"Strife" and an ending . . .

I've just read the last section (9) of The Lay of the Volsungs; it's entitled "Strife," and that's an understatement! It begins with the marriage of Brynhild to Gunnar, and all is well because she believes he was the one who rode through the fire to betroth her. But at the wedding feast, Sigurd's "confusion" leaves him and he remembers all that had passed between him and Brynhild--and knows that his impersonating of Gunnar has led to this breaking of vows. He remains silent, though, and determines to make the best of what fate has dealt him.

But Gudrun, who, while she's not a sorceress that I know of, has inherited some of her mother's spiteful and meddlesome nature, exposes the truth to Brynhild; I get the feeling she does this merely to wound Brynhild and gloat over the fact that she has the better husband. This pretty much unhinges Brynhild, who retires to her darkened room to plot vengeance.

She won't listen to Sigurd when he explains how he forgot his vows (the drugged potion he was given) and encourages her to accept her fate and appreciate what she has in Gunnar, a wealthy, powerful Burgundian king. Then she lies to Gunnar, telling him that Sigurd had slept with her when in the guise of Gunnar--and thus has broken his vows of kinship with Gunnar. The only thing that will give her "comfort" is to have Sigurd killed.

Gunnar can't kill him or he would break his vows! So he plots with a younger brother (or half-brother) who has not sworn vows with Sigurd, and he, after living on a diet of snake and wolf meat (!), kills Sigurd. Then Brynhild tells Gunnar the truth--that Sigurd had not broken his vows. And she asks for a sword--on which she falls.

The story ends with a funeral pyre for Sigurd and Brynhild, who arrive to a great welcome in Valhalla, while their spouses are left in life to mourn in shame. Sigurd looks forward to a great battle in which he, the one who has died and can not die, will be victorious; the poet tells us Brynhild will send him to battle, enacting the typical meadhall scene of the cup-bearer.

Christopher Tolkien's notes are helpful in understanding the confusions in the Old Norse texts and his father's choices in the crafting of his own poem. Included here are more of Tolkien's notes, which also shed light on the development of this Lay.

While Brynhild may be seen as a crazed, vengeful woman, Tolkien reminds us that she is really a Valkyrie humanized. She can not live with the knowledge that she has broken her vow to Sigurd or that she has been duped through sorcery into marrying Gunnar, and she can not remain married to Gunnar, having sworn to love only the "World's Chosen." Her actions are both the result of and the fulfillment of Fate.