Reginheim

Hella:

Names:	Proto-Germanic: *Haljô (hole/shelter?) Western Germanic: Hel, Hela, Hella, Hol, Holda, Holle, Hölle, Hulda Northern Germanic: Hel
Goddess of:	The Afterlife, the Dead
Appearance:	Hel was originally depicted as a wise old woman but in later sources she became an ugly woman with rotting flesh on her bones who looked like a corpse.

Hel is often seen as an evil goddess who looks terrible and is greedy and selfish, but there are strong reasons to believe that some of this aspects are later Christian influences to demonize her because the Germans originally did not see death as something "scary" or "evil".
According to later Scandinavian sources Hel is the daughter of Loki and Angrboda and one of the three demonic creatures, her brothers are Fenrir and Jormungand.
Originally Hel was probably a much friendlier woman who receives the souls of the deceased in the Afterlife, this afterlife is one of the nine worlds and has been named after her; Helheim, this is the place where people were believed to go to after death, Helheim (or "Hel" for short) is not a place of evil and torture like the modern Christian "hell" but a place of peace and tranquility where the dead can rest before being reborn, the modern Christian "hell" has been deliberately named after the old heathen afterlife to demonize it, and that succeeded well because nowadays everybody associates the word "hel" with Satan.
Evil persons are punished in Naströnd ("Corpse-beach"), which is the Germanic version of the Christian Gehenna (which is nowadays called "hell"), in Naströnd the evil souls were punished for their evil deeds and after that Hel subjected them to all kinds of tests to find out whether they were worthy of a new life (and could enter Helheim) or that they had to stay in Naströnd forever.
During Jól, a Germanic holiday that was held at almost the same time as modern Christmas the boundaries between Helheim and the human world (Midgard) are believed to be at their thinnest; during this time the spirits of the dead can visit our world and it is also a good period to contact dead relatives, unfortunately the evil spirits from Naströnd can also escape during that time and once they have entered the human world they form a Wild Army (also known as Wild Hunt) that rides through the air and destroys the posessions of the humans, they also kidnap those who are unfortunate enough to be outside during the 12 nights of Jól.
The high god Wodan and the Earthgoddess Holda (also known as Berchta, Frigg, Erda, etc.) also enter the human world during Jól to lead the wandering spirits of the dead back to the afterlife and to force the Wild Army to return to Naströnd.
At Ragnarök the evil spirits of the dead will escape Helheim for the last time and invade the nine worlds during the last great battle, according to some sources the goddess Hel will lead this army of evil souls though that may also be a later influence.