Hel

"You have advanced to the Mythic Age through the Malice of Hel."
Age up text

Hel is a Mythic Age Norse minor god in Age of Mythology. She is available to worshipers of Loki and Freyr.

Attributes

God Power

Name	Description
Nidhogg	Summons a powerful dragon to serve the player. As a flying unit, he can only be attacked by ranged units.

Technology

Name	Description
Rampage	Decreases myth unit training time by 95%.
Granite Blood	Mountain Giants gain +20% hit points, Frost Giants and Rock Giants gain +40% hit points, and upgrades Fire Giants to Sons of Muspell, granting them +40% hit points.

Myth Unit

Name	Description
Mountain Giant	Large and powerful but slow unit that is effective against both buildings and human soldiers.
Frost Giant	Powerful unit that can freeze an enemy unit with its breath attack.
Fire Giant	A mighty engine of destruction that deals hack and crush damage at range.

Gameplay

Hel improves myth units, especially Giants. While she does not provide a unique myth unit, she instead provides access to all Norse Giant units sans the Rock Giant, which is only available if Aegir was selected for the Heroic Age. Upon advancing in age, only a Fire Giant is granted at the Temple. While Hel's Giants do not have any specific upgrades (the Frost Giants she provides cannot be upgraded with Rime as Skadi is not available to Loki), the Granite Blood technology improves all Giant hit points. This makes them more durable in late-game battles against units, especially other myth units, that are typically more powerful. Mountain Giants and Fire Giants are also able to better stand their ground when attacking buildings that can fire arrows, such as Fortresses, Town Centers, or Citadels. The Rampage technology makes myth units train almost instantly, so players can build a Temple near an enemy town and begin mass-producing various myth units to overwhelm it as long as they can generate the favor needed to train them. This pairs well with Bragi's Thurisaz Rune technology which improves the speed of all myth units. Granite Blood also synergizes nicely with Aegir's Granite Maw technology, making Rock Giants all the more powerful.

Hel's god power, Nidhogg, summons a very powerful myth unit, capable of dealing massive amounts of hack and crush damage. His purpose is to strengthen the player's army of building destroying units, acting as a flying siege weapon capable of damaging several buildings clustered together thanks to his fire breath that deals area of effect damage. The Nidhogg can't be healed or regenerate hit points, so once summoned it is important to keep him well-supported with an army and to avoid towers, Heroes, or powerful ranged myth units (especially Vermilion Birds and Phoenixes in groups) that can quickly wear him down.

Mythology

"The daughter of Loki and a frost giantess, Hel was banished by Odin to the netherworld, which took its name, Helheim, from her. In her hall, Eljudnir, she ruled over those who died of sickness, old age, or capital punishment. While in her realm, Hel's power was such that she could defy other gods, including Odin. She was described as having half the body of a living woman and the other half of a corpse. Her throne was known as the sick bed. Christians later adopted Hel and her domain of unending suffering as the name of their destination for the damned."
In-game compendium

Trivia

Hel and Hera are the only two minor gods that are available to only one major god in the original game. As of Age of Mythology: Retold - New Gods Pack: Freyr, Hel has lost this distinction.