*All information about the Ring excerpted from Alan Blyth's book Wagner's Ring: An Introduction, 7-15.
*All descriptions of Teutonic gods from the glossary of Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Norse Myths.

A. The Gods
B. The Giants
C. Dwarves vs. The Nibelungs
D. Mortals
E. Other Elements of the Teutonic cosmos in the Ring

(In the organization below, on the whole, the elements and beings from Teutonic mythology are described first, then those from Wagner's operas).

A. The Gods
There are two families of gods in Teutonic mythology: the Vanir, the fertility gods whose chief god is Freyr, and the Aesir, the warrior gods whose ruler is also the omnipotent All-Father, Odin. Including both the Vanir and the Aesir, there are over 25 gods and goddesses in this pantheon.

Richard Wagner chose to use only a handful of these gods. In the Ring, the gods are "the highest order of beings in the universe. In Siegfried, Wotan describes his race as 'light-spirits who inhabit the cloudy heights'"(Blyth, 7). These beings correspond directly to Teutonic gods, although for some Wagner combines more than one god into the same character.

1. Odin vs. Wotan

• Odin: "Thor's father and first and foremost of the Aesir. God of Poetry, Battle and Death. He has many names amongst which are Allfather, the Terrible One, One-eyed, Father of Battle." Odin is a seer, shaman, the begetter of the race of gods. He is one-eyed and wears a cloak half over his face, having given up his eye to gain wisdom. His symbol is the spear. He rides Sleipnir, an eight-legged horse.
• Wotan: "Although he is the chief of the gods, his power is not absolute, nor is he the perfect being. As a young man he was mainly interested in love. That has now been replaced by ambition, and as The Ring begins he is seeking with every means possible to extend his power by subjecting others to his will. He embodies the temptation in all to become tyrannical, while realizing the danger of such all-embracing power. He becomes oppressed by the fear of losing his ill-gotten gains. By listening to the warning of Erda (see Earth), he escapes at the eleventh hour from his folly and from the danger of possessing the Ring.

  
  "In his fear of being annihilated he resorts to other means to achieve his will: he sets aside customary morality and tries to escape from natural laws through Siegmund and Sieglinde. But, outmanoeuvred by his wife Fricka, he is forced to submit to the inevitable, abandon his plans, and renounce his ambitions. Heart-broken and weary, he resigns himself to his fate and becomes merely a passive spectator of events. Just once more he tries to influence them, to stop Siegfried from fulfilling his destiny, but the last vestige of his power is destroyed and he calmly awaits the approach of his doom, the extinction of his glory."

2. Thor vs. Donner

• Thor: "Son of Odin and Earth (Fjorgyn), and husband of Sif [for more on Sif, see the symbol of Hair]. Second in the hierarchy of the gods and their guardian. God of the sky and thunder and so of fertility but equally aassociated with maintenace of law and order in Midgard. The most common of his many names are Thunder God and Charioteer."
• Donner: "The god of Thunder, and as such a blustering figure, perhaps the aggressive extension of Wotan. He is always intent on achieving things unthinkingly, by violence. At the same time, he can exercise his power positively as when he helps the gods enter Valhalla." Donner only appears in Das Rheingold.

3. Loki vs. Loge

• Loki: "Attractive, ambivalent, mischief-making god (the son of two giants). Often called the Sly One, the Trickster, the Shape Changer, the Sky Traveller. He grows progressively more evil, causes the death of Balder, and is bound until the coming of Ragnarok, the end of the world."
• Loge: "The Fire god is the representative of intrigue and irresponsibility. His nature is roving and restless, and he possesses a ready and sarcastic wit. He stands apart from, and criticizes, the actions of the gods. His cunning is indispensable to the higher powers he serves, and his cleverness gets others out of tricky situations. In particular, his crafty advice is made use of by Wotan; but in doing so Loge abets his own ends. He has often been described as the cycle's sole intellectual."

4. Frigg vs. Fricka

• Frigg: "Odin's wife and first amongst the goddesses. Mother of Balder."
• Fricka: Wotan's wife, goddess of Marriage. "The representative of orthodox morality. Her fundamentally conservative cast of mind cannot grasp the radical intentions of her husband. If the creation of a new race flies in the face of the conventional bonds of marriage, it is not for her. Stern and inexorable, she forces wotan to abandon his new ideas and to uphold the cause of right as she, with her narrow outlook, view it. Righteous indignation is the victor."

