Editing Hel (mythological being)

{{Short description|Underworld entity in Norse mythology}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
[[Image:Hel (1889) by Johannes Gehrts.jpg|thumb|'''''Hel''''' (1889) by [[Johannes Gehrts]], pictured here with her hound [[Garmr]].]]

'''Hel''' ([[Old Norse]]) is a female being in [[Norse mythology]] who is said to preside over an underworld realm of the [[Hel (location)|same name]], where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''[[Prose Edda]]'', written in the 13th century. In addition, she is mentioned in poems recorded in ''[[Heimskringla]]'' and ''[[Egils saga]]'' that date from the 9th and 10th centuries, respectively. An episode in the Latin work ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'', written in the 12th century by [[Saxo Grammaticus]], is generally considered to refer to Hel, and Hel may appear on various [[Migration Period]] [[bracteate]]s.

In the ''Poetic Edda'', ''Prose Edda'', and ''Heimskringla'', Hel is referred to as a daughter of [[Loki]]. In the ''Prose Edda'' book ''[[Gylfaginning]]'', Hel is described as having been appointed by the god [[Odin]] as ruler of a realm of the same name, located in [[Niflheim]]. In the same source, her appearance is described as half blue and half flesh-coloured and further as having a gloomy, downcast appearance. The ''Prose Edda'' details that Hel rules over vast mansions with many servants in her underworld realm and plays a key role in the attempted resurrection of the god [[Baldr]].

Scholarly theories have been proposed about Hel's potential connections to figures appearing in the 11th-century ''[[Old English Gospel of Nicodemus]]'' and Old Norse ''[[Bartholomeus saga postola]]'', that she may have been considered a [[goddess]] with potential [[Proto-Indo-European religion|Indo-European]] parallels in [[Bhavani]], [[Kali]], and [[Mahakali]] or that Hel may have become a being only as a late [[personification]] of the location of the same name.

==Etymology==
The [[Old Norse]] name ''Hel'' is identical to the name of the [[Hel (location)|location]] over which she rules. It stems from the [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] feminine noun ''*haljō-'' 'concealed place, the underworld' (compare with [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''halja'', [[Old English]] ''hel'' or ''hell'', [[Old Frisian]] ''helle'', [[Old Saxon]] ''hellia'', [[Old High German]] ''hella''), itself a [[Morphological derivation|derivative]] of ''*helan-'' 'to cover > conceal, hide' (compare with OE ''helan'', OF ''hela'', OS ''helan'', OHG ''helan'').{{Sfn|Orel|2003|pp=156, 168}}{{Sfn|Kroonen|2013|p=|pp=204, 218}} It derives, ultimately, from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] verbal root ''*ḱel-'' 'to conceal, cover, protect' (compare with [[Latin]] ''cēlō'', [[Old Irish]] ''ceilid'', [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ''kalúptō'').{{Sfn|Kroonen|2013|p=|pp=204, 218}} The Old Irish masculine noun ''cel'' 'dissolution, extinction, death' is also related.{{Sfn|Kroonen|2013|p=204}}

Other related early Germanic terms and concepts include the [[Compound (linguistics)|compounds]] ''*halja-rūnō(n)'' and *''halja-wītjan''.''{{Sfn|Orel|2003|pp=155–156|p=}}'' The feminine noun ''*halja-rūnō(n)'' is formed with ''*haljō-'' 'hell' attached to ''*rūno'' 'mystery, secret' > [[runes]]. It has descendant [[cognate]]s in the Old English ''helle-rúne'' 'possessed woman, sorceress, diviner',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dictionary of Old English|url=https://tapor.library.utoronto.ca/doe/?E14975|website=University of Toronto|access-date=26 May 2020|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225010901/https://tapor.library.utoronto.ca/doe/?E14975|url-status=live}}</ref> the Old High German ''helli-rūna'' 'magic', and perhaps in the Latinized Gothic form ''[[Haliurunas|haliurunnae]]'',''{{Sfn|Orel|2003|pp=155–156|p=}}'' although its second element may derive instead from ''rinnan'' 'to run, go', leading to Gothic ''*haljurunna'' as the 'one who travels to the netherworld'.<ref>Scardigli, Piergiuseppe, Die Goten: Sprache und Kultur (1973) pp. 70–71.</ref><ref>Lehmann, Winfred, A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)</ref> The neutral noun *''halja-wītjan'' is composed of the same root ''*haljō-'' attached to *''wītjan'' (compare with Goth. ''un-witi'' 'foolishness, understanding', OE ''witt'' 'right mind, wits', OHG ''wizzi'' 'understanding'), with descendant cognates in Old Norse ''hel-víti'' 'hell', Old English ''helle-wíte'' 'hell-torment, hell', Old Saxon helli-wīti 'hell', or [[Middle High German]] ''helle-wīzi'' 'hell'.''{{Sfn|Orel|2003|pp=156, 464|p=}}''

