Brünnhilde

Brynhildr (also spelled Brunhild, 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 Brünnhilde 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.

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. The Völsunga saga also describes a subsequent encounter between Sigurðr and Brynhildr at Hlymdale, the home of Brynhildr's brother-in-law, Heimir. There Sigurðr declared his love for the shieldmaiden after spotting her in her tower. Promising to return and make Brynhildr his bride, Sigurðr then headed for the court of Gjuki, the King of Burgundy. Following Sigurðr's departure, Brynhildr was visited by Gudrun, the daughter of Gjuki, who sought her aid in interpreting a dream. This dream presaged Sigurðr's betrayal of Brynhildr and marriage to Gudrun.

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