The World of Opera

Richard Wagner
 

The Ring of the Nibelung
Das Rheingold
Die Walkure
Siegfried
Die Gotterdammerung
 

The Ring of the Nibelung

Der Ring des Nibelungen, (German: “The Ring of the Nibelung”) four music dramas (grand operas) by German composer Richard Wagner, all with German librettos by the composer himself. The operas are Das Rheingold (“The Rhine Gold”), Die Walküre (“The Valkyrie”), Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (“The Twilight of the Gods”), first performed in sequence at the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, Bavaria, Germany, on August 13, 14, 16, and 17, 1876. Collectively they are often referred to as the Ring cycle.

Wagner had long been interested in early Norse and German heroic poetry, including the medieval German epic Nibelungenlied (“Song of the Nibelung”), when he sketched out a prose version of the Nibelung myth in 1848. His first libretto to use that version was called Siegfrieds Tod (“The Death of Siegfried”), which became the basis of Götterdämmerung. He began composing the music in 1850, but he soon realized that he could not tell of Siegfried’s death without first telling of his life. In 1851 he wrote the libretto for Der junge Siegfried (“The Young Siegfried”; later shortened to Siegfried). Continuing back toward the beginning of the story, he finished the librettos for Die Walküre and Das Rheingold, respectively, in 1852. After completing the massive text, he composed the operas in the order of the story. The first two were composed by 1856, and then Wagner took a long break to complete Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg before completing Siegfried in 1871 and Götterdämmerung in 1874—26 years after he started work on the project.

Der Ring des Nibelungen, or the Ring cycle, is an unsurpassed exaltation of German heritage and mythology. In places, Wagner tells the story with the orchestra, using leitmotifs—fragments of melody that convey emotions and themes as they recur in varying contexts. It is even possible for the orchestra to convey ideas that are hidden from the characters themselves—an idea that later found its way into film scores.
 

Wagner was perpetually in need of funds, and the Ring would be extremely expensive to stage. Faced with a double motivation, Wagner conducted a series of concerts that featured orchestral excerpts from his forthcoming epic. Most famous of those is the Ride of the Valkyries, which opens the last act of Die Walküre, second of the four operas; other frequently encountered excerpts are the Entry of the Gods into Valhalla from Das Rheingold; Magic Fire Music from Die Walküre; Forest Murmurs from Siegfried; and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Siegfried’s Funeral March, and Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung. The concerts provided him with a steady income, and they whetted the public appetite for the operas that would follow.
 

The original and ongoing home of the cycle, the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, was built to the composer’s specifications at the command of Bavaria’s King Louis II (often referred to by his German name, Ludwig). The first festival, which consisted of three multiday performances of the cycle, drew some of the best-known musical figures of the age, including Franz Liszt, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Anton Bruckner. The festival lost money, and the staging of the operas was problematic because of the complexity of the set design. The music was another story. Whatever others thought of Wagner’s vocal writing and ponderousness, none could deny his control of harmony, dramatic structure, and orchestration. Wagner had reimagined opera.

 

Characters

GODS

Wotan, King of the Gods (god of light, air, and wind) (bass-baritone)
Fricka, Wotan's wife, goddess of marriage (mezzo-soprano)
Freia, Fricka's sister, goddess of love, youth, and beauty (soprano)
Donner, Fricka's brother, god of thunder (baritone)
Froh, Fricka's brother, god of spring/happiness (tenor)
Erda, goddess of wisdom/fate/Earth (contralto)
Loge, demigod of fire (tenor)
The Norns, the weavers of fate, daughters of Erda (contralto, mezzo-soprano, soprano)

MORTALS

Wälsungs

Siegmund, mortal son of Wotan (tenor)
Sieglinde, his twin sister (soprano)
Siegfried, their son (tenor)
Neidings

Hunding, Sieglinde's husband, chief of the Neidings (bass)
Gibichungs

Gunther, King of the Gibichungs (baritone)
Gutrune, his sister (soprano)
Hagen, their half-brother, and Alberich's son (bass)
A male choir of Gibichung vassals and a small female choir of Gibichung women

VALKYRIES

Brünnhilde (soprano)
Waltraute (mezzo-soprano)
Helmwige (soprano)
Gerhilde (soprano)
Siegrune (mezzo-soprano)
Schwertleite (mezzo-soprano)
Ortlinde (soprano)
Grimgerde (mezzo-soprano)
Rossweisse (mezzo-soprano)

Rhinemaidens, Giants & Nibelungs

Rhinemaidens

Woglinde (soprano)
Wellgunde (soprano)
Flosshilde (mezzo-soprano)
Giants

Fasolt (bass-baritone/high bass)
Fafner, his brother, later turned into a dragon (bass)
Nibelungs

Alberich (bass-baritone)
Mime, his brother, and Siegfried's foster father (tenor)

Other characters

The Voice of a Woodbird (soprano)

WOTAN

In Germanic mythology, Odin (from Old Norse Óðinn) is a widely revered god. In Norse mythology, from which stems most of the information about the god, Odin is associated with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, battle, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and is the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, Odin was known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Wōdan, and in Old High German as Wuotan or Wōtan, all stemming from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic theonym wōđanaz.
 

In Old English texts, Odin holds a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure among royalty, and he is frequently referred to as a founding figure among various other Germanic peoples, including the Langobards. Forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record, though narratives regarding Odin are mainly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland, primarily around the 13th century. These texts make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology.
 

In Old Norse texts, Odin is depicted as one-eyed and long-bearded, frequently wielding a spear named Gungnir, and wearing a cloak and a broad hat. He is often accompanied by his animal companions and familiars—the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who bring him information from all over Midgard—and rides the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into the underworld. Odin is attested as having many sons, most famously the gods Thor (with Jörð) and Baldr (with Frigg), and is known by hundreds of names. In these texts, he frequently seeks greater knowledge, at times in disguise (most famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry), makes wagers with his wife Frigg over the outcome of exploits, and takes part in both the creation of the world by way of slaying the primordial being Ymir and the gift of life to the first two humans Ask and Embla. Odin has a particular association with Yule, and mankind's knowledge of both the runes and poetry is also attributed to him, giving Odin aspects of the culture hero

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra - Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries - Ring

FRICKA

In Germanic mythology, Frigg (Old Norse), Frija (Old High German), Frea (Langobardic), and Frige (Old English) is a goddess. In nearly all sources, she is described as the wife of the god Odin. In Old High German and Old Norse sources, she is also connected with the goddess Fulla. The English weekday name Friday (etymologically Old English "Frīge's day") bears her name.
 

