Brynhildr

Brynhild is the tragic heart of the Völsung legend — a valkyrie undone by love and pride. For disobeying Odin she was pricked with a sleep-thorn and ringed in fire on a mountain, to sleep until a man brave enough to cross the flames should wake her; and that man was Sigurd, who woke her, taught by her, and pledged her his troth. But a love-potion made him forget her, and worse — disguised as another man, he crossed her fire a second time to win her as a bride for King Gunnar, who could not. When Brynhild learns she was deceived into marrying the lesser man while the hero she loved lives as her brother-in-law, her grief turns to a cold, absolute fury: she drives the killing of Sigurd, then, rather than live, lays herself on his pyre and follows him into the flames. She is the saga's study of a proud spirit that would sooner burn than be diminished — wronged, terrible, and unforgettable.