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Description
I present the most revered goddess in my personal theology, the Queen of the Dead, Hel. Hel is the most powerful entity in the entire Norse cosmos, and shares her name with the realm of the dead who perish from sickness and old age. The name ultimately descends from the Proto-Indo-European root "*ḱel-", which also becomes the "hel" in English "helmet" and the "cel" in "cellar". This gives us the sense that the original root seems to mean "to cover", like a helmet covers your head and a cellar is covered underground. In the context of the realm of the dead, it seems "Hel" was originally just a word for the grave, which of course covers the dead. It is hardly unusual for cultures around the world though to associate the grave as a gateway to a realm beyond the mortal coil like an afterlife or an underworld. In the Norse conception, Helheim is the everyman's afterlife, entered by passing over a river of swords via a gold-covered bridge, and entering the gate Nágrindr, which is guarded by the "noblest of hounds", Garmr. While for most, Hel seems a peaceful place where the dead may continue a reflection of their worldly lives on eternal farmland, there is a chamber where the wickedest men are sent. A hall called Náströnd is a twisted place made not of wood but of woven snakes, whose heads spray burning venom onto those trapped within. Hel is a fair queen, just but firm, as she takes her responsibility very seriously. Many sources describe her as "evil" for her capacity for torment, but this seems likely to be a later Christian demonization of a much more neutral goddess.

Internally, Hel seems more to be chastised for her controversial parentage than she is for her rulership. She was one of three monstrous children of Loki and the jötunn Angrboða, born with half her body colored like flesh and the other half corpse blue. Odin, the paranoid god, feared the prophecy that Hel would one day loan her army of the dead to her father to destroy the gods at Ragnarök, and so he cast her into far off Niflheim to… have total authority over the dead. It's a little strange, which is another hint that there might be more to this story that has been lost to time. Indeed, for her authority over death, Hel is cited as the most powerful goddess in all the Nine Realms. When Odin's most beloved son, Baldr, was murdered with a mistletoe arrow, he was sent to Hel's realm instead of glorious Valhǫll. His ward Heirmóðr was given Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir to travel to the realm of the dead and plead for Baldr's return. When he arrived, though, he found that Hel was a benevolent hostess who treated Baldr and his wife with a feast fit for a king. She informed Heirmóðr that she can only allow Baldr to leave if every single being in the Norse cosmos weaps for his loss. After Baldr gave Heirmóðr gifts from his new home to be sent back to his parents, Heirmóðr rode back to Asgard and informed them of the stipulation. It is said that the gods were able to get every single being to weap for Baldr, all except for the jötunn Þökk, who tartly said that neither Odin or his beloved son ever did anything for her. Snorri Sturluson suggests that there is a common tradition which identified Þökk as a disguise of Loki, the one who put the mistletoe arrow in Höðr's hand to begin with, which is hardly a stretch of the imagination. Either way, the result is the same, Baldr remains in Helheim, and the precedent is set that even the gods cannot escape death. Death is neither avoidable nor malevolent. It is simply something that happens to all of us, and can happen at any time. The queen waits patiently to take in and comfort those of us that won't be selected for Odin's very picky army. Scary as she can be, she is the motherly custodian of our ancestors, and I should very much hope to meet her when my time comes.

Design notes, this is another one I mostly came up with whole cloth, though I took heavy inspiration from the famous Catacomb Saints that make the rounds on the internet every Halloween. The asymmetry was a little unwieldy at first, but I think I brought it back around. Most modern depictions of Hel tend to paint her as mostly black and white on either side with some blue elements sprinkled in, but I wanted to experiment with a lighter color palette to make my interpretation stand out. I wanted to make her more eerie than scary, the sort of entity who commands a ghostly presence. You certainly wouldn't want to be on her bad side, but if you respect her, she will respect you. I'm not normally one for spooks and ghouls or other Halloween stuff, but in this case, I actually do like this element of creepy beauty. Could be tweaked here and there, but it grows on me the more I look at it, and I hope that means the goddess approves ^^

