Difference between revisions of "Hel" - New World Encyclopedia

Latest revision as of 21:49, 18 May 2018

Hermóðr rides to Hel on Sleipnir. He meets Hel and Baldr.

The term Hel (meaning "to bury," and "grave") ^[1] ^[2] is used in Norse mythology to refer to both the realm of the dead and to its queen. As a realm, Hel is described as a cold, shadowy place, inhabited by the souls of individuals who died in a so-called 'cowardly manner' (i.e., not in battle). In this way, it can be seen as the polar opposite of Valhalla - Odin's hall of perpetual feasting, whose doors only open for those slain in conflict.^[3]

As a deity, Hel is the overseer of this twilight realm. A daughter of Loki, she is cold, aloof and indifferent to the suffering of her constituents (as evidenced by her role in the saga of Balder's death, among others).

In some ways, Hel is similar to the Judeo-Christian idea of Gehenna (Hell) because both concepts can refer to a subterranean realm of punishment, albeit the Norse Hel is a cold place whereas the Gehenna of the Hebrew Bible is a hot, burning pit. As Christianity spread into northern Germanic and Scandinavian lands, the somewhat similar ideas of "Hel" and "Hell" fused together, and today, the word "Hell" in the English language comes from "Hel."

Hel in a Norse Context

As a both a Norse deity and a realm in the Norse mythic cosmos, Hel belonged to a complex religious, mythological and cosmological belief system shared by the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples. This mythological tradition, of which the Scandinavian (and particularly Icelandic) sub-groups are best preserved, developed in the period from the first manifestations of religious and material culture in approximately 1000 B.C.E. until the Christianization of the area, a process that occurred primarily from 900-1200 C.E..^[4] The tales recorded within this mythological corpus tend to exemplify a unified cultural focus on physical prowess and military might.

Did you know?

In Norse Mythology "Hel" refers both to the cold realm inhabited by the dead who died not in battle and the cold deity who rules it

Within this framework, Norse cosmology postulates three separate "clans" of deities: the Aesir, the Vanir, and the Jotun. The distinction between Aesir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried, and reigned together after a prolonged war. In fact, the most major divergence between the two groups is in their respective areas of influence, with the Aesir representing war and conquest, and the Vanir representing exploration, fertility, and wealth.^[5] The Jotun, on the other hand, are seen as a generally malefic (though wise) race of giants who represented the primary adversaries of the Aesir and Vanir.

Hel, whether understood as the goddess of the dead or the realm where their spirits reside, is a clear indication of the place of (non-battle-related) death within the Norse worldview, due to her predominantly negative characterization.

Hel as Deity

Characteristics

In Norse mythology, Hel (sometimes Anglicized or Latinized as Hela) is the queen of the Norse underworld. This word is the root of the English word hell. In the Prose Edda,^[6] she is described as the daughter of Loki and Angrboða – a giantess – and thus sister of the Fenris wolf and Jörmungandr (the Midgard Serpent). Since her father is often described as a god, the same might be said of Hel. Her physical description in the Prose Edda reads:

She is half blue-black and half flesh-color (by which she is easily recognized), and very lowering and fierce.^[7]

Within her great hall under the roots of Yggdrasill, Hel dwells in a realm of pain and misfortune, which is poetically described by the twelfth century Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson:

Her walls are exceeding high and her gates great. Her hall is called Sleet-Cold; her dish, Hunger; Famine is her knife; Idler, her thrall; Sloven, her maidservant; Pit of Stumbling, her threshold, by which one enters; Disease, her bed; Gleaming Bale, her bed-hangings.^[7]

Mythic accounts

As with many of the accounts providing elaborating details on Hel's character, the description of the Queen of the Underworld's birth is only found in Snorri's Prose Edda. Therein, it is revealed that:

Yet more children had Loki. Angrboda was the name of a certain giantess in Jötunheim, with whom Loki gat three children: one was Fenris-Wolf, the second Jörmungandr—that is the Midgard Serpent,—the third is Hel. But when the gods learned that this kindred was nourished in Jötunheim, and when the gods perceived by prophecy that from this kindred great misfortune should befall them; and since it seemed to all that there was great prospect of ill—(first from the mother's blood, and yet worse from the father's)—then Allfather sent gods thither to take the children and bring them to him. … Hel he cast into Niflheim, and gave to her power over nine worlds, to apportion all abodes among those that were sent to her: that is, men dead of sickness or of old age.^[7]

In her role as the steward of the ignoble dead,^[8] Hel plays a secondary part in numerous mythic tales. For instance, this conception plays into many of the mythic histories of the early Norse heroes and kings:

[Halfdan the Mild] was a great warrior, who had been long on Viking cruises, and had collected great property…. Holtar, in Westfold, was his chief house; and he died there on the bed of sickness, and was buried at Borre under a mound. So says Thjodolf:—

"By Hel's summons, a great king

Was called away to Odin's Thing:

King Halfdan, he who dwelt of late

At Holtar, must obey grim Fate.

