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816 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1853
A restless God.
A coveted treasure.
A feared curse.
A forbidden love.
A doomed hero.
A scorned enemy.
An unavoidable fate.
Those runes of solemn covenant
enshrined in your spear,
are they just playthings to you?
You use splendour to rule,
you're a glitteringly regal race,
how foolish that you strive
after towers of stone,
pledge the loveliness of woman
in exchange for fortress and hall!
To hush up their scandal,
idiots smear me!
Rudeness is always Loge's reward!
a free man must bring himself into being;
slaves are all I can create.
All and sundry are of their kind:
nothing you do can change it.
1. The Rhinegold Ring (that can belong to none) is highly reminiscent of the infamous Ring from The Lord of the Rings. Many aspects of the journey of the rings are so on the nose that I need not elaborate much.
2. For those who have read The Silmarillion, there is the familiar element of kin strife over treasure.
3. The Children of Húrin explores the tropes of dragon slaying and a doomed incestuous relationship as used here.
4. Siegfried's love for Brunnhilde finds reflection in Beren's love for Lúthien and Aragorn's love for Arwen.
5. The riddle contest between Wotan and Alberich reminds of the riddling between Bilbo and Sméagol.
6. Broken sword of Nothung reminds one of the broken sword Narsil.
7. Sieglinde's handing over of her child to Mime (a dark elf/dwarf) is paralleled in rearing of Aragorn in Rivendell amidst elves.
8. Aragorn, like Siegfried, goes on a quest to redeem his ancestry/lineage with the help of a reforged sword.
9. The destruction of the Ring, which in turn ushers a New Age and the departure of the elves can be likened to the Twilight of the Gods.