Hel (location)

In the Prose Edda, Baldr goes to Hel on his death and subsequently Hermóðr uses Sleipnir to attempt to retrieve him.

All forms ultimately derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun *haljō ('concealed place, the underworld').

[1] The term is etymologically related to Modern English hall and therefore also Valhalla, an afterlife 'hall of the slain' in Norse Mythology.

The compound is composed of two elements: *haljō and *rūnō, the Proto-Germanic precursor to Modern English rune.

[3] The second element in the Gothic haliurunnae may however instead be an agent noun from the verb rinnan ("to run, go"), which would make its literal meaning "one who travels to the netherworld".

[4][5] Proto-Germanic *halja-wītjan is reconstructed from Old Norse hel-víti 'hell', Old English helle-wíte 'hell-torment, hell', Old Saxon helli-wīti 'hell', and the Middle High German feminine noun helle-wīze.

[7] In Grímnismál stanza 31, Hel is listed as existing beneath one of the three roots of the world tree Yggdrasil.

[8] In the short poem Helreið Brynhildar, Hel is directly referenced as a location in the title, translating to "Brynhild's Hel-Ride".

The poem gives some information regarding the geographic location of Hel in parallel to the description in the Prose Edda, which may be related to the fact that it was not included in the Codex Regius but is instead a later addition.

In the book Gylfaginning, Hel is introduced in chapter 3 as a location where "evil men" go upon death, and into Niflhel.

[11] Móðguð speaks to Hermóðr and comments that the bridge echoes beneath him more than the entire party of five people who had just passed.

[12] Here, Höðr and Baldr are mentioned as returning from Hel in a post-Ragnarök world: Því næst koma þar Baldr ok Höðr frá Heljar, setjask þá allir samt ok talask við ok minnask á rúnar sínar ok rœða of tíðindi þau er fyrrum höfðu verit, of Miðgarðsorm ok um Fenrisúlf.

- Eysteinn Björnsson's edition Archived 2009-04-26 at the Wayback Machine "After that Baldr shall come thither, and Hödr, from Hel; then all shall sit down together and hold speech with one another, and call to mind their secret wisdom, and speak of those happenings which have been before: of the Midgard Serpent and of Fenris-Wolf."

While having dinner, King Hadingus is visited by a woman bearing stalks of hemlock who asks him if he knows where such fresh herbs grow in winter.

[13] Hadingus and the woman continue until they arrived at a river of blue-black water that is fast-moving, full of rapids, and filled with various weapons.

Hadingus asks the woman about their identity, and she responds that they are men that have met their death by sword, and that they present an everlasting display of their destruction while attempting to equal the activity of their past lives.