5. Freya and Idun vs. Freia

• Freya: "Daughter of Njord. Foremost of the female Vanir or fertility goddesses." Her brother is Freyr.
• Idun: "Goddess married to Bragi, the god of poetry. The golden apples of youth are in her keeping."
• Freia: "The goddess of Youthful Love. Her gift of the golden apples is essential to the gods' immortality. She is temporarily sacrificed to Wotan's and Fricka's lust for money and power."

6. Freyr vs. Froh

• Freyr: "Son of Njord. Foremost of the Vanir fertility gods."
• Froh: "The god of Joy, most anxious to retain Freia, his twin sister. He is a more poetic and sensitive figure than his brother Donner."

7. Fjorgyn vs. Erda

• Fjorgyn: "Mother of Thor by Odin and probably an earth goddess. (Also referred to as Joro or Earth."
• Erda: "The primeval earth-mother, who knows all the secrets of nature and destiny. Wagner describes her as 'the eternal woman possessed of all the world's wisdom'. She appears in The Ring only at moments of uncertainty in order to resolve them, but she gives her advice, imparts her instinctive wisdom, in riddles. At Wotan's bidding, she returns to her eternal sleep."

8. Other Divine Beings in Wagner's Ring

a. Nixies and Elves vs. The Rhinemaidens:
Although the Teutonic myths did not contain the Rhinemaidens exactly named as Wagner created them (Flosshilde, Wellgunde and Woglinde), they are nonetheless "a dramatic synthesis of a group of beings that was prominent in the early Germanic cultural thought"(Cord, III:2, 366). Wagner imaged the Rhinemaidens after nixies, which "one time...were known generically as elves" but are more accurately described as "beings that inhabited rivers, and on occasion lakes and streams"(Ibid, 367).

Like nixies, elves were associated with nature. There were two elven races: the light elves, who inhabited Alfheim in the cosmic level of Asgard, and the dark elves of Svartalheim in Midgard. However, in Teutonic mythology, "no valid distinction can be drawn between the dwarves and the dark elves; they appear to have been interchangeable," unlike Wagner's definite distinguishment between the Rhinemaidens and dwarves such as Alberich (Crossley-Holland, xxi).

• The Rhinemaidens: "The original guardians of the gold. They also represent the unattainable, untainted image of female beauty as characterized bythe mermaid. All unbeknown, they give away to Alberich, the personification of evil, the secret of their gold [Das Rheingold], and pay the consequences when it is rudely stolen from them. Brunnhilde, having expiated the crimes committed in its name, eventually returns it to them [Gotterdammerung], and they drown Hagen, who would steal the gold and, thereby, start the process all over again."

b. The Valkyries:
In Teutonic mythology, the "Choosers of the Slain" are "beautiful young women who chose men doomed to die in battle and brought them back to Valhalla."

In Wagner, the Valkyries are "warlike yet compassionate, Wotan's daughters mothered by Erda."

• Brunnhilde: "The representative of elevated, as distinct from carnal, love, humanity at its closest to the divine. From her father (Wotan) she has inherited courage and strength, from her mother (Erda) wisdom and foresight. She becomes an active expression of Wotan's will, but a split in that will causes the first conflict in her being [Die Walkure]. Compassion for the sorrow of Siegmund and Sieglinde resolves the conflict. She thereby frees herself from the gods and escapes their forthcoming annihilation. Having lost the protection of the gods, she has to submit to mortal love [Siegfried]. After hesitiaton she capitulates to human passion, as personified in Siegfried. But inthe union she foresses their death and destruction because they will fall victim to evil forces. Only after long anguish and despair does she become enlightened as to their cause. The love in her heart triumphs over care and sorrow, and becomes a divine compassion for suffering humanity. By her self-sacrifice, she redeems the world [Gotterdammerung]."

B. The Giants
Teutonic giants "largely represent the forces of chaos, attempting through physical force, trickery and magic to upset the order of the universe. They range from the blunt and brutal Geirrod and Hrungnir, both disposed of by Thor, to the wily and evil Utgard-Loki, who sees Thor off the premises(Crossley-Holland, xxxii).

