Character guide

Siegfried

major

Also known as young Siegfried, gallant Siegfried, Sir Siegfried, the Netherlander Siegfried, Prince Siegfried, the hero Siegfried of Netherland

Siegfried arrives at Worms as a prince with no court to call his own, winning Brunhilda for Gunther and Kriemhilda for himself through feats no other knight could attempt. His flaw is a kind of shining carelessness: he treats his invulnerability as a fact to be boasted about rather than a secret to guard, and he cannot imagine that the men who feast beside him might one day want him dead. When Kriemhilda lifts his bloodied head from the floor and finds no sword-dint on his shield, the poem's central question becomes not who killed him but which of his friends allowed it.

Kriemhilda

major

Also known as Lady Kriemhild, Dame Kriemhild, Queen Kriemhilda, fair Kriemhilda, wicked Kriemhild

Kriemhilda begins as the sheltered jewel of the Burgundian court, warned by her mother that dreams of falcons mean sorrow and choosing to marry Siegfried anyway. When she finds his body laid deliberately at her chamber door, her grief curdles into something the poem watches with dread — she knows Hagen's hand before anyone names it, and she never forgets. Her refusal to let Siegmund's men avenge the murder on the spot, because she fears they will be slaughtered, shows a woman already calculating: she will need patience, and she will need allies, and she will need to outlive the men who did this.

Hagen

major

Also known as Hagen of Tronjé, Tronjé, bold Hagen, grim Hagen, the doughty Hagen, Tronian Hagen

Hagen of Tronjé is the poem's most unsettling figure because he is not a villain in his own mind: he is a loyal councillor doing what the security of his king requires. He watches Siegfried's wealth and invincibility with the same calculating eye he turns on Brunhilda's humiliation, and when the moment comes he arranges the hunt, the spear, and the body laid at Kriemhilda's door with the efficiency of a man who has thought it all through. His boast that the Nibelung hoard could one day come to Burgundy is the poem's quietest and most terrifying line — it tells you exactly what he is willing to do for his kingdom.

King Gunther

major

Also known as Gunther, noble Gunther, the wealthy Gunther, Lord Gunther

Gunther is a king who wants what he cannot win alone — Brunhilda's hand, which requires feats of strength only Siegfried can perform — and he accepts the help without fully reckoning what it will cost. He is not cruel, but he is weak in the specific way that matters: he lets Hagen do the things he will not do himself, and he lets Siegfried pay for the victories he claims as his own. When Kriemhilda warns Siegmund's men not to attack because Gunther has too many warriors, she is describing the real problem: her brother's power is borrowed, and the men who lend it to him are not gentle.

Etzel

major

Also known as King Etzel, the mighty Etzel

Etzel enters the poem as a widower and a great king, powerful enough that his offer of marriage gives Kriemhilda something she could not otherwise obtain: a kingdom of her own, far from Burgundy, with warriors who answer to her. He is not a villain — the poem treats him with a kind of grave dignity — but he is also not the point. He is the instrument Kriemhilda has been waiting for, and the feast he hosts is the trap she has been setting for years. His tragedy is that he loves her honestly and does not understand, until too late, what she has been planning in his halls.

Brunhilda

supporting

Also known as Queen Brunhilda, Dame Brunhilda, the beauteous Brunhilda, Brunhild

Brunhilda is introduced as a queen who will marry only the man who can outdo her in three contests of strength, and she means it: she has killed suitors before. When Siegfried, invisible, defeats her on Gunther's behalf, she is not merely tricked — she is violated in the one arena where she was invincible, and the poem lets her feel the full weight of that. Her later weeping over Siegfried's body, and Hagen's determination to make good her scorn, reveal that she understood the deception long before Kriemhilda exposed it. She is not a villain either; she is the first person in the poem to be wronged, and the wrong never stops echoing.