At Borre, in the royal mound,

They laid the hero in the ground."^[9]

Similarly, the Ynglinga Saga also contains a tale that Hel procured herself a spouse by having the Swedish king Dyggvi die a natural death (in spite of his fierce lifestyle):

"Dygve the Brave, the mighty king,

It is no hidden secret thing,

Has gone to meet a royal mate,

Riding upon the horse of Fate.

For Loke's daughter in her house

Of Yngve's race would have a spouse;

Therefore the fell-one snatched away

Brave Dygve from the light of day."^[10]

However, the most famous of the accounts describing Hel's stewardship of the deceased is certainly the tale of Balder's untimely death. In it, Hermódr is dispatched by Odin to the realm of Hel to plead with its queen to return the beloved god to the realm of the living. The cold-hearted ruler replied that "in this wise it should be put to the test, whether Baldr were so all-beloved as had been said: 'If all things in the world, quick and dead, weep for him, then he shall go back to the Æsir; but he shall remain with Hel if any gainsay it or will not weep.'"^[11] In the end, a single giantess refuses to shed a tear for the lost god, and this is sufficient for Hel to retain her hold on him.

Theories

It has been suggested that this description of Hel is of later date, and that she originally was a much more neutral goddess over the realm of shadows, where all, both good and evil, courageous and cowardly, gather after death. This can be seen as being supported by the etymology of Hel (Lat. Celāre, Ger. hehlen), meaning the "hider." It is important to note that also the noble Balder and the brave Sigurd are sent to Hel after their deaths.^[12] Likewise, Thomas Dubois also notes that "this generalized afterlife destination, depicted as cold, damp, and dark, appears typical in Scandinavian visions of the beyond."^[13]

Hel as Cosmic Realm

In addition to being the name of the ruler over the deceased, Hel also refers to the cosmic realm allocated to them.^[14] While this was originally seen as a general (read: not morally-evaluative) destination for the dead,^[15] by the thirteenth century it came to be seen as a realm of punishment: "evil men go to Hel and thence down to the Misty Hel; and that is down in the ninth world."^[16] As described in Sturluson's Prose Edda, it is a place thronged with the shivering and shadowy spectres of those who have died ingloriously of disease or old age. Hel is also home to dishonourable people who have broken oaths. This depiction is strongly echoed in the Völuspá:

A hall I saw, | far from the sun,

On Nastrond it stands, | and the doors face north,

Venom drops | through the smoke-vent down,

For around the walls | do serpents wind.

I saw there wading | through rivers wild

Treacherous men | and murderers too,

And workers of ill | with the wives of men;

There Nithhogg sucked | the blood of the slain.^[17]

Mythic Accounts

Given its role as a realm of the dead, various myths describe gods (or deceased humans) traveling the frightful Hel-roads seeking to commune with the departed. In Baldr's Draumr (Balder's Dreams), Odin descends to the underworld to consult with a deceased seeress (a strong parallel to the introductory section of the Völuspá) who he wishes to consult about his son's prescient visions of his own demise:

Then Othin rose, | the enchanter old,

And the saddle he laid | on Sleipnir's back;

Thence rode he down | to Niflhel deep,

And the hound he met | that came from hell.

Bloody he was | on his breast before,

At the father of magic | he howled from afar;

Forward rode Othin, | the earth resounded

Till the house so high | of Hel he reached. ^[18]

Likewise, the entire tale told by Brunhild in Helreith Brynhildar (describing her courtship with the doomed Sigurd) occurs after her death, on the road to Hel (the title itself can be literally translated as "Brunhild's Hel-Ride"). This context makes her statement, "But yet we shall live | our lives together, Sigurth and I," all the more poignant.^[19]

Finally, the dead dwelling in Hel are seen to play an important role in some depictions of Ragnarök (the cataclysm that will rend the current world order asunder). In these tales, the host of the departed are seen accompanying Loki to the battlefield where the final confrontation will take place:

O'er the sea from the north | there sails a ship

With the people of Hel, | at the helm stands Loki;

After the wolf | do wild men follow,

And with them the brother | of Byleist goes.^[20]

The involvement of the souls of the departed in the final battle is also described in the Grimnismol:

Hard does it seem | to the host of the slain

To wade the torrent wild.^[21]

