Side by sideParallel across traditions
Both rule realms of the dead that receive those who did not die gloriously in battle.
| Hades | Hel | |
|---|---|---|
| Tradition | Greek Pantheon | Norse Pantheon |
| Domains | underworld, death, wealth | death, underworld, disease |
| Symbols | helm of darkness, bident, Cerberus, cornucopia | half living/half dead appearance, realm Niflheim |
| Also called | Pluto, Plouton | Hela |
Both are associated with underworld and death.
Associated with wealth.
Associated with disease.
Both rule an underworld realm that receives the souls of the dead.
Greeks preferred not to build him a house in town. They poured to the ground, used black victims, and often would not say his name. Eleusis is the public exception: the husband of the grain's daughter, not a devil.
Not worshipped as a blessing-goddess in the surviving record. She receives the dead who do not go to Odin or Freyja. Offerings to the dead are not the same as a Hel-cult, and the texts do not invent one.
Greek Pantheon
God of the underworld and the dead. Ruler of the realm of Hades, rarely leaving his kingdom.
Hades rules the underworld not as a devil figure but as a stern, lawful monarch of the dead. Greek religion treats him as unavoidable, distant, and powerful rather than chaotic. He governs the wealth hidden in the earth as well as the souls that descend beneath it, which is why later traditions also call him Plouton, "the wealthy one."
Norse Pantheon
Goddess and ruler of the underworld realm of the dead (also called Hel or Helheim). Daughter of Loki. Her realm receives those who die of sickness or old age.
Hel was born to Loki and the giantess Angrboda in the iron forests of Jotunheim, alongside her brothers Fenrir and Jormungandr. From birth, she was marked as different - half of her body was that of a beautiful woman, while the other half was black and decaying like a corpse. When the gods brought Loki's monstrous children to Asgard, Odin cast Hel down into the primordial realm of Niflheim and gave her authority over all those who die of sickness or old age. There she built her hall Eljudnir and awaits the dead with her plate Hunger and her knife Famine. Her realm, also called Hel, became the final destination for the inglorious dead.
Hel is the ruler of **Helheim**, the realm of the dead (for those who did not die a warrior's death). She is half living flesh and half rotting corpse.
Comparisons pair figures that play a similar role across traditions, or that the myths connect within one. A shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.