The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun

by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien.

Feature Article by Patrick D. Enright, Northeastern State University

Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, May 2009. Cloth: ISBN 978-0-547-27342-6, $26. 384 pages.

According to Christopher Tolkien in the Foreword to The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, among his father’s favorite stories as a child were the legends concerning Sigurd and his slaying of the dragon Fafnir. Undoubtedly the fruition of these visions of a heroic age was J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and other Middle Earth writings, but in The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun he gives us an original treatment of the legends themselves.
Discounting fragments, the Northern stories of Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer; the Valkyrie Brynhild; the Giuking princess Gudrun and her three brothers, Gunnar, Hogni, and Gutthorm; the dragon Fafnir; the wandering chief of the gods, Odin; and many other characters associated with them are to be found principally in the Poetic or Elder Edda, the Younger Edda (or just Edda) of Snorri Sturluson, and the Volsunga Saga; the stories are to be found in Middle High German (and Christianized) form in the Thidrekssaga and the Nibelungenlied.
What J.R.R. Tolkien did in the (perhaps) 1930s (Tolkien 5) was to write his own version of the Sigurd/Gudrun story, picking and choosing details from these sometimes contradictory
variations and melding them into a dramatically satisfactory whole. Moreover, Tolkien added a new motif to the story which not only unified it, but gave the story a cosmic significance similar to what Wagner did with the tales in his Ring des Nibelungen. And he did all this in English verse adapted to the Old Norse prosody, as is explained well by Christopher Tolkien in the Introduction.
The “ancient German metre” found in the poems of the Elder Edda is also to be seen in Old English poetry (Tolkien 45). Cædmon’s Hymn, for instance, uses a long line with four stresses and any number of unstressed syllables, divided by a caesura:

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices Weard
Meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc (Abrams 25)
The older form of Norse poetry, known as fornyrðislag, modeled by Tolkien (Tolkien 48), also uses a line with four stresses and a caesura:
Vreiþr vas Vingþorr, es vaknaþi
ok sins hamars of saknaþi;
skegg nam hrista skor nam dyja,
reþ Jarþar burr umb at þreifask.
(The Poetic Edda xxiv)

Tolkien follows the fornyrðislag form, but turns the four-line stanza into a stanza of eight half-lines:

Of old was an age
when was emptiness,
there was sand nor sea
nor surging waves;
unwrought was Earth,
unroofed was Heaven—
an abyss yawning,
and no blade of grass. (59)

The major difference is that the Eddaic poetry is in stanzas, whereas Old English poetry is not (Tolkien 48).
There are actually two long poems in this book, both given Old Norse names by the author. The first is “The New Lay of the Völsungs,” and the second “The New Lay of Gudrun.” The Völsung poem begins with the creation of the world by the gods, continues with the history of the Völsung family originally started by Odin, and ends with the death of Sigurd. The Gudrun
poem begins with Gudrun’s sorrow after Sigurd’s funeral, continues through her forced marriage with Atli (Attila), the destruction of her brothers by Atli, her vengeance on the king of the Huns, and ends with her death. Each of the two poems is followed by a long commentary by Christopher Tolkien in which (among other things) he analyzes the poems for their uses of the
various Norse and Germanic sources and also identifies the new material added by his father. They are invaluable notes, showing a deep understanding of the original sources as well as
his father’s poems. One should also note that the Introduction is largely taken from J.R.R. Tolkien’s lecture notes on The Elder Edda.
Following the commentary on the Gudrun poem are three appendices: an essay on the origins of the legends (e.g. the destruction of King Gundahari and his Burgundian nation by the
Huns in A.D.437 gave rise to the legend of Gunnar [Gunther in the Germanic versions] and his family being destroyed by Atli [Etzel in the Germanic, and in fact Attila]); a poem, “The
Prophecy of the Sibyl,” written by J.R. R. Tolkien and based on the “Völuspá” in the Elder Edda; and “Fragments of a heroic poem of Attila in Old English” (with translation). The first, a
scholarly essay, is quite useful for any students of these legends; the second, besides being a fine poem on its own, sheds light on the more terse version given in “The New Lay of the Völsungs”; and the third shows the Anglo-Saxons were familiar with more of the Northern lore than is referred to in Beowulf.
What makes The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun a particularly noteworthy addition to the legends of the North is Tolkien’s insertion of a cosmological element to the plot. In the Norse
mythology as we find it in the Eddas, Odin, the chief of the gods, has a hall named Valhalla to which his Valkyrie daughters bring heroes slain in battle, there to live again, practicing their fighting daily and feasting every night, and awaiting the foretold doom of all, the Ragnarok, when the forces of evil will be unleashed to attack the gods. On that day will attack the fire giants, led by Surt; the evil dead, led by Loki; the Fenris Wolf; and the Midgard Serpent. Odin’s fallen heroes will help fight, but all will perish, including Odin himself, swallowed by the Fenris Wolf, and the universe will be destroyed:

