What is Hel (goddess)?
'''Hel''' is a [[goddess]] of [[Norse mythology]]. Her father is [[Loki]], and her mother is [[Angrboða]], a [[Jötnar|giantess]]. Her [[sibling]]s are [[Jörmungandr]] and [[Fenrir]]. Her task is to reign over the realm of the dead, also called [[Hel (realm)|Hel]] or Neifelheim, where the dead peacefully go to in the [[afterlife]] to wait until Ragnarok, the end of the gods and [[Asgard]]. The people who go there are those who did not die in battle, but instead died a peaceful death. She watches over those who die, but are not chosen by the [[Valkyries]] to go to [[Valhalla]] or chosen by [[Freyja]] to enter her household. Hel is half dead and half alive due to complications of her father and her mother. Half of her face is beautiful, like that of her father, while the other half is ugly and difficult to look at like her mother. From the waist up the skin is pink, alive and healthy. Below the waist is dead and rotting. This is the personification of the belief that death can be a good thing or a tragedy. Hel's underworld is a world of rewards or punishment for each as earned in life. {{Norse mythology}} [[Category:Norse gods and goddesses]] [[Category:Afterlife]] [[Category:Gods and goddesses of the underworld]] {{religion-stub}}