Siegfried is the dragon-slaying hero of the Middle High German Nibelungenlied. A closely related hero named Sigurd appears in Old Norse poems and the Völsunga saga. The traditions share major characters and events, but their plots, relationships, and names are not identical.
The German hero
In the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried possesses the treasure of the Nibelungs and becomes almost invulnerable after bathing in a dragon’s blood. A small spot remains exposed. He helps King Gunther win Brunhild, marries Kriemhild, and is murdered by Hagen after rivalry erupts between the queens.
The Norse Sigurd
Norse sources describe Sigurd killing the dragon Fafnir, tasting its blood, understanding birds, and taking the cursed treasure. His relationships with Brynhild, Gudrun, Gunnar, and the Gjúkungs unfold differently from the German poem. Treating both versions as a single continuous story hides those differences.
Later retellings
Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle reshaped the material again, drawing from several medieval sources while changing characters and sequence. Modern claims about an exact historical Siegfried are unsupported. The hero belongs to a long literary tradition that reused memories of migration-era peoples and royal conflict.