''Hel'' is also etymologically related—although distantly in this case—to the Old Norse word ''Valhöll'' '[[Valhalla]]', literally 'hall of the slain', and to the English word ''hall'', both likewise deriving from Proto-Indo-European ''*ḱel-'' via the Proto-Germanic root *''hallō-'' 'covered place, hall'.<ref name="HELL-HALL">This is highlighted in Watkins (2000:38).</ref>

==Attestations==
===''Poetic Edda''===
The ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, features various poems that mention Hel. In the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''[[Völuspá]]'', Hel's realm is referred to as the "Halls of Hel".<ref name="LARRINGTON9">Larrington (1999:9).</ref> In stanza 31 of ''[[Grímnismál]]'', Hel is listed as living beneath one of three roots growing from the world tree [[Yggdrasil]].<ref name="LARRINGTON56">Larrington (1999:56).</ref> In ''[[Fáfnismál]]'', the hero [[Sigurd]] stands before the mortally wounded body of the dragon [[Fáfnir]], and states that Fáfnir lies in pieces, where "Hel can take" him.<ref name="LARRINGTON161">Larrington (1999:61).</ref> In ''[[Atlamál]]'', the phrases "Hel has half of us" and "sent off to Hel" are used in reference to death, though it could be a reference to the location and not the being, if not both.<ref name="LARRINGTON225-232">Larrington (1999:225 and 232).</ref> In stanza 4 of ''[[Baldrs draumar]]'', Odin rides towards the "high hall of Hel".<ref name="LARRINGTON243">Larrington (1999:243).</ref>

Hel may also be alluded to in ''[[Hamðismál]]''. Death is paraphrased as "joy of the troll-woman"<ref name="LARRINGTON240"/> (or "ogress"<ref name="DRONKE164"/>) and ostensibly it is Hel being referred to as the troll-woman or the ogre (''flagð''), although it may otherwise be some unspecified ''[[dís]]''.<ref name="LARRINGTON240">Larrington (1999:240 and notes).</ref><ref name="DRONKE164">Dronke (1969:164).</ref>

===''Prose Edda''===
[[Image:Loki's children by Frølich.jpg|thumb|A depiction of a young Hel (center) being led to the assignment of her realm, while her brother Fenrir is led forward (left) and Jörmungandr (right) is about to be cast by Odin (1906) by [[Lorenz Frølich]].]]
[[Image:Hermod before Hela.jpg|right|thumb|"[[Hermóðr|Hermod]] before Hela" (1909) by [[John Charles Dollman]].]]
[[Image:The children of Loki by Willy Pogany.png|thumb|"The children of Loki" (1920) by [[Willy Pogany]].]]
[[Image:Lokis Gezücht.jpg|thumb|"Loki's Brood" (1905) by [[Emil Doepler]].]]

Hel receives notable mention in the ''[[Prose Edda]]''. In chapter 34 of the book ''[[Gylfaginning]]'', Hel is listed by [[High, Just-As-High, and Third|High]] as one of the three children of [[Loki]] and [[Angrboða]]; the wolf [[Fenrir]], the serpent [[Jörmungandr]], and Hel. High continues that, once the gods found that these three children are being brought up in the land of [[Jötunheimr]], and when the gods "traced prophecies that from these siblings great mischief and disaster would arise for them" then the gods expected a lot of trouble from the three children, partially due to the nature of the mother of the children, yet worse so due to the nature of their father.<ref name="FAULKES26-27">Faulkes (1995:26–27).</ref>