Notes

↑ John Lindow, Handbook of Norse Mythology (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001), 172.
↑ Gabriel Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), 271.
↑ However, in later sources at least, the posthumous judgment of an individual (and one's ultimate destination) was more based upon the moral circumstances of one's life than the specifics of one's demise.
↑ Lindow, 6-8. Though some scholars have argued against the homogenizing effect of grouping these various traditions together under the rubric of “Norse Mythology,” the profoundly exploratory/nomadic nature of Viking society tends to overrule such objections. As Thomas DuBois cogently argues, “[w]hatever else we may say about the various peoples of the North during the Viking Age, then, we cannot claim that they were isolated from or ignorant of their neighbors…. As religion expresses the concerns and experiences of its human adherents, so it changes continually in response to cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Ideas and ideals passed between communities with frequency and regularity, leading to and interdependent and inter-cultural region with broad commonalities of religion and worldview.” (27-28).
↑ More specifically, Georges Dumézil, one of the foremost authorities on the Norse tradition and a noted comparativist, argues quite persuasively that the Aesir / Vanir distinction is a component of a larger triadic division (between ruler gods, warrior gods, and gods of agriculture and commerce) that is echoed among the Indo-European cosmologies (from Vedic India, through Rome and into the Germanic North). Further, he notes that this distinction conforms to patterns of social organization found in all of these societies. See Georges Dumézil's Gods of the Ancient Northmen, xi-xiii, 3-25) for more details.
↑ Indeed, Lindow notes that many of these details are absent outside of Snorri's masterwork (172).
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning XXXIV, Brodeur 42. The Prose Edda, Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916).
↑ Odin was the lord of those who perished on the battlefield (though in some sources Freyja is apportioned half of them).
↑ Ynglinga Saga (51), Heimskringla (Laing's translation). Retrieved May 18, 2018.
↑ Ynglinga Saga (20), Heimskringla Retrieved May 18, 2018.
↑ Sturluson, Gylfaginning XLIX, Brodeur 74.
↑ P. A. Munch, Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes, In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. (New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926), 307.
↑ Thomas A. Dubois, Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 79.
↑ Indeed, the only means of differentiation between these usages is grammatical. As Lindow notes, "When older 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" (172).
↑ See, for example, the "Fafnismol" (in the Poetic Edda), where one warrior says to another: "And, Fafnir, thou | with death dost fight, Lying where Hel shall have thee" (21), Poetic Edda, 377. Retrieved May 18, 2018. Here, Hel is simply being described as a posthumous destination, as Fafnir was evidently about to die in combat.
↑ Sturluson, Gylfaginning III, Brodeur 16.
↑ "Völuspá" (38-39), Poetic Edda, 17. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
↑ "Baldrs Draumar" (2-3), Poetic Edda, 96. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
↑ "Helreith Brynhildar" (14), Poetic Edda, 446. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
↑ "Völuspá" (51), Poetic Edda, 22. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
↑ "Grimnismol" (21), Poetic Edda, 93. Retrieved May 18, 2018.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

DuBois, Thomas A. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. ISBN 0812217144
Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen, Edited by Einar Haugen; Introduction by C. Scott Littleton and Udo Strutynski. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. ISBN 0520020448
Lindow, John. Handbook of Norse mythology. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. ISBN 1576072177
Munch, P. A. Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes, In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926. ASIN B007T0KSR4
Orchard, Andy. Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. London: Cassell; New York: by Sterling Pub. Co., 2002. ISBN 0304363855
The Poetic Edda, Translated and with notes by Henry Adams Bellows. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1936. Available sacred-texts.com online. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda. Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916.
Turville-Petre, Gabriel. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. ISBN 0837174201

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[1] John Lindow, Handbook of Norse Mythology (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001), 172.

[2] Gabriel Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), 271.

[3] However, in later sources at least, the posthumous judgment of an individual (and one's ultimate destination) was more based upon the moral circumstances of one's life than the specifics of one's demise.

[4] Lindow, 6-8. Though some scholars have argued against the homogenizing effect of grouping these various traditions together under the rubric of “Norse Mythology,” the profoundly exploratory/nomadic nature of Viking society tends to overrule such objections. As Thomas DuBois cogently argues, “[w]hatever else we may say about the various peoples of the North during the Viking Age, then, we cannot claim that they were isolated from or ignorant of their neighbors…. As religion expresses the concerns and experiences of its human adherents, so it changes continually in response to cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Ideas and ideals passed between communities with frequency and regularity, leading to and interdependent and inter-cultural region with broad commonalities of religion and worldview.” (27-28).

