Nibelung tradition

250px|thumb|First page from Manuscript C ( 1230) The ' (, or ; or ), translated as The Song of the Nibelungs''', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germanic heroic legend that has some of its origin in historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries and that spread throughout almost all of Germanic-speaking Europe. Scandinavian parallels to the German poem are found especially in the heroic lays of the Poetic Edda and in the Völsunga saga''.

collection of Old Norse poems

thumb|The death of Siegfried. Hagen stands to the right of Siegfried with a bow. From the Hundeshagenscher Kodex. thumb|"Sigurd proofs the sword gram (mythology)|Gram" (1901) by Johannes Gehrts. thumb|Siegfried's Departure from Kriemhild, by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, c. 1843

thumb|"Brunnhild" (1897) by Gaston Bussière

13th century Icelandic saga

275px|thumb|According to the Nibelungenlied (1859) by [[Peter von Cornelius, Gunther orders Hagen to drop the hoard into the Rhine.]]

thumb|right|200px|This part of the Drävle Runestone is held to depict Andvari. In Norse mythology, Andvari (12th c. Old Norse: ; "careful one") is a dwarf who lives underneath a waterfall and has the power to change himself into a pike (gedda) at will.

thumb|Woodcut by Edward Burne-Jones, for [[William Morris' work, Sigurd the Volsung. (London: Kelmscott Press, 1898).]] thumb|Kriemhild discovers Siegfried's corpse. Painting by Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1817. thumb|Kriemhild accuses Hagen of murdering Siegfried. Painting by Emil Lauffer, 1879 right|thumb|Kriemhild and Gunther, Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1807 thumb|Kriemhild's Death, Karl Schmoll von Eisenwerth, 1911 Gudrun ( ; ) or Kriemhild ( ; ) is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of

thumb|upright=1.3|right|Near a wood, the goddess Sif rests her head on a stump while [[Loki lurks behind, sword in hand. Loki intends to cut Sif's hair per a myth recounted in Skáldskaparmál.]] Skáldskaparmál (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the Prose Edda, compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both stories of the Æsir and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined. The work additionally includes tales of human heroes and kings.

thumb|Sigurd killing Regin in an engraving from the Hylestad Stave Church thumb|The decapitated Regin in the Ramsund carving In Norse mythology, Reginn (; often anglicized as Regin or Regan) is a son of Hreiðmarr and the foster father of Sigurð. His brothers are Fáfnir and Ótr.

thumb|King Geppich battles Hildebrand in [[Rosengarten zu Worms]] Gibica, better know by his later legendary names Gjúki or Gibeche, was an early king of the Burgundians. He is attested as one of the earlier kings in the prologue to the Lex Burgundionum (516 AD); otherwise, nothing is known about the historical figure. In later Germanic heroic legend, he becomes the father of other Burgundian kings and figures, including Gunther/Gunnarr and Gudrun/Kriemhild. Depending on the text, he may also be the father of Giselher, Gernot, and/or Högni. Some German sources, including the Nibelungenlied, re

In Norse mythology, Hreiðmarr (Old Norse: ; anglicized as Hreidmar) is a dwarf. He is featured in the Völsunga saga and in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda.

thumb|The dwarf Alberich (with whip) drives on the Nibelung dwarfs, who collect gold and other treasures. ([[Arthur Rackham, 1910)]]

dwarf of Norse mythology

thumb|Alberich seduces the king's mother (a scene from Ortnit, 1480 woodcut) thumb|Alberich (with whip) drives on the Nibelung dwarfs, who collect gold and other treasures. ([[Arthur Rackham, 1910)]] thumb|Sigurd|Siegfried wrestles with Alberich ([[Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1843)]] In German heroic legend, Alberich () is a dwarf. He features most prominently in the poems Nibelungenlied and Ortnit. He also features in the Old Norse collection of German legends called the Thidreksaga under the name Alfrikr. His name consists of the elements alb ("elf") and ric "power" or "ruler". It is equi

mythical character inspired by Theoderic the Great

thumb|Andvaranaut to the left of the picture being held either by Andvari or Attila's messenger Vingi. On the top of the picture is [[Sigurd/Siegfried slaying Fafnir, and to the right is Sigrdrífa/Brunhild offering him a drinking horn. On the early 11th c. Drävle runestone.]] In Norse mythology, Andvaranaut (12th c. Old Norse: ), meaning ''Andvari's Gem'' ("Andvari's precious possession"), is a magic ring, initially owned by Andvari, that could help with finding sources of gold. Andvaranaut is mainly a cursed treasure, but according to scholars, it forms part of a bigger tradition of objects t

King of Burgundy

mythological character, Burgundian warrior in tales about the Burgundian kingdom at Worms

thumb|Waltharius Waltharius is a Latin epic poem founded on German popular tradition relating the exploits of the Visigothic hero Walter of Aquitaine. While its subject matter is taken from early medieval Germanic legend, the epic stands firmly in the Latin literary tradition in terms of its form and the stylistic devices used. Thus, its 1456 verses are written in dactylic hexameter (the traditional meter of Latin epic poetry) and the poem includes copious references to (and phrases borrowed from) various Latin epics of antiquity, especially Vergil's Aeneid.

