page_title: Brunhild
section_title: Helreið Brynhildar
hierarchical_section_title: Brunhild / Scandinavian traditions and attestations / Poetic Edda / Helreið Brynhildar
caption_attribution_description: A scene from en:Helreið Brynhildar.
context_page_description: Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild, is a powerful female figure from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda of Austrasia.
  In the Norse tradition, Brunhild is a shieldmaiden or valkyrie, who appears as a main character in the Völsunga saga and some Eddic poems treating the same events. In the continental Germanic tradition, where she is a central character in the Nibelungenlied, she is a powerful Amazon-like queen. In both traditions, she is instrumental in bringing about the death of the hero Sigurd or Siegfried after he deceives her into marrying the Burgundian king Gunther or Gunnar. In both traditions, the immediate cause for her desire to have Sigurd murdered is a quarrel with the hero's wife, Gudrun or Kriemhild. In the Scandinavian tradition, but not in the continental tradition, Brunhild kills herself after Sigurd's death.
  Richard Wagner made Brunhild an important character in his opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. The majority of modern conceptions of the figure have been inspired or influenced by Wagner's depiction.
  Brunhild has been called "the paramount figure of Germanic legend."
context_section_description: At the beginning of Helreið Brynhildar, Brunhild's corpse is burned and she begins her journey to the Hel, the Scandinavian underworld. On her way, she encounters a giant who accuses her of having blood on her hands. In response, Brunhild tells the story of her life, defending herself and justifying her actions. She accuses the Burgundians of having deceived her. Brunhild hopes to spend the afterlife together with Sigurd.
  As Brunhild narrates her life, she is clearly identified with the valkyrie Sigrdrífa and combines the story of Sigrdrífa's awakening with Sigurd's wooing for Gunnar as a single event. Odin himself is portrayed as requiring that only a man who knows no fear could awaken her. The song portrays Brunhild as a victim and she achieves a sort of apotheosis at the end.
caption: Illustration of Helreið Brynhildar, 1893.
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