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Background
Hela is a villain(ess) consumed by her role as Queen of Hel and the goddess of death. She does not and probably never should cooperate the Asgardian pantheon, whom she wants only as her dead subjects in her realm. She concerns herself with immortal souls rather than mortals on Midgard (Earth).
Lore Note:
When denizens of Asgard die, their souls remain in their physical bodies until Hela comes along to extract their spirits. She guides the incorporeal spirit back to the realm of Niflheim, where the deceased resides permanently. The deceased becomes tangible inside Hel and proceeds to live an afterlife, subject to the Queen of Death's governance. Until Hela shows up, that soul stays put and potentially vulnerable.
The only exclusions apply to those dying in battle. Valkyries personally escort those who die heroically on the battlefield back to Odin's hall for the dead, Valhalla. Hela can still perform her duties with these lucky few, but she's not allowed to obstruct or control them. Denying heroes access to Valhalla is a personal insult to Odin. (Read: Bad.)
According to Marvel, mortal souls escape their bodies and pass on wherever they are meant to go with few exceptions. Exceptions include true worshippers of the Asgardian gods. When they go, it's off to Odin's halls, and again, messing with them is a great way to touch off a war.
Over 4,000 years ago, Hela was born in Jotunheim to the frost giantess Angrboda and an Asgardian man, allegedly no less than Odin Borson (or his brother, Ve). This is a lie, and so is the story Loki Odinson is her father. However, due to the warnings of the Norns, Odin granted her an unparalleled gift: absolute dominion over the dead of the Nine Realms save Midgard and those Asgardians and mortal worshippers who died in battle.
Sounds great, except her realm Niflheim is as barren an unchanging wasteland as she is. Her subjects, spectres in a semi-twilit state, aren't terribly friendly or innovative. Hela began a program of underworld empire building to rival the Egyptians, constructing her palace and vast halls for the dead from mud, brick, bone, and despair. Creating a dead realm-within-a-realm, in a bleak likeness of Asgard, consumed nearly a millennium — quite the feat when not one tree grows in Niflheim.
Once the souls started rolling in, Hela enjoyed the chilly prestige her status brought her. She didn't quite so enjoy attempts to pilfer her rightful domain from her. Several drawn out battles in her favour against other Earth-based death gods eager to expand their powerbase confirmed her as a force to be reckoned with, and eventually she built alliances with her counterparts, most notably Pluto. They have frosty relationships. Regularly the Queen of Death repulses demons, spooks, and undead hordes from her supposed 'friends.'
Odin's dominion over heroes never sat right, though. She tried to claim Valhalla many times by unsuccessfully bribing the valkyries, invading its borders, and snatching the dead. Odin, and often his son, repulsed her minions and made their displeasure known. Patiently she crafted scheme after scheme, waiting for opportunity to claim Valhalla. Tagging along with dark elves, giants, or angry ghosts left a poor impression upon the royal family but Odin never claimed her crown.
Hela's attempts at conquest over Valhalla certainly played out in grand fashion. She went all in to form partnerships with infernal entities, some brief and others lasting, in hopes of gaining a thin advantage over the hated Asgardian pantheon. The Hell-Lords haven't often provided her with the power she hoped for but this long-lived arrangement makes her a dangerous power in her own right.
Her greatest attempt to claim Valhalla hasn't been by raw invasion but seeking ways for Odin, Thor, and the rest to die so they become her subjects. She has shifted her power in the background to cause them injury, like sustaining attacks from terrible monsters or massed armies. Finding a worthy soul to exchange with the royals would suit her just as well, but unfortunately Odin and family's favourites are also among their best defended.
She's also not hesitated to use her power for fell purposes, like the time she built an enchanted ship from nails of the dead and packed it full of deceased Asgardian souls to stage an attack. Success was, alas, thwarted by Asgard's defenses. Hela's only desire in life is to expand her realm and finally bring the last outlying realm into the fold—and that means taking down the All-Father (or All-Mother if somehow it came to that).
IC Events
Traits
- ASGARDIAN: Like all Asgardians, Hela has superior speed, stamina, and durability far above the human norm. Her body is three times as dense as a human's, and highly resistant to mundane weapons and standard projectiles. She ages incredibly slowly and enjoys immunity to terrestrial diseases. She understands all languages in the Nine Realms.
- As the goddess of death, she has a few benefits above and beyond the norm. Using her mastery over death on a mortal worshipper of another god without permission is a big, big no-no.
- DEATH GODDESS POWERS:
- STRENGTH: Hela is hella strong. With her cloak, her enhanced strength is vastly enhanced, capable of lifting 75 tons. Without, 25 tons.
- REGENERATION: She heals a magnitude faster than most Asgardians, and heals in days from a mortal wound. She cannot regenerate damage to her left, decayed side. Nor can her left side be harmed by mundane weapons (it's already dead).
- DEATH SENSE: Like the Valkyries, Hela can sense dying, dead, and undead creatures over miles. She can determine cause of death with a touch to a body or soul. Focusing on an Asgardian target gives her an unerring direction of their whereabouts in any realm.
- DEATH TOUCH: Hela's touch is generally fatal to mortals. She avoids contact with non-Asgardians, as taking their souls will anger other death gods.
- ENTROPIC BOLTS: She can project lethal bolts of energy at a single target in line of sight, only once per 'charge' before she has to focus her energy again. These mystic bolts age or decay a target, even an immortal one, rather than doing raw damage.
- HAND OF GLORY: Hela is able to concentrate Asgardian sorcery into her hands. Magic amplifies her strength to deliver powerful blows that harm even Asgardians, weakening them and depleting their strength and durability.
- LIFE TOUCH: Just because Hela can heal nearly any injury doesn't mean she will, even if you ask nice. She can restore the deceased to life and she does that basically never.
- ASTRAL PROJECTION: Essential for her job collecting Asgardian dead! Hela projects her soul out of her body and travels in an incorporeal form, like a ghost, in another realm. She is visible when she wishes to be, though powerful psychics or mediums may detect her disturbance. She possesses all the powers over death as she does physically, and she can hang out in ghostly form indefinitely since she needs neither eat, drink, or worry about wearying.
- HARVEST: Her touch to bare skin claims an Asgardian soul from its dead body so she can lead it on an astral journey to Hela or Niflheim. Very rarely she reverses the effect, returning a soul to a living body.
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