The sun turns black, earth sinks in the sea,
The hot stars down from heaven are whirled;
Fierce grows the steam and the life-feeding flame,
Till fire leaps high about heaven itself.
(The Poetic Edda 24)

Interestingly, no mention is made of the death of the Midgard Serpent (like the Fenris Wolf, one of the monsters fathered by Loki); it is struck by Thor, who walks nine paces and sinks down in death, poisoned by its breath (The Poetic Edda 23; note, 23-4). Perhaps the World Serpent dies in the universal conflagration, but if so, one can only infer it. After the Ragnarok, a new heaven and a new earth arise, and Baldur, Odin’s dead son and favorite, comes back with his blind brother Hoth and the god Hönir.
Tolkien must have taken notice of the omission of the Midgard Serpent’s death, for he uses it to elevate Sigurd to a height and dignity only paralleled by his analog Siegfried in Wagner’s Ring. The first hint of Sigurd’s new, high destiny occurs in the opening section, “Upphaf” (“Beginning”), based on the Sibyl’s prophecy in “Völuspá”; immediately after telling of the deaths of Odin, Frey, and Thor, the Sibyl prophesies:

If in day of Doom
One deathless stands,
who death has tasted
and dies no more,
the serpent slayer,
seed of Odin,
then all shall not end,
nor Earth perish.
On his head shall be helm,
in his hand lightning,
afire his spirit,
in his face splendour.
The Serpent shall shiver
and Surt waver,
the Wolf be vanquished
and the world rescued. (Tolkien 63-4)

