Niflheim / Hel (World of Fog) A vast waste of frozen fog, brutal cold, and endless night. The world of the dead.

Niflheim was the lowest region of the underworld. From its poisonous fountain, Hvergelmir, flowed 11 ice-cold rivers, the Elivagir. The rivers poured into the huge chasm, Ginnungagap, and froze. Fiery clouds from Muspellheim melted the ice and turned it into mist. From the whirling mist and fire came the first protogiant, Ymir.

The goddess Hel ruled over this land of the dead. Niflheim was the home of the dragon Nithog and other serpents. They nibbled on one of the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, that reached into the underworld.

After Midgard (Middle Earth) was created, the gods pushed Niflheim deep into the ground so its terrible cold would not freeze the Earth.

The Prose Edda and other Norse manuscripts often refer to Hel as a place to which and out of which gods and giants travel. Some scholars suggest that Hel is an older word for Niflheim and that the word was used first for this place and then for the name of the daughter of Loki, also known as Hel, who came to rule over the place.