Frigg is described as a goddess associated with foreknowledge and wisdom in Norse mythology, the northernmost branch of Germanic mythology and most extensively attested. Frigg is the wife of the major god Odin and dwells in the wetland halls of Fensalir, is famous for her foreknowledge, is associated with the goddesses Fulla, Lofn, Hlín, and Gná, and is ambiguously associated with the Earth, otherwise personified as an apparently separate entity Jörð (Old Norse "Earth"). The children of Frigg and Odin include the gleaming god Baldr. Due to significant thematic overlap, scholars have proposed a particular connection to the goddess Freyja.
 

After Christianization, mention of Frigg continued to occur in Scandinavian folklore. In modern times, Frigg has appeared in modern popular culture, has been the subject of art, and receives modern veneration in Germanic Neopaganism.

FREIA

In Norse mythology, Freyja (/ˈfreɪə/; Old Norse for "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, accompanied by the boar Hildisvíni, and possesses a cloak of falcon feathers. By her husband Óðr, she is the mother of two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi. Along with her twin brother Freyr, her father Njörðr, and her mother (Njörðr's sister, unnamed in sources), she is a member of the Vanir. Stemming from Old Norse Freyja, modern forms of the name include Freya, Freyia, and Freja.
 

Freyja rules over her heavenly field Fólkvangr and there receives half of those that die in battle, whereas the other half go to the god Odin's hall, Valhalla. Within Fólkvangr lies her hall, Sessrúmnir. Freyja assists other deities by allowing them to use her feathered cloak, is invoked in matters of fertility and love, and is frequently sought after by powerful jötnar who wish to make her their wife. Freyja's husband, the god Óðr, is frequently absent. She cries tears of red gold for him, and searches for him under assumed names. Freyja has numerous names, including Gefn, Hörn, Mardöll, Sýr, Valfreyja, and Vanadís.
 

Freyja is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; in the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, composed by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century; in several Sagas of Icelanders; in the short story Sörla þáttr; in the poetry of skalds; and into the modern age in Scandinavian folklore.

DONNER

In Norse mythology, Thor; from Old Norse Þórr) is the hammer-wielding Æsir god of thunder and lightning, associated with storms, oak trees, strength, hallowing, fertility, the protection of mankind and of the fortress of Asgard. The son of Odin All-Father and Jörð (the personification of Earth), he is physically the strongest of the Æsir. The cognate deity in wider Germanic mythology and paganism was known in Old English as Þunor (Thunor) and in Old High German as Donar, stemming from a Proto-Germanic Þunraz, meaning "thunder".
 

Thor is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania, to the tribal expansions of the Migration Period, to his high popularity during the Viking Age, when, in the face of the process of the Christianization of Scandinavia, emblems of his hammer, Mjölnir, were worn and Norse pagan personal names containing the name of the god bear witness to his popularity.
 

Thor has inspired numerous works of art and references to Thor appear in modern popular culture. Like other Germanic deities, veneration of Thor is revived in the modern period in Heathenry.

FROH

Freyr (Old Norse: Lord), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god associated with sacral kingship, virility and prosperity, with sunshine and fair weather, and pictured as a phallic fertility god in Norse mythology. Freyr is said to "bestow peace and pleasure on mortals." Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden and seen as an ancestor of the Swedish royal house.
 

In the Icelandic books the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, Freyr is presented as one of the Vanir, the son of the sea god Njörðr, as well as the twin brother of the goddess Freyja. The gods gave him Álfheimr, the realm of the Elves, as a teething present. He rides the shining dwarf-made boar Gullinbursti and possesses the ship Skíðblaðnir which always has a favorable breeze and can be folded together and carried in a pouch when it is not being used. He has the servants Skírnir, Byggvir and Beyla.
 

The most extensive surviving Freyr myth relates Freyr's falling in love with the female jötunn Gerðr. Eventually, she becomes his wife but first Freyr has to give away his magic sword which fights on its own "if wise be he who wields it." Although deprived of this weapon, Freyr defeats the jötunn Beli with an antler. However, lacking his sword, Freyr will be killed by the fire jötunn Surtr during the events of Ragnarök.
 

Like other Germanic deities, veneration of Freyr is revived in the modern period in Heathenry movement.

ERDA

Urðr (Old Norse "fate") is one of the Norns in Norse mythology. Along with Verðandi (possibly "happening" or "present") and Skuld (possibly "debt" or "future"), Urðr makes up a trio of Norns that are described as deciding the fates of people. Urðr is attested in stanza 20 of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá and the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning.
 

Urðr is together with the Norns located at the well Urðarbrunnr beneath the world ash tree Yggdrasil of Asgard. They spin threads of life, cut marks in the pole figures and measure people's destinies, which shows the fate of all human beings and gods. Norns are always present when a child is born and decide its fate. The three Norns represent the past (Urðr), future (Skuld) and present (Verðandi).
 

Urðr is commonly written as Urd or Urth. In some English translations, her name is glossed with the Old English form of urðr; Wyrd.

Wagner: Ring - Barenboim - Kupfer - Bayreuth Festival

LOGE

Loki (Old Norse [ˈloki], Modern Icelandic, often Anglicized as /ˈloʊki/) is a god in Norse mythology. Loki is in some sources the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Narfi and/or Nari. By the stallion Svaðilfari, Loki is the mother—giving birth in the form of a mare—to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. In addition, Loki is referred to as the father of Váli in Prose Edda, though this source also refers to Odin as the father of Váli twice, and Váli is found mentioned as a Son of Loki only once.
 