High says that Odin sent the gods to gather the children and bring them to him. Upon their arrival, Odin threw Jörmungandr into "that deep sea that lies round all lands", Odin threw Hel into [[Niflheim]], and bestowed upon her authority over [[Norse cosmology|nine worlds]], in that she must "administer board and lodging to those sent to her, and that is those who die of sickness or old age". High details that in this realm Hel has "great Mansions" with extremely high walls and immense gates, a hall called [[Éljúðnir]], a dish called "Hunger", a knife called "Famine", the servant Ganglati (Old Norse "lazy walker"<ref name="ORCHARD79">Orchard (1997:79).</ref>), the serving-maid Ganglöt (also "lazy walker"<ref name="ORCHARD79" />), the entrance threshold "Stumbling-block", the bed "Sick-bed", and the curtains "Gleaming-bale". High describes Hel as "half black and half flesh-coloured", adding that this makes her easily recognizable, and furthermore that Hel is "rather downcast and fierce-looking".<ref name="FAULKES27">Faulkes (1995:27).</ref>

In chapter 49, High describes the events surrounding the death of the god [[Baldr]]. The goddess [[Frigg]] asks who among the [[Æsir]] will earn "all her love and favour" by riding to Hel, the location, to try to find Baldr, and offer Hel herself a ransom. The god [[Hermóðr]] volunteers and sets off upon the eight-legged horse [[Sleipnir]] to Hel. Hermóðr arrives in Hel's hall, finds his brother Baldr there, and stays the night. The next morning, Hermóðr begs Hel to allow Baldr to ride home with him, and tells her about the great weeping the Æsir have done upon Baldr's death.<ref name="FAULKES49-50">Faulkes (1995:49–50).</ref> Hel says the love people have for Baldr that Hermóðr has claimed must be tested, stating:

<blockquote>If all things in the world, alive or dead, weep for him, then he will be allowed to return to the Æsir. If anyone speaks against him or refuses to cry, then he will remain with Hel.<ref name="BYOCK68">Byock (2005:68).</ref></blockquote>

Later in the chapter, after the female [[jötunn]] [[Þökk]] refuses to weep for the dead Baldr, she responds in verse, ending with "let Hel hold what she has".<ref name="BYOCK69">Byock (2005:69).</ref> In chapter 51, High describes the events of [[Ragnarök]], and details that when Loki arrives at the field [[Vígríðr]] "all of Hel's people" will arrive with him.<ref name="FAULKES54">Faulkes (1995:54).</ref>

In chapter 12 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'', Hel is mentioned in a [[kenning]] for Baldr ("Hel's companion").<ref name="FAULKES74">Faulkes (1995:74).</ref> In chapter 23, "Hel's [...] relative or father" is given as a kenning for Loki.<ref name="FAULKES76">Faulkes (1995:76).</ref> In chapter 50, Hel is referenced ("to join the company of the quite monstrous wolf's sister") in the [[skald]]ic poem ''[[Ragnarsdrápa]]''.<ref name="FAULKES123">Faulkes (1995:123).</ref>

===''Heimskringla''===
In the ''Heimskringla'' book ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'', written in the 13th century by [[Snorri Sturluson]], Hel is referred to, though never by name. In chapter 17, the king [[Dyggvi]] dies of sickness. A poem from the 9th-century ''[[Ynglingatal]]'' that forms the basis of ''Ynglinga saga'' is then quoted that describes Hel's taking of Dyggvi:

{{poemquote|
I doubt not
but Dyggvi's corpse
Hel does hold
to whore with him;
for Ulf's sib
a scion of kings
by right should
caress in death:
to love lured
Loki's sister
[[Yngvi]]'s heir
o'er all Sweden.<ref name="HOLLANDER20">Hollander (2007:20).</ref>
}}

In chapter 45, a section from ''Ynglingatal'' is given which refers to Hel as "[[Bowl barrow|howe]]s'-warder" (meaning "guardian of the graves") and as taking King [[Halfdan Hvitbeinn]] from life.<ref name="HOLLANDER46">Hollander (2007:46).</ref> In chapter 46, King [[Eystein Halfdansson]] dies by being knocked overboard by a sail yard. A section from ''Ynglingatal'' follows, describing that Eystein "fared to" Hel (referred to as "[[Býleistr]]'s-brother's-daughter").<ref name="HOLLANDER47">Hollander (2007:47).</ref> In chapter 47, the deceased Eystein's son King [[Halfdan the Mild|Halfdan]] dies of an illness, and the excerpt provided in the chapter describes his fate thereafter, a portion of which references Hel:

