Dark fantasy and underworld myths
9 min read
Why Hel and Niflheim are often confused
Modern games frequently place the names Hel and Niflheim close together, sometimes treating them as interchangeable names for a single realm of the dead. Norse mythological sources are more complicated. Hel can designate both a goddess and the realm associated with her authority, while Niflheim is a separate cosmic region described through images of mist, cold, darkness, and primordial forces. The two concepts overlap in later interpretations, but they do not begin as identical ideas.This distinction matters when playing a game inspired by Norse mythology. A frozen level, a gate guarded by the dead, or a ruler named Hel may reflect several different sources at once. Some games aim for atmosphere rather than strict reconstruction. Others use a mythological name as the foundation for an original setting, combat system, or narrative challenge. Knowing the basic source material makes it easier to recognise what has been adapted, what has been invented, and why a game may combine elements that were separate in medieval texts.
Hel as a goddess and a realm of the dead
In the Prose Edda, especially the section known as Gylfaginning, Hel is presented as a daughter of Loki. She is associated with a divided appearance, with one side described as human-looking and the other as more corpse-like. Odin sends her to govern a realm for those who die in ways not associated with battlefield glory. The same name therefore refers to both the ruler and the place under her control.The surviving sources do not describe this realm as a simple equivalent of later Christian ideas about eternal punishment. Norse accounts contain moral distinctions, but they do not offer one unified map of the afterlife. The dead may be connected with different destinations, including Valhalla, Fólkvangr, Hel, burial mounds, or other locations depending on the text and the circumstances of death. Hel is not automatically a place reserved for every person who lived badly, nor is it simply a synonym for a fiery hell.
The story of Baldr gives the realm an important narrative role. After Baldr dies, Hermóðr travels to Hel and asks for his release. Hel agrees on the condition that all things in the world weep for him. The refusal of the giantess Þökk prevents his return. This episode, found in the Prose Edda, presents Hel as a ruler who establishes conditions and enforces them. That logic often reappears in games through locked gates, bargains, tests, or rules that cannot be bypassed by force alone.
What Niflheim means in the surviving sources
Niflheim is commonly translated or explained through associations with mist, cold, and a dark northern region. In Gylfaginning, it is connected with the primordial world before the ordered cosmos takes shape. The icy cold of Niflheim meets the heat of Muspelheim, and the interaction helps produce the conditions from which the giant Ymir and the cosmic cow Auðhumla emerge in the creation account.The same text describes a spring called Hvergelmir in Niflheim. Rivers flow from it, and the dragon Níðhöggr is associated with the roots of the world tree and with the gnawing or consuming forces beneath the cosmic order. These images make Niflheim a place of elemental cold and ancient danger, not merely a prison for human souls.
Other poems use terms that are difficult to map neatly onto a single geography. Vafþrúðnismál, for example, refers to the Élivágar, the primordial rivers whose venomous flow helps create Ymir. Grímnismál mentions Hel and Niflheim in contexts that have encouraged different scholarly interpretations. The medieval manuscripts do not provide a modern game designer's complete atlas. They leave room for debate, which explains why adaptations often assemble their own coherent version.
A practical comparison for players and readers
The following comparison is a useful guide, while keeping in mind that the mythology varies by source and translation.| Concept | Primary role in the sources | Common game adaptation |
|---|---|---|
| Hel | A goddess and ruler connected with a realm of the dead | A sovereign, antagonist, judge, gatekeeper, or destination reached after death |
| Hel's realm | A destination associated with many people who do not die in battle | A populated underworld with gates, quests, spirits, and rules of passage |
| Niflheim | A misty, cold, primordial region linked with Hvergelmir and cosmic origins | A frozen wilderness, hazardous maze, survival zone, or resource area |
| Níðhöggr | A destructive serpent or dragon associated with the roots of the world tree | A boss, environmental threat, or symbol of decay beneath the world |
| Valhalla | Odin's hall for selected fallen warriors in the relevant sources | A reward space, destination, vision, or contrast to the underworld |
When a game presents a region called Niflheim as the home of Hel, that is best understood as an adaptation rather than a direct quotation of one uncontested mythological map. The choice can still be meaningful. Niflheim's cold and mist provide an immediate visual language, while Hel gives the setting a political and narrative centre.
