LEGEND: SIGURD AND THE DRAGON FAFNIR

The Völsunga saga tells the story of Sigurd, the greatest hero of the North: the man who slew a dragon, understood the speech of birds and fell victim to a ring's curse. Centuries later, Wagner and Tolkien would drink from this same source.

The dwarf Regin raised Sigurd and convinced him to kill his brother Fafnir, turned into a dragon by greed for Andvari's cursed gold (with the ring Andvaranaut foremost). Sigurd reforged the shards of his father Sigmund's sword into the blade Gram, dug a pit on the dragon's path and pierced him through the belly as he passed overhead. Tasting by chance the roasted heart's blood of Fafnir, Sigurd understood the birds' speech, which warned him Regin planned to betray him: the hero beheaded him first.

With the treasure came the ring's curse too: all who own it shall die. Sigurd woke the valkyrie Brynhild, promised her marriage, and still tragedy reached them both through deceit and broken oaths. Fafnir's gold ended at the bottom of the Rhine, where legends say it still waits.