{{poemquote|Loki's child
from life summoned
to her [[Thing (assembly)|thing]]
the third liege-lord,
when Halfdan
of Holtar farm
left the life
allotted to him.<ref name="HOLLANDER20-21">Hollander (2007:20–21).</ref>
}}

In a stanza from ''Ynglingatal'' recorded in chapter 72 of the ''Heimskringla'' book ''[[Harald Sigurdsson|Saga of Harald Sigurdsson]]'', "given to Hel" is again used as a phrase to referring to death.<ref name="HOLLANDER638">Hollander (2007:638).</ref>

===''Egils saga''===
The [[Sagas of Icelanders|Icelanders' saga]] ''[[Egils saga]]'' contains the poem ''[[Sonatorrek]]''. The saga attributes the poem to 10th-century skald [[Egill Skallagrímsson]], and writes that it was composed by Egill after the death of his son Gunnar. The final stanza of the poem contains a mention of Hel, though not by name:

{{poemquote|Now my course is tough:
Death, close sister
of Odin's enemy
stands on the ness:
with resolution
and without remorse
I will gladly
await my own.<ref name=SCUDDER159>Scudder (2001:159).</ref>
}}

===''Gesta Danorum''===
In the account of Baldr's death in [[Saxo Grammaticus]]' early 13th century work ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'', the dying Baldr has a dream visitation from [[Proserpina]] (here translated as "the goddess of death"):

<blockquote>The following night the goddess of death appeared to him in a dream standing at his side, and declared that in three days time she would clasp him in her arms. It was no idle vision, for after three days the acute pain of his injury brought his end.<ref>Fisher (1999:I 75).</ref></blockquote>

Scholars have assumed that Saxo used Proserpina as a goddess equivalent to the Norse Hel.<ref>Davidson (1999:II 356); Grimm (2004:314).</ref>

==Archaeological record==
It has been suggested that several [[bracteate|imitation medallions and bracteates]] of the [[Migration Period]] (ca. first centuries AD) feature depictions of Hel. In particular the bracteates IK 14 and IK 124 depict a rider traveling down a slope and coming upon a female being holding a scepter or a staff. The downward slope may indicate that the rider is traveling towards the realm of the dead and the woman with the scepter may be a female ruler of that realm, corresponding to Hel.<ref name=PESCH67>Pesch (2002:67).</ref>

Some B-class bracteates showing three godly figures have been interpreted as depicting Baldr's death, the best known of these is the Fakse bracteate. Two of the figures are understood to be Baldr and Odin while both Loki and Hel have been proposed as candidates for the third figure. If it is Hel she is presumably greeting the dying Baldr as he comes to her realm.<ref name="BRACTEATES">Simek (2007:44); Pesch (2002:70); Bonnetain (2006:327).</ref>

==Scholarly reception==
[[Image:Treated NKS hermodr.jpg|thumb|upright|An 18th-century ''Prose Edda'' manuscript illustration featuring Hermóðr upon [[Sleipnir]] (left), [[Baldr]] (upper right), and Hel (lower right). Details include but are not limited to Hel's dish "[[hunger]]" and the knife "[[famine]]".]]
[[Image:Heimdal verlangt die Rückkehr Iduns aus der Unterwelt.jpg|thumb|upright|"[[Heimdallr]] desires [[Iðunn]]'s return from the Underworld" (1881) by [[Carl Emil Doepler]].]]

