When we think of Hell we usually think of the Christian belief in the place of eternal torment for all big sinners. But the name is derived from the Norse goddess Hel, who ruled over the Underworld realm named after her. Unlike the Christian counterpart, Norse Hel was not a place of eternal torture, but similar to Purgatory; there, souls were judged and sent on to a variety of afterlives. Hel was the daughter of the Norse god Loki who also ruled over the dead. Everyone who died, no matter how good or bad, passed into Hel to be judged by the goddess, who would then decide where they might spend eternity. Similar to the Greek goddess Hecate, who also governed the Underworld and traveled with a menagerie of hell hounds and wolves, she is sometimes depicted riding a black mare, horses also being sacred to her. And, like Hecate, Hel sometimes led a wild hunt. She is described as being divided vertically, with one side a beautiful woman and the other half a zombie-like corpse. Hel is more of a dichotomy of good and bad, unlike the Christian devil who is completely evil.
Thus, we see the difference between the Northern pagan realm of Hel and the Christian concept of Hell. Also interesting was that those who died in battle or at sea usually didn’t make it there like everyone else. The name may be derived from the Old German halja meaning “covering”. She so angered the Norse god Odin that he tossed her into the realm of the dead where she became a queen to rule over all manner of spirits. She was said to carry a rake and a broom, and, during plague times, to sweep away whole villages, using her rake to rake up the survivors later. Her abode was believed to be Mount Helka, a volcano in Iceland. A nearby town is named Hella.