@kreolado5880

2 weeks ago

Gudrun, also known as Kriemhild, is a significant figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature, often portrayed as the wife of the hero Sigurd (or Siegfried). Her character draws inspiration from historical figures like Ildico, Attila the Hun's last wife, and Merovingian queens Brunhilda of Austrasia and Fredegund. In both the German and Scandinavian traditions, Gudrun/Kriemhild is the sister of Gunther/Gunnar, king of the Burgundians, Giselher and Gernot, and has a contentious rivalry with Brunhild, Gunther's wife, centered on their social ranks. Sigfried/Sygurd tricked Brunhild/brynhild into marrying Gunther/Gunnar. In some norse traditions, she even was Siegfrieds first love and he not only ditched her for kriemhild but also forced her into marriage with Gunther. To be fair, in some versions Kriemhild/Gudrun mixed a portion so that he would forget his love to Brunhild/brynhild. Either way Brunhild finde out and orders her husband, his brothers and (or) Hagen to kill Siegfried and (in norde versions) their children as well. Brunhild then kills herself, mocking Gunther/Gunnar all the way until she bleeds out like the bad bitch she is.

After Sigurd’s murder, both traditions depict her marriage to Etzel (Attila the Hun) (who is sometimes said to be Brynhilds brother and also wants revange for her)In the Norse version, Atila kills her brothers which leeds to Gudrun seeking vengeance for her family by killing Atli and burning his hall, whereas in the German tradition, Kriemhild's revenge on her brothers for Sigurd’s death leads to a deadly feud at Etzel’s court, ending in the destruction of both the Huns and Burgundians.

In The Nibelungenlied, Kriemhild’s journey is depicted as a tragic evolution from a gentle courtly lady to a vengeful widow, culminating in her own death. After Siegfried’s death, she seeks revenge against Hagen, who killed him. Although she reconciles with her family, she remains unforgiving toward Hagen, eventually marrying Etzel and using her position to lure her brothers to their doom. Kriemhild orchestrates a bloody final encounter where she decapitates Hagen. enraged by her actions, Hildebrand kills her.Some interpretations of the work suggest it highlights the complexities of gender roles. The kings of Worms are introduced not as sovereigns but as guardians to their sister Kriemhild, the main character. Following her father’s death, Kriemhild is initially under her brothers' guardianship, and after marriage, under her husband's authority. Her sister-in-law, Brunhild, accepts male dominance only if a man can defeat her, but submits entirely when he does. Not like the Norse version where she remains a fierce and powerful charactar until the very end. Because the Germanic regions were christianized ealier than the norse ones, the Nibelungelied contains a lot more christian elements. Kriemhild embodies the role of the good submissive woman while Brunhild embodies the wild, dominant and pagan one.Kriemhild, on the other hand, fully accepts traditional gender roles, despite struggling with them. For instance, when she asks for her rightful inheritance as one of four children, all the men oppose her request, including her husband, Siegfried. Hagen finds the idea of serving a woman inconceivable, viewing it as a deep insult due to his family’s duty to serve "the kings." Initially, Kriemhild submits to these norms, even accepting her husband’s right to punish her (when Siegfried strikes her after she insults Brunhild). However, after Siegfried’s murder and her subsequent loss of wealth due to deceit, with her brothers siding with Hagen as honor-bound, she begins to outgrow this role. She wishes, “If I were a knight” (Verse 1413 of Version B). When she fully steps out of her prescribed female role, taking a sword in her vengeance and decapitating Hagen, the men cannot tolerate it: Hildebrand, who had attempted to kill Hagen himself, finds it unthinkable that a hero dies at a woman’s hand and kills Kriemhild in retribution. Her life ends as she abandons the traditional female role she initially embraced.

The Scandinavian accounts of Gudrun’s story reveal her evolution from a tragic heroine to a powerful figure seeking vengeance. In Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum, completed by 1208, Gudrun (as Guthruna) is a Danish sorceress who aids her brothers in avenging Svanhild's (Sygurd/Siegfrieds daughter who gets killed by her Svanhilds husband) death by making them invincible.

The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, dating around 1220, presents a more comprehensive Scandinavian account. Gudrun marries Sigurd, and after a conflict with Brunhild, leading to Sigurd’s murder, Gudrun then marries King Atli (Attila) and, after he kills her brothers for their gold, she exacts revenge by killing her sons and feeding them to Atli before setting his hall ablaze. Later, she marries Jonak, bears three sons, and raises her daughter Svanhild, whose murder Gudrun avenges by sending her sons to kill Jormunrek, albeit at the cost of their own lives.

58 |