Q is for Queen

I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.

If you’d rather check out my book review for today, go here.

Besides the place, the goddess Hel had been a shadowy figure in stories from Norse mythology for a long time.

Folklore

The Prose Edda [ancient text]

Loke had yet more children. A giantess in Jotunheim, hight Angerboda. With her he begat three children. The first was the Fenris-wolf; the second, Jormungand, that is, the Midgard-serpent, and the third, Hel. When the gods knew that these three children were being fostered in Jotunheim, and were aware of the prophecies that much woe and misfortune would thence come to them, and considering that much evil might be looked for from them on their mother’s side, and still more on their father’s, Alfather sent some of the gods to take the children and bring them to him. When they came to him he threw the serpent into the deep sea which surrounds all lands. There waxed the serpent so that he lies in the midst of the ocean, surrounds all the earth, and bites his own tail. Hel he cast into Niflheim, and gave her power over nine worlds, that she should appoint abodes to them that are sent to her, namely, those who die from sickness or old age. She has there a great mansion, and the walls around it are of strange height, and the gates are huge. Eljudner is the name of her hall. Her table hight famine; her knife, starvation. Her man-servant’s name is Ganglate; her maid-servant’s, Ganglot. Her threshold is called stumbling-block; her bed, care; the precious hangings of her bed, gleaming bale. One-half of her is blue, and the other half is of the hue of flesh; hence she is easily known. Her looks are very stern and grim.

The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion by Daniel McCoy

Loki had many children with many different mothers – and fathers. With the giantess Angrboda, “Distress-Bringer,” he had three. One was Hel, “Grave,” the ghastly goddess who presided over the underworld.

When they were first born, however, these children of Loki had not acquired these roles that they would later assume. Angrboda suckled them in Jotunheim, the land of the giants, and at first they seemed scarcely more dangerous than any other giants. But as they grew – and as the gods got wind of ominous prophecies that foretold that the doom of the cosmos would one day come through these fell creatures – the deities assembled together to address the peril that loomed before them. Odin ordered the three to be brought before him. As soon as he saw how prodigiously they had grown since the last time he had laid eyes on them, and how much more dreadful each of the monsters seemed than before, he immediately cast two of them into remote regions from which they could do the gods relatively little harm, at least for the time being. Hel he sank into the underworld, which is how she received her position as the ruler of the dead.

*More can be read in the book.

Norse Mythology: Captivating Stories of the Gods, Sagas and Heroes by Matt Clayton

Far from Asgard, Hermod spent nine nights riding through increasingly darker and deeper canyons to ransom that part of Baldr which had been condemned to Hel. When he found himself at the Gjöll (“roaring”) river, the giantess Móðguðr confronted him to determine his purpose. It was her responsibility to let only those who were authorized to cross the bridge into Helheim.

When Hermod arrived in Hel’s realm, he found Baldr placed in the seat of honor at the banquet Hel had thrown for him. The next morning, Hermod pleaded with Hel to release his brother. He told of all the sorrow experienced by the gods and other living things now that Baldr was no longer with them.

“If this is so,” replied Hel, “then let everyone in the universe weep for him. When that happens, I will send him back to you. But if anyone refuses, he will remain here with me.”

*More can be read in the book.

Further Reading:

• Hel (Goddess)
• Hel
• Hel (The Underworld)
• Hel (Norse deity)
• Hel (mythological being)
• Hel

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

Hel is the Norse goddess of death or, more likely, keeper of the dead. Her name means “one that hides”/“hidden”. She’s associated with crows and a hellhound named Garmr who guards the gates to Helheim.

With an eye of fire, she can see the truth and no-one can hide anything from her.

The walls of her castle are built of human bones. Her realm is filled with constant wailing. Helheim exists beneath the roots of the World Tree. The river Gjoll flows from a spring and encircles Helheim. Helheim is a realm of darkness and mist.

Her father is Loki. She’s part of a disreputable family. Her siblings are the giant wolf Fenrir and the world serpent Jormungand. It doesn’t help much that half of her looks like a rotting corpse while the other half like a beautiful woman.

Hel is usually depicted as greedy, harsh, cruel or indifferent to the concerns of the living and dead. She’s not allowed to live in Asgard as her appearance makes the other gods uncomfortable.

Many scholars view Hel as a personification of the grave than an actual goddess.

The dragon Nidhogg chews on the World Tree’s roots. When the hellhound howls about new arrivals, it rushes in to suck out their blood.

Hel is said to ride a white horse with only three legs.

Hel can bring people back to life – the only one in the Norse pantheon who can. Others in the Norse pantheon fear and loathe her.

She believes in rules and would rather not do anything to lose her power over the nine realms.

Hel in Modern Culture

Magnus Chase books by Rick Riordan

Hel (Hela in other versions) is the Norse goddess of the dishonorable dead. She is the daughter of Loki and Angrboða and the sister of Fenrir and Jormungand, as well as the half-sister of Sleipnir, Alex Fierro and Samirah al-Abbas. Hel also was the mother of Hladgunnr.

Hel was one of three children born to Loki and Angrboða. As the children’s birth were one of the catalysts for Ragnarök, she and her brothers were placed under careful watch, with Hel becoming queen of the dishonorable dead.