[5] More specifically, Georges Dumézil, one of the foremost authorities on the Norse tradition and a noted comparativist, argues quite persuasively that the Aesir / Vanir distinction is a component of a larger triadic division (between ruler gods, warrior gods, and gods of agriculture and commerce) that is echoed among the Indo-European cosmologies (from Vedic India, through Rome and into the Germanic North). Further, he notes that this distinction conforms to patterns of social organization found in all of these societies. See Georges Dumézil's Gods of the Ancient Northmen, xi-xiii, 3-25) for more details.

[6] Indeed, Lindow notes that many of these details are absent outside of Snorri's masterwork (172).

[Brodeur-7] 7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning XXXIV, Brodeur 42. The Prose Edda, Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916).

[8] Odin was the lord of those who perished on the battlefield (though in some sources Freyja is apportioned half of them).

[9] Ynglinga Saga (51), Heimskringla (Laing's translation). Retrieved May 18, 2018.

[10] Ynglinga Saga (20), Heimskringla Retrieved May 18, 2018.

[11] Sturluson, Gylfaginning XLIX, Brodeur 74.

[12] P. A. Munch, Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes, In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. (New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926), 307.

[13] Thomas A. Dubois, Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 79.

[14] Indeed, the only means of differentiation between these usages is grammatical. As Lindow notes, "When older 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" (172).

[15] See, for example, the "Fafnismol" (in the Poetic Edda), where one warrior says to another: "And, Fafnir, thou | with death dost fight, Lying where Hel shall have thee" (21), Poetic Edda, 377. Retrieved May 18, 2018. Here, Hel is simply being described as a posthumous destination, as Fafnir was evidently about to die in combat.

[16] Sturluson, Gylfaginning III, Brodeur 16.

[17] "Völuspá" (38-39), Poetic Edda, 17. Retrieved May 18, 2018.

[18] "Baldrs Draumar" (2-3), Poetic Edda, 96. Retrieved May 18, 2018.

[19] "Helreith Brynhildar" (14), Poetic Edda, 446. Retrieved May 18, 2018.

[20] "Völuspá" (51), Poetic Edda, 22. Retrieved May 18, 2018.

