The giant Hel was one of the children of the trickster giant Loki. Born half-living and half-dead, she was a terror to look upon and feared by the gods, so Odin banished her to the underworld, where she became its queen. Her power in Helheim was absolute; not even Odin could overrule her. But in Viking culture, Hel also had an empathetic role, guiding the dead into the afterlife. How does this complex figure fit within Norse mythology and Viking belief?
Daughter of Loki
While the giant, or Jotun, Loki was allowed to live in Asgard among the gods due to a blood brotherhood oath between him and Odin, the gods never trusted him. In the Gylfaginning, Odin said of the first giant, Ymir, that he was monstrous, just like all his offspring.
The gods clearly considered Loki monstrous, as when they learned that he had three children with the giantess Angrboda, they decided that the children of such a monstrous union were too dangerous to be allowed to roam freely in the world.
The first of his children was a giant wolf called Fenrir. The gods tricked the wolf into allowing himself to be imprisoned by a magical unbreakable chain on a deserted island. The second child was the serpent Jormungandr. The gods threw him into the sea surrounding Midgard. There he grew to such an enormous size that he could encircle the entire realm and hold his tail in his mouth.
The giantess Hel was the third child of the union. She was born half-blue (or sometimes described as black) and half-flesh colored. This has been interpreted as meaning that she was half-living and half-dead. She also had a sullen, gloomy, and downcast demeanor.
Hideous to look upon, the gods wanted to send her to a place where they would never have to see her. In the end, they sent her to the cold and misty realm of Niflheim at the very base of the world tree Yggdrasil. There she was to rule over the underworld, which later became known as Helheim in her honor.
The Road to Helheim
Helheim is just one of many underworlds in Norse mythology, but it seems to have been the main underworld where most people found themselves after death. Only a lucky few who proved themselves by dying bravely in battle were chosen by Odin to spend the afterlife in Valhalla. Others were chosen by Freyja to spend the afterlife in Folkvangr.
Some of the surviving sources describe the road to the underworld and Helheim itself as a shadowy world of the dead. Later Christian authors describe it as a place of eternal torment. This is a result of their trying to align Norse mythology with their Christian worldview, which contains heaven and hell. It is difficult to unpick where Norse mythology and Christian ideas meet because so many of our sources are Christian authors.
One poem describes Brynhild riding to Helheim, with her body carried in an elaborate cart. This is probably the cart that her body was burned in, now carrying her into the afterlife. The journey begins by passing Brynhild’s burial mound, which was seen as a gateway between the world of the living and the dead. There she meets a dead giantess, probably Hel, with whom she shares her life story.
The burial mound seems to be the start of the road to Hel. In another poem, Odin is investigating the source of his son Balder’s prophetic dreams about his death. He travels to the burial mound of a witch, which acts as a portal to Helheim. There on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir he jumps the fence of Hel, protected by the guard dog Garm, and sees a hall full of the dead and decorated with gold rings and gold ornaments. He then raises the witch from the dead to explain the scene. She tells Odin that Hel is preparing to receive Balder.
In the later Christianized account of the Gylfaginning, the hall of Hel is called Eljudnir, which means “damp with sleet and rain.” Within the hall, Hel eats from a dish called “hunger,” with a knife called “famine,” and is attended by servants called “lazy walkers.” The entrance threshold is called a “stumbling block,” her bed is called a “sick bed,” and her curtains are “gleaming bale.” All this suggests that there is no comfort or relief to be found in Helheim.
The Voluspa includes a passage that describes a part of Hel called Nastrod, which means “shore of corpses.” It has a castle that faces north, and it is filled with serpent venom. This is where murderers, adulterers, and perjurers go to suffer. The dragon Nidhoggr sucks blood from their bodies.
Later in the Gylfaginning, the god Hermodr takes the road to Hel on Odin’s steed Sleipnir. He rides for nine nights (nine is a sacred number that shows up repeatedly in Norse mythology) through a valley so dark that he can see nothing until he arrives at a river called Gjoll, meaning “noisy.” There he encounters a bridge with a golden roof, and to pass the bridge he must get permission from Modgudr, a giantess whose name means “furious battler.” Normally, she would only let the recently dead pass but she makes an exception for Hermodr. Modgudr tells him that the people in Helheim are a different color to him, perhaps blue, and that he should travel down and to the north to reach Hel.
In the Gesta Danorum, another Christianized source from the 12th century, the Danish King Hadingus is having dinner when a woman bearing stalks of hemlock appears. She asks him if he knows where such fresh herbs grow and offers to show him. The king and the woman, who is Hel, vanish from the hall and find themselves on the road to Helheim.