Loki's relation with the gods varies by source; Loki sometimes assists the gods and sometimes behaves in a malicious manner towards them. Loki is a shape shifter and in separate incidents he appears in the form of a salmon, a mare, a fly, and possibly an elderly woman named Þökk (Old Norse 'thanks'). Loki's positive relations with the gods end with his role in engineering the death of the god Baldr and Loki is eventually bound by Váli with the entrails of one of his sons. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, the goddess Skaði is responsible for placing a serpent above him while he is bound. The serpent drips venom from above him that Sigyn collects into a bowl; however, she must empty the bowl when it is full, and the venom that drips in the meantime causes Loki to writhe in pain, thereby causing earthquakes. With the onset of Ragnarök, Loki is foretold to slip free from his bonds and to fight against the gods among the forces of the jötnar, at which time he will encounter the god Heimdallr and the two will slay each other.
 

Loki is referred to in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; the Norwegian Rune Poems, in the poetry of skalds, and in Scandinavian folklore. Loki may be depicted on the Snaptun Stone, the Kirkby Stephen Stone, and the Gosforth Cross. Loki's origins and role in Norse mythology, which some scholars have described as that of a trickster god, have been much debated by scholars. Loki has been depicted in or is referenced in a variety of media in modern popular culture.

THE NORNS

The Norns (Old Norse: norn, plural: nornir) in Norse mythology are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men. They roughly correspond to other controllers of humans' destiny, such as the Fates, elsewhere in European mythology.
 

In Snorri Sturluson's interpretation of the Völuspá, Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi and Skuld, the three most important of the Norns, come out from a hall standing at the Well of Urðr or Well of Fate. They draw water from the well and take sand that lies around it, which they pour over Yggdrasill so that its branches will not rot. These three Norns are described as powerful maiden giantesses (Jotuns) whose arrival from Jötunheimr ended the golden age of the gods. They may be the same as the maidens of Mögþrasir who are described in Vafþrúðnismál.
 

Beside these three famous Norns, there are many others who appear at a person's birth in order to determine his or her future. In the pre-Christian Norse societies, Norns were thought to have visited newborn children. There were both malevolent and benevolent Norns: the former caused all the malevolent and tragic events in the world while the latter were kind and protective goddesses.

SIEGMUND
 

In Norse mythology, Sigmund (old norse: Sigmundr) is a hero whose story is told in the Völsunga saga. He and his sister, Signý, are the children of Völsung and his wife Hljod. Sigmund is best known as the father of Sigurð the dragon-slayer, though Sigurð's tale has almost no connections to the Völsung cycle.

Völsunga saga
In the Völsunga saga, Signý marries Siggeir, the king of Gautland (modern Västergötland). Völsung and Sigmund are attending the wedding feast (which lasted for some time before and after the marriage), when Odin, disguised as a beggar, plunges a sword (Gram) into the living tree Barnstokk ("offspring-trunk") around which Völsung's hall is built. The disguised Odin announces that the man who can remove the sword will have it as a gift. Only Sigmund is able to free the sword from the tree.
 

Siggeir is smitten with envy and desire for the sword. He tries to buy it but Sigmund refuses. Siggeir invites Sigmund, his father Völsung and Sigmund's nine brothers to visit him in Gautland to see the newlyweds three months later. When the Völsung clan arrive, they are attacked by the Gauts; King Völsung is killed and his sons captured. Signý beseeches her husband to spare her brothers and to put them in stocks instead of killing them. As Siggeir thinks that the brothers deserve to be tortured before they are killed, he agrees.
 

He then lets his shapeshifting mother turn into a wolf and devour one of the brothers each night. During that time, Signý tries various ruses but fails every time until only Sigmund remains. On the ninth night, she has a servant smear honey on Sigmund's face and when the she-wolf arrives, she starts licking the honey off and sticks her tongue into Sigmund's mouth, whereupon Sigmund bites her tongue off, killing her. Sigmund then escapes his bonds and hides in the forest.

Signý brings Sigmund everything he needs. Bent on revenge for their father's death, she also sends her sons to him in the wilderness, one by one, to be tested. As each fails, she urges Sigmund to kill them, until one day when he refuses to continue killing innocent children. Finally, in despair, she comes to him in the guise of a völva and conceives a child by him, Sinfjötli (the Fitela of Beowulf). Sinfjötli, born of their incest, passes the test.
 

Sigmund and his son/nephew, Sinfjötli, grow wealthy as outlaws. In their wanderings, they come upon men sleeping in cursed wolf skins. Upon killing the men and putting on the wolf skins, they are cursed with a type of lycanthropy. Eventually, they avenge the death of Völsung.
 

After Signý dies, Sigmund and Sinfjötli go harrying together. Sigmund marries a woman named Borghild and has two sons, one of them named Helgi. Sinfjötli slays Borghild's brother while vying for a woman they both want. Borghild avenges her brother by poisoning Sinfjötli.
 

Later, Sigmund marries a woman named Hjördís. After a short time of peace, Sigmund's lands are attacked by King Lyngi. In battle, Sigmund matches up against an old man who is Odin in disguise. Odin shatters Sigmund's sword, and Sigmund falls at the hands of others. Dying, he tells Hjördís that she is pregnant and that her son will one day make a great weapon out of the fragments of his sword. That son was to be Sigurd. Sigurd himself had a son named Sigmund, who was killed when he was three years old by a vengeful Brynhild.

SIEGLINDE

Signy or Signe (sometimes known as Sieglinde) is the name of two heroines in two connected legends from Scandinavian mythology which were very popular in medieval Scandinavia. Both appear in the Völsunga saga, which was adapted into other works such as Wagner's 'Ring' cycle, including its famous opera The Valkyrie. Signy is also the name of two characters in several other sagas.
 

The first Signy is the daughter of King Völsung. She was married to the villainous Geatish king Siggeir who has her whole family treacherously murdered, except for her brother Sigmund. She saves her brother, has an incestuous affair with him and bears the son Sinfjötli. She burnt herself to death with her hated husband.
 

The second Signy is the daughter of King Siggeir's nephew Sigar. She fell in love with the Sea-King Hagbard, and promised him that she would not live if he died. They were discovered and Hagbard was sentenced to be hanged. Hagbard managed to signal this to Signy who set her house on fire and died in the flames whereupon Hagbard hanged himself in the gallows.
 

A third Signy is the daughter of a witch named Grid in Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra. They are both delivered from a curse by a young man named Illugi.
 

A fourth Signy was Hroðgar's sister in Skjöldunga saga and Hrólfr Kraki's saga. She is unnamed in Beowulf.

