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Chapter 24
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Nibelungenlied, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Idealized and Deviant Womanhood
Civilization vs. Barbarism
Honor vs. Vengeance
Hospitality, Gifts, and Exchange
Fate and Action
Summary
Analysis
The Burgundians prepare to set out for Hungary in great splendor. Before they can leave, Queen Uote implores her sons not to go; she has just dreamed that all the birds of the land were dead. Hagen retorts, “Those who set store by dreams cannot rightly know where their whole honor lies.”
Like Kriemhild has done several times, Uote foresees what’s to happen in a dramatic dream. Hagen’s response is ambiguous; does he deny the dream’s prophecy, or merely assert that the prophecy should determine their actions now? His response to Giselher earlier suggests that he values honor even above supernatural warnings of “fate.”
Active
Themes
As the party is about to set forth, Gunther’s vassal Rumold expresses reservations about the King’s departure. Gunther entrusts his lands and son to Rumold in his absence, though he is convinced that he will return unharmed. Finally, the knights depart cheerfully, though they leave many at home whom they will never see again, “for Siegfried’s wounds were still tormenting Kriemhild.”
As the kings and their vassals leave Burgundy for the last time, Brunhild’s silence is striking; her role doesn’t factor into the action any longer. Rather, the vengeful killing of Siegfried, and its unabated effects on Kriemhild, are cited as the causes of the knights’ doom, with neither one being elevated above the other.
Active
Themes
12 days later, the party (whom the poet begins to refer to as the Nibelungs) reaches the Danube and are dismayed to find its banks flooded. Gunther sends Hagen to find a way to ford the river. He can’t find a ferryman, but he soon hears splashing and comes upon some water-fairies, or nixies, who are endowed with second sight.
Active
Themes
Hagen tries to sneak up on the water-fairies, but they flee, so he takes their clothing. One of the nixies promises that if he returns their clothes, they will tell him how the visit to Hungary will turn out. Hagen decides he believes them. The fairy pledges her word of honor that they can ride confidently into Etzel’s land without fear of harm. Pleased, Hagen returns their clothes, but another fairy says that her cousin has lied for the sake of getting her clothes back. The knights will surely die in Hungary, she warns him, and should turn back while there is still time.
Active
Themes
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Hagen questions the water-fairies further, and one of them predicts that only Gunther’s chaplain will return to Burgundy alive. They also give him information about a ferryman who will help them cross the river, explaining that Hagen must bribe and deceive him in order to gain his services. Following their instructions, Hagen pretends to be a vassal of the local margrave and offers the ferryman gold.
Active
Themes
The ferryman, enraged once he figures out he has been deceived, refuses to take strangers across the river. He and Hagen fight, and the ferryman is beheaded. At that moment the ferry floats downstream, and when Hagen steers back to the rest of the party, he denies that he has seen any ferryman. He ferries the warriors and their goods across the river.
Active
Themes
At this moment, Hagen remembers the water-fairies’ prediction. When he sees the chaplain, he flings the priest overboard, to the horror of the onlookers. When the priest tries to keep himself afloat, Hagen again tries to drown him. The unfortunate chaplain finally swims to the far shore and must walk back to Burgundy. Hagen realizes he can’t escape the fate the nixies have predicted, so he smashes the ferry, to the amazement of all.
