Gunnar- Norse HeroHero"King of the Gjúkungs"

Blood-Brotherhood with Sigurd

Gunnarr Gjúkason was the eldest son of King Gjúki and Queen Grímhild, heir to the Gjúkung kingdom. When Sigurd came to the Gjúkung court, bearing the cursed gold of Fáfnir and dulled by Grímhild's potion of forgetfulness, Gunnarr recognized his worth. The two warriors swore blood-brotherhood, mingling their blood in a solemn oath that bound them as closer than brothers. Sigurd married Gunnarr's sister Gudrún.

The Winning of Brynhild

Gunnarr desired to marry the valkyrie Brynhild, who dwelt behind a wall of flickering fire on her mountain fortress. Only a man who knew no fear could ride through the flames. Gunnarr attempted it but failed. His horse balked at the fire. Even when he rode Sigurd's horse Grani, he could not pass, for the barrier tested the rider's courage, not the mount's. At last, Sigurd and Gunnarr exchanged shapes through Grímhild's magic: Sigurd, in Gunnarr's form, rode through the flames, spent three nights with Brynhild with the sword Gram laid between them, and gave her to Gunnarr as wife.

The Murder of Sigurd

When Gudrún revealed the deception to Brynhild, showing her the ring Andvaranaut as proof that Sigurd had crossed the flame-wall in Gunnarr's shape, Brynhild's humiliation turned to murderous rage. She demanded Sigurd's death, threatening Gunnarr with shame and ruin if he refused. His blood-oath forbade him from killing Sigurd. His wife's fury threatened to destroy everything he held.

Gunnarr and his brother Högni found a terrible solution. They incited their younger brother Guthormr, who had taken no oath with Sigurd, to commit the murder. Guthormr stabbed Sigurd in his sleep, striking between his shoulders. The dying Sigurd hurled Gram after his murderer, cutting Guthormr in half at the waist.

Brynhild, having achieved her vengeance, stabbed herself and demanded to be burned on Sigurd's pyre. Gunnarr was left with the cursed gold, a dead blood-brother, and a dead wife.

The Road to Atli's Hall

After Sigurd's death, the cursed treasure passed to Gunnarr and his brothers. Atli, king of the Huns, had married Gudrún and coveted the Nibelung gold above all else. He invited Gunnarr and Högni to his hall with promises of friendship and feasting. Before departing, Gunnarr and Högni sank the treasure in the Rhine, ensuring that even if they fell, the gold would remain beyond Atli's reach.

Gudrún tried to warn her brothers, sending a ring wrapped with wolf's hair as a signal of treachery. Gunnarr's wife Glaumvör dreamed of serpents and burning halls and begged him not to go. Gunnarr rode anyway. To refuse a feast invitation out of fear would be cowardice.

Capture and Defiance

At Atli's hall, treachery struck. Atli's men attacked the Gjúkungs, and after desperate fighting in which the brothers cut down Huns in waves, both Gunnarr and Högni were captured. Atli demanded the location of the Nibelung treasure. Gunnarr declared that he wanted proof his brother would keep silent: he demanded to see Högni's heart.

Atli's men first brought the heart of a thrall named Hjalli. Gunnarr recognized the deception instantly: the heart trembled on the plate as it had trembled in the coward's breast. When they brought Högni's true heart, which lay still and steady even cut from his body, Gunnarr laughed. Now he alone knew where the gold lay hidden, and the Rhine would hold it rather than the Huns wear it on their arms.

Death in the Snake Pit

Atli had Gunnarr thrown into a pit of serpents. Gudrún, torn between loyalties but unable to save her brother, sent him a harp. Gunnarr played it with his toes, his hands being bound, so skillfully that all the snakes were lulled to sleep except one adder. The Völsunga saga calls it Atli's own mother in serpent form. It struck Gunnarr in the heart and killed him.