In Völsunga saga
Signy was the only daughter of King Völsung of Hunaland and Hljod the giantess. She and her twin brother Sigmund were the oldest of Volsung’s eleven children. Signy reluctantly married King Siggeir of Gautland after he asked King Volsung for her hand. It was at their wedding feast that Sigmund drew the sword Gram from Barnstokkr.
 

Three months after her wedding, Signy's father and brothers visited her at her new home in Gautland. Signy warned them of her husband’s plan to betray them. Despite her warning, Volsung is killed and all of Signy’s brothers are captured. At Signy’s request, her brothers are put in the stocks rather than executed, but each night one was killed by a she-wolf. When only Sigmund was left alive, Signy sent a man to smear honey on his face and mouth, which the wolf only licked, allowing Sigmund to escape alive. Signy then helped her brother to hide in the woods.
 

Signy wanted nothing but to see her father’s death avenged. She sent her elder son to Sigmund for him to help in this endeavor. When Sigmund revealed to her that he was unworthy, Signy told Sigmund to kill him, which he did. The same happened with her younger son.
 

Signy met a sorceress with whom she exchanged shapes. Signy, looking like the sorceress, went to her brother in the woods and slept with him for three nights. She then returned to the castle and regained her appearance. After a time she gave birth to a son Sinfjötli. He was also sent to her brother in the forest when he was nine years old. Sigmund and Sinfjötli kill Siggeir to avenge the death of their father/grandfather together. It is only after this that Signy informs Sigmund of the incest that led to Sinfjötli's birth. Signy then walks into the fire that is killing her husband, announcing, "In everything I have worked toward the killing of King Siggeir. I have worked so hard to bring about vengeance that I am by no means fit to live. Willingly I will now die with King Siggeir, although I married him reluctantly."

SIEGFRIED

Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving (c. 1000) and the Gök Runestone (11th century).
 

As Siegfried, he is one of the heroes in the German Nibelungenlied, and Richard Wagner's operas Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.

As Sivard Snarensven(d), he was the hero of several medieval Scandinavian ballads.
 

The name Sigurðr is not the same name as the German Siegfried. The Old Norse form of Siegfried would have been Sigfroðr. Sivard is a variant form of Sigurðr. These name forms all share the first element Sig-, which means victory (as do the German Sieg- and Dutch zege-).

Völsunga saga
In the Völsunga saga, Sigurd is the posthumous son of Sigmund and his second wife, Hiordis. Sigmund dies in battle when he attacks Odin (who is in disguise), and Odin shatters Sigmund's sword. Dying, Sigmund tells Hiordis of her pregnancy and bequeaths the fragments of his sword to his unborn son.

Hiordis marries King Alf, and then Alf decides to send Sigurd to Regin as a foster. Regin tempts Sigurd to greed and violence by first asking Sigurd if he has control over Sigmund's gold. When Sigurd says that Alf and his family control the gold and will give him anything he desires, Regin asks Sigurd why he consents to a lowly position at court. Sigurd replies that he is treated as an equal by the kings and can get anything he desires. Then Regin asks Sigurd why he acts as stableboy to the kings and has no horse of his own. Sigurd then goes to get a horse. An old man (Odin in disguise) advises Sigurd on choice of horse. In this way Sigurd acquires Grani, a horse directly descended from Odin's own horse, Sleipnir.
 

Finally, Regin tries to tempt Sigurd by telling him the story of the Otter's Gold. Regin explains to Sigurd that his father is Hreidmar, a powerful magician, and that his two brothers are Ótr and Fafnir. Regin explains that he is a master at smithing. He also describes how his brother, Ótr possesses many magical talents. Regin tells a story of how Ótr enjoys taking the form of an otter and swimming at a waterfall, where the dwarf, Andvari, resides. Andvari often assumes the form of a pike and swims in the same pool as well.
 

One day, the Æsir see Ótr in the form of an otter carrying a fish in his mouth on the banks and mistake him for a real otter. Loki kills him for his pelt. They take the pelt to the nearby home of Hreidmar to display their catch. Hreidmar, Fafnir, and Regin promptly seize the Æsir and demand compensation for the death of Ótr. The Æsir consent to stuff Ótr's body with gold, cover his skin with fine treasures, and deliver the corpse back to the three dwarves along with all of the treasure as compensation for having killed Ótr to begin with. Loki acquires a net from the sea giantess, Rán. Loki then uses the net to catch Andvari in the form of a pike. Loki orders Andvari to give him all of his gold. Andvari willingly gives him all of the gold, except for one ring. Loki takes this ring also, unaware of the fact that it carries a curse of death on its bearer. The Æsir use this gold to stuff Ótr's skin and then cover it. They then cover the last exposed place (a whisker) with the ring of Andvari. Afterwards, Fafnir murders Hreidmar and takes all of the gold, denying Regin his rightful share.

Sigurd agrees to avenge Regin and Hreidmar by killing Fafnir, who has been turned into a dragon by the curse on Andvari's ring. Sigurd requests for Regin to make him a sword and tests the sword by striking it against the anvil. The sword shatters, so he orders Regin to make another. This one also shatters. Finally, Sigurd orders Regin to make a sword out of the fragments that have been left to him by Sigmund. The resulting sword, Gram, cuts straight through the anvil. To kill Fafnir, Regin advises Sigurd to dig a pit, wait for Fafnir to walk over it, and then stab the dragon once he has fallen into the pit. Odin, posing as an old man, advises Sigurd to dig trenches also to drain the blood. Odin advises Sigurd to bathe in the dragon's blood after killing the dragon, telling him that bathing in a dragon's blood confers invulnerability. Sigurd follows the instructions given to him by both Regin and Odin and successfully kills Fafnir. Regin then asks Sigurd to give him Fafnir's heart for himself. Sigurd drinks some of Fafnir's blood and gains the ability to understand the language of birds. The birds advise him to kill Regin, since Regin has also been corrupted by the ring and is plotting Sigurd's death. Sigurd beheads Regin, roasts Fafnir's heart, and consumes part of it. This gives him the gift of "wisdom" (prophecy).
 

