Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. For today’s Femme Fatale Friday post, I am sharing my final post in a small four-part series on the children of Loki. As they all tend to be seen as monstrous, I thought this was an ideal mini-series for October! This post is about Hel, Goddess of the Norse Underworld.
Hel is the daughter of Loki and Angrboða, a Giantess from Jotunheimen. She is one of three children of Loki and Angrboða, with the other two being Jormungandr and Fenrir (explored in posts earlier this week). As with her brothers, her nature of darkness and perceived monstrousity was feared by the Gods in Asgard. When Odin received a prophecy from the Norns about Ragnarok, he sought to prevent the oncoming Twilight of the Gods as best he could. This included taking Loki’s three children from their mother and locking them away in hopes of preventing the role they were destined to play during Ragnarok! In the case of Hel, she was thrown into the Underworld of Helheim, which is located in the depths of Niflheim, to become its ruler.
I suppose to Odin, this seemed a good fit for a Goddess who was viewed as monstrous because her appearance was half dead and half alive, with one side of her body being skeletal (or dead). Hel is less obviously monstrous than her brothers in personality, instead being a Goddess who personified the perpetual cycle of life and death. It was to Hel that all of the dead who were not warriors would come after their demise, as Odin and Freyja only chose from the dead warriors to fill their halls. Hel is really ultimately a Goddess who remains impartial when it comes to the dead, not judging them as Odin and Freyja do. Her realm of Helheim is thought to be located below the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and is a land of the dead that can only be accessed by those who have passed on, making it unique in terms of ancient Underworlds. Odin could receive messages from Helheim via his Ravens Huggin and Munnin, as the Raven is an Otherworldly messenger!
Hel’s name means ‘hidden’ or ‘concealed’, which certainly fits for a Goddess whose domain is so difficult to find. Her nature as a Goddess of Death made her an eternal reminder of the short and fleeting nature of mortality. As for her connection to Ragnarok, she differs a bit from her brothers.
Hel is connected to Ragnarok because Odin and Frigg’s son, Baldr, was killed, after a trick of Loki’s went wrong, and he went to Hel’s Underworld. It is this event that would go on to be a trigger for the events that lead to Ragnarok! It is also Baldr who will be reborn after the events of Ragnarok, when the world is new again. I write about Ragnarok in the future tense because that is how it is usually written about in Norse mythology, as something that is prophesied and will happen, but has yet to occur. So, yes, Hel is a fascinating and complex Goddess of Death, and she does have interesting connections to Ragnarok. You may view her as one of Loki’s most sympathetic children, as she is impartial and unfairly thought of as monstrous due to her lineage and appearance.
I hope you have enjoyed reading a bit about Hel and this series about the Children of Loki. What do you find to be the most fascinating thing about Hel’s story? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is an artwork of Hel. I found the art on https://valhalla-vikings.co.uk/blogs/norse-mythology-gods/hel?srsltid=AfmBOooX-bYh1eBMB6AjBEwqAjhc0p7LIe8AWcncvVjoU6K0039r3tGh.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
- Mythology by Edith Hamilton
- Encountering the Dark Goddess by Frances Billinghurst
- https://odinstreasures.com/blogs/norse-tales/hel-the-goddess-of-death-in-norse-culture
2 responses to “Hel, Goddess of the Norse Underworld”
What a beautifully written and deeply insightful conclusion to your series on Loki’s children! Thank you for sharing such a nuanced and respectful exploration of Hel, a goddess who is so often flattened into a simple villain or a mere personification of evil.
You’ve done a wonderful job of highlighting the profound injustice of her fate. Thrown into the abyss and made its ruler not as an honor, but as a prison sentence, simply for her appearance and lineage. It’s a powerful reminder of how the Aesir’s fear led them to create the very monsters they sought to avoid.
What I find most fascinating about Hel, which you articulated so well, is her impartiality. In a pantheon where gods often act on whims, favors, and judgments, Hel is a pillar of cosmic balance. She doesn’t choose who comes to her hall; she receives all who are not chosen by Odin or Freyja. This makes her realm the most democratic and, in a way, the most “natural” destination for the dead. She is the administrator of a necessary, neutral space in the cosmos, not a tormentor.
Your point about her connection to Ragnarok being uniquely indirect is also brilliant. While Fenrir and Jormungandr are direct, physical threats on the battlefield, Hel’s role is more subtle and profound. She is the keeper of the trigger—Baldr. Her realm becomes the central point of the prophecy, the linchpin upon which the fate of the gods turns. It’s not her army that marches forth, but the consequence of a death she merely houses. This reinforces her nature not as an active aggressor, but as an unwavering force of the cycle itself.
You are absolutely right to call her sympathetic. She is a figure of immense dignity, presiding over her hidden kingdom, a silent witness to the folly of the gods who feared her. She is a reminder that death is not monstrous; it is simply a part of life, and the one who rules it deserves our understanding, if not our reverence.
Thank you for this fantastic mini-series. It has been a true pleasure to journey through these misunderstood figures with you this October. You’ve given them the depth and complexity they so richly deserve.
I am so delighted that you enjoyed this mini-series so much! I am always glad when my writing can make people think in more nuanced ways. Thank you for reading and for your kind words!