Gudrun

views updated May 18 2018

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.

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