===Seo Hell===
The ''[[Old English Gospel of Nicodemus]]'', preserved in two manuscripts from the 11th century, contains a female figure referred to as ''Seo hell'' who engages in [[flyting]] with [[Satan]] and tells him to leave her dwelling (Old English ''ut of mynre onwununge''). Regarding Seo Hell in the ''Old English Gospel of Nicodemus'', Michael Bell states that "her vivid personification in a dramatically excellent scene suggests that her gender is more than grammatical, and invites comparison with the Old Norse underworld goddess Hel and the [[Holda|Frau Holle]] of German folklore, to say nothing of underworld goddesses in other cultures" yet adds that "the possibility that these genders ''are'' merely grammatical is strengthened by the fact that an Old Norse version of Nicodemus, possibly translated under English influence, personifies Hell in the neutral (Old Norse ''þat helvíti'')".<ref name=BELL263>Bell (1983:263).</ref>

===''Bartholomeus saga postola''===
The [[Old Norse]] ''[[Bartholomeus saga postola]]'', an account of the life of [[Saint Bartholomew]] dating from the 13th century, mentions a "Queen Hel". In the story, a devil is hiding within a pagan idol, and bound by Bartholomew's spiritual powers to acknowledge himself and confess, the devil refers to [[Jesus]] as the one which "made war on Hel our queen" (Old Norse ''heriaði a Hel drottning vara''). "Queen Hel" is not mentioned elsewhere in the saga.<ref name=BELL263-264>Bell (1983:263–264).</ref>

Michael Bell says that while Hel "might at first appear to be identical with the well-known pagan goddess of the Norse underworld" as described in chapter 34 of ''Gylfaginning'', "in the combined light of the Old English and Old Norse versions of ''Nicodemus'' she casts quite a different a shadow", and that in  ''Bartholomeus saga postola'' "she is clearly the queen of the Christian, not pagan, underworld".<ref name=BELL265>Bell (1983:265).</ref>

===Origins and development===
[[Jacob Grimm]] described Hel as an example of a "half-goddess": "one who cannot be shown to be either wife or daughter of a god, and who stands in a dependent relation to higher divinities", and argued that "half-goddesses" stand higher than "half-gods" in Germanic mythology.<ref name=GRIMM397>Grimm (1882:397).</ref> Grimm regarded Hel (whom he refers to here as ''Halja'', the theorized [[Proto-Germanic]] form of the term) as essentially an "image of a greedy, unrestoring, female deity" and theorized that "the higher we are allowed to penetrate into our antiquities, the less hellish and more godlike may ''Halja'' appear". He compared her role, her black color, and her name to "the [[Hinduism|Indian]] [[Bhavani]], who travels about and bathes like [[Nerthus]] and [[Holda]], but is likewise called ''[[Kali]]'' or ''[[Mahakali]]'', the great ''black'' goddess" and concluded that "''Halja'' is one of the oldest and commonest conceptions of our heathenism".<ref name=GRIMM315>Grimm (1882:315).</ref> He theorized that the [[Helhest]], a three-legged horse that in Danish folklore roams the countryside "as a harbinger of plague and pestilence", was originally the steed of the goddess Hel, and that on this steed Hel roamed the land "picking up the dead that were her due". He also says that a wagon was once ascribed to Hel.<ref name=GRIMM314>Grimm (1882:314).</ref>

In her 1948 work on death in Norse mythology and religion, ''The Road to Hel'', [[Hilda Ellis Davidson]] argued that the description of Hel as a goddess in surviving sources appeared to be literary personification, the word ''hel'' generally being "used simply to signify death or the grave", which she states "naturally lends itself to personification by poets". While noting that "whether this personification has originally been based on a belief in a goddess of death called Hel [was] another question", she stated that she did not believe the surviving sources gave any reason to believe so, while they included various other examples of "supernatural women" who "seem to have been closely connected with the world of death, and were pictured as welcoming dead warriors". She suggested that the depiction of Hel "as a goddess" in ''Gylfaginning'' "might well owe something to these".<ref name="ELLIS90">Ellis (1968:84).</ref>

In a later work (1998), Davidson wrote that the description of Hel found in chapter 33 of ''Gylfaginning'' "hardly suggests a goddess", but that "in the account of Hermod's ride to Hel later in ''Gylfaginning'' (49)", Hel "[speaks] with authority as ruler of the underworld" and that from her realm "gifts are sent back to [[Frigg]] and [[Fulla]] by Balder's wife [[Nanna (Norse deity)|Nanna]] as from a friendly kingdom". She posited that Snorri may have "earlier turned the goddess of death into an allegorical figure, just as he made Hel, the underworld of [[Shade (mythology)|shades]], a place 'where wicked men go,' like the Christian Hell (''Gylfaginning'' 3)". She then, like Grimm, compared Hel to [[Kali]]:

