Hel

Hel, queen of the Underworld, is fierce, dark, unforgiving — and hideous. To reach her grand hall, she had to travel the dangerous road of Helveg. It was so rough that one was required to wear Helskór, “Hel Shoes”, to aid in a journey that took nine days and nine nights. She resides in a grand hall named Elvinder, where she is attended by two servants named Idleness and Sloth that only serve one dish, Hunger. She sleeps in a bed called Sorrow and lives in a land called Ruin.

Living among the dead in the dark and ornate hall, Helheim is not as lonely as one might think, as this Hel has other people — the souls of those who die in sickness and old age. Hel is a quiet, patient Goddess, half-flesh and half-rotten. She prefers the hour of the wolf: late at night, just a few hours before the dawn. She prefers the solitude, the quiet hours of humanity, so she can hear the ghosts speak.

Ancient, with the stillness of the dead, she rarely stands from her throne. Clad in simple black, Hel speaks softly — a voice sashed in whiskey and cigarettes. Cold and unforgiving, she guards the dead, and is the archetypal ice queen. It is the nature of this chill that she chooses to emulate in her Incarnations. She often takes roles that allow her to be near the dying or those who require judgment: chief doctor in residence in the ICU, the administrator of a senior citizen’s home, groundskeeper for a prison that handles death row cases.

As for her Scions, they are often associated with the moribund, and often Chosen. She speaks to her Scions through the tongue of the dead, and expects them to attend to the souls of the dead and dying that belong to her.