"But the distinction between gods and giants is far from absolute. Some gods have bad qualities, some giants have good; and the gods and giants do not only fight one another, but form friendships and embark on love relationships. Perhaps it is legitimate, indeed, to see the gods and giants not as polarised opposites but rather as opposing aspects of one character--warring, making peace, warring again and, in the end, mutually destructive"(Ibid).

In Wagner's Ring, the giants are large, strong beings who are not very clever. See giant.

• Fafner: under the influence of the cursed ring, Fafner kills his brother, Fasolt, and flees to a cave where he keeps a treasure-hoard. Siegfried kills him in Siegfried. For more detail on his character, see dragon.
• Fasolt: "The more gentle of the giants, less avaricious than Fafner, more susceptible to the charms of Freia, and reluctant to sacrifice her for the sake of the gold [Das Rheingold], and therefore for power. He becomes the first victim of the Ring's curse."

C. Dwarves vs. The Nibelungs
The Teutonic dwarfs were "ugly, misshapen" and were seen to "represent greed," for "they do nothing that is not in their own interests. Master-smiths and magicians, quick to show malice, they lust after fair women, after power and, above all, after gold"(Crossley-Holland, xxxi).

Like dwarves, Wagner's Nibelungs are beings who live in underground caves and "who are full of envy, cunning and ambition, and bitterly hostile to the gods"(Blyth, 8).

"The name Nibelung...began to appear in the early Germanic writings...used as a name, but in a manner whose associations were quite different from the historical past. If indeed there had been living beings that bore that name, it is also fact tha from an early date Teutonic beliefs held that there was a body of beings with that name, and it is possible that these same beliefs considered this race to be supernatural, either giants or dwarfs"(Cord, III:1, 297).

1. Andvari vs. Alberich

• Andvari: "Dwarf who owned a treasure hoard, and cursed it when it was extracted from him by Loki to pay the ransom for Otter's death"(Crossley-Holland, 239). Andvari was the inspiration for the dwarf Alberich in Wagner's Ring.
• Alberich: "Wotan's antipole, who acquires unlimited power through stealing the gold[Das Rheingold]. He personifies evil because, in a sense, he is the dark side of Wotan; he represents, in fact, the dark, shadowy side in all of us, and the ugly side of passion. He also has a formidable and resolute kind of courage and inner energy. He is willing to sacrifice sensual pleasure for what is, for him, the more compelling call of power that will enable him to tyrannize the world. He scoffs at goodness and nobility, and wishes either to accumulate wealth or to destroy it. When he loses the power of the gold through Loge's deceit [Das Rheingold], he seeks any and every opportunity to regain it. Only Brunnhilde's divine love finally sets his ambitions at naught [Siegfried]."

  
  click to learn more about Andvari's ring and Alberich

2. Other Nibelungs and their equivalents: Wagner fashioned Mime after Regin, a dwarf who was "son of the farmer-magician Hreidmar and brother of Otter and Fafnir"(Crossley-Holland, 249). Hagen, on the other hand, came directly from the Teutonic myths as they were related in the Nibelungenlied.

• Mime: Alberich's brother. In "Another member of the shadow world, avaricious and treacherous. He is also weak and cowardly, and so falls under the baleful control of Alberich [Das Rheingold]. When Alberich loses his power, Mime becomes a free agent. For his own purposes he is benevolent to Siegfried, keeping the boy ignorant of his origin. His underhand behaviour and attempts at deception bring him deservedly to his death [Siegfried]."
• Hagen: Alberich's son by a human, Grimhilde. His character appears only in Gotterdammerung. "The personification of hate, he has been brought up by his father, Alberich, to seek revenge. From Alberich he has inherited a hatred of all that is good. He tends to be gloomy, morose and cold; all his energy is spent on regaining the Ring for which purpose he insinuates himself into the confidence of others, making their desires serve his own ends and sacrificing their happiness in his cause. In contrast to his half-brother and half-sister," Gunther and Gutrune, the Gibichungs, Hagen is "a harsh, sinister figure, a dark shadow in the Gibichung Hall. In the end, he is unable to frustrate the power of love, and meets a well-deserved death."

D. Mortals
Teutonic culture placed mortals as the inhabitants of the middle level of the world, called Midgard.

In Wagner, mortals are heroes and other various women and men.

