The Nibelungen saga

In the Waltharius King Gibicho of the Franks is father of Guntharius, that is Gunther, and both father and son are called kings of the Franks, not kings of the Burgundians, though their city is Worms on the Rhine. Another king called Heriricus rules the Burgundians and is father of Hiltgunt, the heroine of the tale. The only other kinsman of Gunther who appears here is Hagen. But Hagen's exact familial relation to Gunther is not given.

The Old Norse Thidreks saga is a medieval translation of German legendary material into Norwegian. Here Gunther (the name Norsed as Gunnar) and his brothers are sons and heirs of Irung (in one place) or Aldrian (elsewhere) by Aldrian's wife Ode. The sons are named Gunnar (that is Gunther), Gernoz, and Gisler. Ode also bears a daughter named Grímhild. One later passage adds Guthorm. But Guthorm is never mentioned again and is possibly an addition from Norse tradition by the translator or by an early copyist. Högni (German Hagen) appears as their maternal half-brother, fathered on Ode by an elf when Ode once fell asleep in the garden while her husband was drunk. Yet one passage names Högni's father as Aldrian. There are confusions and doublings in the Thidreks saga and it may be that Aldrian was properly the name of Högni's elf father. Gunnar and his legitimate brothers are often called Niflungar and their country is named Niflungaland. Their sister Grímhild bore to Atli (Attila) a son named Aldrian who is slain by Högni. At the end of the resultant battle, Högni, though mortally wounded, fathered a son on Herad, one of Thidrek's relations. This son, named Aldrian, accomplished Atli's death and became Jarl of Niflungaland under Brynhild (Brynhildr). In the Faroese Högnatáttur a similar tale is told. Here Gunnar and Högni have two younger brothers named Gislar and Hjarnar, both slain along with their elder brothers. Högni, lies with a Jarl's daughter named Helvik on his deathbed and prophecies to Helvik that a son born to her will avenge him. The son in this account is named Högni. On the birth of the child, Helvik, following Högni's advice, secretly exchanged it with a newborn child of "Gudrún" and "Artala". As a result, Gudrún slew the supposed child of Högni, thinking to have put an end to Högni's lineage, but in fact killed her own child and then brought up Högni's child as her own. This second Högni learned of his true parentage and took vengeance on Artala as in the Thidreks saga.

In the Nibelungenlied and its dependent poems the Klage and Biterolf, the father of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, and Kriemhild is named Dankrat and their mother is named Uote. Hagen is their kinsman (exact relationship not given), and has a brother named Dancwart whose personality is bright and cheerful in contrast to Hagen's. Hagen also has a sister's son named Ortwin of Metz. These family relationships might seem to prohibit any elvish siring, but in the cognate story of Brân the Blessed in the second branch of the Mabinogion, Hagen's counterpart Efnisien had a brother named Nisien who was similarly his opposite and Efnisien and Nisien are maternal half-brothers to Brân and Manawyddan just as in the Thidreks saga, Högni was maternal brother to Gunnar and Gernoz. In the second half of the Nibelungenlied both Hagen and Dankwart are called sons of Aldrian. Nothing further is told of Aldrian here. Also in the Nibelungenlied, Gunther and Brunhild had a son named Siegfried and Siegfried and Kriemhild had a son name Gunther. Kriemhild's later son born to Etzel (= Attila) who is slain by Hagen is here named Ortlieb. The Klage relates that Gunther's son Siegfried inherited the kingdom.

Important persons of the saga:

• Alberich, dwarf, guard of the Nibelungen’s Hoard
• Brunhild, queen of Iceland, defeated by Siegfried, who, made invisible by a magic cloak, helps Gunther to woo and marry her. Called Brünnhilde in Wagner’s operas.
• Dankwart, Hagen’s brother and Gunther’s marshal.
• Dietrich, modelled on the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great.
• Etzel, powerful king in the land of the Huns, Kriemhild’s husband after Siegfried’s death. Historic model: Attila, king of the Huns.
• Gernot, one of the brother-kings (the others being Gunther and Giselher) reigning over the Burgundian Empire.
• Giselher reigning over the Burgundian Empire with his brothers Gernot and Gunther.
•  Gunther (King Gundahar), unlike in earlier sources such as the Edda, Gunther is portrayed as a more ‘modern’ ruler—a king who does not have to go to war himself.
• Hagen (Old Norse: Hogni), distant relative of Gunther’s, his loyal follower and and prime aide; murderer of Siegfried.
• Hildebrand, Dietrich’s armourer.
• Kriemhild, probably modelled on Ildikó, Attila’s last secondary wife; Gunther’s sister, Siegfried’s wife, liable for the death of the Nibelungen.
• Ortwin, Gunther’s seneschal in the Nibelungenlied; relative of Hagen.
• Rüdiger von Bechelaren, a liegeman of Etzel’s.
• Siegfried the dragonkiller, or Siegfried of Xanten, strongest hero and (almost) invulnerable after having bathed in the dragon’s blood; acquires the Hoard of the Nibelungen and with it the magic cloak; Kriemhild’s husband; helps King Gunther to woo the Icelandic queen Brunhild; murdered by Hagen from behind by a spear rammed in the only vulnerable spot of his body.
• Ute, queen, Kriemhild’s mother.
• Volker von Alzey, minstrel and one of King Gunther’s knights.