Hel presides over the Norse realm of the dead that is also called Hel. She is a female underworld being and a daughter of Loki who governs the dead assigned to her domain.
In the Prose Edda, Odin appoints Hel as ruler of an underworld realm located in or associated with Niflheim. The realm receives many people who die from sickness or old age, while warriors who fall in battle may instead be chosen for Odin’s halls or Freyja’s field. Hel is therefore not simply identical to the Christian concept of hell.
Norse descriptions portray Hel as a distinct mythological person as well as the name of her territory. Some accounts describe her as partly living and partly corpse-like, emphasizing her connection with death. Her realm is guarded by the hound Garmr, and the road there is associated with the river Gjöll.
A common modern spelling is “Hela,” especially in popular culture, but the Old Norse mythological name is Hel. Freyja and Frigg are separate goddesses, and neither rules the realm named Hel.