Hel is often portrayed as a monstrous looking woman that is half dead and half alive. In the Eddic texts, she’s described as the daughter of Loki. The All Father god Odin gave her the Underworld to rule over, which bore her name, Hel. It's a place sometimes called Helheim.
She’s considered a Dark Goddess and has much in common with the Roman goddess Proserpina, the Greek Persephone and the Hindu goddess Kali. The Proto-Germanic languages have pronoun feminine words Hell and Hella that come from an ancient Indo European ablaut that sounds like Kel. It means “conceal, to cover and save”. Source.
Worship of the goddess Hel has been around for so long. During the Migration Period there were jewels and bracteate showing the goddess.
It’s possible that the way Hel appears is more symbolic as she dwells in different planes, and will also look half dark and half light, instead of half corpse and half beautiful. There’s a duality in this goddess because she’s more powerful than most people think. She’s like a divine mother for the spirits of the dead. Also she’s said to be a goddess of wisdom with knowledge of the Earth given that she lives deep inside it.
(by Rayne)
Above is "Veil of Death" by artist Cris Ortega
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