The Session:
Continued the legend of Sigurd the Volsung
1/. Sigurd disguised himself as his blood brother Gunnar, rode through the magic fire surrounding Brnyhild’s tower, and claimed Brynhild as Gunnar’s wife. Back in King Gjuki’s kingdom, a fierce rivalry grew up between Brynhild and Sigurd’s wife Gudrun, over the question of hierarchy and which of them had the better husband. In the end, Gudrun told Brynhild that Gunnar had not been brave enough to ride through the flames to claim her, and that Sigurd had done it for him. Brynhild was determined to avenge herself on Sigurd for his deceit. She told Gunnar, falsely, that Sigurd had betrayed him by sleeping with her, knowing that Gunnar would be obliged to kill Sigurd to safeguard his own honour. Gunnar and Hogni ambushed Sigurd and killed him. Brynhild did not wish to carry on living, given her humiliating circumstance, and she killed herself. She was laid next to Sigurd on his funeral pyre and they went into the next world together.
2/. In this version of the legend, Brynhild and Gudrun’s actions are seen as justifiable. However, a thirteenth century re-working lays the blame for Sigurd’s death on the female characters – Brnyhild, Gudrun, and a new character, King Gjuki’s queen Grimhild, who was an evil sorceress. This re-working possibly reflecting the prevailing mediaeval attitude to women.
3/. We concluded that Sigurd comes across as less principled than the other heroes that we have met. The people listening to the stories seem to have been happy with that. They wanted their hero to win; how he did that was less important. In that respect, Sigurd seems to have had a lot in common with the Greek heroes.
4/. After Sigurd’s death, the story continues with Gudrun and her brothers, and a long trail of revenge and bloodletting to protect family honour and reputation; this is another prominent theme in the Germanic and Scandinavian hero legends.
Last Updated on July 30, 2019