Gudrun

Gudrun or Kudrun , in Germanic literature. 1 Heroine of the Icelandic epic, the Volsungasaga. 2 Heroine and title person of an anonymous Middle High German epic written shortly after and strongly influenced by the Nibelungenlied (see under Nibelungen ). The epic tells the story of Hilde, Hagen's sister, and of the abduction of her daughter Gudrun. 3 Principal character of the Icelandic Laxdaelasaga, introduced to English readers by William Morris through his "Lovers of Gudrun" in The Earthly Paradise. Wagner's Gutrune (in the Götterdämmerung ) is not Gudrun but corresponds to Kriemhild of the Nibelungenlied.

Gudrun,
1. in the Volsunga saga and in W. Morris's Sigurd the Volsung, the daughter of the king of the Niblungs;

2. the heroine of the Laxdaela saga (see saga), who appears in Morris's version, ‘The Lovers of Gudrun’, in The Earthly Paradise.

Gudrun in Norse legend, sister of Gunnar, the wife of Sigurd and later of Atli (Attila the Hun); the Norse equivalent of Kriemhild in the Nibelungenlied. In both Norse and Germanic versions of the story, she is ultimately a figure of vengeance, bringing about the death of the brothers who have killed her husband.

In saga literature, Gudrun is also the name of the remorseless heroine of the Old Icelandic Laxdæla Saga, who is loved by Kjartan but marries his foster-brother Bolli, and who in the end incites Bolli to kill Kjartan.