Hell



Hell (Old Norse Hel, “Hidden”) is the realm of the dead dwell, the underworld in Old Norse tradition. It’s presided over be the Goddess whose name is also Hel. Hel was thought to be located underground. Some sources also place it in the north, the direction which is cold and dark. A dog is sometimes said to guard its entrance, much like Cerberus in Greek mythology.

Goddess Hel presides over Hel. She is daughter of Loki by jotun Angrboða. Hel lives in Niflhel, one of the Nine Realms. The inhabitants of Hel spend their time doing the same kinds of things that Viking Age men and women did: eating, drinking, fighting, sleeping, and so forth.

Background
Hell is the name of the world of the dead. It is also the name of the goddess of death, daughter of Loki.

Hell and her kingdom lie downward and northward. It is called Niflhel, or the World of Darkness.

Niflhel (Hell) appears to be made up of several sections, one of which was Náströnd, the shore of corpses. There stands a castle facing north; it is filled with the venom of serpents in which murderers, adulterers, and perjurers suffer torment, while the dragon Nidhogg sucks the blood from their bodies.

Resources

 * Britannica, Hel
 * https://norse-mythology.org/cosmology/the-nine-worlds/helheim/