In other words, the dragon-slaying descendent of Odin, Sigurd, will be victorious over whatever is left of the forces of evil after the gods and their followers are gone, and it is his victory which will ensure the new heaven and new earth to follow Ragnarok. Two more hints appear in “Upphaf”: Odin wanders the earth, “his seed sowing, / sire of heroes” (65), and in Valhalla the resurrected heroes, the “mighty ones of Earth,” await “the World’s chosen” (65).
Part One, whose title is translated by Christopher Tolkien as “Andvari’s Gold,”[1] tells of the theft of the dwarf Andvari’s gold, including the magic ring Andvaronaut, and the dwarf’s curse upon the ring, which will bring death to two brothers and seven princes, as well as being “end untimely of Odin’s hope”) (69). After the stolen gold has been paid to Hreidmar and his
two sons, Regin and Fafnir, Loki repeats the prophecy that the cursed gold just paid out by the gods will cause much unhappiness, including “end untimely of Odin’s hope”) (70). If Sigurd is merely a mortal hero who will be Odin’s agent of revenge on Fafnir and Regin, then he is “Odin’s hope” and his young death “untimely.” Odin, however, shows that he is thinking of Sigurd’s greater destiny when he replies, “Whom Odin chooseth / ends not untimely / . . . it is to ages after / that Odin looks” (70-71).
In Part Three Tolkien tells of the death of Sinfjötli, the heroic son of Sigmund and Signy. Sinfjötli’s grandfather, Völsung, welcomes him to Valhalla, noting, however, “But one yet await we, / the World’s chosen” (91), another reference to Sigurd and his great destiny.
In Part Four, “Sigurd Born,” Sigmund woos Sigrlinn, asking if she will bear for him “the World’s chosen” (93). Soon after his wedding he is attacked by the armies of seven princes and is wounded mortally after his magic sword is broken upon Odin’s spear.[2] The dying Sigmund tells his wife that her “womb shall wax / with the World’s chosen,” whom he will “too soon” see
coming “to glad Valhöll / greeting Odin” (96).
Odin, in the guise of an old man, helps Sigurd in Part Five (“Regin”) to choose a horse, Grani. The old man tells Sigurd that the horse is an offspring of Odin’s own horse, the eight-
legged Sleipnir, and addresses the young man as “hope of Odin” (107). Towards the end of this section, the narrator, too, apostrophizes the hero as the “hope of Odin” (115).
In “Brynhildr,” Part Six, the awakened Valkyrie tells Sigurd that, as Odin doomed her to become a mortal wife, she swore “to wed but one, / the World’s chosen” (121). When Sigurd protests that many great warriors inhabit Valhalla, she replies that Odin’s army awaits “the serpent-slayer, / seed of Odin” (121). The hero announces he is the very one awaited, since he
is descended from Odin and his sword has just slain a serpent (i.e., dragon). Brynhild gives him words of wisdom, calling him the “hope of Odin” (123), and they vow troth to one another. Here Tolkien makes another addition to the tale, one that explains his riding off to further adventures: Brynhild announces that she has been a queen and wants him first to become a king (125).
Part Seven, “Gudrun,” and Part Eight, “Brynhild Betrayed,” make no addition to the prophecies of Sigurd’s future destiny.
The final part, “Strife,” depicts the events leading up to Sigurd’s murder at the hands of Gudrun’s youngest brother, Brynhild’s suicide, and their sharing of a single funeral pyre. The poem ends with the scene of Sigurd arriving in Valhalla and several stanzas of prophecy: at the Ragnarok Brynhild will prepare Sigurd for battle, and because of him, “not all shall end, / nor Earth perish.” In the new world following Ragnarok, Sigurd and Brynhild will live together in joy (179-80). The final stanza provides a transition to the second poem, “The New Lay of Gudrun.”
Tolkien thus gives the hero Sigurd a cosmic significance far beyond his traditional fame as a dragon-slayer, and moreover he gives what would otherwise be a tragedy the promise of a
happy ending beyond the wrack of Ragnarok.
Christopher Tolkien, at the end of the Foreword, notes that the rest of the book will make no mention of Wagner’s Ring. He believes that the Ring is not a “continuation or development” of the original stories but something completely new, simply based upon them. He concludes that his father’s two poems “bear little relation” to Wagner’s cycle of music-dramas (10). But
given the change in significance given to Sigurd in “The New Lay of the Volsungs” and the new scene of his arrival in Valhalla, along with the prophecy of future bliss with Brynhild, one has
to wonder if J.R.R. Tolkien was actually influenced by Wagner—not by Wagner’s Ring, as we now have it, but by the original drama from which the Ring grew, Siegfrieds Tod, Siegfried’s
Death
.[3]
The final version of this proposed opera, Götterdämmerung, ends with Brünnhilde immolating herself on Siegried’s funeral pyre, thus returning the cursed ring (analogous to the
Andvaronaut) to the Rhinemaidens and removing its curse. At the same time, fire is visible in the heavens, where Wotan (Odin) has set fire to Valhalla, destroying himself and all the rest of
the gods. The fire dies down, the smoke parts, and the stunned remnants of Gunther’s (Gunnar’s) court look out upon a world made new by the removal of both the ring’s curse and the gods’ lust for power. All that remains is the power of love, proclaims the orchestra.
But Siegfrieds Tod had a far different ending. Here, too, Brünnhilde apostrophizes Wotan, but instead of bidding him prepare for the end of the gods, she tells him to prepare to
welcome Siegfried, who has made possible for him eternal power:[4]