How God of War uses Hel and Niflheim
God of War, particularly the 2018 game and its continuation God of War Ragnarök, offers one of the clearest examples of modern interactive adaptation. The games distinguish between Helheim, a realm associated with the dead, and Niflheim, a separate environment shaped by cold, mist, and hazardous exploration. They use familiar names but build a geography and set of rules designed for action-adventure play.In the 2018 game, Helheim functions as a severe realm with its own enemies, architecture, atmosphere, and story purpose. It is not presented as a neutral museum of source material. The game connects the setting to the protagonist's emotional history, the consequences of death, and the wider conflict among gods and giants. The result is a realm that works simultaneously as a myth-inspired location and as a playable narrative space.
Niflheim serves a different design purpose. Its mist and restricted visibility create pressure around navigation and time or resource management, depending on the activity being played. This is a good example of how a mythological characteristic becomes a gameplay rule. Cold and mist are not only visual decoration. They influence route planning, risk, exploration, and the player's decision about whether to continue or return with collected rewards.
For players analysing the adaptation, three questions are useful: Which details come from a medieval source? Which details support the game's combat or exploration loop? Which details develop the characters? Asking these questions prevents a common mistake, namely treating every fictional feature as if it came directly from the Poetic or Prose Edda.
Other modern games and the language of the underworld
The use of Norse afterlife imagery extends beyond one franchise. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice uses Hel and Helheim-related imagery within a story shaped by trauma, perception, myth, and psychological horror. Its underworld is not simply a location to be conquered. The journey is filtered through the protagonist's experience, so mythological symbols become part of the game's treatment of fear, grief, and uncertainty. This is an adaptation with a different objective from a conventional fantasy dungeon.Assassin's Creed Valhalla also draws on Norse religious and legendary material, including visions and mythic realms. The game places those elements within a larger historical and fictional framework. Such a structure encourages players to move between grounded settlement life and symbolic journeys without assuming that every realm represents an objective map of medieval belief.
Other games borrow individual features rather than reproducing a complete cosmology. A serpentine creature beneath a world tree, a realm of the dishonoured dead, or a cold maze filled with mist may be inspired by different passages and later popular interpretations. The name Niflheim can therefore act as a design shorthand for harshness and obscured knowledge, while Hel can function as a character, a destination, or a force that controls access to the dead.
How to read mythological accuracy in a game
The phrase mythologically accurate is difficult to apply without qualification. The main Norse sources were written down in medieval Iceland, after centuries of oral transmission and cultural change. They are also incomplete, sometimes contradictory, and preserved in manuscripts that require translation and interpretation. A modern game cannot reproduce a single definitive version because no complete version survives.A more useful method is to examine several kinds of accuracy:
- Name accuracy: Does the game use a figure or place found in a known source?
- Function accuracy: Does the figure retain a broadly similar role, such as Hel's authority over the dead?
- Symbolic accuracy: Does the adaptation preserve associations with cold, death, fate, decay, or cosmic boundaries?
- Structural accuracy: Does the game acknowledge that Norse mythology contains multiple destinations and uncertain relationships?
- Creative adaptation: What has been changed to create exploration, combat, progression, or a dramatic plot?
A simple activity for families, groups, and curious players
The Hel and Niflheim theme works well for a comparative activity after playing a myth-inspired game. It requires no specialist equipment and can be adapted for different ages.- Choose one game location, character, creature, or rule linked to the underworld.
- Find the corresponding passage or summary in the Poetic Edda or Prose Edda.
- Write down two elements that the game preserves and two elements that it changes.
- Explain what the change accomplishes for play: does it create a puzzle, a combat encounter, a visual mood, or a character conflict?
- Draw a two-column map labelled “source material” and “game adaptation”. Place uncertain details between the columns rather than forcing a false answer.
What to look for when exploring a myth-inspired underworld
Whether a game presents Helheim, Niflheim, or a fictional combination of both, players can pay attention to practical design details:- Navigation: Mist, darkness, repeated corridors, and limited visibility may be deliberate tools for creating uncertainty. Marking landmarks mentally or on an in-game map can reduce frustration.
- Rules of passage: Gates, bargains, keys, and conditional access often echo the idea that the underworld is governed by limits rather than defeated by strength alone.
- Environmental storytelling: Graves, roots, frozen rivers, ruins, and scattered voices can communicate history without direct exposition.
- Resource decisions: A hazardous realm may reward careful exploration but punish excessive risk. Checkpoints, healing items, and return routes deserve attention before entering optional areas.
- Emotional framing: Notice whether the realm represents punishment, grief, memory, transformation, or simply danger. The same mythological name can support very different themes.