Rüdeger

supporting

Also known as Sir Rüdeger, Lord Rüdeger, the Margrave Rüdeger, Good Rüdeger

Rüdeger holds the border march of Bechelaren for Etzel and is famed as the one lord whose word no one doubts. His daughter's betrothal to the Huns and his old ties to the Burgundians bind him to two sides of a feud he cannot reconcile. When he steps into the hall to lead his own men out in peace, the poem shows how a good man's integrity can be turned into the instrument of catastrophe.

Lord Dietrich

supporting

Also known as Dietrich of Bern, noble Dietrich, Sir Dietrich

Dietrich of Bern lives at Etzel's court as a foreign prince whose counsel and sword-arm both carry weight. He sees the hall's madness clearly and asks Gunther for safe passage, taking Etzel and Kriemhild under his arm while six hundred of his men file out behind him. His restraint and his grief over the retainers he loses mark him as the one figure who might have stopped the killing, and who will not forget it.

Giselher

supporting

Also known as young Giselher, Giselher the young, Lord Giselher, Giselher the youthful

Giselher is the youngest of the three Burgundian kings, gentler than Gunther and less hardened than Hagen, and he is the brother Kriemhild loved best. He grants Rüdeger and his men safe conduct out of the hall, an act of grace in a place where grace is nearly gone. His presence sharpens the tragedy: the feud consumes even the one prince who tried to keep it human.

Gernot

supporting

Also known as King Gernot, noble Gernot, Lord Gernot, Stout Gernot

Gernot stands beside Gunther as one of the three Burgundian kings, a warrior whose authority rests on kinship and long service. He shares his brothers' pride and their obligations, and when the fighting erupts he fights with them, though he would rather the storm be quelled. His fate is bound to the house of Burgundy, and his death measures how completely the old loyalties have collapsed.

Volker

supporting

Also known as the fiddler Volker, gallant Volker, Volker the quick

Volker is a knight who carries a fiddle as readily as a sword, and his friendship with Hagen makes him one of the most feared men in the hall. When the slaughter begins he springs from the table and plays a music of strokes, and Etzel himself calls him a devil and a savage boar. His double nature—artist and killer—embodies the poem's blend of courtliness and brutality.

Dankwart

supporting

Also known as Sir Dankwart, bold Dankwart, Brother Dankwart, the gallant Dankwart

Dankwart is Hagen's brother and the marshal of the Burgundian host, a plain-spoken fighter who kills Bloedel before the hall erupts. When Hagen asks him to guard the door, he accepts the post as a matter of honor and stands there against Kriemhild's warriors. His grim exchange with Hagen—blood-soaked clothes, bodies too many to count—sets the tone for the Burgundians' last stand.

Siegmund

supporting

Also known as King Siegmund, noble Siegmund, Lord Siegmund, Sir Siegmund

Siegmund rules the Netherlandish court where Siegfried was raised, a father torn between pride in his heir and clear-eyed fear of the Rhineland powers. When Siegfried declares he will wed Kriemhild or no one, Siegmund warns that Gunther's retainers, especially Hagen, hide overweening pride beneath courtly manners, and he knows by force no bride is ever truly won. He yields anyway, offering friends and warriors, and his reluctant blessing sets the hero on the road that will define the epic's first half.

Wolfhart

supporting

Also known as the gallant Wolfhart, the fiery Wolfhart

Wolfhart rides among Dietrich of Bern's exiled warriors, kin to the aged Hildebrand and bred to the same hard discipline of the sword. Where his uncle counsels patience, Wolfhart burns to answer insult with steel, and his fierce temper strains against the restraint that keeps Dietrich's men alive in hostile courts. His presence sharpens the tension of the later gatherings, where old loyalties and new grievances collide.

Hildebrand

supporting

Also known as the aged Hildebrand, Master Hildebrand, old Hildebrand, ancient Hildebrand

Hildebrand serves Dietrich of Bern as mentor, tactician, and the steady hand that tempers younger warriors like his nephew Wolfhart. Seasoned by long years of exile and court intrigue, he reads men and motives with the same cool eye he brings to battle, and his loyalty to Dietrich is absolute. In the epic's later movements his experience becomes the thin line between discipline and catastrophe for the Gothic retinue.

