The goddess of the dead and the afterlife was Hel (Holle, Hulda), and was portrayed by the Vikings as being half-dead, half alive herself. The Vikings viewed her with considerable trepidation. The Dutch, Gallic, and German barbarians viewed her with some beneficence, more of a gentler form of death and transformation. She is seen by them as Mother Holle; a being of pure Nature, being helpful in times of need, but vengeful upon those who cross her or transgress natural law.
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Is there a “god of fear” in Norse mythology?
The only one I can think of is Phobos the GREEK God of fear. No mention of a God of fear in the Prose or Poetic Eddas.
Marvel Comics has a God of Fear that is a serpent and will be featured in a 2011 release of “Fear Itself”. Then there is Dark Man who is the embodiment of fear and showed up in the 80′s in a Thor comic (#323).
daughter of loki cast to be the guard of those who passed in old age or by ill means had a hell hound to help find those who hid frome her sister to the serpent and the wolf