Brynhild and Sigurd
Passion, betrayal, and doom in the Volsunga Saga.
In the northlands, where the wind howls and the fjords cut deep, there lived Sigurd, greatest warrior of his age. He slew the dragon Fafnir and bathed in its blood, so that no blade could pierce his skin save for a single spot upon his back. With this victory he claimed the hoard of gold that carried a curse, though he did not yet know how that curse would twine around his fate.
Far away, Brynhild lay in enchanted sleep. Once she had been a Valkyrie, chooser of the slain, but for defying Odin she was condemned to slumber upon a mountaintop, ringed with fire, until a hero brave enough passed through the flames. Sigurd, fearless, rode through the fire and woke her with a kiss.
When Brynhild’s eyes opened, she saw the hero she had dreamed of. She taught him runes, spoke of fate, and gave him counsel. In their meeting love flared swiftly, for each saw in the other a reflection of strength and nobility. They swore themselves to one another, binding their hearts with oaths.
Yet the curse of the gold whispered still. Sigurd departed, and through trickery and sorcery he was made to forget his vows. He came into the house of the Nibelungs, where Gudrun and her brothers reigned. There he was wed to Gudrun, though his heart had once been promised elsewhere.
But Brynhild was not forgotten. When Gunnar, Gudrun’s brother, sought her hand, it was Sigurd who alone could pass the fire once more. Using guile and disguise, Sigurd crossed the flames again, but in Gunnar’s form. Thus Brynhild was deceived into marriage, though her soul sensed betrayal.
When the truth was revealed, her fury was terrible. She felt herself twice-betrayed: once by Sigurd, who had sworn love to her, and once by Gunnar, who had stolen her with deceit. Her wrath consumed her, and she demanded vengeance. Through her urging, Sigurd was struck down at last, slain in his bed by conspirators.
Yet even in death their bond could not be severed. Brynhild, overcome by grief, mounted Sigurd’s funeral pyre. She declared that in life they had been torn apart by treachery, but in death they would be united. With her own hand she took her life, and the flames consumed them both.
Thus the lovers passed together into legend. The saga tells of passion that defied gods, of oaths broken and curses fulfilled, of love so fierce it ended only in the fire. Brynhild and Sigurd became the archetype of tragic devotion, sung by skalds and carried down the centuries as a tale of both glory and doom.
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