Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Going to Hel

I am taking the 36-lesson course on The Vikings from The Great Courses.

I learned that good Vikings go to Valhalla.   Bad Vikings go to Hel which is ruled over by a blue lady also named Hel who is the daughter of Loki.
So, when Loki Casey gets married, he should name his daughter Hel!

Could there be a connection with Helgeson?

Unlike Christian hell which is a hot place of unending fire, Viking hel is frigid and blue like an unending Scandinavian winter.


In Norse mythology, Hel is a being who presides over a realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In addition, she is mentioned in poems recorded in Heimskringla and Egils saga that date from the 9th and 10th centuries, respectively. An episode in the Latin work Gesta Danorum, written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus, is generally considered to refer to Hel, and Hel may appear on various Migration Period bracteates.

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