After defeating Fafnir, Sigurd meets Brynhildr, a "shieldmaiden." She pledges herself to him but also prophesies his doom and marriage to another. (In Völsunga saga, it is not clear whether or not Brynhild is a Valkyrie or in any way supernatural.)
 

Sigurd travels to the court of Heimar, who is married to Bekkhild, sister of Brynhild. Afterwards, he travels to the court of Gjúki, where he comes to live. Gjuki has three sons and one daughter by his wife, Grimhild. The sons are Gunnar, Hogni, and Guttorm. The daughter is Gudrun. Desiring Sigurd's ring and gold for her own family, Grimhild makes an "Ale of Forgetfulness" to force Sigurd to forget Brynhild, so he will be able to marry Gudrun. Later, Gunnar decides to court Brynhild. Brynhild's bower is surrounded by flames and she promises herself only to the man daring enough to go through them. Only Grani, Sigurd's horse, is willing to do it, and only with Sigurd on it. Sigurd exchanges shapes with Gunnar, rides through the flames, and wins Brynhild for Gunnar.
 

Some time later, Brynhild taunts Gudrun for having a better husband. In response, Gudrun reveals everything that has happened to Brynhild and explains the deception. Brynhild plots revenge against Grimhild for having deceived her and cheated her out of the husband she had desired. First, she refuses to speak to anyone and withdraws. Eventually, Sigurd is sent by Gunnar to see what is wrong. Brynhild accuses Sigurd of taking liberties with her. Gunnar and Hogni plot Sigurd's death and enchant their brother, Guttorm, to a frenzy to accomplish the deed. Guttorm attacks Sigurd in bed, and they are both killed in the struggle. Brynhild kills Sigurd's three-year-old son, Sigmund (named for Sigurd's father). Brynhild then wills herself to die and builds a funeral pyre for Sigurd, his son, Guttorm, and herself. Before this tragedy, Sigurd and Brynhild produce a daughter, Aslaug, who marries Ragnar Lodbrok.
 

Sigurd and Gudrun are parents to the twins Sigmund (named after Sigurd's father) and Svanhild.

Richard Wagner - Siegfried (1993, conductor Daniel Barenboim)
Siegfried forges Notung anew

GUNTER

Gunther (Gundahar, Gundahari, Latin Gundaharius, Gundicharius, or Guntharius, Old English Gūðhere, Old Norse Gunnarr, anglicised as Gunnar, d. 437) was a historical King of Burgundy in the early 5th century. Legendary tales about him appear in Latin, medieval Middle High German, Old Norse, and Old English texts, especially concerning his relations with Siegfried (Sigurd in Old Norse) and his death by treachery in the hall of Attila the Hun.

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In legend
The destruction of Worms and the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns became the subject of heroic legends that were afterwards incorporated into many works of medieval literature such as the Middle High German epic poem, the Nibelungenlied, where King Gunther and Queen Brünhild hold their court at Worms, and Siegfried comes to woo Gunther's sister Kriemhild. In Old Norse sources, the names are Gunnar, Brynhild, Sigurd, and Gudrun as normally rendered in English.

In the Waltharius, Gibicho and his son Guntharius are kings of the Franks, whereas the king of the Burgundians is named Heriricus who is father to Hiltgunt, the heroine of the story. Hagano appears here as a kinsman of Gibicho and Guntharius, but the relationship is not made explicit. In their combats with Waltharius, Guntharius loses a leg, Hagano loses half his face and one eye, and Waltharius loses a hand. But there is no hint in later tales that Gunther is in any way maimed. Another version of the story of Waltharius and Hiltgunt appears in the Norse Thidreks saga, but in this account Gunther plays no part at all.

In the Nibelungenlied, Gunther is a Burgundian king once more and seeks to make Brünhild, queen of Iceland, his wife. He is only able to pass her marriage test with the aid of the hero Siegfried and his magic cloak that grants invisibility and strength. Gunther marries Brünhild but the queen refuses to consummate the marriage until she learns the truth about Siegfried whom she has become suspicious of.
 

Again with Siegfried's help, Gunther is able to overpower his queen and her great strength is lost with consummation. Siegfried marries Gunther's sister Kriemhild. An impassioned debate between Brünhild and Kriemhild about who has a more noble husband leads to Kriemhild telling the lie that Siegfried slept with Brünhild himself, instead of Gunther, making Brünhild no better than a concubine. Brünhild is so offended that she seeks the death of Siegfried and enlists the help of Hagen/ Hagano. Gunther eventually agrees to assist in Siegfried's murder as well, though he knows Siegfried has done no wrong. After Siegfried is murdered Kriemhild plots her revenge on his killers and eventually marries Etzel (i.e., Attila the Hun). She hatches her plot and invites her brothers to a festival in Etzel's court. Hagen warns of treachery but is ultimately ignored and Gunther and his brothers travel to the court of Etzel, leaving Brünhild behind in Burgundy. There fighting breaks out between the Burgundians and the people in Etzel's court, among whom is found the Gothic king Dietrich (or Theoderic the Great) and his loyal companion Hildebrand. All of Kriemhild's brothers die until only Gunther and Hagen remain of the Burgundians. Kriemhild orders Gunther to be killed and then beheads Hagen herself before being struck down herself by Hildebrand.
 

In the Völsunga saga, Gunnar/Gunther is the son of Gjuki. Sigurd/ Siegfried arrives in the court of Gjuki and befriends his sons. Gjuki's wife Grimhild tricks Sigurd into marrying her daughter Gudrun/Kriemhild and afterwards Sigurd sets out with Gunnar and his brother Högni/Hagen to win the valkyrie Brynhild/Brunhild as a wife for Gunnar. Gunnar is unable to pass through the barrier of fire that protects Brynhild's castle, so Sigurd takes Gunnar's form and passes through for him and woos Brynhild bringing her back to Gjuki's court with them. Gudrun and Brynhild get into an argument over whose husband is more noble and Gudrun reveals to Brynhild that she had been deceived and it was really Sigurd who rode through the flames to win her. Brynhild despairs and will speak to no one. She says that Sigurd should have been her husband but when Sigurd offers to marry her she refuses. Brynhild tells Gunnar that she will return to the court of her father and stay there if he does not kill Sigurd and his son. Gunnar enlists the help of Hogni who advises against killing Sigurd, but suggests they get their younger brother Guttorm, who has sworn no oaths of brotherhood with Sigurd, to commit the murder. Sigurd is slain in his bed but kills Guttorm before dying. Brynhild throws herself onto Sigurd's funeral pyre committing suicide. Gudrun leaves her brothers court but is later manipulated into marrying Atli (Old Norse name for Attila) Atli hatches a plot to kill Gunnar and Hogni and take possession of the treasure they took from the murdered Sigurd and as retribution for the death of his sister Brynhild. Despite warnings of treachery from both Gudrun and their wives, Gunnar and Hogni travel to Atli's court where they are attacked and many are killed on both sides. Gunnar and Hogni are the last of their men standing and are eventually captured. Hogni has his heart cut out and shown to Gunnar which solidifies Gunnar's resolve not to give the treasure to Atli. Gunnar is thrown, bound, into a snake pit where he lulls the serpents by playing a harp with his toes. One large snake is not affected and burrows into his heart killing him.
 

