Gudrun

Family: Giukings · Role: daughter of Giuki · First appears: Chapter XXIV · Sigurd sees Brynhild at Hlymdale

In Chapter XXV, Gudrun, daughter of Giuki and sister of Gunnar, Hogni, and Guttorm, dreamed of a golden-feathered hawk she loved above all her wealth. In that dream Brynhild slew her golden hart and gave her a bloodied wolf-cub; Brynhild foretold that Gudrun would wed Sigurd, then Atli, lose her brothers, and finally slay Atli. In Chapter XXVI, Sigurd accepted Gudrun as his bride, and they were wedded; their son was Sigmund (son of Sigurd).

In Chapter XXVIII, Gudrun told Brynhild that Sigurd had ridden through her flaming fire in Gunnar’s shape, lain beside her, and taken her ring. The next morning, Brynhild said that she and Sigurd had sworn an oath together. In Chapter XXIX, Sigurd offered to wed Brynhild and put away Gudrun, but Brynhild refused; she said that Sigurd had told Gudrun the truth and that Gudrun was mocking her. In Chapter XXX, Gudrun woke on Sigurd’s blood after he was slain. She said, “My kinsmen have slain my husband,” and warned Gunnar and Hogni that without Sigurd they would lose their strength. Chapter XXXI tells of her grief for her dead husband.

In Chapter XXXIII, Gudrun found welcome with Thora at King Alf’s hall in Denmark for seven seasons. Gunnar gave her a hurtful drink, after which she no longer remembered her kin’s guilt against her, and she was wed to Atli, though their life together was neither sweet nor kind. In Chapter XXXIV, she sent her brothers a warning in runes, but Vingi altered them to urge the brothers to visit Atli. When they came, she greeted and kissed them; in Chapter XXXVII she put on mail and took up a sword to fight beside Gunnar and Hogni. In Chapter XXXVIII, she sent Gunnar a harp, which he played with his toes. After her brothers’ deaths, Gudrun held their funeral feast, then joined Niblung in counsel against Atli. In Chapter XXXIX, she and Niblung stabbed Atli as he slept; she then fulfilled her promise to prepare his body for burial.