Sigurd

Sigurd is a hero of Germanic legend who kills the dragon Fafnir and wins the Nibelung treasure, becoming entangled in its curse and a tragic cycle of betrayal.

Völsunga saga: A medieval Icelandic saga recounting the Völsung family’s rise and destruction. Its account of Sigurd’s youth, dragon-slaying, and betrayal is the fullest prose version.
Fafnir: A dragon in Germanic legend, transformed by greed after acquiring the Nibelung treasure. Sigurd’s killing of Fafnir gives him the treasure and exposes him to its curse.
Völsung: The legendary ancestor of the Völsung dynasty in Norse heroic tradition. Sigurd’s ancestry links his story to the wider Völsung family cycle.
Richard Wagner: A German composer whose music dramas drew extensively on Germanic and Norse legend. Wagner reworked Sigurd as Siegfried in his Ring cycle.
Poetic Edda: A collection of Old Norse mythological and heroic poems preserved in a medieval Icelandic manuscript. Several poems preserve the older verse traditions behind Sigurd’s legend.
Gram (sword): The sword Sigurd receives from his father’s shattered blade and uses to kill Fafnir. Gram is the weapon that makes the dragon-slaying possible.
Sigmund: A legendary Norse hero and father of Sigurd in the Völsung tradition. Sigmund’s death leaves Sigurd to inherit his broken sword and heroic legacy.
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Richard Wagner’s four-opera cycle about a cursed ring and the downfall of gods and heroes. Its Siegfried draws on Sigurd while transforming the legend’s characters and themes.
Nibelungenlied: A Middle High German epic about Siegfried, the Burgundian court, and a cycle of vengeance. Its Siegfried tradition reshapes the hero and his story for a German courtly audience.
Andvari's gold: A cursed hoard seized from the dwarf Andvari in Norse legend. The hoard Sigurd wins carries the curse that shapes his fate.

Linked from 1 page