“You, a disobeying Valkyrie, I strip you of powers and you shall fall into a deep slumber inside a wall of flames!” raging Odin All-father said, with his powerful chest rising up and down, his right eye glaring but full of disappointment towards the Valkyrie kneeling in front of him.
“You’ll be born as a human girl, who’ll live, marry, and die. Only a kiss from a brave man who will cross the flames for you will wake you up and to him you shall be wedded. This, I punish you!” And so it was.
The beautiful warrior-maiden Brynhild fell into a deep sleep inside the raging flames which sat at the top of a mountain. The power she once held was stripped off her hand just because she made a young man win a battle, just because she followed her own desire. She did not think of this punishment as wise, and so she fell asleep with nothing in her mind but rage.
Soon, word about the beautiful maiden waiting inside a wall of flame started to spread, reaching Sigurd, the slayer of the dragon Fafnir. After slaying Fafnir and gaining possession of the ring Andvaranaut, he sets on a journey to awaken the beautiful maiden.
He reached the top of the mountain after weeks of seeking. As he looked upon the wall covered in flames, he thought of the maiden inside it and how precious she must be for Odin to lock her up inside a wall of flames just to ensure that she’ll marry a brave man.
He gripped the reigns of his horse and leaped over the raging wall of flames. And there he found a woman with red-gold hair, sleeping soundly, as if she was never cursed. With an elated heart and a determined thought to make her his wife, Sigurd kissed the woman.
At the slightest touch of flesh on her lips, Brynhild opened her eyes, and though she slept with an enraged heart, she woke up feeling ecstatic. The handsome warrior who interrupted her deep slumber was enough for her to forget her misfortune. In the wall of flames, Sigurd and Brynhild celebrated they love.
But these moments never last. Sigurd must leave for an adventure before he fully takes her as her wife.
“Should you really go without letting me out?” hands on Sigurd’s chest plate, Brynhild asks once again.
“I promise to make you my wife by the time we meet again. For now, wear this ring as a symbol of my love.” As a promise, he left with Andvaranaut with Brynhild and once again sets on a journey.
Sigurd arrived at Burgundy Court, where Princess Gudrun lives. At the first sight, Gudrun wants Sigurd for herself, but she knew Sigurd already has someone. With her desperate affection for Sigurd, she asks her mother, Queen Grimhildr, for aid. She wants a potion that would make Sigurd forget about Brynhild, and they succeeded. Sigurd forgets about the woman he promised to marry and weds Princess Gudrun.
Following his sister’s wedding, Prince Gunnar, brother of Princess Gudrun, sets off on a journey to take the woman in the wall of flames as her wife. But he can’t leap over the fire. After several failed attempts, he asks for Sigurd to help him. Because of the brotherhood they made, Sigurd agreed to help. He took the form of Gunnar and leaped over the flames once again. He met Brynhild in a different form, asks her again to marry him in a different man’s appearance, and fell in love once again not knowing it was already the second time. But breaching his brotherhood with Gunnar will make the gods angry, and so he brought Brynhild to Gunnar.
Brynhild almost didn’t want to accept another man’s proposal if not for Odin’s curse that she shall marry the man who’ll leap the fire for her. She was heartbroken to accept another love and replace that of Sigurd’s, but she has no other choice. Sigurd left and never came back. She must now forget him. Like how he forgot about their love.
Arriving at the Burgundy Court, marrying Gunnar against her will, she suffered alone. Not until she saw Sigurd and Gundur happily married. She thought of how disrespectful Sigurd must be to forget about her and marry another woman. She was once again full of rage, just like how she was when Odin punished her. She was full of hatred that even her love had submerged beneath her anger. With the thought of not letting anyone be happy if she was in deep sorrow, she plans to take revenge.
She started with isolating herself to make her husband worry.
Weeks after weeks, she did not let anyone pass through her chamber door. Until one night, her plan succeeded. Sigurd, upon the request of Gunnar, visited Brynhild. She tempted him ran away with her, but Sigurd was firm.
“If I can’t have him, I’ll make sure no one else can.” With desperation on her eyes, she lied to Gunnar and said that Sigurd slept with her that night.
Gunnar felt wronged and revengeful that he made his youngest brother kill Sigurd on his sleep.
In front of Sigurd’s funeral Pyre, Gudrun wept for her husband, but no one can weep more than Brynhild. With her love nearing the deadly cliff, she moved forward and with a dagger on her hand, stabbed her aching heart and thrown herself to Sigurd’s funeral pyre.
They first met in the middle of flames and together they end up in fire, walking hand-in-hand towards the underworld.
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