‘What If…’ Season 2 Introduces Hela as Goddess of Life and Queen of Asgard

We’re nearing the end of the second season of ‘What If…?’ and the stories keeps getting better. From Peter Quill, raised by Ego to destroy worlds, to Nebula as part of the Nova Corps, the season introduced extremely powerful characters and revisited some of the most popular storylines in the MCU. One of them is certainly Hela’s journey from Odin’s most powerful weapon to eternal prisoner of Hell, ‘What If…?’ Episode 7 provided her with her own unique redemption story as the final moments of the episode saw her transformed into a radiant Queen of Life. Let’s see who White Hela is and how powerful she is.

Hela’s origin story was revisited

We know that Odin was forced to banish Hela to Hell in the mainstream MCU because she was becoming too destructive, and she was prophesized to bring doom to Asgard eventually; in a new alternative reality, Odin noticed much the same thing about his firstborn daughter but changed one detail. Instead of banishing Hela to Hell, Odin banished her to Midgard so she could learn the power of mercy and appreciation for life that she was so quick to take.

Just like with Thor, Odin destroyed Mjolnir and took Hela’s source of power away from her. Her crown was banished to Midgard and will remain unmoving and unclaimable until Hela learns her lesson. Hela was completely depowered, even bleeding when she was struck by Wenwu’s soldier. Still, this didn’t deter her from attempting to strike a bargain with several ancient factions, all so she could get vengeance on Odin, Wenwu, and Frigga.

Hela learned a lesson about inner peace and balance at Ta Lo

After Wenwu offers Hela the opportunity to be a conqueror again, she knows she wouldn’t be happy to serve as a second-in-command and attempts to steal the Ten Rings, the source of Wenwu’s power for herself, but fails miserably. She was found by Dijiang, who took her to Ta Lo, where she met Jiayi, who taught her the value of inner peace and balance and how those aspects of our spirit can manifest as incredible powers that can be but shouldn’t be utilized for combat. But most importantly, Jiayi taught Hela how darkness cannot be fought off by more darkness and how only when she returns to life will Hela earn her powers again.

Jiayi also asked Hela what it is that she truly seeks, and Hela recalled a moment during her childhood when she was playing with young Fenris and how Odin had to chain the beast to teach both Hela and Fenris a lesson about loyalty to your commander.

Who is White Hela & how powerful is she?

Hela did not finish her training properly when she realized that Midgard was being attacked by Odin, who sought the power of 10 Rings because he deemed mortals too primitive to have it at their disposal. Odin is shocked to see Hela, and despite wanting to teach her a lesson, Odin fully expects Hela to join him as he attempts to conquer Wenwu’s army. Hela refused, and after a long fight, she managed to gain an upper hand over Odin and showed him mercy.

Hela asked Oding to stop this bloodshed and abandoned warfare once and for all; he refused and was about to kill her when Hela’s crown dislodged from the rocks and returned to her once again, but instead of her usually gree-and-black colors; Hela was now radiant and white, learning about the value of life and mercy she was transformed from the goddess of death into a goddess of life.

With that surge of radiant energy, Hela defeated Odin and he was on his knees, he abdicated the throne in her favor and Hela promised to unmake his empire. With this power-up and Hela assuming the throne of Asgard, she now has, presumably, access to Helaforce, the source of Asgardian godly powers, which makes her one of the most powerful characters in the MCU.

Most importantly, Hela put those powers to good use as we can see her putting a stop to Thanos’ conquest before it could even take root. After all, Hela didn’t need the powers of Ten Rings or her Asgardian magic. All she needed was to look within herself.

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