The corpse-shore in Hel to which murderers, oath-breakers, and seducers are sent after death.
Náströnd, the shore of corpses, is the place in Hel inhabited by the most gravely criminal dead. Völuspá describes a hall facing north, woven from serpents and dripping with venom, where Níðhöggr sucks blood from the corpses.
Those who end up on Náströnd are specifically those who violated the most serious taboos of the Norse moral order: murder, oath-breaking, and illicit sexual transgression. The site is one of the clearest instances of post-mortem punishment in Norse mythology.
Attestations
- Völuspá str. 38-39, Poetisk Edda (ca. 1270, Codex Regius)
- Náströnd's hall and its inhabitants are described in Völuspá.