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In Norse Mythology , Brynhildr was a Shieldmaiden and a Valkyrie . She is a main character in the '' Völsunga Saga '' and some Eddic Poems treating the same events. Under the name ''Brünnhilde'' she appears in the '' Nibelungenlied '' and therefore also in Richard Wagner 's opera cycle Der Ring Des Nibelungen . Brynhildr is probably inspired by the Visigothic princess '' Brunhilda Of Austrasia '', married with the Merovingian king '' Sigebert I '' in 567 . The history of Brynhildr includes fratricide, a long battle between brothers, and dealings with the Huns . IN NORSE MYTH According to the Völsungasaga, Brynhildr is the daughter of himself preferred the older king, Hjalmgunnar, yet Brynhildr decided the battle for Agnar. For this Odin condemned the valkyrie 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 '' in the Alps, and cursed her to sleep until any man would rescue and marry her. The hero Sigurðr Sigmund son (''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. He immediately fell in love with the shieldmaiden and proposed to her with the magic ring Andvarinaut . Promising to return and make Brynhildr his bride, Sigurðr then left the castle and headed for the court of Gjuki , the King Of Burgundy .Byock, Jesse L. ''The Saga of the Volsungs.'' London: Penguin, 1990. ISBN 0-14-044738-5. Gjuki's wife, the sorceress . Byock and Brynhild's funeral]] However, in some Eddic poems such as Sigurðarkviða Hin Skamma , Gunnar and Sigurðr lay siege to the castle of Atli , Brynhildr's brother. Atli offers his sister's hand in exchange for a truce, which Gunnar accepts. However, Brynhildr has sworn to marry only Sigurðr, so she is deceived into believing that Gunnar is actually Sigurðr. Bellows According to the Völsunga saga, Brynhildr bore Sigurðr a daughter, Aslaug , who later married Ragnar Lodbrok . In the Eddic poem '' Helreið Brynhildar '' (Bryndhildr's ride to Hel), Brynhildr on her journey to Hel encounters a '' Gýgr '' (giantess) who blames her for an immoral livelihood. Brynhildr responds to her accusations: IN NIBELUNGENLIED In the Nibelungenlied , Brünnhilde is instead the queen of ''Isenland'' ( Iceland ). Gunther here overpowers her in three warlike games with the help of Siegfried – equipped with an invisibility cloak. Firstly, Brünnhilde throws a spear that three men only barely can lift towards Gunther, but the invisible Siegfried diverts it. Secondly, she throws twelve fathoms a boulder that requires the strength of twelve men to lift. Lastly, she leaps over the same boulder. Gunther, however, defeats her with Siegfried's help also in these games, and takes her as his wife. The Nibelungenlied also differs from Scandinavian sources in its silence on Brünnhilde's fate; she fails to kill herself at Siegfied's funeral, and presumably survives Kriemhild and her brothers. IN 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 Valkyries; but the latter are formed out of a union between Wotan and Erda , a 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, 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 eventually persuaded to seal her in a ring of fire to await awakening by a hero who does not know fear. to Wagner's version of the story.]] 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 himself taken the ring from the giant-turned-dragon Fafner , Siegfried is guided to Brünnhilde's rock, where he awakens her. 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, takes the ring from her by force. As 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, 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 also perishes in flame. IN POPULAR CULTURE
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