HEL Queen of Helheim (Norse)

 

Helheim is a place of death and decay. A place as cold and indifferent as its ruler Hel, after which the realm is named. Little is known about the Queen of Helheim as she rarely steps out of her domain, and very few who enter Helheim return to the world of the living to tell the tale.

 

With her deathly blue complexion and decaying body, it is no wonder that Hel is commonly referred to as an offspring of Loki, the God of Mischief and Trickery, as all of his children are believed to be devious, cruel, and monstrous in appearance. Her beautiful features are marred by rotting flesh, which in some places, reveals the underlying muscles, sinews and even bones. Her legs are uneven, and she appears to move sluggishly – almost as if she is in constant agony, dragging her long, skeletal tail behind her.

 

But as a daughter of Loki, Hel is a master of trickery and illusions. Few who enter Helheim realise that it is she who renders the entire plane, its inhabitants and herself as being macabre in appearance. To ward off intruders, Hel maintains a glamour over Helheim, cloaking her domain with an inhospitable and terrifying aura so powerful that even the dead who are given to her as eternal offerings are fooled as well. Even Hel’s apparent torpid demeanour is also an illusion. In her true form, the Queen of Helheim stands tall and proud, her eyes cold and merciless, and her crown is adorned with an impressive array of horns. Her tail is also used as a Skeletal Whip, forcing the dead and her enemies into submission.

 

If being cold, calculative and merciless is evil, then Hel is surely evil. In truth, she is merely indifferent to the cares and worries of the living, and the Necromancers who revere her know that Hel has no interest in the seemingly fickle nature of life. Instead, she prefers to rule over the dead with apathetic judgement.

 

For those few favoured by the Queen of Helheim, the rewards are many. Loyal followers who walk the path of the Element of Dark are able to traverse the realm of the dead without fear, and some are even given residence in Helheim, where they are allowed an eternity of peace to dabble in the Dark Arts. Hel also blesses her acolytes with the power of deathly illusion, which is probably why many Necromancers do not resemble the living at all. This mark inspires terrible fear in the living, for the chill touch of death awaits all those who disrespect the champions of the Lady of Death.