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Völsung

Völsung is a legendary king and the eponymous founder of the Volsung (Völsung) lineage in Norse mythology. The name and figure appear most prominently in the Völsunga saga, a medieval Icelandic narrative that preserves earlier Germanic legends about a royal house whose fortunes rise and fall through acts of valor, treasure, and treachery. The saga places Völsung at the head of a dynasty whose members become central heroes and villains in the saga’s unfolding drama.

The core narrative concerns the Volsung family’s entitlement to power, wealth, and honor, as well as a

The Völsung saga occupies a central place in medieval Norse literature and has had a lasting influence

lingering
curse
surrounding
a
dragon-hoarded
treasure.
Key
elements
include
the
theft
of
gold
from
the
dwarf
Andvari
and
its
cursed
lineage,
the
rise
of
legendary
heroes
such
as
Sigmund
and
his
son
Sigurd
(often
identified
with
Siegfried
in
German
tradition),
and
the
acquisition
of
Fafnir’s
hoard.
Sigurd’s
slaying
of
the
dragon
with
the
aid
of
Regin,
and
the
subsequent
disputes,
betrayals,
and
tragic
fates
that
befall
the
Volsung
lineage,
drive
the
saga
toward
its
catastrophic
conclusion,
with
much
of
the
family
destroyed
in
feuding
and
vengeance.
on
the
wider
Germanic
heroic
tradition.
It
supplied
motifs
and
characters
later
echoed
in
other
works,
and
it
influenced
modern
adaptations,
most
famously
Richard
Wagner’s
Ring
Cycle,
which
draws
on
themes
and
archetypes
associated
with
the
Volsung
legends.
The
figure
of
Völsung
thus
remains
a
foundational
element
in
the
study
of
Norse
myth
and
its
reception.