[21] "Grimnismol" (21), Poetic Edda, 93. Retrieved May 18, 2018.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{started}}
+{{Paid}}{{Approved}}{{Submitted}}{{Images OK}}{{Copyedited}}
+[[Image:Treated_NKS_hermodr.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Hermóðr rides to Hel on Sleipnir. He meets Hel and Baldr.]]
+The term '''Hel''' (meaning "to bury," and "grave") <ref>John Lindow, ''Handbook of Norse Mythology'' (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001), 172. </ref> <ref>Gabriel Turville-Petre, ''Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia'' (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), 271.</ref> is used in [[Norse Mythology|Norse mythology]] to refer to both the realm of the dead and to its queen. As a realm, Hel is described as a cold, shadowy place, inhabited by the souls of individuals who died in a so-called 'cowardly manner' (i.e., not in battle). In this way, it can be seen as the polar opposite of [[Valhalla]] - [[Odin]]'s hall of perpetual feasting, whose doors only open for those slain in conflict.<ref>However, in later sources at least, the posthumous judgment of an individual (and one's ultimate destination) was more based upon the moral circumstances of one's life than the specifics of one's demise.</ref>
+As a deity, Hel is the overseer of this twilight realm. A daughter of [[Loki]], she is cold, aloof and indifferent to the suffering of her constituents (as evidenced by her role in the saga of [[Balder]]'s death, among others).
+{{toc}}
+In some ways, Hel is similar to the Judeo-Christian idea of [[Gehenna]] ([[Hell]]) because both concepts can refer to a subterranean realm of punishment, albeit the Norse Hel is a cold place whereas the Gehenna of the Hebrew Bible is a hot, burning pit. As [[Christianity]] spread into northern Germanic and Scandinavian lands, the somewhat similar ideas of "Hel" and "Hell" fused together, and today, the word "Hell" in the English language comes from "Hel."
-==Hel in Norse Mythology==
+==Hel in a Norse Context==
-n [[Norse mythology]], '''Hel''' (sometimes Anglicized or Latinized as '''Hela''') is the queen of [[Hel (realm)|Hel]], the Norse [[underworld]]. This word is the root of the [[English (language)|English]] word ''[[hell]]''. Hel's hall is named [[Eliudnir]].
+As a both a Norse deity and a realm in the Norse mythic cosmos, Hel belonged to a complex religious, mythological and cosmological belief system shared by the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples. This mythological tradition, of which the Scandinavian (and particularly Icelandic) sub-groups are best preserved, developed in the period from the first manifestations of religious and material culture in approximately 1000 B.C.E. until the Christianization of the area, a process that occurred primarily from 900-1200 C.E..<ref>Lindow, 6-8. Though some scholars have argued against the homogenizing effect of grouping these various traditions together under the rubric of “Norse Mythology,” the profoundly exploratory/nomadic nature of Viking society tends to overrule such objections. As Thomas DuBois cogently argues, “[w]hatever else we may say about the various peoples of the North during the Viking Age, then, we cannot claim that they were isolated from or ignorant of their neighbors…. As religion expresses the concerns and experiences of its human adherents, so it changes continually in response to cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Ideas and ideals passed between communities with frequency and regularity, leading to and interdependent and inter-cultural region with broad commonalities of religion and worldview.” (27-28).</ref> The tales recorded within this mythological corpus tend to exemplify a unified cultural focus on physical prowess and military might.
+{{readout||right|250px|In [[Norse Mythology]] "Hel" refers both to the cold realm inhabited by the dead who died not in battle and the cold [[deity]] who rules it}}
+Within this framework, Norse cosmology postulates three separate "clans" of deities: the [[Aesir]], the [[Vanir]], and the [[Jotun]]. The distinction between Aesir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried, and reigned together after a prolonged war. In fact, the most major divergence between the two groups is in their respective areas of influence, with the Aesir representing war and conquest, and the Vanir representing exploration, fertility, and wealth.<ref>More specifically, Georges Dumézil, one of the foremost authorities on the Norse tradition and a noted comparativist, argues quite persuasively that the Aesir / Vanir distinction is a component of a larger triadic division (between ruler gods, warrior gods, and gods of agriculture and commerce) that is echoed among the Indo-European cosmologies (from Vedic India, through Rome and into the Germanic North). Further, he notes that this distinction conforms to patterns of social organization found in all of these societies. See Georges Dumézil's ''Gods of the Ancient Northmen,'' xi-xiii, 3-25) for more details.</ref> The ''Jotun,'' on the other hand, are seen as a generally malefic (though wise) race of giants who represented the primary adversaries of the Aesir and Vanir.
-In the [[Gylfaginning]], she is described as the daughter of [[Loki]] and [[Angrboða]] – a [[giantess]] (''gýgr'', see [[jotun]]) – and thus sister of the [[Fenrisulfr]] and the sea serpent [[Jörmungandr]]. Since her father is often described as a god, although both his parents were giants, the same might be said of Hel.
