Brunhild, the Valkyrie

Of Warrior Queens and Valkyries

Probably one of my favorite characters in "Das Nibelungenlied" is Brunhild. If you do some research on her back story her life is just tragic. In "Das Nibelkungenlied" she certainly comes across as a total shrew. But considering that for instance in the Volsunga Saga, Siegfried has a child with her and promised eternal love to her, you can understand why she hates Kriemhild. In that account of the myth, Kriemhild enchants Siegfried, and he forgets about Brunhild and their son. So it is completely understandable that Brunhild has become bitter and revenge-seeking. She is a very proud woman and a Valkyrie. Those are the goddesses that bring the dead heroes to Walhalla.

Brunhild reminds me very much of another figure from Greek mythology: Hippolyta, the Amazon queen. Hippolyta appears in the legend of Heracles. She wears a magic girdle which her father, Ares, the god of war, has given her. It signifies that she is the queen of the Amazons who are a nation of female warriors. However, Heracles' ninth labor was to retrieve even that magic girdle from the Amazonian queen. Well, now this is VERY interesting because who else is a warrior and possesses a magic girdle that gives her strength? Brunhild and Hippolyta seem to be the same character to some extent. 

This also makes us ables to draw some parallels between Siegfried the dragon slayer and Heracles. Both of them have to solve some difficult tasks in order to achieve what they want and in order to become heroic. Heracles has his twelve labors one of which also involves slaying the nine-headed Hydra which is SURPRISE SURPRISE also a dragon. Furthermore, the female warriors do not get to marry the hero that has defeated them. Brunhild ends up with Gunther in all traditions of the myth and Hippolyta marries Theseus who killed Medusa. It is interesting that these strong women end up with well second rate heroes (well I would not really consider Gunther as a hero at all). Theseus does not defeat her in battle but he tricks her into boarding his ship and kidnaps her.

Hercules slaying the Hydra

Gender in "Das Nibelungenlied" (or Why do heroes always have to kill people?)

Violence is generally connected to gender. Most often it is the male characters who are violent whereas the female characters are mainly their victims. Masculinity is defined by how violent a man is, and the degree to which a man is masculine itself decides whether he is powerful or considered attractive by women. Siegfried's attractiveness is not just based on his looks but mainly by his heroic deeds: he kills a dragon and he is super strong and invincible. That is why both Kriemhild and Brunhild are attracted to him, instead of Gunther who is a very weak king. He is just not masculine enough. Hagen von Tronje, however, is also a very strong man, a fighter to which Brunhild is more attracted to him than to her own husband. 

The role of female characters in "Das Nibelungenlied" is even more interesting, I think. They most often are objectified: they are a prize for the hero and become his possession as soon as he has earned them. First, a women is the possession of her family (brothers, father, uncles etc.) until she is passed on to a new owner, i.e. her husband. Of course the hero can treat what belongs to him however he pleases. Therefore, when is wife is disobedient (e.g. when Kriemhild has the fight with her sister-in-law about who has the best husband), it is legitimate that he beat her in order to teach her a lesson and to punish her.

Yet, Brunhild seems to be exempt from that tradition at first. She is living isolated in Iceland, and is almost equal to a male. Her strength and her ability to fight and compete against most men has given her freedom and independence. This only ends when Siegfried deceives her and defeats her with unfair means. Then she suddenly has to comply to rules for females because she has shown weakness which is the only thing a man is never allowed to show. Her "punishment" is the marriage to Gunther. But even there she tries to inhabit the male role because she refuses to sleep with him. Only when Siegfried wrestles her down so that Gunther can have sex with her, she is finally giving in and she is submissive from then on. Consequently, masculinity and therefore, violence determines every relationship in "Das Nibelungenlied". How strong and violent a man is, determines his rank in the social hierarchy of the males, it also determines who he is going to marry, and if this marriage is successful, i.e. if his wife is obedient to him or not.

The heroic Siegfried slaying the dragon

The Daughters of El Cid (or When You Realize That Your Dad Sucks)

This episode within "The Song of the Cid" is particularly dramatic and tragic. The daughters of El Cid have almost been beaten to death by their husbands because they felt insulted by the Cid. This painting stresses all the cruelty with which both of the girls have been treated. They were completely innocent and unsuspicious about what was going to happen to them.

