Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

Like Vegtamskviða, Vafþrúðnismál also distinguishes distinctly between Hel and
Niflhel, particularly in those most remarkable words that thither, i.e., to Niflhel and the
regions subject to it, die "halir" from Hel. Halir means men, human beings; applied to
beings in the lower world halir means dead men, the spirits of deceased human beings
(cp. Allvíssmál 18:6; 20:6; 26:6; 32:6; 34:5 - í helju, with 28:3 - halir). Accordingly,
nothing less is said here than that deceased persons who have come to the realm called
Hel, there may be subject to a second death, and that through this second death they come
to Niflhel. Thus the same sharp distinction is made here between life in Hel and in
Niflhel as between life on earth and that in Hel. These two subterranean realms must
therefore represent very different conditions. What these different conditions are,
Vafþrúðnismál does not inform us, nor will I anticipate the investigation on this point;
still less will I appeal to Gylfaginning's assurance that the realms of torture lie under
Niflhel, and that it is wicked men (vándir menn) who are obliged to cross the border from
Hel to Niflhel. 1 So far it must be borne in mind that it was in Niflhel Odin met the bloody
dog-demon, who barked at the Asa-majesty, though he could not hinder the father of the
mighty and protecting galdr from continuing his journey; while it was in Hel, on the other
hand, that Odin saw the splendid abode where the ásmegir had already served the
precious subterranean mead for his son, the just Baldur. This suggests that they who cross
the border from Hel to Niflhel by means of a second death, do not get a better fate by this
transfer than those which Hel invites who have died for the first time. Baldur in the one
realm, the blood-stained kinsman of Cerberus in the other -- for the time being, this is the
only, but not insignificant weight in the balance which will determine the question
whether the border-line, which a second death draws between Hel and Niflhel, is the
boundary between a realm of bliss and a realm of suffering, and if this is the case,
whether Hel or Niflhel is the realm of bliss.
This expression hinig deyja úr Helju halir (thither die halir from Hel) in
Vafþrúðnismál, also forces another question to the front, which, as long as it remains
unanswered, makes the former question more complicated. If Hel is a realm of bliss, and
if Niflhel with the regions subject to it is a realm of unhappiness, then why do the souls
of the damned not go at once to their final destination, but are taken to the realm of bliss
first, and then to the realm of anguish and pain, that is, after they have died the second
death on the boundary-line between the two? And on the contrary, if Hel were the realm
of unhappiness and Niflhel offered a better lot, then why should they who are destined for
a better fate, first be brought to it through the world of torture, and then be separated from
the latter by a second death before they could gain the more happy goal? These questions
cannot be answered until later on.
59.
THE WORD HEL IN GRÍMNISMÁL. HVERGELMIR'S FOUNTAIN
AND ITS DEFENDERS. THE BORDER MOUNTAIN BETWEEN HEL
AND NIFLHEL. THE WORD HELBLÓTINN IN ÞÓRSDRÁPA.
1 Gylfaginning 3: "but wicked men travel to Hel and from there to Niflhel."