Gudrun
Kriemhild
Tragic heroine of Germanic and Norse mythology, Gudrun/Kriemhild is the wife of the hero Sigurd/Siegfried. A figure of vengeance and grief, she embodies conjugal loyalty taken to the point of total destruction.
Key Facts
- Wife of the hero Sigurd (Siegfried), treacherously slain by Hagen on the orders of her brother Gunnar
- After Sigurd's murder, she remarries Attila (Etzel) in order to exact her revenge
- She triggers the final battle that destroys the Burgundians (Nibelungs) around the 5th century
- Her story is at the heart of the Nibelungenlied, a medieval Germanic epic (~1200 AD)
- In the Poetic Edda, she appears under the name Guðrún, a central figure in the heroic lays
Works & Achievements
An epic poem in Middle High German, likely composed in Austria, considered the Germanic equivalent of the Iliad. Divided into two parts — the death of Siegfried and the vengeance of Kriemhild — it places Kriemhild at the center as the work's true tragic protagonist.
An Icelandic saga tracing the story of Gudrun (the Norse counterpart of Kriemhild) from the mythic origins of the Völsung clan to the final massacre. A foundational text that reveals the divine and cosmic roots of the heroic cycle.
A set of three Eddic poems devoted to Gudrun's laments and acts of vengeance. Of exceptional lyrical power, they explore grief, betrayal, and the resilience of a woman crushed by the forces of fate.
Two Eddic poems recounting the treacherous invitation and slaughter of Gudrun's brothers by Atli/Attila. Gudrun carries out an absolute act of revenge, going so far as to kill her own sons and serve them as a feast to their murderous father.
A Norse compilation of Germanic legends offering an alternative version of the cycle in which Kriemhild (here called Grimhild) is cast in an even darker light, her revenge portrayed as cold and fully premeditated from the very start.
A four-opera cycle reinterpreting the Nibelung myth through a philosophical and Romantic lens. Wagner places Brünnhilde at the center, but the legend of Kriemhild/Gudrun runs through the entire cosmic drama like an undercurrent.
Anecdotes
The quarrel of the queens is the tragic turning point of the entire epic: at the entrance to Worms Cathedral, Kriemhild and Brünhild dispute precedence, each claiming that her husband is the greater man. To silence her rival, Kriemhild publicly reveals that it was Siegfried — not Gunther — who truly subdued Brünhild. This humiliation seals Siegfried's fate and sets an inexorable machinery of death in motion.
Deceived by Hagen, who claims to want to protect Siegfried, Kriemhild sews a cross with her own hands onto her husband's cloak, marking his one vulnerable spot — where a linden leaf had settled on his back during his dragon-blood bath. This act of loving care unwittingly becomes the instrument of murder: Hagen strikes that exact spot during a hunt in the forest.
After Siegfried's assassination, Hagen seizes the fabulous Nibelung treasure and hurls it to the bottom of the Rhine, denying Kriemhild any means of taking revenge. He will carry this secret to his grave, choosing death at Kriemhild's blade over revealing its location. This cursed hoard, born of the dwarf Andvari's curse, symbolizes the greed that drives an entire civilization to annihilation.
Thirteen years after Siegfried's death, Kriemhild agrees to marry Etzel (Attila), king of the Huns — not out of love, but to gain the army she needs for her revenge. She waits with cold patience before inviting her Burgundian brothers to the Hunnic court, triggering the final massacre. This vengeance, planned over decades, makes her one of the most formidable figures in all of medieval literature.
The conclusion of the Nibelungenlied transcends all moral limits: to force Hagen to reveal the location of the treasure, Kriemhild has her own brother Gunther beheaded before his eyes. Hagen still refuses to speak. She then strikes him down with Siegfried's own sword. Horrified by the act, the old warrior Hildebrand kills her on the spot — Kriemhild dies as she lived: in an unleashing of absolute violence.
Primary Sources
Nû seht wie si dô reit diu edel künegin! Ir muoter Uote unde ir bruoder lobten ir schœne sêre. [...] Si was der werlde wünne, des landes ein zier — 'She was the joy of the world, the ornament of the land.' Kriemhild is introduced from the very opening as the most beautiful of women, whose beauty will cause the deaths of many warriors.
Guðrún of hvarf þá, gollinn sínu, / fór til Sigurðar folkvígslegar — 'Gudrun went away then, leaving her golden adornments behind, she walked toward Sigurd fallen in battle.' This lament is considered one of the most moving texts in all of medieval Norse literature.
Rauð hon þá mœki / rauðan í roðnum — 'She then reddened her sword in blood.' The lay describes Gudrun carrying out her revenge against Atli/Attila personally, going so far as to kill their own children and serve them to him as a feast.
Gudrun sat over Sigurd and lamented so sorely that the tears ran down her cheeks onto his breast, and he stirred at that, and looked at her — The Norse version emphasizes Gudrun's grief, whose tears shed over Sigurd's body stand as a symbol of marital devotion carried to the extreme.
Kriemhild, daughter of King Aldrian, marries Sigurd the Dragon-slayer; her fate is sealed the day Brynhild conspires to bring about the hero's death, and from that moment on she plots an irreversible revenge. This Norse text offers an alternative version in which Kriemhild's premeditation is made even more explicit.
Key Places
The historical and legendary capital of the Burgundian kingdom on the banks of the Rhine, residence of Kriemhild and her brothers. This is where the queens' quarrel unfolds, where Siegfried is slain, and where the treasure vanishes into the depths of the river.
The sacred river where Hagen conceals the Nibelung treasure after Siegfried's murder, keeping it forever out of Kriemhild's reach. The Rhine stands as a boundary between worlds and the eternal guardian of the Nibelung curse.
The mythical city of the king of the Huns, sometimes identified with Gran (Esztergom) in Hungary. It is here that Kriemhild, now queen of the Huns, patiently plots her revenge over many years before luring her Burgundian brothers to their destruction.
The mythical stronghold of the Valkyrie Brünhild, associated with a remote northern island surrounded by flames. It is from here that Siegfried helps Gunther carry off Brünhild, setting in motion the chain of events that will pit the two queens against each other.
The Germanic forest where Hagen murders Siegfried at the spring, striking him in the back at the one spot left vulnerable by the linden leaf. This place of treachery in the heart of the wilderness symbolizes the end of the heroic age.