The Nibelung Ring First Day
Tetralogy
The Rhein Daughters: Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde; guardians of the Rheingold. They appear in the “Rheingold” and in the “Dusk of the Gods.”
Fricka: Goddess of Marriage or domesticity, Wotan’s wife; sister of Donner, Froh, and Freïa. Appears in the “Rheingold” and in the “Valkyrie.”
Freïa: Goddess of Plenty; sister to Donner, Froh, and Fricka. Appears in the “Rheingold.”
Erda: Goddess of Wisdom; mother of the three Fates or Norns and of the nine Valkyries. Appears in the “Rheingold” and in “Siegfried.”
Sieglinde: Daughter of Wotan under his name of Wälse. Hunding’s wife, and then Siegmund’s wife. Siegfried is her son. Appears in the “Valkyrie.”
Brünnhilde: A Valkyrie; daughter of Wotan and Erda; first Siegfried’s wife, then Gunther’s.
The Valkyries: Helmwige, Gerhilde, Waltraute, Ortlinde, Rossweisse, Grimgerde, and Schwertleite. Daughters of Wotan and Erda, and sisters to Brünnhilde. Appear in the “Valkyrie,” and Waltraute also in the “Dusk of the Gods.”
Norns: Earth’s daughters who spin men’s destinies.
Gutrune: Daughter of Gibich and Grimilde and Gunther’s sister, Hagen’s half-sister, and Siegfried’s wife. Appears in the “Dusk of the Gods.”
Wotan: (The Wanderer) King of the Gods, and God of War, Father of the Valkyries, Father of Siegmund and Sieglinde. Appears in the “Rheingold,” the “Valkyrie,” and as the Wanderer, in “Siegfried.” Married to Fricka.
Alberich: Gnome: King of the Nibelungs, Spirit of Darkness. Appears in the “Rheingold,” “Siegfried,” and the “Dusk of the Gods.”
Fasolt: Giant and brother of Fafner; belongs to the race of mortals. Appears in the “Rheingold.”
Fafner: Giant and brother of Fasolt, and of the race of mortals. Appears in the “Rheingold” and “Siegfried.”
Froh: God of Pleasure; brother of Donner and Freïa, and Fricka. Appears in the “Rheingold.”
Donner: God of Thunder, brother to Fricka, Freïa, and Froh. Appears in the “Rheingold.”
Loge: Spirit of Fire and Flame. Belongs first to the underworld and then the Gods. Appears in the “Rheingold.”
Mime: Dwarf (Nibelung, foster-father of Siegfried.) Appears in the “Rheingold” and in “Siegfried.”
Siegmund: Son of Wotan, husband to Sieglinde and Siegfried’s father. Appears in the “Valkyrie.”
Siegfried: Son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, and grandson of Wotan (Wälse). Husband of Brünnhilde and Gutrune. Appears in “Siegfried” and the “Dusk of the Gods.”
Hunding: Sieglinde’s husband. Appears in the “Valkyrie.”
Gunther: Son of Gibich and Grimhilde and brother to Gutrune and husband to Brünnhilde; half-brother to Hagen. Appears in the “Dusk of the Gods.”
Hagen: Son of Alberich and Grimhilde; half-brother to Gunther and Gutrune. Appears in the “Dusk of the Gods.”