Hela, Queen of Helheim
[Intro] Under black frost Under dead stars The gate remembers her name [Verse 1] Born where the old blood darkens the snow Daughter of Loki, of Angrboða’s woe Sister to fang, sister to scale One half beauty, one half pale Fenrir howled where the heavens shook Jörmungandr turned where the deep sea took And she stood silent, neither breath nor bone A crownless queen for a frozen throne [Pre-Chorus] Odin looked down from the high-seeing seat Saw the last fire, heard the last feet Saw gods fall beneath wolf and wave So he named the children chains and grave [Chorus] Hela, Hela, keeper of the cold Lady of ashes, sorrowful and old In Helheim’s halls where no souls flee She waits for the nails of Naglfar at sea Hela, Hela, black lace, bone, and frost Counting every kingdom the gods have lost When the sun goes dark and the moon is torn The dead shall rise to the Gjallarhorn [Verse 2] Gleipnir bound the brother’s jaws Silken as lies, stronger than laws On Lyngvi’s stone the wolf was chained But hate grew deep where the blood remained Into the ocean the serpent fell Growing around the mortal shell Tail in mouth, the world in ring Dreaming venom for the thunder-king [Pre-Chorus] Then to Niflheim’s frozen breath Odin cast the queen of death Not as prisoner, not as bride But ruler of the souls who died [Chorus] Hela, Hela, keeper of the cold Lady of ashes, sorrowful and old In Éljúðnir, beneath blackened beams She drinks the silence of mortal dreams Hela, Hela, black lace, bone, and frost Counting every kingdom the gods have lost When the sun goes dark and the moon is torn The dead shall rise to the Gjallarhorn [Bridge] No old age soul shall pass her door No sickbed ghost shall wander more No broken life, no nameless breath Leaves without the word of Death But under her calm, the storm is awake Under her sorrow, the iron will breaks Not prophecy’s pawn, not fate’s pale bride She will take the ship and turn the tide [Verse 3] Naglfar waits on the corpse-cold shore Nail by nail for the final war The dead stand ready with hollow eyes While poison blooms in the wounded skies Fenrir shall swallow the sun and moon Odin shall fall to the wolf’s dark ruin Jörmungandr’s breath shall drown the sea Thor shall sink where the serpents bleed [Final Chorus] Hela, Hela, keeper of the cold Raise now the banners of rot and gold To Vígríðr’s field through the storm-black foam She sails the dead from their frozen home Hela, Hela, black lace, bone, and frost No more counting what fate has cost If gods wrote doom for the Jötnar’s name She will burn that ending in funeral flame [Outro] Under black frost Under dead stars Naglfar is waking And Helheim sings her name