It is dark and misty, and the path is worn from heavy use over the generations. They pass richly dressed people, who seem to be the wealthy dead with their fine grave goods until they come to a sunny field where the herbs grow. The pair continue until they come to a fast-flowing river which is making a great noise because it is full of weapons. This is probably the River Gjoll. When they cross the river, they see a mighty battlefield. Hel informs the king that these are men who died in battle and are forever trying to win that last battle that they lost.
Finally, the Danish king and the queen of the underworld encounter a great wall that there is no way over. This is the same wall that both Odin and Hermodr were able to jump on Sleipnir. The woman removes the head of the cock that she was carrying and throws it over the wall. The cock returns to life, and Hadingus finds himself again among the living.
In other sources, Hel is described as guiding the dead along the path to Helheim. This is not seen as horrific but as her helping them through the transition. Several bracteates (medallions) from the Migration Period (c. 300-700 CE) show a rider traveling down a slope and coming upon a female figure holding a scepter, presumed to be Hel.
Mistress of the Underworld
One source says that Hel receives those who have died of sickness or old age. This is probably meant to draw a clear distinction between the brave warriors who died in battle and found themselves in Valhalla, and those who found themselves in Helheim. But some Vikings who died in battle also found themselves in Helheim, as King Hadingus witnessed.
Probably the most interesting person to find themselves in Helheim is the god Balder, the son of Odin. Balder was meant to be invincible because his mother Frigg secured promises from all things in existence that they would never harm or assist in harming her son. As a result, the gods would often play a game where they would throw weapons at Balder and watch them bounce off harmlessly.
However, Loki learned that Frigg had forgotten to secure the promise from the humble mistletoe plant. He fashioned a dart from mistletoe and convinced Balder’s blind brother Hodr to throw the dart at Balder as part of the game. Unaware of what would happen, Hodr threw the dart and killed Balder. Balder, along with his wife Nanna (who threw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre) and Hodr (who was executed for his role in the death) found themselves in Helheim.
Odin was desperate for the return of his son, but despite being the king of the gods, the god of the afterlife of Valhalla, and the one that gave Hel control of Helheim in the first place, he could not retrieve Balder. Only Hel could release him. This is when Hermodr is sent to Hel to negotiate with the goddess.
When he arrives, Hermodr sees that Balder is treated with honor in Helheim, but still asks Hel to return him to Asgard stating that he is universally beloved and therefore it is a tragedy that he should remain in Helheim. Hel listens to the requests and says that she will release Balder if Hermodr can prove that he is universally loved.
The gods went to all things in existence and asked them to weep for Balder. All things did, except for a witch called Thokk, who refused. This is presumed to be Loki in disguise. As a result, Balder is forced to stay in Helheim.
This story highlights that Helheim was not just for the wicked; anyone could find themselves there. It also highlights the absolute power that Hel has over passage in and out of the underworld, though she does seem to have allowed the dead to visit the living. The Vikings believed that at Yule, when the sun barely rises in Scandinavian countries, the veil between the worlds was at its thinnest and the dead could visit the living. Again, burial mounds acted as gateways.
In the Eddic poem Helgaknitha Hundingsbana II, the slain hero Helgi leaves the underworld to visit his burial mound during Yule. He has a physical body, which still bleeds from his battle wounds. His widow Sigrun encounters him there and he spends the night holding her in his arms before returning to the underworld. Sigrun then returns to the burial mound every night in search of him, but he never returns, and she dies of a broken heart.
Hel at Ragnarök
The giantess also has a role to play in Ragnarök, the Norse apocalypse. The death of Balder is often seen as the event that sets Ragnarök in motion. This is what causes the rift between the gods of Loki. He is expelled from Asgard, and then tracked down and chained to a rock. The chains were made by turning one of Loki’s two sons with his Aesir wife Sigyn into a wolf. He loses his mind and kills his brother, and his entrails are used to secure Loki in his prison.
When Ragnarök arrives, Loki will break his chains and lead the charge of giants against the gods. He will be joined by his son Fenrir, who will also break his chains and devour Odin. Loki’s son Jormungandr will emerge from his waters and he and Thor will kill one another. Hel will also join the fight. She will sail out of Helheim in a boat called Naglfar made from the fingernails and toenails of the dead.
When they arrive in Asgard, Hel will join the fray and her guard dog Garm will kill the god Tyr . We are not told what exactly happens to Hel, but the apocalyptic battle between the gods and giants seems to end in mutual destruction, and the world sinks back into the waters of chaos from whence it came.
Some later Christian sources say that the world re-emerged from the waters and that a few gods survived to rebuild. This is probably a Christian addition and not included in the original stories. Nevertheless, Hel is not listed among the survivors. In contrast, Balder and Hodr are, as they were probably protected from the destruction in Helheim.
This reflects the finality of death and the impenetrability of the underworld. Even when all is destroyed, it remains.
