Brunhild

Brunhild

Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild (<a href="/en/Old_Norse_language" title="Old Norse language" class="mw-redirect wl">Old Norse</a>: Brynhildr <small about="#mwt11" typeof="mw:Transclusion" data-mw="{&quot;parts&quot;:[{&quot;template&quot;:{&quot;target&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;IPA-non&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;./Template:IPA-non&quot;},&quot;params&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;ˈbrynˌhildz̠&quot;},&quot;2&quot;:{&quot;wt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}},&quot;i&quot;:0}}]}"><a href="/en/Help:IPA" title="Help:IPA" class="wl">[ˈbrynˌhildz̠]</a>, <a href="/en/Middle_High_German_language" title="Middle High German language" class="mw-redirect wl">Middle High German</a>: Brünhilt, <a href="/en/New_High_German" title="New High German" class="wl">Modern German</a>: Brünhild or Brünhilde), is a female character from <a href="/en/Germanic_heroic_legend" title="Germanic heroic legend" class="wl">Germanic heroic legend</a>. She may have her origins in the <a href="/en/Visigoths" title="Visigoths" class="wl">Visigothic</a> princess <a href="/en/Brunhilda_of_Austrasia" title="Brunhilda of Austrasia" class="wl">Brunhilda of Austrasia</a>.

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Character in Norse mythology</div>
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<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Brunhild_(Postkarte),_G._Bussiere,_1897.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Brunhild_(Postkarte),_G._Bussiere,_1897.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Brunhild_%28Postkarte%29%2C_G._Bussiere%2C_1897.jpg/220px-Brunhild_%28Postkarte%29%2C_G._Bussiere%2C_1897.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="946" data-file-height="1433" data-file-type="bitmap" height="333" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Brunhild_%28Postkarte%29%2C_G._Bussiere%2C_1897.jpg/330px-Brunhild_%28Postkarte%29%2C_G._Bussiere%2C_1897.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Brunhild_%28Postkarte%29%2C_G._Bussiere%2C_1897.jpg/440px-Brunhild_%28Postkarte%29%2C_G._Bussiere%2C_1897.jpg 2x" alt="Brunhild_%28Postkarte%29%2C_G._Bussiere%2C_1897.jpg"></a><figcaption>"Brunnhild" (1897) by <a href="/en/Gaston_Bussière" title="Gaston Bussière" class="wl">Gaston Bussière</a></figcaption></figure>

In the Norse tradition, Brunhild is a <a href="/en/Shieldmaiden" title="Shieldmaiden" class="mw-redirect wl">shieldmaiden</a> or <a href="/en/Valkyrie" title="Valkyrie" class="wl">valkyrie</a>, who appears as a main character in the <a href="/en/Völsunga_saga" title="Völsunga saga" class="wl">Völsunga saga</a> and some <a href="/en/Poetic_Edda" title="Poetic Edda" class="wl">Eddic poems</a> treating the same events. In the continental Germanic tradition, where she is a central character in the <a href="/en/Nibelungenlied" title="Nibelungenlied" class="wl">Nibelungenlied</a>, she is a powerful Amazon-like queen. In both traditions, she is instrumental in bringing about the death of the hero <a href="/en/Sigurd" title="Sigurd" class="wl">Sigurd or Siegfried</a> after he deceives her into marrying the <a href="/en/Burgundians" title="Burgundians" class="wl">Burgundian</a> king <a href="/en/Gunther" title="Gunther" class="wl">Gunther or Gunnar</a>. In both traditions, the immediate cause for her desire to have Sigfried murdered is a quarrel with the hero's wife, <a href="/en/Gudrun" title="Gudrun" class="wl">Gudrun or Kriemhild</a>. In the <a href="/en/Scandinavia" title="Scandinavia" class="wl">Scandinavian</a> tradition, but not in the continental tradition, Brunhild kills herself after Sigurd's death.

<a href="/en/Richard_Wagner" title="Richard Wagner" class="wl">Richard Wagner</a> made Brunhild (as Brünnhilde) an important character in his opera cycle <a href="/en/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen" title="Der Ring des Nibelungen" class="wl">Der Ring des Nibelungen</a>. 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."<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEAndersson19805-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a> The Nibelungenlied introduces her by saying:
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<td><div style="font-style:italic;text-align:left" lang="gmh" class="poem" about="#mwt31">Ez was ein küneginne gesezzen über sê. 
ir gelîche enheine man wesse ninder mê. 
diu was unmâzen schoene. vil michel was ir kraft. 
si schôz mit snellen degenen umbe minne den schaft.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHeinzle2013108-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a></div></td>
<td class="translated"><div class="poem" about="#mwt34">There was a queen who resided over the sea, 
Whose like no one knew of anywhere. 
She was exceedingly beautiful and great in physical strength. 
She shot the shaft with bold knights — love was the prize.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEEdwards201034-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a></div></td></tr>
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Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild , is a female character 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 Sigfried 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. 