Born into the Olkhonud clan of the Onggirat tribe, Hö'elün was originally married to Chiledu, a Merkit aristocrat; she was captured shortly after her wedding by Yesügei, an important member of the Mongols, who abducted her to be his primary wife.

After Yesügei was fatally poisoned and the Mongols abandoned her family, Hö'elün shepherded all her children through poverty to adulthood—her resilience and organisational skills have been remarked upon by historians.

She was also heavily involved in disputes between Genghis, his brothers, and Münglig's sons; possibly due to the stress of mediating, she died soon after on an unknown date.

[5] She grew up to be an attractive woman, and her parents were able to arrange a good marriage for her to Chiledu, the brother of the chief of the Merkit tribe; they were wed in a formal ceremony in Olkhonud lands when Hö'elün was around fifteen years old.

[9] The practice of bride kidnapping was not uncommon on the steppe, but according to the historian Anne Broadbridge, it caused "long-term social weaknesses" among the tribes, as can be seen from later events in Hö'elün's life.

[10] Though Chiledu never attempted to retrieve the bride he had spent time and money negotiating for, possibly because of Yesügei's renown as a leader, the Merkit did not forget their grudge, which later spiralled into a blood feud.

Broadbridge speculates that her upbringing, which had previously made her eligible to be the valued wife of a chief's brother, placed her higher in Yesügei's eyes than a woman of lower status.

[15] Hö'elün gave birth to her and Yesügei's first son at a place the Secret History records as Delüün Boldog on the Onon River; this has been variously identified at either Dadal in Khentii Province or in southern Agin-Buryat Okrug, in modern-day Russia.

[18] Of the many legends surrounding Temüjin's birth, the most prominent tells that he clutched a blood clot as he was born, an Asian folklorish motif which indicated the child would be a warrior.

[19] Others claimed that Hö'elün was impregnated by a ray of light which announced the child's destiny, a legend which echoed that of the mythical ancestor Alan Gua.

This taboo act was omitted from the official chronicles but not from the Secret History, which recounts that Hö'elün angrily reprimanded her sons for their short-sighted course of action, which she thought a foolish imitation of their ancestors' heroic deeds.

[31] Hö'elün would have conceded some responsibilities in the division of labour to her new daughter-in-law—together, they managed the economy and resources of Temüjin's camp, allowing him a foundation from which he could pursue his military campaigns.

At a kurultai (large assembly), the newly-crowned Genghis handed out rewards to those who had aided him during his rise to power—twenty-one paragraphs of the Secret History are devoted to recording the details of the bestowals.

By contrast, Münglig was granted the privilege of sitting at the khan's right hand, making him the second-most powerful man on the steppe; in light of these events, their marriage may have come under strain.