Hel, goddess of death, was the daughter of Loki, god of evil, and of the giantess Angur-boda, the portender of ill. She came into the world in a dark cave in Jötun-heim, and was closely related to the serpent Iörmungandr and the terrible Fenris wolf, the trio being considered the emblems of pain, sin, and death.
“Now Loki comes, cause of all ill!
Men and Æsir curse him still.
Long shall the gods deplore,
Even till Time be o’er,
His base fraud on Asgard’s hill.
While, deep in Jötun-heim, most fell,
Are Fenrir, Serpent, and Dread Hel,
Pain, Sin, and Death, his children three,
Brought up and cherished; thro’ them he