According to the Norse poem "Atlamal", Gunnar remarried after Brynhild's death to a woman named Glaumvor.
 

These stories were later adapted by Richard Wagner into Der Ring Des Nibelungen. Gunther appears in the last part Gotterdammerung. From there events happen in a similar manner to the Völsunga saga. After Hagen kills Siegfried he and Gunther argue over the Ring, leading to Hagen murdering Gunther.

GUTRUNE

Gudrun is a major figure in early Germanic literature that is centred on the hero Sigurd, son of Sigmund. She appears as Kriemhild in the Nibelungenlied and as Gutrune in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Norse mythology
In Norse mythology, Gudrun (Guðrún Gjúkadóttir) is the sister of king Gunnar. She falls in love with Sigurd, who does not care for her, as he is in love with the valkyrie Brynhild, to whom he once gave the ring of Andvaranaut. Gudrun's brother Gunnar also wished to marry Brynhild, but this was impossible as she had sworn to marry only the man who could defeat her in a fair fight, whom she knew to be Sigurd.
 

In another version of the myth, Brynhild is imprisoned inside a ring of fire as punishment by Odin. Sigurd fights his way through the fire and promises to marry Brynhild, but is then bewitched by the ring of Andvarinaut. Sigurd then switches bodies with Gunnar and, in this guise, gallops through the fire and wins Brynhild again, who is deceived by this ruse into marrying the real Gunnar. Gunnar had agreed to Sigurd's marrying Gudrun under the condition that Sigurd would win Brynhild for him first. When he was disguised as Gunnar, Sigurd also took the ring of Andvaranaut from Brynhild and gave it to Gudrun as his morning gift. Both queens, Gudrun and Brynhild, were married on the same day.
 

Gudrun's scheming mother, Grimhild, called Ute in the Nibelungenlied, mixes a potion to make Sigurd forget his love for Brynhild.

Later, when Brynhild learns that she has been tricked into marrying the inferior Gunnar, she exacts vengeance by telling Gunnar that Sigurd had taken liberties with her, so Gunnar has Sigurd killed. Gudrun is so overcome with grief at the death of the one she loves that she cannot weep. The royal court fears for her life, and when finally her sister shows Sigurd's corpse to Gudrun, tears flow at last. Gudrun laments her lost husband and predicts the death of his killer, her own brother Gunnar.
 

Gudrun sets fire to Atli's hall, killing him along with all of his men. She tries to drown herself by jumping into the sea with an armful of stones. The waves find her revenge fitting, however, and instead of drowning her, they carry her to Sweden, where she marries another king, Jónakr, with whom she has three sons Hamdir, Sörli and Erp. Svanhild, her daughter by Sigurd, is wooed by Ermanaric, but is accused wrongly of adultery and is killed by her husband. Gudrun also has a son by Sigurd, named Sigmund (named after Sigurd's father). Subsequently, her three sons are killed when they avenge Svanhild (see Jonakr's sons).
 

In the southern version of the saga, Gudrun, here Kriemhild, kills her brothers to get back the Nibelung gold, and is killed in turn by Dietrich von Bern.

HAGEN

Hagen (German form) or Högni (Old Norse Hǫgni, often anglicized as Hogni) is a Burgundian warrior in tales about the Burgundian kingdom at Worms. Hagen is often identified as a brother or half-brother of King Gunther (Old Norse Gunnarr). In the Nibelungenlied he is nicknamed "from Tronje".

In the opera Götterdämmerung, part of The Ring Cycle, Hagen is portrayed as the half-brother of Gunther and Gutrune, illegitimately fathered by the dwarf Alberich (and so by extension Siegfried's step-cousin). He is similarly depicted as evil and cunning, acting under the influence of his father but for his own interests. He convinces Gunther and Brünnhilde that by marrying Gutrune, Siegfried has committed an act of perjury that justifies his murder, allowing Hagen to claim the ring.

When Gunther objects to this claim Hagen kills him (and their sister dies in grief) but is too frightened to take the ring when Siegfried's corpse makes a threatening gesture. Brünnhilde takes the ring and returns it to the Rhinemaidens and Hagen is drowned in the river trying to reclaim it.
 

BRUNNHILDE

Brynhildr (also spelled Brünhild, Brünnhilde, Brynhild) is a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie in Germanic mythology, where she appears as a main character in the Völsunga saga and some Eddic poems treating the same events. Under the name Brünnhild she appears in the Nibelungenlied and therefore also in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. She may be inspired by the Visigothic princess Brunhilda of Austrasia. The history of Brynhildr includes fratricide, a long battle between brothers, and dealings with the Huns. She is also known as Sigrdrífa, as written in the poem Sigrdrífumál.
 

Völsunga saga
According to the Völsunga saga, Brynhildr is a shieldmaiden and seemingly valkyrie who is the daughter of Budli. She was ordered to decide a fight between two kings, Hjalmgunnar and Agnar, and knew that Odin preferred the older king, Hjalmgunnar, yet she decided the battle for Agnar. For this Odin condemned her to live the life of a mortal woman, and imprisoned her in a remote castle behind a wall of shields on top of mount Hindarfjall, where she sleeps in a ring of flames until any man rescues and marries her. The hero Sigurðr Sigmundson (Siegfried in the Nibelungenlied), heir to the clan of Völsung and slayer of the dragon Fafnir, entered the castle and awoke Brynhildr by removing her helmet and cutting off her chainmail armour. The two fell in love and Sigurðr proposed to her with the magic ring Andvaranaut.
 