Loki gives Magnus Chase a vision of Bunker Hill, where he meets Hel. While there, she tells the son of Frey that he can have his mother back if he abandoned his quest. However, Magnus refuses her offer and threatens to cut her in two if they ever met again. She then turns into snow and vanishes.

Learn more here.

SMITE video game

Both beautiful and terrible, the Goddess Hel is keeper of the dead, lays judgment on souls, and decides who is reborn. She is both sides of two extremes.

As the daughter of Loki, the trickster God, Hel’s destiny, much like her brothers Fenrir and Jormungandr, was doomed to darkness from the start. Odin, the All-Father, uncovered prophecies that Hel and her siblings would be the source of great calamity resulting in Ragnarök, the battle that would end all things. In an effort to prevent this, he cast each of the three into different realms; not quite a prison, though far from freedom. For Hel, Odin gave her charge of the realm of the dead, specifically those that died of sickness and old age. For himself, Odin retained Valhalla for those that died in battle.

At birth, Hel’s face was cast half in shadow, half in light; she was both living and dead, so took immediately and graciously to her new role, gifting Odin with the ravens Huginn and Muninn in appreciation. As the spirits of the kind-hearted, the sick, the elderly were brought to her, she cared for them, gave them comfort, yet those she deemed evil she mercilessly hurled into the frozen depths of Niflheim.

Yet, despite Odin’s efforts, destiny cannot be averted. Hel’s conflicting struggle between benevolence and malice will force her to one extreme or the other. A time will come when Hel will fulfill her prophecy, though it is yet unknown if she will be a shadow of darkness or a force of light.

Learn more here.

Marvel comic books

Hela was originally the artificial Black Infinity Stone created by the then-All-Father Bor Burison. He had his magicians create the stone in a forbidden area in Niffleheim, but were suddenly attacked by the Mad Titan Thanos from the future. He sought to get his hands on the stone but was prevented by Bor and his Valkyries. Utilizing the Galactus Seed and the Eternal Flame, Miskunn and her fellow magicians created the Stone to act as fuel, and as Thanos came to confront them the Stone transformed into a baby girl.^[12] Thanos sought to sacrifice her in order to gain her power, only to be stopped by Doctor Doom, Thor, and Laussa Odinsdottir from the future. Laussa took the newborn Hela through time, resulting Hela becoming a teenager before leaving her in the care of a young Loki who raised her together with his lover Angerboda as their daughter.

The three Asgardian goddesses of fate, the Norns, are said to have warned the Asgardian gods that Hela would prove to be a great danger to them. Odin, ruler of Asgard, decreed that Hela would become goddess and ruler of the spirits of the dead on the day of her maturity. These spirits were in the other-dimensional realms of Hel and Niffleheim, two more of the Nine Worlds, both of which Hela ruled. However, Odin himself directly ruled the souls of Asgardians and their human worshippers who died in battle as heroes, and had the palace of Valhalla built in a distant section of Asgard to house them.^[

Learn more here

Hel in My Writing

Origin of the Fae: Hel

Hel rules the Underworld along with Dagda. They each have their tasks and co-rule the entirety of the combined Underworld together. Hades is only responsible for his own realm, while these two handle the rest. Hel mainly deals with the souls of humans who deserve a wailing afterlife – otherwise they’re sent to Dagda for punishment. There are different places for the deceased to go and it causes her a lot of paperwork. She can tell when something isn’t right in her realm (and the entire Underworld) and is more attuned to the shifts in magic than Dagda.
She can glamour herself to look pleasant, or she can show that half of her is a rotting corpse – usually for effect. She has learned not to care what others think of her. Her son is Krampus, the nightmare of Yuletide, though she’d rather not say who his father is.
She’s usually seen as a dark-haired woman with stark white skin, dressed in black. She does appreciate the finer things in life, though won’t say no to a bit of offal or pickle juice.
She’s everything that folklore says she is – and more.

This song is so her.

See this immortal in action in my writing:

Smoke on the Water (Irascible Immortals Complete Collection with Extra Short Stories)

She looked past the garden to the vast expanse of black soil stretching into the darkness. A black shape, nothing more than a shadow, moved across it, sand skittering in its wake. As it came into the light, she could see that it was a sleek black horse with a flowing mane. It stopped in the stone circle, hooves nearly touching, back curled, before it straightened and shook its mane into place. It turned and looked straight at her. Its luminescent golden eyes held her in place before she shook off its powerful glamour and walked towards it.

‘Phoukas are usually wild colts with chains dangling from them. I sense you are one, yet quite different.’

‘None of your business. Dagda said it’s important I help you. But know this: I’m a Nightmare, not some hot shot faery out to save the world.’

‘Good.’ Hel dropped the glamour concealing her true nature. ‘I’m a nightmare, too.’

‘Is that supposed to scare me?’

Hel grinned. ‘No. I just want to be sure you know what you’ve gotten yourself into.’

‘The immortals fancying themselves gods have broken the magic that keeps mortals unaware of all of us, and now the two of us – an ancient fae and a half-Aesir giantess relegated to fiction – have to stop the Apocalypse. Oh, and we have less than twenty-four hours to do so. Did I leave anything out?’

‘Danger. Thrills. Magic. Friendship.’ Hel didn’t know why, but she wanted to rile the creature.

Tears and Rain, Smoke on the Water, Irascible Immortals by Ronel Janse van Vuuren

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