Regarding the tarnhelm, Wiki says it enables the user to travel long distances instantly. I don’t recall Siegfried using it that way in Gotterdammerung. Please fight my ignorance.
There is a very brief mention in Act II of Götterdämmerung of Siegfried traveling very swiftly from Brünnhilde’s rock.
The exchange (in German):
*SIEGFRIED
Hoiho, Hagen!
Müder Mann!
Siehst du mich kommen?
HAGEN
(gemächlich sich erhebend)
Hei, Siegfried?
Geschwinder Helde?
Wo brausest du her?
SIEGFRIED
Vom Brünnhildenstein!
Dort sog ich den Atem ein,
mit dem ich dich rief:
so schnell war meine Fahrt!
Langsamer folgt mir ein Paar:
zu Schiff gelangt das her! *
In English:
*SIEGFRIED
Hoiho, Hagen,
weary man!
Can you see me coming?
HAGEN
(rising calmily)
Hey, Siegfried,
swift hero!
Where have you stormed in from?
SIEGFRIED
From Brünnhilde’s rock!
There I drew the breath
with which I called to you,
so quick was my journey!
The pair are following me more slowly:
they are coming by boat. *
He takes off the Tarnhelm at the beginning of the exchange.
That’s all I can find.
Thanks! At least I see how I missed it; could very well be the libretto translation.
Magic helmet?
No, German Style Wabbit Death Ray.
The sources for Wagner were mostly courtly adaptations of the Nibelungenlied from the High Middle Ages and later; those epics had combined tales from different times: myths from the Early Middle Ages and the barbarian migrations in Europe and nordic sagas, like Volsunga; that saga is the oldest preserved (re)narration of the story that Wagner adapted; but there, a helmet or a cap of invisibility or camouflage does not exist. However, we are told about an Oegishjalmr – which could be translated as a “helm of awe” – worn by Fáfnir, the dragon.
From the Volsunga Saga, CHAPTER XVIII - Of the Slaying of the Worm Fafnir
But Fáfnir’s helmet isn’t even a helmet, it’s rather a symbol worn between the eyes; its power derived from a force that was believed to influence the mind and cause phantasms, fear and forgetfulness. The skill or ability that was its origin was called “Seiðr”, a specific kind of magic that was done by solitary women, aka witches.
That mind-magic made in other sagas people invisible or hidden with the help of illusions; it’s likely that its powers were later conflated with the legendary abilities of the dwarfs to produce wondrous items to come up with magical caps, hoods and helmets that also confused the mind – and if they were a bane, they tricked the wearer, if a boon, they tricked everyone else.
Thanks, wintertime!
Cool!
The historical origins of the Nibelungen Saga are nowadays as fiercely discussed as ever; some of the more established views have been challenged, but, so far, swords were not drawn and spears not thrust (how ashamed our ancestors must be and how disappointed the Valkyries).
The traditional view is that …
The Nibelungen were Burgundians (three of the documented kings have almost identical names to the ones we know from the Nibelungenlied) who were almost destroyed by the Roman general Aetius in the year 436, the remnants of the tribe were later sent into exile; the general might have had auxiliary troops that consisted of Huns, which would explain their inclusion into the tale. Though there is a tiny chance that the Burgundians were indeed fighting the Huns or caught between the Romans and the Huns who were almost equal in strength and both super powers of that era.
Attila the Hun is indeed Attila the Hun.
Dietrich is a mythologized version of Theoderich der Große / Theodoric the Great, ruler of the Ostrogoths in Italy from 493 to 526.
Siegfried’s identity, however, has always been more contested; some historians and more than some philologists see in him the historical Arminius, who destroyed three Roman legions and their auxiliary troops in the fall of AD 9 in the “Battle of the Teutoburg Forest”. Philologists have explained pretty well, how those historical events, that foreshadowed so much of later developments, could be transformed into a myth among Germanic tribes that finally led to the Nibelungenlied of the High Middle Ages.
Other historians believe that he was the son of Sigebert, a king of the Franks who lived around Cologne in the 6th century. The viking theory has still followers, and so on…
One questionable but nonetheless interesting contrary view can be found at “Die Nibelungensage – Kern der Wahrheit in der Svava?” (“The Nibelungen Saga: The True Core by the Svava?”). The page is also available in English.
The problem with the laid out theory is the lack of any historical sources that directly support Ritter’s view; otoh, it solves some of the major conflicts between known historical facts and the established theories about the origins of the Nibelungenlied.
In any event, the search for truth in myths is rarely as fascinating as in this case.