Sigurd
Sigurd is a central character in the 12th-century Icelandic text Völsunga saga (‘saga of the Völsungs’). Elements of Völsunga saga are familiar to many people, though they may not realize it, for it is the source for Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, and a direct influence on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. In briefest terms, Völsunga saga is the tale of the heroic exploits of Sigmund and the fate of his killer, Gudrun. Like St George, of all his many great deeds Sigurd is best remembered as the slayer of a great dragon.
After his family are killed in a feud, Sigmund is fostered by Regin, who tells him about his family. Regin’s brother, Otr, was a great fisherman who could turn himself into an otter, but one day was killed in his animal-form by the gods Odin, Loki, and Hœnir, who had to pay compensation to Otr’s father, King Hreidmar. Loki steals the dwarf Andvari’s treasure to pay the ransom, but the wily dwarf curses one of the rings to give death to its owner. Regin’s other brother, Fáfnir, kills his father to steal the gold, and turns into a dragon.
Regin tells Sigurd to kill Fáfnir in revenge for the murder of his father, Hreidmar. Sigurd gathers the pieces of his own dead father’s broken sword, Gram, and re-forges the legendary weapon. Assisted by Odin, Sigurd digs a pit under a trail taken by Fáfnir each day to drink from a stream, and lies in wait. Fáfnir finally comes down the path, blowing poison around him, and Sigurd drives Gram through the dragon’s shoulder. As he dies, Fáfnir warns Sigurd about the cursed treasure, but the hero ignores him, and eventually the cursed ring does indeed lead to Sigurd’s murder.
As we will also see in the story of Beowulf and the dragon, there is a clear moral to this episode of Völsunga saga. Fáfnir’s avarice turns him into a murderer, then a dragon, and he lives alone with his hoard of cursed treasure. Sigurd’s greed is such that he ignores the dragon’s warning about the treasure, which he also knows to be cursed from Regin’s story about his brothers. Like Fáfnir, Sigurd’s lust for the treasure leads to his death, as the cursed ring is later instrumental in revealing his elaborate deceit to Brynhild, who kills him in revenge.