<blockquote>On the other hand, a goddess of death who represents the horrors of slaughter and decay is something well known elsewhere; the figure of Kali in India is an outstanding example. Like Snorri's Hel, she is terrifying to in appearance, black or dark in colour, usually naked, adorned with severed heads or arms or the corpses of children, her lips smeared with blood. She haunts the battlefield or cremation ground and squats on corpses. Yet for all this she is "the recipient of ardent devotion from countless devotees who approach her as their mother" [...].<ref name=DAVIDSON178>Davidson (1998:178) quoting 'the recipient ...' from Kinsley (1989:116).</ref></blockquote>

Davidson further compared Hel to early attestations of the [[Irish mythology|Irish]] goddesses [[Badb]] (described in ''The Destruction of Da Choca's Hostel'' as dark in color, with a large mouth, wearing a dusky mantle, and with gray hair falling over her shoulders, or, alternatively, "as a red figure on the edge of the ford, washing the chariot of a king doomed to die") and [[Morrígan|the Morrígan]]. She concluded that, in these examples, "here we have the fierce destructive side of death, with a strong emphasis on its physical horrors, so perhaps we should not assume that the gruesome figure of Hel is wholly Snorri's literary invention".<ref name=DAVIDSON179>Davidson (1998:179).</ref>

[[John Lindow]] stated that most details about Hel, as a figure, are not found outside of Snorri's writing in ''Gylfaginning'', and that when older skaldic poetry "says that people are 'in' rather than 'with' Hel, we are clearly dealing with a place rather than a person, and this is assumed to be the older conception". He theorizes that the noun and place ''Hel'' likely originally simply meant "grave", and that "the personification came later".<ref name="LINDOW172">Lindow (1997:172).</ref> Lindow also drew a parallel between the personified Hel's banishment to the underworld and the binding of Fenrir as part of a recurring theme of the [[bound monster]], where an enemy of the gods is bound but destined to break free at Ragnarok.<ref name=LINDOW82-83>Lindow (2001:82–83).</ref> [[Rudolf Simek]] similarly stated that the figure of Hel is "probably a very late personification of the underworld Hel", that "on the whole nothing speaks in favour of there being a belief in Hel in pre-Christian times", and noted that "the first scriptures using the goddess Hel are found at the end of the 10th and in the 11th centuries". He characterized the allegorical description of Hel's house in ''Gylfaginning'' as "clearly&nbsp;... in the Christian tradition".<ref name="SIMEK138">Simek (2007:138).</ref> However, elsewhere in the same work, Simek cites an argument made by {{ill|Karl Hauck|de}} that one of three figures appearing together on Migration Period [[Bracteate#Typology|B-bracteate]]s is to be interpreted as Hel.<ref name=SIMEK44>Simek (2007:44).</ref>

==As a given name==
In January 2017, the [[Icelandic Naming Committee]] ruled that parents could not name their child ''Hel'' "on the grounds that the name would cause the child significant distress and trouble as it grows up".<ref>{{cite news |title=Naming committee stops parents from naming daughter after goddess of the underworld |newspaper=[[Iceland Magazine]] |date=10 January 2017 |url=http://icelandmag.visir.is/article/naming-committee-stops-parents-naming-daughter-after-goddess-underworld |access-date=11 January 2017 |archive-date=27 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127205509/http://icelandmag.visir.is/article/naming-committee-stops-parents-naming-daughter-after-goddess-underworld |url-status=live }} Cf. {{cite news |title=Not allowed to name after Nordic goddess Hel |newspaper=[[Iceland Monitor]] |date=9 January 2017 |url=http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/politics_and_society/2017/01/09/not_allowed_to_name_after_nordic_goddess_hel/ |access-date=10 January 2017 |archive-date=18 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181218021712/http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/politics_and_society/2017/01/09/not_allowed_to_name_after_nordic_goddess_hel/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://www.stjornarradid.is/default.aspx?pageid=0e3c47f7-5369-11e8-9428-005056bc4d74&newsid=f58005d9-606e-11e8-942c-005056bc530c "Mál nr. 98/2016 Úrskurður 6. janúar 2017"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705175814/https://www.stjornarradid.is/default.aspx?pageid=0e3c47f7-5369-11e8-9428-005056bc4d74&newsid=f58005d9-606e-11e8-942c-005056bc530c |date=5 July 2018 }}, ''Mannanafnanefnd'', 6 January 2017</ref>