+Hel, whether understood as the goddess of the dead or the realm where their spirits reside, is a clear indication of the place of (non-battle-related) death within the Norse worldview, due to her predominantly negative characterization.
-When [[Odin]] became aware of the existence of Loki's children, he banished them to remote places. Hel he cast down to her realm in the underworld and gave her authority over all those in the [[nine worlds]] who do not die gloriously in battle but of sickness or of old age.
+==Hel as Deity==
+===Characteristics===
+In [[Norse mythology]], ''Hel'' (sometimes Anglicized or Latinized as ''Hela'') is the queen of [[#Hel as Cosmic Realm|the Norse underworld]]. This word is the root of the [[English (language)|English]] word ''[[hell]].'' In the ''Prose Edda,''<ref>Indeed, Lindow notes that many of these details are absent outside of Snorri's masterwork (172).</ref> she is described as the daughter of [[Loki]] and Angrboða – a giantess – and thus sister of the Fenris wolf and Jörmungandr (the Midgard Serpent). Since her father is often described as a god, the same might be said of Hel.
+Her physical description in the ''Prose Edda'' reads:
+<blockquote>She is half blue-black and half flesh-color (by which she is easily recognized), and very lowering and fierce.<ref name=Brodeur>Snorri Sturluson, ''Gylfaginning'' XXXIV, Brodeur 42. ''The Prose Edda,'' Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916). </ref></blockquote>
-Hel's possessions are described thus:
+Within her great hall under the roots of [[Yggdrasill]], Hel dwells in a realm of pain and misfortune, which is poetically described by the twelfth century Icelandic historian [[Snorri Sturluson]]:
+<blockquote>Her walls are exceeding high and her gates great. Her hall is called Sleet-Cold; her dish, Hunger; Famine is her knife; Idler, her thrall; Sloven, her maidservant; Pit of Stumbling, her threshold, by which one enters; Disease, her bed; Gleaming Bale, her bed-hangings.<ref name=Brodeur/></blockquote>
-{| cellpadding="5"
+===Mythic accounts===
-| valign="top" |
+As with many of the accounts providing elaborating details on Hel's character, the description of the Queen of the Underworld's birth is only found in Snorri's ''Prose Edda.'' Therein, it is revealed that:
-''Hon á þar mikla bólstaði ok eru garðar hennar forkunnar hávir ok grindr stórar. ''Éljúðnir'' heitir salr hennar, ''Hungr'' diskr hennar, ''Sultr'' knífr hennar, ''Ganglati'' þrællinn, ''Ganglöt'' ambátt, ''Fallandaforað'' þresköldr hennar er inn gengr, ''Kör'' sæing, ''Blíkjandaböl'' ársali hennar. Hon er blá hálf en hálf með hörundarlit, því er hon auðkend ok heldr gnúpleit ok grimmlig.''
+<blockquote>Yet more children had Loki. Angrboda was the name of a certain giantess in Jötunheim, with whom Loki gat three children: one was Fenris-Wolf, the second Jörmungandr—that is the Midgard Serpent,—the third is Hel. But when the gods learned that this kindred was nourished in Jötunheim, and when the gods perceived by prophecy that from this kindred great misfortune should befall them; and since it seemed to all that there was great prospect of ill—(first from the mother's blood, and yet worse from the father's)—then Allfather sent gods thither to take the children and bring them to him. … Hel he cast into Niflheim, and gave to her power over nine worlds, to apportion all abodes among those that were sent to her: that is, men dead of sickness or of old age.<ref name=Brodeur/></blockquote>
-<br> [http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/gg4par33.html]
-| valign="top" |
-She has great possessions there; her walls are exceeding high and her gates great. Her hall is called ''Sleet-Cold''; her dish, ''Hunger''; ''Famine'' is her knife; ''Idler'', her slave; ''Sloven'', her maidservant; ''Pit of Stumbling'', her threshold, by which one enters; ''Disease'', her bed; ''Gleaming Bale'', her bed-hangings. She is half blue-black and half flesh-color (by which she is easily recognized), and very lowering and fierce. <br> <div align="right">—''Brodeur translation''</div>
-|}
-Later in the same source is described how [[Hermod|Hermóðr]] tries to retrieve the dead [[Baldr]]'s soul from Hel.
+In her role as the steward of the ignoble dead,<ref>[[Odin]] was the lord of those who perished on the battlefield (though in some sources [[Freyja]] is apportioned half of them).</ref> Hel plays a secondary part in numerous mythic tales. For instance, this conception plays into many of the mythic histories of the early Norse heroes and kings:
+:[Halfdan the Mild] was a great warrior, who had been long on Viking cruises, and had collected great property…. Holtar, in Westfold, was his chief house; and he died there on the bed of sickness, and was buried at Borre under a mound.  So says Thjodolf:—
+::"By Hel's summons, a great king
+::Was called away to Odin's Thing:
+::King Halfdan, he who dwelt of late
+::At Holtar, must obey grim Fate.
+::At Borre, in the royal mound,
+::They laid the hero in the ground."<ref>''Ynglinga Saga'' (51), [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm Heimskringla] (Laing's translation). Retrieved May 18, 2018.</ref>
+Similarly, the ''Ynglinga Saga'' also contains a tale that Hel procured herself a spouse by having the Swedish king Dyggvi die a natural death (in spite of his fierce lifestyle):
+:"Dygve the Brave, the mighty king,
+:It is no hidden secret thing,
+:Has gone to meet a royal mate,
+:Riding upon the horse of Fate.
+:For Loke's daughter in her house
+:Of Yngve's race would have a spouse;
+:Therefore the fell-one snatched away
+:Brave Dygve from the light of day."<ref>''Ynglinga Saga'' (20), [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm Heimskringla] Retrieved May 18, 2018.</ref>
