Hel – Loki’s Terrible Daughter And Goddess Of The Land Of Dead

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Hel is one of three horrible children of the trickster god Loki. She is a giantess, goddess of death and a ruler of Niflheim, a dark dwelling place for the dead and one of the Nine Worlds of a cosmic ash tree, Yggdrasil.

Hel refuses to release Balder, who has to remain in Niflheim until Ragnarok.

Horrible Goddess Hel Is Half-Dead And Half-Alive

Hel is a greedy creature with a fearsome appearance. She has no concerns over the dead and the living. One-half of her is greenish-black, and the other is white, with flesh similar to a rotting corpse. Hel’s face is sinister and gloomy. The goddess is half-dead and half alive. Ancient beliefs say that diseases first came into the world when she was born.

God Odin casts Hel down to Niflheim, the realm of cold, darkness, and death located under one of the roots of Yggdrasil. He orders her to look after all the wicked and miserable souls who have died of disease, old age, and corruption.

As we mentioned on Ancient Pages, dead heroes reach Odin’s Valhalla or goddess Freya’s Folkvang (Fólkvangr) palace of happiness.

Hel’s palace is called Eljudnir, and she enjoys herself and bizarrely entertains the dead. Her table is called Hunger, her knife, Starvation; Hel’s bed is Sickness; and around it is Misfortune.

In times of disasters and plague, Hel leaves her gloomy realm to roam the Earth on her three-legged white horse, “Hel horse.” She looks after the survivors and gathers them with a rake down to her underground kingdom.

Hel Keeps Souls In Her Kingdom And Is More Powerful Than Odin

Although the gods look at her disgustingly, Hel has far more power than the great Odin. Once someone is in her power, no one, not even Odin, can successfully reclaim any soul she has in her possession. Without Hel’s permission, no soul can leave her kingdom to return to the living.

The goddess Hel is mentioned in the Poetic Edda; however, most details regarding Loki’s monstrous daughter come from Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda.

Why God Balder Cannot Return Back To The Living

One of the most known stories in Norse mythology tells about the fair god Balder, who was killed by Loki’s treachery. Balder went to Hel’s hall, Eljudnir.

Image (painting) of Hel, daughter of Loki, from Norse Mythology, like described in Edda. Image credit: Mkasahara - CC BY-SA 4.0

The Aesir gods are sad and want their beloved Balder back, but who is powerful enough to claim him back to the living again?

Balder’s brother Hermod rides Odin’s magnificent horse Sleipnir to meet with Hel. He begs her to let Balder return with him. She agrees but gives an ultimatum.

Hel says that every creature in the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil – both living and dead - must truly show they grieve him. With this request, Hermod returns to the gods, who manage to get all deities, humans, and the whole of nature around them to grieve.

But there is one who does not do it. Thokk, an old giantess, refuses to mourn the slain god, Balder. Thokk is, in fact, Loki in one of his many disguises. So, Hel refuses to release Balder, who has to remain in Niflheim until Ragnarok.

Written by – A. Sutherland  AncientPages.com Staff Writer

Updated on October 19, 2022

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