However, one question comes up for me: Why would the father not make sure that his daughters marry decent men? Cid is, of course, perfectly loyal and submissive to the king. He proves that by letting him decide about his daughters' marriages. The king picks two men who are not particularly the ultimate dream of future in-laws: they are arrogant and weak. However, in the king's defense: how is he supposed to know that. Who is really to blame here is the Cid himself. He marries his daughters off to two guys who are terrified like little children when a lion escapes from its cage. They obviously are NOT capable of taking care of his daughters.

But the Cid does not really seem to realize this or he just doesn't care what happens to his two girls. Because quite frankly, he doesn't even have a relationship with the two of them for his family were for the longest time his men. He hasn't seen his daughters grow up and at the same time he hasn't spent a whole lot of time with Jimena either. So is it unfair to ask if he even sees any of them as his most precious treasure? The only thing that really is important to him is his loyalty to the king and his reputation that he spends years on to get back again. Even after the king has made a bad decision the first time, the Cid still lets him pick the new husbands for his daughters. This certainly proves that he is loyal and obedient to the king but what does this tell us about how much he values his daughthers. 

The painting of the scene perfectly shows how much the daughters have to suffer for something that is not even their fault. They are simply the easier target than their strong father, and therefore, they are abused and beaten up because their father has ridiculed their husbands which they cannot tolerate since they are proud men.

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"The Daughters of El Cid" by Ignacio Pinazo Camarlech (1879)

The Hero and His Men (or When Friends become Family)

El Cid is very similar to all the other epic heroes in the sense that he is too separated from his family for an immense amount of time. He and Jimena have to part already at the beginning of of the epic. Therefore, the Cid spends most of his time with his closest companions and his whole entourage. His family only plays a marginal role in his life. Although he is trying to gain his good reputation back for his wife too, he seems to do it mainly for himself because he cannot live in dishonor. So he deliberately chooses a life without his wife. And in the broader sense a life without women at all because he is only surrounded by man (INTERESTING, hmmm).

Odysseus also spends years away from his wife. But he obviously suffers. He can hardly stand being away from Penelope and he even breaks out crying in one scene. Indeed, he has female companions throughout his journey (Circe and Calypso), with whom he even has sex but it is only because he has to stay alive somehow, and cheating on Penelope is kind of the only way to do it. He does not enjoy himself while he is away. His only companions are his crew but he even loses them. 

Gilgamesh as another example does not really have a family to begin with (apart from his mother that is). He does not have a romantic interest but he sleeps with all the virgins in town to prove that he is the strongest and basically just because HE CAN. His closest companion, and thus, something like a family is Enkidu. They are extremely close, do everything together, and Gilgamesh beasically dotes on him. 

Consequently, part of being a hero is living without your family for some time and being surrounded by a bunch of guys which is of course always only a Platonic relationship. So, if you go on one of your epic journeys you can either be a loner (such as Siegfried) or you can take all your guy friends and spend a couple of years away from your wife only with them (did they not realize that this even SOUNDS wrong???). So the question is if some epic heroes have a homosexual side to them.

The Cid and his MEN

Slaying People instead of Monsters (or What makes the Cid special)

"El Cid" is very different from all the other epics in the sense that there are no fantastic, mythical creatures in it. There are no dragons nor cyclopes nor sea monsters. Yet, the Cid has something to fight: Muslims. The epic is very realistic in terms of the opponents the hero has to fight.

The Cid defines his heroism by fighting battles against the Moors and by killing some of them but he also shows mercy and just takes all their money and takes over the cities they occupy. Therefore, the Cid is a new kind of hero. He does not have to slay monsters, and yet, he is still noble, strong and heroic. But being a hero here means, possessing the characteristics of chivalry,  being merciful towards the enemy, being religious, and being loyal to your king. In "Das Nibelungenlied" these chivalrous characteristics are also evident (ere, triuwe, etc.) but there is still this animalistic side of the hero that just fights the mystic creatures.

Nevertheless, the Cid also defines his masculinity by violence. In that he is not different from the  other epic heroes such as Odysseus who hangs a bunch of women from a tree and deprives a cyclops of his eye sight or Siegfried who slays a dragon and is bathing in its blood. Apparently, violence is a vital part of being a hero, if not the most unifying characteristic of an epic hero. The degrees to which the hero is violent certainly varies and also the ways in which he is violent but never the fact that he has to commit an act of violence to be heroic. No one gains fame by just being cunning and clever; the hero also has to be strong. And strength in the epic is proven by violent behavior and by killing/ slaying things.

The Cid fighting with a Moor