Sigmund and Hjördís are Sigurd's parents. Sigmund died in battle before Sigurd's birth when Wodan shattered his sword. Hjördís preserved the sword's shards for their unborn son, who would reforge them into the blade Gram.
Wodan appeared on the battlefield as a one-eyed man in a dark cloak and thrust his spear against Sigmund's sword, shattering the blade he had once given. Sigmund fell in battle, his divine protector turned destroyer, and the shards of his sword were saved for his unborn son.
Norse Sigmund Völsungsson and Germanic Sigmund descend from the same legendary hero — the father of the dragon-slayer, wielder of a divine sword, whose line carried the fate of a cursed hoard across both the Völsunga saga and the Nibelungenlied traditions.
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