Old Norse chivalric saga

thumb|right|A depiction of Sigmund by Arthur Rackham. In Germanic mythology, Sigmund ( , ) 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 except that he was a dragonslayer.

youngest brother of King Gunther; Nibelungenlied

saga about Norse hero Nornagestr

poem in the Poetic Edda

right|200px|thumb|Brünnhilde wakes and greets the day and Siegfried, illustration of the scene of Wagner's Ring|Wagner's Ring inspired by the , by [[Arthur Rackham (1911).]] thumb|right|Sigrdrífa gives Sigurðr a horn to drink from. Illustration by Jenny Nyström (1893). 200px|right|thumb|Sigrdrífa giving Sigurd a drinking horn. Illustration on the Drävle Runestone. '''' (also known as ) is the conventional title given to a section of the Poetic Edda'' text in .

Series of Norse mythological legends

right|thumb|Sigurd plunges his sword into Fáfnir's chest in this illustration by Arthur Rackham. Fáfnismál (''Fáfnir's sayings) is an Eddic poem, found in the Codex Regius manuscript. The poem is unnamed in the manuscript, where it follows Reginsmál and precedes Sigrdrífumál'', but modern scholars regard it as a separate poem and have assigned it a name for convenience.

200px|thumb|right|Gunnarr, the object of Oddrún's forbidden love.Oddrúnargrátr (''Oddrún's lament) or Oddrúnarkviða (Oddrún's poem) is an Eddic poem, found in the Codex Regius manuscript where it follows Guðrúnarkviða III and precedes Atlakviða''.

13th-century German literary work

First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane, an Old Norse poem found in the Poetic Edda

group of runic inscriptions in Sweden

thumb|right|200px|The Sigurd stones#Hunninge Image Stone|Hunninge Image Stone on [[Gotland, Sweden, with imagery that probably refers to Atlakviða, or another story or poem on the same events. On the top of the stone, there is a man carrying a ring, who may be Sigurd or the messenger Knéfrøðr. On the bottom left, the scene depicts a woman watching the snake pit where Gunnar is lying.]] Atlakviða (The Lay of Atli) is one of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda. One of the main characters is Atli who originates from Attila the Hun. It is one of the most archaic Eddic poems, possibly dating to as

legendary Figure

right|thumb|Reginn after he had been killed by [[Sigurd on the 11th century Ramsund carving in Södermanland, Sweden.]] Reginsmál (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Reginn') is an Eddic poem interspersed with prose found in the Codex Regius manuscript. It is closely associated with Fáfnismál, the poem that immediately follows it in the Codex, and it is likely that the two of them were intended to be read together.

In Norse mythology, Grimhild or Grímhildr ("masked battle") was a beautiful but evil sorceress who was married to king Gjúki of Burgundy in the Völsunga saga where she is the mother of three sons, Gunnar, Hǫgni and Guthormr, and a daughter, Gudrun. Other, similar characters of that name also appear in Illuga saga Gríðarfóstr and in Gríms saga loðinkinna.

Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane, an Old Norse poem found in the Poetic Edda

German priest

thumb|right|350px|The bottom of page 43 verso of the Codex Regius contains stanzas 96 and 97 of Atlamál. Atlamál in grǿnlenzku ('The Greenlandic Lay of Atli') is one of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda. It relates the same basic story as Atlakviða at greater length and in a different style. The poem is believed to have been composed in Greenland, most likely in the 12th century. It has 103 stanzas and is the only Eddic poem written entirely in the metre málaháttr.

theatre festival in Germany

heroic literary traditions of the Germanic-speaking peoples

thumb|Gudrun agitating her sons for vengeance. The Hamðismál is a poem which ends the heroic poetry of the Poetic Edda, and thereby the whole collection.

poem

poem

probably the oldest poem of the Sigurd cycle

thumb|Gudrun agitating her sons Guðrúnarhvöt is one of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda. Gudrun had been married to the hero Sigurd and with him she had the daughter Svanhild. Svanhild had married the Gothic king Ermanaric (Jörmunrekkr), but betrayed him with the king's son, Randver. Furious Ermanaric hanged his own son and had Svanhild trampled to death by horses.

fragmentary eddic poem

German mythological hero

right|thumb|The young Sigurd is foretold about the two women who will shape his destiny, [[Brynhild and Gudrun. Illustration for Grípispá by Anders Zorn.]]Grípisspá (''Grípir's prophecy) or Sigurðarkviða Fáfnisbana I'' ("First Lay of Sigurd Fáfnir's Slayer") is an Eddic poem, found in the Codex Regius manuscript where it follows Frá dauða Sinfjötla and precedes Reginsmál.