Gunnarr Gjúkason

Gunnar Gjúkason is the Burgundian king at the center of the Volsung tragedy's second half — Gudrun's brother, and the man for whom Sigurd, in disguise, wins Brynhild by crossing her ring of fire. That deception dooms them all: Brynhild, learning she was tricked into marrying the lesser man, drives the killing of Sigurd, and Gunnar consents to it. But the cursed gold draws its own reckoning. Summoned with his brother to the hall of Atli, who covets the Niflung hoard, Gunnar will not betray where it lies even to save his life — and meets his death with the corpus's most defiant courage: cast bound into a snake-pit, he plays a harp with his toes to charm the serpents, holding them off until one adder finds his heart. The king who guarded the secret of the gold to the last, harping in the pit. Pride, complicity, and an unbreakable, terrible courage.