-{| cellpadding="5"
+However, the most famous of the accounts describing Hel's stewardship of the deceased is certainly the tale of [[Balder#The Death and Return of Balder|Balder's untimely death]]. In it, [[Minor Aesir#Hermódr|Hermódr]] is dispatched by Odin to the realm of Hel to plead with its queen to return [[Balder|the beloved god]] to the realm of the living. The cold-hearted ruler replied that "in this wise it should be put to the test, whether Baldr were so all-beloved as had been said: 'If all things in the world, quick and dead, weep for him, then he shall go back to the Æsir; but he shall remain with Hel if any gainsay it or will not weep.'"<ref>Sturluson, ''Gylfaginning'' XLIX, Brodeur 74.</ref> In the end, a single giantess refuses to shed a tear for the lost god, and this is sufficient for Hel to retain her hold on him.
-| valign="top" |
-''En þat er at segja frá ''Hermóði'' at hann reið níu nætr døkkva dala ok djúpa svá at hann sá ekki fyrr en hann kom til ''árinnar Gjallar'' ok reið á ''Gjallarbrúna''. Hon er þökt lýsigulli. ''Móðguðr'' er nefnd mær sú er gætir brúarinnar.''
-<br> [http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/gg4par49.html]
-| valign="top" |
-Now this is to be told concerning ''Hermóðr'', that he rode nine nights through dark dales and deep, so that he saw not before he was come to the ''river Gjöll'' (or ''Gjallar-river'') and rode onto the ''Gjöll-Bridge'' (or ''Gjallar-bridge''); which bridge is thatched with glittering gold. ''Móðguðr'' is the maiden called who guards the bridge.
-|}
-The path to Hel is known as the ''Helvegr'' and the gates ''Helgrindr'' or ''Nágrind'' ("Corpse Gate"). Here [[Garm_(Norse_mythology)|Garm]]r is fastened, Hel's watchdog, who is bloody both on chest and neck.
+===Theories===
+It has been suggested that this description of Hel is of later date, and that she originally was a much more neutral goddess over the realm of shadows, where all, both good and evil, courageous and cowardly, gather after death. This can be seen as being supported by the etymology of ''Hel'' ([[Latin|Lat]]. ''Celāre,'' [[German language|Ger]]. ''hehlen''), meaning the "hider." It is important to note that also the noble [[Balder]] and the brave [[Sigurd]] are sent to Hel after their deaths.<ref>P. A. Munch, ''Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes,'' In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. (New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926), 307.</ref> Likewise, Thomas Dubois also notes that "this generalized afterlife destination, depicted as cold, damp, and dark, appears typical in Scandinavian visions of the beyond."<ref>Thomas A. Dubois, ''Nordic Religions in the Viking Age.'' (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 79.</ref>
-[[Heimskringla]] relates that she procured herself a spouse by having the Swedish king [[Dyggve|Dyggvi]] die a natural death.
+==Hel as Cosmic Realm==
+In addition to being the name of the ruler over the deceased, ''Hel'' also refers to the cosmic realm allocated to them.<ref>Indeed, the only means of differentiation between these usages is grammatical. As Lindow notes, "When older 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" (172).</ref> While this was originally seen as a general (read: not morally-evaluative) destination for the dead,<ref>See, for example, the "Fafnismol" (in the ''Poetic Edda''), where one warrior says to another: "And, Fafnir, thou | with death dost fight, Lying where Hel shall have thee" (21), [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm ''Poetic Edda''], 377. Retrieved May 18, 2018. Here, Hel is simply being described as a posthumous destination, as Fafnir was evidently about to die ''in combat.''</ref> by the thirteenth century it came to be seen as a realm of punishment: "evil men go to Hel and thence down to the Misty Hel; and that is down in the ninth world."<ref> Sturluson, ''Gylfaginning'' III, Brodeur 16.</ref> As described in Sturluson's ''[[Prose Edda]],'' it is a place thronged with the shivering and shadowy spectres of those who have died ingloriously of disease or old age.  Hel is also home to dishonourable people who have broken oaths. This depiction is strongly echoed in the Völuspá:
+:A hall I saw, | far from the sun,
+:On Nastrond it stands, | and the doors face north,
+:Venom drops | through the smoke-vent down,
+:For around the walls | do serpents wind.
+:&nbsp;
+:I saw there wading | through rivers wild
+:Treacherous men | and murderers too,
+:And workers of ill | with the wives of men;
+:There Nithhogg sucked | the blood of the slain.<ref>"Völuspá" (38-39), [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm ''Poetic Edda''], 17. Retrieved May 18, 2018. </ref>
-[[Mikchail Bulgakov]] named the devil's witch Hela, in his masterpiece "The [[Master and Margarita]]".
+===Mythic Accounts===
+Given its role as a realm of the dead, various myths describe gods (or deceased humans) traveling the frightful Hel-roads seeking to commune with the departed. In ''Baldr's Draumr'' (Balder's Dreams), Odin descends to the underworld to consult with a deceased seeress (a strong parallel to the introductory section of the Völuspá) who he wishes to consult about his son's prescient visions of his own demise:
+:Then Othin rose, | the enchanter old,
+:And the saddle he laid | on Sleipnir's back;
+:Thence rode he down | to Niflhel deep,
+:And the hound he met | that came from hell.
+:&nbsp;
+:Bloody he was | on his breast before,
+:At the father of magic | he howled from afar;
+:Forward rode Othin, | the earth resounded