Description
I present the most revered goddess in my personal theology, the Queen of the Dead, Hel. Hel is the most powerful entity in the entire Norse cosmos, and shares her name with the realm of the dead who perish from sickness and old age. The name ultimately descends from the Proto-Indo-European root "*ḱel-", which also becomes the "hel" in English "helmet" and the "cel" in "cellar". This gives us the sense that the original root seems to mean "to cover", like a helmet covers your head and a cellar is covered underground. In the context of the realm of the dead, it seems "Hel" was originally just a word for the grave, which of course covers the dead. It is hardly unusual for cultures around the world though to associate the grave as a gateway to a realm beyond the mortal coil like an afterlife or an underworld. In the Norse conception, Helheim is the everyman's afterlife, entered by passing over a river of swords via a gold-covered bridge, and entering the gate Nágrindr, which is guarded by the "noblest of hounds", Garmr. While for most, Hel seems a peaceful place where the dead may continue a reflection of their worldly lives on eternal farmland, there is a chamber where the wickedest men are sent. A hall called Náströnd is a twisted place made not of wood but of woven snakes, whose heads spray burning venom onto those trapped within. Hel is a fair queen, just but firm, as she takes her responsibility very seriously. Many sources describe her as "evil" for her capacity for torment, but this seems likely to be a later Christian demonization of a much more neutral goddess.

Internally, Hel seems more to be chastised for her controversial parentage than she is for her rulership. She was one of three monstrous children of Loki and the jötunn Angrboða, born with half her body colored like flesh and the other half corpse blue. Odin, the paranoid god, feared the prophecy that Hel would one day loan her army of the dead to her father to destroy the gods at Ragnarök, and so he cast her into far off Niflheim to… have total authority over the dead. It's a little strange, which is another hint that there might be more to this story that has been lost to time. Indeed, for her authority over death, Hel is cited as the most powerful goddess in all the Nine Realms. When Odin's most beloved son, Baldr, was murdered with a mistletoe arrow, he was sent to Hel's realm instead of glorious Valhǫll. His ward Heirmóðr was given Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir to travel to the realm of the dead and plead for Baldr's return. When he arrived, though, he found that Hel was a benevolent hostess who treated Baldr and his wife with a feast fit for a king. She informed Heirmóðr that she can only allow Baldr to leave if every single being in the Norse cosmos weaps for his loss. After Baldr gave Heirmóðr gifts from his new home to be sent back to his parents, Heirmóðr rode back to Asgard and informed them of the stipulation. It is said that the gods were able to get every single being to weap for Baldr, all except for the jötunn Þökk, who tartly said that neither Odin or his beloved son ever did anything for her. Snorri Sturluson suggests that there is a common tradition which identified Þökk as a disguise of Loki, the one who put the mistletoe arrow in Höðr's hand to begin with, which is hardly a stretch of the imagination. Either way, the result is the same, Baldr remains in Helheim, and the precedent is set that even the gods cannot escape death. Death is neither avoidable nor malevolent. It is simply something that happens to all of us, and can happen at any time. The queen waits patiently to take in and comfort those of us that won't be selected for Odin's very picky army. Scary as she can be, she is the motherly custodian of our ancestors, and I should very much hope to meet her when my time comes.

Design notes, this is another one I mostly came up with whole cloth, though I took heavy inspiration from the famous Catacomb Saints that make the rounds on the internet every Halloween. The asymmetry was a little unwieldy at first, but I think I brought it back around. Most modern depictions of Hel tend to paint her as mostly black and white on either side with some blue elements sprinkled in, but I wanted to experiment with a lighter color palette to make my interpretation stand out. I wanted to make her more eerie than scary, the sort of entity who commands a ghostly presence. You certainly wouldn't want to be on her bad side, but if you respect her, she will respect you. I'm not normally one for spooks and ghouls or other Halloween stuff, but in this case, I actually do like this element of creepy beauty. Could be tweaked here and there, but it grows on me the more I look at it, and I hope that means the goddess approves ^^