Tolkien and Sigurd “The World's Chosen,” Part 3

At this point, readers may be wondering what has happened to all the gold Sigurd won from Fafnir, especially Andvari's cursed ring. Again, the original sources do not clearly account for the ring's continued presence or influence, but Tolkien fills in gaps and answers questions in his Lay. The ring is still very much in Sigurd's possession, and for some unknown reason, when he woos Brynhild in Gunnar's form, he slips it onto her finger as she sleeps, thereby, perhaps, passing on its curse to the woman he has forgotten that he loves (152). 

The ring, however, comes back to haunt him not long after. Gudrún, seeing it on Brynhild's hand and recognizing it for what it is, taunts Brynhild that Gunnar could not have been the man who put it there. “[D]did Gunnar get it on Gnitaheiði?” she asks (156). There could only be one right answer. No, only the World's chosen, only Sigurd could have had that ring in his possession. Brynhild suddenly knows the horrible truth, and the doom of the World's chosen is set on its final path to Valhöll and the hope of the world.

Tolkien, then, embraced the story of Sigurd, made it his own, ordered it according to his vision, and, by incorporating the theme of Sigurd as the World's chosen, answered many of the questions the original sources left in readers' minds. In doing all of this, Tolkien also added a deeper, richer meaning to the story of Sigurd that the original tales lack. Tolkien suggests that fate is not all powerful and all encompassing. Human beings can make a difference, can influence their own futures and even change the destiny of history. 

In Old Norse mythology, Ragnarök was to bring devastation to the whole world, but in Tolkien's account, there was a way out, an alternative. If one descendent of Ódin heroically slayed a dragon and arrived in Valhöll with honor, then “not all shall end, nor Earth perish” (180). Because of the actions of this one warrior, the monsters will suffer defeat and the rebuilt world will enjoy blissful peace. Tolkien believed in the power and value of the human person, and he incorporates that belief into his retelling of Sigurd's story, thereby infusing the past with meaning, the present with hope, and the future with promise. 

Works Cited 

Bellows, Henry Adams, translator. The Poetic Edda: The Heroic Poems. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 2015. 

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.