==In popular culture==
Hel is one of the playable gods in the [[Third-person (video games)|third-person]] [[multiplayer online battle arena]] game ''[[Smite (video game)|Smite]]'' and was one of the original 17 gods.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.smitegame.com/gods/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=1 August 2021 |archive-date=31 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731071415/https://www.smitegame.com/gods/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Hel is also featured in [[Ensemble Studios]]' 2002 [[real-time strategy]] game ''[[Age of Mythology]]'', where she is one of 12 gods Norse players can choose to worship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/wikis/age-of-mythology/The_Minor_Gods:_Norse|title=The Minor Gods: Norse – Age of Mythology Wiki Guide – IGN|date=27 March 2012 |access-date=1 August 2021|archive-date=1 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801152352/https://www.ign.com/wikis/age-of-mythology/The_Minor_Gods:_Norse|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/Age_of_Mythology/page/n15/mode/2up|title = Age of Mythology}}</ref>

=== Hela ===
Hel was the inspiration for the [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] comic book character [[Hela (character)|Hela]], created by [[Stan Lee]] and [[Jack Kirby]]; Hela first appeared in ''[[Journey into Mystery]]'' #102 (March 1964).<ref>{{cite book |last=Rovin |first=Jeff |title=[[The Encyclopedia of Super-Villains]] |date=1987 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=0-8160-1356-X |location=New York |page=155 |authorlink=Jeff Rovin}}[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsu0000rovi_h5r9/page/154/mode/2up]</ref> In the widely popular ''[[Thor: Ragnarok]]'' (2017),<ref>{{Cite web |last=D'Alessandro |first=Anthony |date=20 March 2018 |title=No. 8 'Thor: Ragnarok' Box Office Profits – 2017 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament |url=https://deadline.com/2018/03/thor-ragnarok-box-office-profit-2017-1202349475/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322130832/http://deadline.com/2018/03/thor-ragnarok-box-office-profit-2017-1202349475/ |archive-date=22 March 2018 |access-date=23 November 2024 |website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]}}</ref> Hela is portrayed as "violent, vicious, brutal and cruel".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marin |first=Gabiann |date=Jan 2020 |title=The Hidden Goddess: The Erasure and Pseudo-Empowerment Narrative of the Goddess in Wonder Woman 2017 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2619675936 |journal=[[Hecate]] |volume=46 |issue=1/2 |pages=210 |id={{ProQuest|2619675936}} |via=ProQuest}}</ref> 

== See also ==
* [[Personifications of death]]
* [[Rán]], a Norse goddess who oversees those who have drowned
* [[Gefjon]], a Norse goddess who oversees those who die as virgins
* [[Freyja]], a Norse goddess who oversees a portion of the dead in her afterlife field, [[Fólkvangr]]
* [[Odin]], a Norse god who oversees a portion of the dead in his afterlife hall, [[Valhalla]]
* [[Helreginn]], a [[jötunn]] whose name means "ruler over Hel"
* [[Hell]], abode of the dead in various cultures

