HEL or high water
HEL and no i don't meam hell, HEL in old norse meaning hidden is the viking giant goddess of the undeerworld and pre dates the christian concept of hell by as much as reports say between 900 and 1500yrs. a giantess and goddess who rules over the identically-named Hel, the underworld where many of the dead dwell. Her name’s meaning of “Hidden” surely has to do with the underworld and the dead being “hidden” or buried beneath the ground. Unlike the more modern form of fire and brimstone, the norse underworld was a icy barren place but is there a link to reality within the tales of the goddess? Hel is the daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboda (Old Norse Angrboða, “Anguish-boding”), and the sister of the wolf Fenrir and Jormungand the serpant. Hel is presented as being rather greedy, and cruel, and indifferent to the concerns of both the living and the dead. Her appearance is half-black, half-white, and with a perpetually grim and fierce expression on her face. Hel is also described as having a face that is a beauty beyond any other on one side and disfigured and rotting on the other, somewhat like DC comics Harvey dent/ two-face and seems to only appear in one norse legend and that is the death of baldur. From what i have found Baldur was a popular and much loved god of the vikings and he was murdered by the trickster god Loki. what follows is a part of the legend i found on the internet. The beloved god Baldur was slain by none other than Hel’s father, Loki, and the gods sent an emissary named Hermod to Hel in hopes of retrieving Baldur. Hermod pleaded with Hel, telling her how every living thing was in sorrow over the loss of Baldur. But Hel wouldn’t give up her prize so easily. She told Hermod – in a taunting way, we can imagine – that she would only consent to release Baldur if every last thing in the universe wept for him. Hermod and the other gods went around and got almost everything in the cosmos to weep for Baldur. Only one giantess, who was probably Loki in disguise, refused. But because of that one refusal, the terms of Hel’s offer weren’t met, and Hel kept Baldur in her cold clutches. Note in her cold clutches and that i stated it as a cold icy barren place, Helmgard was a place of ice and snow and torment and remember this pre dates the more commonly known tale of fire and brimstone in hell. It is believed and i do agree the fire and brimstone is purely made up to fit in with the times, situation and location. The jews i am sure had knowledge of the norse goddess or had whispers of it, now the country the tales depicted in the bible is set is a hot barren area so a cold afterlife or a cold land of the dead simply would not be comprehencible, so facts became altered to fit and fuel the fear of a place of torment upon death if you did not behave. Hel is more of a late adaptation of the grave than a goddess who was actually worshiped in her own right.