Gibicho and Grimhild are the royal parents of the Burgundian dynasty, whose children — the kings Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher, and the princess Kriemhild — are swept into the tragedy of the Nibelung treasure and Sigurd's murder.
⚠ In the Nibelungenlied, the parents are Dancrat and Uote, and there is no Guttorm. This group follows the Völsunga saga/Thidrekssaga composite tradition (Gjúki/Gibicho and Grimhild).
Sigurd won Kriemhild's hand through his fame and splendor, and their union produced Svanhild and Sigmund Sigurdsson before jealousy and betrayal turned the golden age of the Burgundian court into ruin.
⚠ In the Völsunga saga, Sigurd marries Guðrún after drinking Grimhild's potion of forgetfulness. The Nibelungenlied omits the potion — Siegfried courts Kriemhild freely.
Kriemhild married Etzel, king of the Huns, thirteen years after Sigurd's murder, binding herself to the mightiest king in Christendom so that his warriors might one day serve her vengeance. Their son Ortlieb was cut down at the catastrophic feast where her long-laid plot at last ignited.
Brunhild and Kriemhild quarreled over precedence before the cathedral at Worms. Kriemhild produced the ring and belt that Sigurd had taken from Brunhild on the wedding night, proving that it was Sigurd, not Gunther, who had truly conquered the warrior queen. This public humiliation drove Brunhild to demand Sigurd's death.
⚠ The Nibelungenlied places the quarrel at Worms cathedral with a ring and belt as proof. The Völsunga saga places it at a river bathing, with the ring Andvaranaut.
Hagen murdered Kriemhild's husband Siegfried, then seized the Nibelung treasure she had inherited and sank it in the Rhine to prevent her from gaining power. Kriemhild spent thirteen years planning vengeance, ultimately beheading the bound Hagen with Siegfried's own sword Balmung.
Kriemhild ordered Gunther beheaded and brought his severed head to the bound Hagen, trying to force Hagen to reveal where he had sunk the Nibelung treasure in the Rhine. This act of fratricide marks the extremity of Kriemhild's vengeance in the Nibelungenlied.
In the final scene of the Nibelungenlied, Kriemhild took up Siegfried's sword Balmung and beheaded the bound Hagen with her own hand after he refused to reveal where he had sunk the Nibelung treasure in the Rhine.
The old warrior Hildebrand, outraged that a woman had slain so great a warrior as Hagen, struck down Kriemhild with his sword in the final moments of the Nibelungenlied. Her death ends the epic, completing the destruction of all the principal characters.
The Burgundians ride under King Gunther from the court at Worms, their fate sealed to the cursed Nibelungen treasure from the moment Siegfried enters their hall.
Gudrún Gjúkadóttir and Kriemhild descend from the same legendary Burgundian figure — in the Norse tradition she avenges her brothers against Atli, while in the German Nibelungenlied she avenges her husband Siegfried against her own kin.
Grimhild brewed a potion that erased Sigurd's memory of Brunhild and his betrothal vow, then married her daughter Kriemhild to the bewitched hero and had him use shape-changing magic to win Brunhild for her son Gunther — a chain of deceptions that destroyed them all.
Dietrich captured Hagen and Gunther in single combat at the end of the Nibelungenlied and delivered them bound to Kriemhild, the last great warrior standing after the destruction of both the Burgundian and Hunnic forces.
Etzel invited the Burgundians to a great festival at Kriemhild's urging, unknowingly serving as the instrument of her vengeance. When the fighting began, Etzel was powerless to stop the destruction Kriemhild had orchestrated in his own court.
Giselher was Kriemhild's youngest and most beloved brother, who argued most strongly against Siegfried's murder. Despite their bond, Kriemhild's vengeance consumed even Giselher — he perished in the battle at Etzel's court that she had engineered.
After Siegfried's death, the Nibelungenhort passed to Kriemhild as her inheritance. She used the gold to win followers until Hagen seized the hoard and sank it in the Rhine. Kriemhild's rage at losing both husband and treasure drove her to lure the Burgundians to their destruction at Etzel's court.
Rüdiger of Bechlaren persuaded Kriemhild to marry Etzel by swearing an oath that his warriors would avenge any wrong done to her. This promise became the instrument of Kriemhild's vengeance, and Rüdiger's conflicting loyalties to Kriemhild and to the Burgundians he befriended destroyed him.
Kriemhild unwittingly betrayed Sigurd to his killer Hagen in the Nibelungenlied. Trusting Hagen's false concern for Siegfried's safety, she marked the vulnerable spot between his shoulder blades on his garment so Hagen could 'protect' him — but Hagen used the knowledge to murder him.
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