+:Till the house so high | of Hel he reached.  <ref>"Baldrs Draumar" (2-3), [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm ''Poetic Edda''], 96. Retrieved May 18, 2018.</ref>
+Likewise, the entire tale told by [[Brunhild]] in ''Helreith Brynhildar'' (describing her courtship with the doomed Sigurd) occurs after her death, on the road to Hel (the title itself can be literally translated as "Brunhild's Hel-Ride"). This context makes her statement, "But yet we shall live | our lives together, Sigurth and I," all the more poignant.<ref>"Helreith Brynhildar" (14), [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm ''Poetic Edda''], 446. Retrieved May 18, 2018. </ref>
-==Theories==
+Finally, the dead dwelling in Hel are seen to play an important role in some depictions of [[Ragnarök]] (the cataclysm that will rend the current world order asunder). In these tales, the host of the departed are seen accompanying Loki to the battlefield where the final confrontation will take place:
+:O'er the sea from the north | there sails a ship
+:With the people of Hel, | at the helm stands Loki;
+:After the wolf | do wild men follow,
+:And with them the brother | of Byleist goes.<ref>"Völuspá" (51), [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm ''Poetic Edda''], 22. Retrieved May 18, 2018.</ref>
+The involvement of the souls of the departed in the final battle is also described in the ''Grimnismol'':
+:Hard does it seem | to the host of the slain
+:To wade the torrent wild.<ref>"Grimnismol" (21), [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe06.htm ''Poetic Edda''], 93. Retrieved May 18, 2018.</ref>
-It has been suggested that this description of Hel is of later date, and that she originally was a much more neutral goddess over the realm of shadows, where all, both good and evil, courageous and cowardly, gather after death. This can be seen as being supported by the etymology of ''Hel'' ([[Latin|Lat]]. ''Celāre'', [[German language|Ger]]. ''hehlen''), meaning the "hider". It is important to note that also the noble [[Baldr]] and the brave [[Sigurd]] are sent to Hel after their deaths. Bishop [[Ulfilas|Wulfila]] uses the [[Gothic language|Gothic]] word ''Halja'' to translate the Greek "[[Hades]]."
+==Notes==
+<references />
-[[Viktor Rydberg]], in particular, advocated this view. In the book "Our Fathers' Godsaga" he theorizes that the correct name for Loki's daughter is in fact "Leikn" and that, in Christian times, she was confused with [[Urd (Norse Mythology)|Urðr]], one of the three [[Norns]] and the [[dísir|dís]] of fate and death. Rydberg's theories are not generally accepted.
-==Hel in Norse Cosmology==
-'''Hel''' is the root of the [[English language|English]] word '[[hell]]'.
-In [[Norse mythology]], the realm '''Hel'''<ref>Sometimes called Helheim, a modern construction not found in the original sources.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}</ref> shares a name with its ruler, [[Hel (being)|Hel]]. As described in [[Snorri Sturluson]]'s [[Prose Edda]] it is a place thronged with the shivering and shadowy spectres of those who have died ingloriously of disease or in old age.  Hel is also home to dishonourable people who have broken oaths. Hel is cold and low in the overall order of the universe.  It lies beneath [[Yggdrasil]]'s third root, near [[Hvergelmir]] and [[Náströnd]].  Hel is not to be confused with [[Niflheim]]. They are completely different places.
-Hel is said to be a hall with a roof woven from the spines of serpents which drip poison down onto those who wade in the rivers of blood below.  The people who dwell in the halls are given nothing but goat's urine to quench their thirst.  The doors of the hall are said to be set in the south, away from [[Asgard]] which lies to the north.  The [[Poetic Edda]] describes the doors as facing north.
-The hall is surrounded by a river called Gjoll, which is freezing cold and has knives flowing in it.
-The only way across the river is over a bridge guarded by the giantess [[Móðguð]] (Modgud). If a living person steps on the bridge, it rings out as if a thousand men walk across it, yet the dead pass without a sound.
-It is similar to [[Hades]] and the River [[Styx (mythology)|Styx]] from [[Greek mythology]].
+==References==
-==Notes==
+* DuBois, Thomas A. ''Nordic Religions in the Viking Age.'' Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. ISBN 0812217144
-<references/>
+* Dumézil, Georges. ''Gods of the Ancient Northmen,'' Edited by Einar Haugen; Introduction by C. Scott Littleton and Udo Strutynski. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. ISBN 0520020448
+* Lindow, John. ''Handbook of Norse mythology.'' Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. ISBN 1576072177
+*Munch, P. A. ''Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes,'' In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926. {{ASIN|B007T0KSR4}}
+* Orchard, Andy. ''Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend.'' London: Cassell; New York: by Sterling Pub. Co., 2002. ISBN 0304363855
+* ''The Poetic Edda,'' Translated and with notes by Henry Adams Bellows. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1936. Available [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe00.htm sacred-texts.com online]. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
+* Sturluson, Snorri. ''The Prose Edda.'' Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916.
+* Turville-Petre, Gabriel. ''Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia.'' New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. ISBN 0837174201
 [[Category: Philosophy and religion]]
 [[Category: Religion]]
+[[Category: Image wanted]]
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