==Notes==
{{reflist|20em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Bell, Michael (1983). "Hel Our Queen: An Old Norse Analogue to an Old English Female Hell" as collected in ''[[The Harvard Theological Review]]'', Vol. 76, No. 2 (April 1983), pages 263–268. [[Cambridge University Press]].
* Bonnetain, Yvonne S. (2006). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=gjq6rvoIRpAC Potentialities of Loki]" in ''Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives'' edited by A. Andren, pp.&nbsp;326–330. Nordic Academic Press. {{ISBN|91-89116-81-X}}
* Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2005). ''The Prose Edda''. [[Penguin Classics]]. {{ISBN|0-14-044755-5}}
* [[Hilda Ellis Davidson|Davidson, Hilda Ellis]] (commentary), Peter Fisher (Trans.) 1999. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QWQUcg39P3wC Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX]: I. English Text; II. Commentary''. D. S. Brewer. {{ISBN|0-85991-502-6}}
* [[Hilda Ellis Davidson|Davidson, Hilda Ellis]] (2002 [1998]). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9IAyyYi0OC4C Roles of the Northern Goddess]''. [[Routledge]]. {{ISBN|0-415-13611-3}}
* [[Ursula Dronke|Dronke, Ursula]] (1969). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SjpcAAAAMAAJ The Poetic Edda 1: Heroic poems]''. [[Clarendon Press]]
* [[Hilda Ellis Davidson|Ellis, Hilda Roderick]] (1968). ''The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature''. [[Greenwood Press|Greenwood Press Publishers]].
* {{Cite book|last=Faulkes|first=Anthony|title=Edda|publisher=Everyman|year=1987|isbn=0-460-87616-3|edition=1995|author-mask=Faulkes, Anthony, trans.}}
* [[Jacob Grimm|Grimm, Jacob]] (James Steven Stallybrass Trans.) (1882). ''[[Deutsche Mythologie|Teutonic Mythology: Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix]]'' Vol. I. London: George Bell and Sons.
* [[Jacob Grimm|Grimm, Jacob]] (2004). ''Teutonic Mythology'', vol. IV. Courier Dover Publications. {{ISBN|0-486-43546-6}}
* [[Lee M. Hollander|Hollander, Lee Milton]]. (Trans.) (2007). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qHpwje7-wNkC Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126123912/https://books.google.com/books?id=qHpwje7-wNkC |date=26 January 2017 }}''. [[University of Texas Press]] {{ISBN|978-0-292-73061-8}}
* Kinsley, D. (1989). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=b0jmXOPBXkwC The Goddesses' Mirror: Visions of the Divine from East to West] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217102120/https://books.google.com/books?id=b0jmXOPBXkwC |date=17 February 2017 }}''. [[State University of New York Press]]. {{ISBN|0-88706-835-9}}
* {{Cite book|last=Kroonen|first=Guus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgmFRAAACAAJ|title=Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic|date=2013|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004183407|access-date=26 May 2020|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801140636/https://books.google.com/books?id=cgmFRAAACAAJ|url-status=live}}
* [[Carolyne Larrington|Larrington, Carolyne]] (Trans.) (1999). ''The Poetic Edda''. [[Oxford World's Classics]]. {{ISBN|0-19-283946-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Orchard|first=Andy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIujQgAACAAJ|title=Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend|date=1997|publisher=Cassell|isbn=978-0-304-34520-5|author-link=Andy Orchard}}
* {{Cite book|last=Orel|first=Vladimir E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LY1iAAAAMAAJ|title=A Handbook of Germanic Etymology|date=2003|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-12875-0|language=en|author-link=Vladimir Orel|access-date=26 May 2020|archive-date=29 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729190640/https://books.google.com/books?id=lY1iAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|author=Pesch, Alexandra |year=2002 |contribution=Frauen und Brakteaten – eine Skizze |title=''Mythological Women |editor1=Rudolf Simek |editor2=Wilhelm Heizmann |pages=33–80 |publisher=Verlag Fassbaender |location=Vienna |isbn=3-900538-73-5}}
* Scudder, Bernard (Trans.) (2001). ''Egils saga''. [[Penguin Group]]. {{ISBN|978-0-141-00003-9}}
* {{Cite book|last=Simek|first=Rudolf|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ24QgAACAAJ|title=Dictionary of Northern Mythology|date=1996|publisher=D.S. Brewer|isbn=978-0-85991-513-7|author-link=Rudolf Simek|access-date=26 May 2020|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614180744/https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ24QgAACAAJ|url-status=live}}
* [[Calvert Watkins|Watkins, Calvert]] (2000). ''The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots''. [[Houghton Mifflin Company]]. {{ISBN|0-395-98610-9}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Hel (being)}}
{{Wiktionary|Hel|Hell|Hela}}
* [https://myndir.uvic.ca/Hel01.html MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository)] Illustrations of Hel from manuscripts and early print books.

{{Death in Germanic mythology}}
{{Norse mythology}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hel (Being)}}
[[Category:Chthonic beings]]
[[Category:Death goddesses]]
[[Category:Gýgjar]]
[[Category:Loki]]
[[Category:Norse goddesses]]
[[Category:Norse underworld]]
[[Category:Underworld goddesses]]