Bloedel

supporting

Also known as the Lord Bloedel, Lord Bloedel, Sir Bloedelin

Bloedel stands close to Etzel's throne as brother to the Hun king, a noble whose pride is easily pricked and whose ambition runs ahead of his judgment. When tensions rise between the Huns and the visiting Burgundians, he becomes one of the first to translate resentment into violence, against the counsel of cooler heads. His rush to arms helps ignite the catastrophe that consumes Etzel's hall.

Iring

minor

Also known as gallant Iring, Sir Iring

A Hun warrior who challenges the Burgundians and is killed by Hagen.

Dame Uté

minor

Also known as Uté, Queen Uté, noble Uté

Mother of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, and Kriemhilda.

Gotlinda

minor

Also known as fair Gotlinda, dame Gotlinda, Lady Gotelinda, the noble Gotelinda

Wife of Rüdeger, hostess to the Burgundians at Bechelaren.

Ludegast

minor

Also known as King Ludegast, King Ludegast of Denmark

King of Denmark, defeated by Siegfried in battle.

Ortwein

minor

Also known as Sir Ortwein, gallant Ortwein

Burgundian knight, nephew of Hagen, fights in the final battle.

Count Eckewart

minor

Also known as Eckewart, Counts Eckewart

Burgundian vassal who warns the heroes of danger at Etzel's court.

Alberich

minor

Also known as Albrich

Dwarf guardian of the Nibelung treasure, defeated by Siegfried.

Sieglind

minor

Also known as Fair Sieglind, Sieglinda, Dame Sieglinda, Siegelind

Mother of Siegfried, queen of Netherland.

Gere

minor

Also known as Gere the Margrave, the gallant Gere, Sir Gere

Burgundian margrave, messenger and warrior.

Pilgerin

minor

Also known as The Bishop Pilgrin, Quoth Pilgerin

Bishop of Passau, relative of Kriemhilda, hosts the Burgundians.

Ortlieb

minor

Young son of Etzel and Kriemhilda, slain in the hall.

Helfrich

minor

Also known as warrior Helfrich, the stalwart Helfrich

Warrior in Dietrich's retinue, slain in the final battle.

Helka

minor

Also known as lady Helka, the fair Helka, Queen Helka, dame Helka

First wife of Etzel, deceased before the main events.

Ludeger

minor

Also known as King Ludeger the Saxon, Ludeger the Saxon

Saxon king defeated by Siegfried alongside Ludegast.

Gelfrat

minor

Also known as Sir Gelfrat

Bavarian knight slain by Dankwart during the journey to Etzel's court.

Rumold

minor

Burgundian steward who advises against the journey to Etzel's court.

Sindold

minor

Also known as Sir Sindold

Burgundian knight, one of Gunther's household warriors.

Hunold

minor

Burgundian knight, chamberlain of Gunther's court.

Werbel

minor

Also known as Werbelin

Hun minstrel sent as messenger to invite the Burgundians.

Schwemmel

minor

Also known as Schwemmelin

Hun minstrel who accompanies Werbel on the embassy.

Irnfried

minor

Also known as Sir Irnfried

Landgrave of Thuringia, fights on Etzel's side.

Haward

minor

Also known as the stalwart Haward

Danish warrior who attacks the Burgundians at Etzel's court.

Nudung

minor

A Hun warrior slain in the battle, mentioned by Kriemhilda.

Aldrian

minor

Also known as the bold Aldrian

Father of Hagen and Dankwart, mentioned as a vassal.

Dankrat

minor

Father of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, and Kriemhilda, deceased.

Amelrich

minor

A warrior of Dietrich's, slain in the final battle.

Hornboge

minor

A Hun warrior killed by Volker during the battle.