Hel (realm)

Hel (the realm) is the vast Norse afterlife kingdom below Niflheim where the majority of the dead reside. In the Norse understanding, most people — those who die of illness, old age, accident, drowning, in childbirth, of heartbreak — go to Hel. It is governed by the goddess of the same name (Hel), daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboða.

The realm described

Gylfaginning ch. 34 gives the clearest picture. Odin cast Hel down into Niflheim and gave her authority over nine worlds — meaning she received all who died of illness and old age, in contrast to the battle-dead claimed by Odin and Freyja. Her hall is called Éljúðnir (“damp with sleet”). Its threshold is called Fallandaforað (“Falling Peril”), its knife Sultr (“Hunger”), its dish Hunger, her bed Kör (“Sick-bed”), her bed-curtains Blíkjandaböl (“Gleaming Disaster”). The description is grimly precise — Snorri gives Hel’s hall a personality of slow suffering and decay.

The goddess Hel herself is half-blue-black, half flesh-colored, easy to recognize, and gloomy (niðljótr). She is not cruel in the active sense; she is final.

Hermóðr’s ride

The most detailed narrative of Hel-the-realm comes from Gylfaginning ch. 49: after Baldr’s death, Odin sends his son Hermóðr to ride to Hel on Sleipnir and beg for Baldr’s return. Hermóðr rides nine nights through dark valleys, crosses the river Gjöll on the bridge Gjallarbrú (guarded by the maiden Móðguðr), and leaps the gates of Hel. He finds Baldr seated in the high seat, speaks with him and with Hel, and receives the condition: if every being weeps for Baldr, he may return. The failure of one — Þökk, almost certainly Loki in disguise — keeps Baldr in Hel until after Ragnarök.

Hel and the ancestors

In modern Ásatrú practice, Hel is often approached with less fear than her hall’s furnishings suggest. She is the keeper of the honored dead — parents, grandparents, those who lived full lives. Ancestor blót directed to those in Hel is as valid as any other.