)
Associated Names
Helja, Hella, Hela, Hell, Haljia, Haljon, Proserpine (by Saxo Grammaticus), Persephone