Gudrun

Uncommon card · No. 196606

Gudrun ( GUUD-roon; Old Norse: Guðrún) or Kriemhild ( KREEM-hilt; Middle High German: Kriemhilt) is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two queens of the Merovingian dynasty, Brunhilda of Austrasia and Fredegund. In both the Continental (German) and Scandinavian traditions, Gudrun/Kriemhild is the sister of the Burgundian king Gunther/Gunnar and marries the hero Siegfried/Sigurd. Both traditions also feature a major rivalry between Gudrun and Brunhild, Gunther's wife, over their respective ranks. In both traditions, once Sigurd has been murdered, Gudrun is married to Etzel/Atli, the legendary analogue of Attila the Hun. In the Norse tradition, Atli desires the hoard of the Nibelungen, which the Burgundians had taken after murdering Sigurd, and invites them to his court; intending to kill them. Gudrun then avenges her brothers by killing Atli and burning down...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Guðrún setting fire to Atli’s hall. Woodcut designed by Edward Burne-Jones for William Morris, Sigurd the Volsung (London: Kelmscott Press, 1898)., Public domain