All-father! Thou in thy glory!
Have joy of the freest of heroes!
Siegfried bear I to thee:
Give him greeting right glad,
The warrant of might everlasting! (Wagner 50)
Note that in freeing the gods from Alberich’s curse (and the fear of Alberich’s revenge) Siegfried has acted as Wotan’s hope and the World’s chosen hero. Brünnhilde rides her horse into the pyre as the chorus sings,
Wotan! Wotan! Ruler of Gods!
Wotan, bless thou the flames!
Burn hero and bride,
Burn eke the true horse:
That wound-healed and pure
All-father’s free helpmates
In joy may greet Walhall,
Made one for a bliss without end! (51)

Here we see the chorus prophesying the future happiness of Siegfried and Brünnhilde after passing through the fire of the funeral pyre, much like Sigurd will have to go through Ragnarok
to achieve eternal happiness with his beloved Brynhild.
Nor is this all; following the chorus (and an exclamation from Alberich), we have the following stage directions:

Suddenly a blinding light strikes forth from the embers:
on the fringe of a leaden cloud (as if the smoke from the
dying fire) the light ascends; in it appears Brünnhilde on
horseback, helmeted and in the dazzling armour of a
Valkyrie, leading Siegfried by the hand through the sky. (51-2)

In Tolkien’s “New Lay,” Brynhild arms herself in “Gold corslet . . . gleaming hauberk . . . helm set on head” (177) just before killing herself, while in Wagner she appears “helmeted” and in
“dazzling armour.” Surely this is no coincidence. And though Tolkien does describe the defunct Valkyrie as being “[o]n the hell-way,” he does assert that on the Ragnarok she will arm Sigurd and bring him a stirrup cup “brimmed with glory” (179).
There is not enough evidence to say with absolute certainty that Tolkien was influenced by Wagner’s early retelling of the Siegfried story, but since William Ashton Ellis’s translation of
the volume containing Siegfrieds Tod was published in 1899 and “The New Lay of the Völsungs” was probably written in the 1930s, it is at least a possibility that Wagner’s work inspired Tolkien similarly to give his Sigurd a world-redeeming role as well as a happy afterlife with his true bride.
The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun is a masterful new version of Norse mythology and the Nibelung legends; the scholarly commentary by Christopher Tolkien is itself worth the purchase
price. This book is a worthy addition to the library of everyone interested in the differing versions of the legends of the North.

[1] “The New Lay of the Volsungs,” after the introductory “Upphaf,” is divided into nine parts. C. Tolkien has provided translations for those section titles which are not proper names.
[2] Although Odin is sometimes depicted as an untrustworthy god who will betray those who depend on him most, one must remember that in order to stand against the forces of evil on the last day, he must fill Valhalla with the best of heroes, so it is no wonder if he supports heroes long enough to test and establish them as heroes and then allows them to be defeated so he can gather them to himself.
[3] As any Wagnerite knows, Wagner originally wrote the libretto for a proposed opera, Siegfried’s Death. Feeling that more explanatory material was necessary, he then wrote Young Siegfried (later known simply as Siegfried). Desirous of yet more of the fore story, he wrote the libretti of first The Valkyrie and then The Rhinegold. Having written the texts from the end to the beginning, he then composed the music from the beginning to the end.
[4] Wotan had given Alberich’s ring as payment for Valhalla (and not as a ransom, as in the Norse) to the giant Fafnir, who turned himself into a dragon, the better to guard the ring. Wotan feared that Alberich, the original owner who had cursed the stolen ring, might get it back from Fafnir and use its power to attack the gods. Because of his bargain with Fafnir, Wotan could not seize the ring himself without losing his power, so he began a line of heroes to do so for him. Siegfried slew Fafnir (not for the ring, but because he was a dragon, and that’s what heroes do), and, becoming subject to its curse, was himself killed. Brünnhilde now takes the ring from Siegfried’s dead hand and puts it on her own, proclaiming that the Rhinemaidens will get it from her ashes and cleanse it of the curse.

Works Cited

1) Abrams, M.H., et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. A. 8th ed. New York & London: Norton, 2006.

2) The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems. Trans. Henry Adams Bellows. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2004.

3) Tolkien, J.R.R. The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun. Christopher Tolkien, ed. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

4) Wagner, Richard. Siegfried’s Death. Trans. William Ashton Ellis. 1899. Lincoln and London: U of Nebraska P, 1995.