Sigurd (Siegfried)
Epic
The Volsunga Saga (Old Norse prose, c. 13th century, based on older poetry); the Poetic Edda, especially Sigurdarkvidha, Fafnismal, Gripisspa, and Sigrdrifumal; the Nibelungenlied (Middle High German, c. 1200 CE, where he appears as Siegfried). The story also appears in the Thidreks saga and is the basis for Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876).
Divine Ancestry
Descendant of Odin through the Volsung line. His father Sigmund was the chosen hero of Odin, who thrust the sword Gram into the tree Barnstokk. Sigurd is the last and greatest of the Volsungs, the supreme hero of the Germanic world.
The Quest
Raised by the dwarf-smith Regin, who forges the sword Gram from the shards of Sigmund's broken blade. Regin sends Sigurd to slay the dragon Fafnir (Regin's own brother, transformed into a dragon by the cursed gold of the Rhinegold hoard). Sigurd kills Fafnir, tastes his blood, and gains the ability to understand the speech of birds, who warn him that Regin intends to betray him. Sigurd kills Regin, claims the cursed treasure (including the ring Andvaranaut), rides through a wall of fire to awaken the Valkyrie Brynhild from an enchanted sleep, and pledges his love to her. Later, through the machinations of the sorceress Grimhild and a potion of forgetfulness, he betrays Brynhild by helping Gunnar (Gunther) win her hand while himself marrying Gudrun (Kriemhild). When the deception is revealed, Brynhild engineers Sigurd's murder.
Key Weapon
Gram (also called Balmung or Nothung) -- the sword forged by Regin from the shards of Sigmund's sword, capable of cutting an anvil in two. After slaying Fafnir, Sigurd also possesses the Helm of Terror (Aegishjalmr) and the cursed gold hoard.
Companion
Regin (initially, as mentor and smith, though he proves treacherous); Brynhild (as beloved and prophetic advisor, before the tragic betrayal); Gunnar and the Gjukung brothers (as sworn companions, who ultimately betray him).
Antagonist
Fafnir the dragon; Regin the treacherous smith; and ultimately the curse of the Rhinegold itself, which destroys everyone who possesses it. In the Nibelungenlied, Hagen is the treacherous vassal who murders Siegfried by striking his one vulnerable spot (where a linden leaf fell on his back while he bathed in Fafnir's blood).
The Lesson
The inescapability of fate (wyrd) and the tragic consequences of cursed wealth. The Rhinegold hoard carries a doom that destroys all who possess it -- a meditation on the corrupting power of treasure and the impossibility of escaping one's destiny. Sigurd is the supreme hero precisely because he faces his doom with courage and without flinching, embodying the Germanic heroic ideal that glory lies not in escaping fate but in meeting it nobly.
Fate
Sigurd is murdered through treachery -- stabbed in his sleep by Guttorm (in the Volsunga Saga) or speared from behind while drinking at a spring by Hagen (in the Nibelungenlied). Brynhild, consumed by grief and love, immolates herself on his funeral pyre. The cursed gold passes to the Burgundians/Gjukungs, leading to their eventual destruction by Atli (Attila the Hun). The tragedy cascades through generations.