Editing Götterdämmerung (section)

=== Act 1 ===
[[File:Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods p 130.jpg|thumb|Brünnhilde is visited by her Valkyrie sister Waltraute (Arthur Rackham, 1912)]]

==== ''Scene 1'' ====
The act begins on the shores of the [[Rhine]] in the Hall of the [[Gibichung]]s, a people named after the deceased king [[Gjúki|Gibich]]. [[Gunther]], his son and heir, sits enthroned. Gunther's half-brother and chief minister [[Hagen (legend)|Hagen]] advises him to find a wife for himself and a husband for [[Gudrun|Gutrune]], the sister of them both, to enlarge the glory and might of their dynasty and secure it for the future. He suggests Brünnhilde, the noblest of women, as appropriate for Gunther, and Siegfried, the dragon-slayer, the greatest of heroes, as the best husband for Gutrune. Neither Gunther nor Gutrune knows how to win themselves such partners, but Hagen reminds Gutrune that he has given her a potion she can use to make Siegfried forget any woman he has ever seen and fall in love with her; enamoured of Gutrune, Siegfried will then also be surely willing to bring Brünnhilde, who sleeps on a mountaintop encircled by fire only the fearless can pass, to Gunther in order to gain from him the permission for marriage with Gutrune. Gunther and Gutrune, not knowing that Siegfried and Brünnhilde are actually in love with each other, agree enthusiastically with this plan.

==== ''Scene 2'' ====
Siegfried lands near the Gibichung Hall with his boat, seeking to meet Gunther, of whose fame he has heard during his journey (''"Heil, Siegfried, theurer Held!"''). Gunther extends hospitality to the hero, and Gutrune offers him the potion. Unaware of deception, Siegfried toasts Brünnhilde and their mutual love and drinks. In a while he loses his memory of her and is struck by desire for Gutrune. Drugged, Siegfried then offers to win a wife for Gunther, who tells him about Brünnhilde and the magic fire, which only a fearless person can cross. They swear [[Blood brother|blood-brotherhood]], mixing their blood in a drinking horn (''"Blühenden Lebens labendes Blut"''). Hagen holds the horn but does not join in the oath, and the two new brothers then leave for Brünnhilde's rock. Hagen, left on guard duty, gloats that his so-called masters are unwittingly bringing the ring to him (''"Hier sitz ich zur Wacht"'' - ''Hagens Wacht'' - ''Hagen's Watch'').

Orchestral Interlude

==== ''Scene 3'' ====
Meanwhile, Brünnhilde is visited on her rock by her [[Valkyrie]] sister Waltraute, who recounts that [[Odin|Wotan]] returned from his wanderings with [[Gungnir|his spear]] shattered. The spear was the symbol of the god's authority and the source and instrument of his power, carved with all the treaties through which he ruled. Unable to influence events any more, he has ordered branches of [[Yggdrasil|the World tree]] to be piled around Valhalla by its heroes and waits in resignation for [[Huginn and Muninn|his ravens]] to bring him news about the ring (''"Höre mit Sinn, was ich dir sage!"'' - ''Waltraute's Monologue''). Waltraute begs Brünnhilde to return the ring to the [[Rhinemaidens]], but Brünnhilde refuses to relinquish the pledge of Siegfried's love, and Waltraute rides away in despair.

Crossing the ring of fire, Siegfried arrives disguised as Gunther by using the [[Tarnhelm]] and claims Brünnhilde for his wife (''"Brünnhild', ein Freier kam"''). Though Brünnhilde, terrified by the appearance of an unknown man, tries to resist him, without the divine powers she has earlier renounced for love's sake she has now nothing with which to defend herself but the ring, which Siegfried manages to snatch cruelly from her hand during a fight, being immune to its coercive power thanks to his fearlessness. Putting the ring on his own hand instead, Siegfried then spends the night with Brünnhilde on her rock, placing the magic sword Nothung between them as a witness to his loyalty to Gunther and his keeping the promise to bring Brünnhilde untouched (''"Nun Nothung, zeuge du"'').