As each mythology describes the relations between the Gods and the ontology that proceeds from those relations, I'm not certain that it's fair to ascribe "ambiguity" to any given Deity involved in that ontology, since it's very completeness gives all contingent things their unity. I also do not ascribe to our ancestors the summum bonum of all divine wisdom, such that we should only worship the way that they have. I also understand that this may not be your position, nor Gullindagan's, but it often sticks in my craw that I see the Jotuns getting tire-tracks run over Them by countless theological buses that often have more to do with contemporary politics than with Their own worth as divine Individuals.
I've seen people who work with Hel that remove parasitical beings, move the restless dead on, and help people deal with their fears of dying AND living.
So far as it goes for myself, the "worst" that has happened when honoring Hel has been my left arm going pale, white, and cold, plus a bit of hearing the dead talking to me afterward. That last doesn't stick around long, as the rough and jumble of daily life seems to wear it off.