Wagner's "Ring" cycle
Though the cycle of four operas is titled Der Ring des Nibelungen, Richard Wagner in fact took Brünnhilde's role from the Norse sagas rather than from the Nibelungenlied. Brünnhilde appears in the latter three operas (Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung), playing a central role in the overall story of Wotan's downfall.
 

In Wagner's tale, Brünnhilde is one of the valkyries, who are born out of a union between Wotan and Erda, the personification of the earth. In Die Walküre Wotan initially commissions her to protect Siegmund, his son by a mortal mother. When Fricka protests and forces Wotan to have Siegmund die for his adultery and incest, Brünnhilde disobeys her father's change of orders and takes away Siegmund's wife (and sister) Sieglinde and the shards of Siegmund's sword, Nothung. She manages to hide them, but must then face the wrath of her father who is determined to make her mortal and put her into an enchanted sleep to be claimed by any man who happens across her. Brünnhilde argues that what she did was in obeyance of the god's true will and does not deserve such a fate. He is eventually persuaded to protect her sleep with magical fire, sentencing her to await awakening by a hero who does not know fear.

Brünnhilde does not appear again until near the end of the third act of Siegfried. The title character is the son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, born after Siegmund's death and raised by the dwarf Mime, the brother of Alberich who stole the gold and fashioned the ring around which the operas are centered. Having killed the giant-turned-dragon Fafnir, Siegfried takes the ring and is guided to Brünnhilde's rock by a bird, the blood of Fafnir having enabled him to understand birdsong. Wotan tries to stop him but he breaks the God's spear. He then awakens Brünnhilde.
 

Siegfried and Brünnhilde appear again at the beginning of Götterdämmerung, at which point he gives her the ring and they are separated. Here again Wagner chooses to follow the Norse story, though with substantial modifications. Siegfried does go to Gunther's hall, where he is given a potion to cause him to forget Brünnhilde so that Gunther may marry her. All this occurs at the instigation of Hagen, Alberich's son and Gunther's half-brother. The plan is successful, and Siegfried leads Gunther to Brünnhilde's rock. In the meantime she has been visited by her sister valkyrie Waltraute, who warns her of Wotan's plans for self-immolation and urges her to give up the ring. Brünnhilde refuses, only to be overpowered by Siegfried who, disguised as Gunther using the Tarnhelm, takes the ring from her by force.
 

As potion-enchanted Siegfried goes to marry Gutrune, Gunther's sister, Brünnhilde sees that he has the ring and denounces him for his treachery. Still rejected, she joins Gunther and Hagen in a plot to murder Siegfried, telling Hagen that Siegfried can only be attacked from the back. So Gunther and Hagen take Siegfried on a hunting trip, in the course of which Hagen stabs Siegfried in the back with a spear. Upon their return, where Hagen kills Gunther in a dispute over the ring, Brünnhilde takes charge, and has a pyre built in which she is to perish, cleansing the ring of its curse and returning it to the Rhinemaidens. Her pyre becomes the signal by which Valhalla and all the gods also perish in flames.

FASOLT

Reginn, often Anglicized as Regin or Regan, in Norse mythology, was the son of Hreiðmarr and foster father of Sigurd. His brothers are Fafnir and Ótr. When Loki mistakenly kills Ótr, Hreiðmarr demands to be repaid with the amount of gold it takes to fill Ótr's skin and cover the outside. Loki takes this gold from the dwarf Andvari, who curses it and especially the ring Andvaranaut. Fafnir kills his father for this gold, but eventually becomes a greedy dragon. Reginn gets none of the gold, but he becomes smith to the king, and foster father to Sigurd, teaching him many languages as well as sports, chess, and runes.
 

Reginn had all wisdom and deftness of hand. Of his two brothers, he has the ability to work iron as well as silver and gold and he makes many beautiful and useful things. While Sigurd is living with Reginn, Reginn challenges Sigurd's respect in the kingdom. He tells Sigurd to ask for a horse. Sigurd asks the advice of an old man in the forest, and the old man shows him how to get a horse that is descended from Sleipnir, the eight legged horse of Odin. Reginn continues to goad Sigurd, this time into killing Reginn's brother Fafnir. He offers to make a sword for Sigurd, but Sigurd broke every sword Reginn forged for him by striking at an anvil. Sigurd retrieves the broken pieces of his father Sigmund's sword, Gram, and brings them to Reginn.

Reginn repairs the sword and gives it back to Sigurd. When Sigurd again tests the blade by striking the anvil, the anvil this time is split down to its base, and when Sigurd places a piece of wool in a stream, the current pushing the wool against the sword was enough to cause the blade to cut it in two. Sigurd is finally very pleased with Reginn's repaired weapon.
 

After using Gram to kill Fafnir, Sigurd returns to ask Reginn what to do. Reginn instructs him to roast the heart of Fafnir, his brother, and let him eat it. As juice from the dragon's heart foams out, Sigurd tests it with his finger to see if it is done cooking. As the blood touches his tongue, Sigurd understands the speech of birds, who warn him that Reginn intends to kill him. Before he lets any of this happen, Sigurd first wields Gram and cuts off Reginn's head.
 

The Norwegian Thidrekssaga relates a slightly different tale, with Reginn as the dragon and Mimir as his brother and foster father to Sigurd.
 

In the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, by Richard Wagner, the role of Reginn is played by the Nibelung dwarf Mime, brother of Alberich (the Nibelung who forged the cursed ring out of the Rhinegold). Except for the change in name, probably inspired by the Thidrekssaga, the story of Reginn, Sigurd and Fafner in Wagner's opera Siegfried follows closely the text of the Eddas. However, in this version Mime is unable to reforge the sword Nothung, since only one who doesn't know fear - such as Siegfried - can do so.

FATHER

In Norse mythology, Fáfnir (Old Norse and Icelandic) or Frænir is a son of the dwarf king Hreidmar and brother of Regin, Ótr, Lyngheiðr and Lofnheiðr. After being affected by the curse of Andvari's ring and gold, Fafnir became a dragon and was slain by Sigurd.