• Siegmund and Sieglinde: twin children of Wotan by a Walsung. They appear only in Die Walkure. "By virtue of their divine origin as Wotan's children, they have a different nature from other mortals. That causes them to be misunderstood and persecuted. Siegmund, in particular, becomes an 'outsider'. Separated as chldren, each has become isolated. Once brought together again, a mutual sympathy is inevitable. In consummating their incestuous love they break the laws of human morality and are condemned as outcasts. Their separation and death is bound to follow, yet now before they have shown the intensity of love's power."
• Siegfried: son of Siegmund and Sieglinde. He is the hero of Siegfried and also a protagonist in Gotterdammerung. "The image of a hero, a true child of nature, without malice, above fear, coursing with untold vitality. He might be an unsympathetic hero were it not for his moments of introspection. At first he is all youthful impetuousity, unaware of his destiny. Having forged the sword, he clears all obstacles in his path by his undaunted fearlessness and becomes master of the gold, and so of untold wealth. He wins the love of the noblest woman in the world (Brunnhilde) [Siegfried]. However, through the agency of a draught that make him forget the past, he becomes the unwitting accomplice in a plot that will destroy him [Gotterdammerung]."
• Hunding: Sieglinde's husband. In Die Walkure, Hunding is Siegmund's rival and challenger both in battle and in love. Hunding prays to the goddess Fricka and hence she becomes obliged to see that Siegmund is destroyed. Despite Brunnhilde's protestations on the behalf of the lovers, Siegmund and Sieglinde, Hunding successfully kills Siegmund, though after committing the deed he is immediately struck dead by Wotan's spear.
• Gutrune: a Gibichung. She is Hagen's half-sister. Appears only in Gotterdammerung. "The representative of feminine frailty, she is, above all, vulnerable. Like her brother Gunther she is capable of coping with normal human situations but not with the tremendous events with which she becomes involved. Although she wittingly sacrifices another woman's happiness to her own desires, and is even jealous of Brunnhilde, she enjoys her brief period of happiness by forgetting her guilt. Only when the consequences of her evil-doing become clear to her does she have any remorse and realize the effects of her own action. Eventually her weak personality is subsumed in the grandeur of her rival's."
• Gunther: a Gibichung like his sister, Gutrune, and also Hagen's half-brother. Like Guture, Gunther's only scenes are in the last of the four operas, Gotterdammerung. "A moral weakling, a man who gets on well enough in life provided too much pressure is not put on him, in which case he is likely to prove inadequate. He is anxious to improve his worldy position, and to do so enlists the aid of his stronger, but more evil half-brother. To satisfy his own desires, he condones wrong-doing, and through that brings about his own downfall and death."

E. Other Elements of the Teutonic Cosmos in the Ring

Valhalla: "This castle of the gods is the symbol of power, whose price is the loss of love and youth. Paid for by the gold, it comes under that symbol's evil curse. It also represents the old order that is passing away. Eventually, without the presence of Brunnhilde, its noblest inhabitant, it becomes a loveless, careworn place where Wotan awaits his doom. Its false glory is eventually destroyed, and with it the existing order of things, through Brunnhilde's new power of love"(Blyth, 16). To compare Wagner's palace of the gods with the Teutonic Hall of the Dead Warriors, see Valhalla.

Wagner and the Cosmos: Of the nine world housed within the roots of Yggdrasill, Wagner uses only four in The Ring. One of his worlds is Nibelheim, which he created but borrowed from Niflheim; this he made the land of the dwarves. A second world is Riesenheim, the Ring's land of giants (corresponding to Jotunheim). A third world is the land of the gods, not named but which seems to refer to Asgard not Vanaheim. The fourth world, that of mankind, is also not named, though it would be equivalent to Midgard (Blyth, 17, 99, 163, 278, 290, 305, 322, 535). Go back to map of Teutonic Cosmos.

Well of Urd in Wagner: In Wagner, the three Norns weave the fate of human lives onto their cord of destiny. In Scene 1 of the "Prologue" to Gotterdammerung, Wagner's Norns gather at the base of the Tree of Life to tell of a well that flows at the foot of the Ash Tree (Blyth, 86-7; Cord, 17). For more on the Well of Urd in Teutonic mythology, see Well of Urd.