# The Nibelungenlied — Character guide

> Key figures in The Nibelungenlied by Anonymous.

- [Siegfried](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/siegfried.md): 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 t
- [Kriemhilda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/kriemhilda.md): 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 d
- [Hagen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/hagen.md): 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 wit
- [King Gunther](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/gunther.md): 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, b
- [Etzel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/etzel.md): 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
- [Brunhilda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/brunhilda.md): 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,
- [Rüdeger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/rudeger.md): 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 ca
- [Lord Dietrich](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/dietrich.md): 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 wh
- [Giselher](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/giselher.md): 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
- [Gernot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/gernot.md): 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 
- [Volker](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/volker.md): 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 stro
- [Dankwart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/dankwart.md): 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 sta
- [Siegmund](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/siegmund.md): 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 wa
- [Wolfhart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/wolfhart.md): 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 hi
- [Hildebrand](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/hildebrand.md): 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 s
- [Bloedel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/bloedel.md): 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
- [Iring](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/iring.md): A Hun warrior who challenges the Burgundians and is killed by Hagen.
- [Dame Uté](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/ute.md): Mother of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, and Kriemhilda.
- [Gotlinda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/gotlinda.md): Wife of Rüdeger, hostess to the Burgundians at Bechelaren.
- [Ludegast](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/ludegast.md): King of Denmark, defeated by Siegfried in battle.
- [Ortwein](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/ortwein.md): Burgundian knight, nephew of Hagen, fights in the final battle.
- [Count Eckewart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/eckewart.md): Burgundian vassal who warns the heroes of danger at Etzel's court.
- [Alberich](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/alberich.md): Dwarf guardian of the Nibelung treasure, defeated by Siegfried.
- [Sieglind](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/sieglind.md): Mother of Siegfried, queen of Netherland.
- [Gere](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/gere.md): Burgundian margrave, messenger and warrior.
- [Pilgerin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/pilgerin.md): Bishop of Passau, relative of Kriemhilda, hosts the Burgundians.
- [Ortlieb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/ortlieb.md): Young son of Etzel and Kriemhilda, slain in the hall.
- [Helfrich](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters/helfrich.md): Warrior in Dietrich's retinue, slain in the final battle.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nibelungenlied_se/characters