Rüdiger- Germanic HeroHero"Margrave of Bechlaren"

The Oath

In the Nibelungenlied, Rüdiger travels to Worms as King Etzel's most trusted envoy to arrange the marriage between Etzel and the widowed Kriemhild. To secure her consent, he swears an oath to serve and protect her, to avenge any wrong done to her. Kriemhild accepts. She has plans for that oath.

The Gift of Friendship

When the Burgundians travel through Bechlaren on their way to Etzel's court, Rüdiger hosts them with lavish hospitality. He gives gifts to each of the heroes. To Hagen, the grimmest of the Burgundian warriors, he gives his own shield. He betroths his daughter to the young Burgundian prince Giselher, binding his family to theirs.

When Rüdiger later faces Hagen in combat, Hagen recognizes the shield and lowers his weapon, refusing to fight the man who gave it to him.

The Impossible Choice

When violence erupts at Etzel's court and Kriemhild demands that her vassals attack the Burgundians, Rüdiger is paralyzed. To fight them means killing men who are his guests, his friends, his daughter's kinsmen. To refuse means breaking his oath to Kriemhild and Etzel. He laments openly that every path leads to shame and sin.

Kriemhild reminds him of his oath. Etzel weeps and pleads. Rüdiger, seeing no escape, chooses to honor his sworn word and leads his men into battle against the friends he made with his own hands. He falls in single combat with Gernot. They kill each other simultaneously, and the sword that strikes Rüdiger down is one he himself had given Gernot as a guest-gift. Even his enemies mourn him. Both Burgundians and Huns pause to grieve, and when Dietrich von Bern's Amelung warriors learn who has fallen, their outrage drives the cycle of vengeance further still.