Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild, is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess and queen Brunhilda of Austrasia.
"Brunnhild" (1897) by Gaston Bussière
Sigrdrífa giving Sigurd a drinking horn; illustration on the 11th-century Drävle Runestone
French operatic soprano Rose Caron as Brunhild at Théâtre de La Monnaie, Brussels, 1884
Illustration of Helreið Brynhildar, 1893
Germanic heroic legend is the heroic literary tradition of the Germanic-speaking peoples, most of which originates or is set in the Migration Period. Stories from this time period, to which others were added later, were transmitted orally, traveled widely among the Germanic speaking peoples, and were known in many variants. These legends typically reworked historical events or personages in the manner of oral poetry, forming a heroic age. Heroes in these legends often display a heroic ethos emphasizing honor, glory, and loyalty above other concerns. Like Germanic mythology, heroic legend is a genre of Germanic folklore.
Hagen kills Siegfried while the Burgundian kings Gunther, Giselher, and Gernot watch. Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1847.
A depiction of Sigmund by Arthur Rackham.
"Neither the Huns nor their hornbows make us afraid!" The Geatish king Gizur challenges the invading Huns to a pitched battle on behalf of the Goths, from the Scandinavian epic poem Battle of the Goths and the Huns, which preserves place names from the Gothic rule in South-Eastern Europe. Painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo, 1886.
The shieldmaiden Hervor dying after the Battle of the Goths and Huns, by Peter Nicolai Arbo, before 1892.
