Norse Goddess Hel

Hel presided over the Norse underworld, a place where all those Vikings who didn’t die in battle went.

Half of her body was flesh and blood, the other half was just bones. Her decaying features befitted a goddess who ruled over the land of the dead, judging and deciding the fate of the souls who entered her realm. It was said that within the underworld she was more powerful than Odin himself, a belief that was reinforced when she held the final say on what happened to Balder’s soul after he was slain.