Fafnir appears – as "Fafner" – in Richard Wagner's epic opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848–1874), although he began life as a giant rather than a dwarf. In the first opera, Das Rheingold (1869), which has some basis from the Gylfaginning, Fafner and his brother Fasolt try to take the Goddess Freia, based on Idun, who has been promised to them by Wotan, the king of the gods, in exchange for building the castle Valhalla. Fasolt is in love with her, while Fafner wants her as without her golden apples the Gods will lose their youth. The Giants, mainly Fafner, agree to accept a massive hoard of treasure stolen from the dwarf Alberich instead. The treasure includes the magic helmet Tarnhelm and a magic ring of power. As they divide the treasure, the brothers argue and Fafner kills Fasolt and takes the ring for himself. Escaping to earth, he uses the Tarnhelm to transform himself into a dragon and guards the treasure in a cave for many years before being ultimately killed by Wotan's mortal grandson Siegfried, as depicted in the opera of the same name. The Giants are thought to represent the working class. However, while Fasolt is a romantic revolutionary, Fafner is a more violent and jealous figure, plotting to overthrow the gods. In many productions, he is shown to return to his original Giant form while delivering his death-speech to Siegfried.

ALBERICH

In the Middle High German Nibelungenlied, Alberich is a dwarf, who guards the treasure of the Nibelungen, but is overcome by Siegfried. News of the gold robbery and ring of power incited gods and giants alike to action. The giants Fafner and Fasolt demanded the ring in payment for building Valhalla, and carried off Freyja as a hostage. In the border, the gods, Odin, Frigg, Loki, Freyr, and Thor all search despairingly for the hidden treasure.
 

Wagner
In Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, Alberich is the chief of the Nibelungen race of dwarfs and the main antagonist driving events. He gains the power to forge the ring after renouncing love. His brother, the smith Mime, creates the Tarnhelm for Alberich. Hagen, the murderer of the hero [Siegfried], is the son of Alberich by Grimhilde, a human woman.
 

Wagner's Alberich is a composite character, mostly based on Alberich from the Nibelungenlied, but also on Andvari from Norse mythology. He has been widely described, most notably by Theodor Adorno, as a negative Jewish stereotype, with his race expressed through "distorted" music and "muttering" speech; other critics, however, disagree with this assessment.

MIME

Reginn, often Anglicized as Regin or Regan, in Norse mythology, was the son of Hreiðmarr and foster father of Sigurd. His brothers are Fafnir and Ótr. When Loki mistakenly kills Ótr, Hreiðmarr demands to be repaid with the amount of gold it takes to fill Ótr's skin and cover the outside. Loki takes this gold from the dwarf Andvari, who curses it and especially the ring Andvaranaut. Fafnir kills his father for this gold, but eventually becomes a greedy dragon. Reginn gets none of the gold, but he becomes smith to the king, and foster father to Sigurd, teaching him many languages as well as sports, chess, and runes.
 

Reginn had all wisdom and deftness of hand. Of his two brothers, he has the ability to work iron as well as silver and gold and he makes many beautiful and useful things. While Sigurd is living with Reginn, Reginn challenges Sigurd's respect in the kingdom. He tells Sigurd to ask for a horse. Sigurd asks the advice of an old man in the forest, and the old man shows him how to get a horse that is descended from Sleipnir, the eight legged horse of Odin. Reginn continues to goad Sigurd, this time into killing Reginn's brother Fafnir. He offers to make a sword for Sigurd, but Sigurd broke every sword Reginn forged for him by striking at an anvil. Sigurd retrieves the broken pieces of his father Sigmund's sword, Gram, and brings them to Reginn. Reginn repairs the sword and gives it back to Sigurd. When Sigurd again tests the blade by striking the anvil, the anvil this time is split down to its base, and when Sigurd places a piece of wool in a stream, the current pushing the wool against the sword was enough to cause the blade to cut it in two. Sigurd is finally very pleased with Reginn's repaired weapon.
 

After using Gram to kill Fafnir, Sigurd returns to ask Reginn what to do. Reginn instructs him to roast the heart of Fafnir, his brother, and let him eat it. As juice from the dragon's heart foams out, Sigurd tests it with his finger to see if it is done cooking. As the blood touches his tongue, Sigurd understands the speech of birds, who warn him that Reginn intends to kill him. Before he lets any of this happen, Sigurd first wields Gram and cuts off Reginn's head.
 

The Norwegian Thidrekssaga relates a slightly different tale, with Reginn as the dragon and Mimir as his brother and foster father to Sigurd.
 

In the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, by Richard Wagner, the role of Reginn is played by the Nibelung dwarf Mime, brother of Alberich (the Nibelung who forged the cursed ring out of the Rhinegold). Except for the change in name, probably inspired by the Thidrekssaga, the story of Reginn, Sigurd and Fafner in Wagner's opera Siegfried follows closely the text of the Eddas. However, in this version Mime is unable to reforge the sword Nothung, since only one who doesn't know fear - such as Siegfried - can do so.

Plate 35 - Mime's Toil

Years later, Mime toils over an anvil in a cavern in a wood. He is making yet another sword for Siegfried, who has grown to young manhood. But labor as he may to make a sturdy weapon, Siegfried always shatters it. Mime wishes he had the skill to reforge Nothung, Siegmund's sword which was shattered in the final battle with Hunding, and whose pieces he has.

Plate 42 - Siegfried At The Anvil

When Siegfried returns he is angered to find Nothung still in pieces. Mime tells him that only someone who does not know fear can reforge it. Siegfried says that person is he and sets about work. Mime promises to teach him fear at Fafner's lair, and prepares a deadly potion he intends to give the hero after he has slain the dragon. Siegfried files down the sword, melts it and casts it anew.

Plate 46 - Alberich & Mime

As soon as Siegfried enters the cave, Alberich appears and quarrels with Mime over possession of the hoard. Alberich slinks off. When Siegfried emerges he wears the ring and has the Tarnhelm. He is able to read Mime's thoughts about killing him with the potion and so slays the dwarf. The bird tells him that a wife awaits him atop a mountain surrounded by fire, and leads him to her.