Sigurd married Gudrún after Grímhild's memory potion erased his love for Brynhild. Their children included Svanhild, famed for her beauty but tragically trampled on Jörmunrekr's orders, and Sigmund Sigurdsson.
Sigurd and Brynhild swore oaths of love on Hindarfjall after he woke her from Odin's enchanted sleep, and in some traditions their union produced a daughter, Áslaug. Their bond was severed when Grímhild's memory potion made Sigurd forget Brynhild and marry Gudrún.
Sigurd is the posthumous son of Sigmund and Hjördís. Sigmund died when Odin shattered his sword in battle, and Hjördís preserved the broken shards, which were reforged into Gram for Sigurd.
Sigurd slew the dragon Fáfnir by hiding in a pit and driving Gram upward into the creature's heart as it crawled overhead. The dying Fáfnir warned that the cursed gold would be Sigurd's doom.
Sigurd avenged his father Sigmund by slaying Lyngvi Hundingsson and destroying the Hunding line, fulfilling the first task Regin set before him on the road to Fáfnir's hoard.
After tasting Fáfnir's blood and gaining the ability to understand birdspeech, Sigurd learned that Regin planned to betray him. He beheaded his sleeping foster-father with Gram.
Guttormr stabbed Sigurd in his bed at Brynhild's instigation, but the dying Sigurd hurled Gram and cut Guttormr in half — a mutual killing described in the Völsunga saga.
Norse Sigurd and Germanic Siegfried/Sigurd are the same legendary hero transmitted through parallel traditions — the Völsunga saga and Poetic Edda in Old Norse, the Nibelungenlied in Middle High German.
In the Sigrdrífumál, Brynhild taught Sigurd the wisdom of Runes after he woke her from enchanted sleep. She classified them by function — victory-runes, ale-runes, birth-runes, and more — each inscribed on specific objects.
Sigurd claimed the cursed ring Andvaranaut from Fáfnir's hoard. He gave it to Brynhild as a pledge of love, and its reappearance later proved the shape-swapping deception that led to his death.
Sigurd rode through a wall of fire to wake the sleeping Valkyrie Brynhild, and they swore oaths of love. A potion of forgetfulness made him betray those oaths, and Brynhild's fury led to his murder and her suicide on his pyre.
Fáfnir's blood gave Sigurd the ability to understand birdspeech after he tasted it while roasting the dragon's heart. Bathing in the blood made Sigurd's skin invulnerable, save where a linden leaf fell between his shoulders.
Sigurd wielded the reforged sword Gram to slay the dragon Fáfnir, striking from a pit beneath him.
Grani, descended from Sleipnir, was chosen by Sigurd on Odin's advice and bore him faithfully through fire and battle, carrying Fáfnir's cursed hoard from Gnítaheiðr and leaping the flames that ringed Brynhild's hall.
Sigurd swore blood-brotherhood with Gunnarr and helped him win Brynhild by riding through the flames in Gunnarr's shape. When the deception was exposed, Gunnarr ordered Sigurd's death at Brynhild's demand.
Odin guided Sigurd throughout his life — appearing disguised to advise him to dig drainage pits before fighting Fáfnir, and having earlier thrust a sword into Barnstokkr for Sigurd's father Sigmund.
Regin raised Sigurd as his foster-son and reforged the sword Gram from Sigmund's broken blade. He manipulated Sigurd into slaying his brother Fáfnir so Regin could claim the cursed gold.
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