Hel

(Image from "Cemetary Man")

Ah, Hel. 

Made popular by pop-culture cinema movies like Thor, Hel is the Norse deity responsible for death and the Underworld. In her holdings are lovely vacation hotspots such as the Shore Of Corpses - a place exactly like it sounds. A beach composed entirely of corpses being gently lapped at by an ocean of snake venom. 

(Art by Manweri)

Hel has an impressive family. Her brothers are Fenrir (the wolf that will eat the sun during Ragnarok) and Jormungandr, the big-ass snake thing that is so goddamned massive that it wraps around the whole world. She's the daughter of Loki (no, this is not a fucking Marvel comics advertisement) and the giant-goddess Angrboda. Possibly more impressive is the fact that she, like many other archaic mythological beings (such as Abaddon), is both a location and a deity. 

(No, that's not a fat joke.)

The idea that she is both a location and a goddess probably comes from some misnomer during translation. The same can probably be said about Abaddon and the myriad of other divinities out there that neither historians or theologians can decide on. Langauge is a fucky thing, from time to time. Hel's name, by the way, means "Hidden." 

Norse mythology, like any other religion, is full of metaphor. Hel is considered to be a beautiful - if a bit pale - woman from one side, while her other side is a fetid, decaying corpse. The meaning behind it shouldn't be lost on you. Life and death always coincide in mythology, and they converge in almost every religion throughout time. Like Hades and Perephone, the two are forever married. And one always leads to another.   

As for Hel herself, she only really ever gets the spotlight in one story in the Edda. Her greatness wasn't really brought to light until Thor: Ragnarok - a fact that I both love and hate.

But I'll get into that later. 

Maybe.