The Nibelungenlied

by

Anonymous

Rüdiger Character Analysis

Rüdiger is the margrave and lord of Pöchlarn, Austria. A vassal of Etzel’s, Rüdiger volunteers to act as envoy when Etzel decides to ask the widowed Kriemhild to marry him. Rüdiger is renowned for his open-handed hospitality, generous gifts, and kindness to strangers. When the Burgundians visit his lands en route to Hungary, he allows his daughter to become engaged to Giselher. He escorts the men of Burgundy to Kriemhild’s festival and is thereby honor-bound to the foreigners—a tie that catches him in a terrible dilemma when Kriemhild, to whom he is vassal, begs him to fight for her against Hagen. Despairing at his loss of integrity, he finally fights the Burgundians, and he and Gernot slay one another simultaneously, to the lamentations of all involved.

Rüdiger Quotes in The Nibelungenlied

The The Nibelungenlied quotes below are all either spoken by Rüdiger or refer to Rüdiger . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Idealized and Deviant Womanhood Theme Icon
).
Chapter 37 Quotes

The noble Margrave stood there in despair. “Alas,” cried that most faithful knight from the depths of his anguish, “that I have lived to know this, Godforsaken man that I am! I must sacrifice all the esteem, the integrity, and breeding that by the grace of God were mine! Ah, God in Heaven, that death does not avert this from me! Whichever course I leave in order to follow the other, I shall have acted basely and infamously - and if I refrain from both, they will all upbraid me! May He that summoned me to life afford me counsel!”

Related Characters: Rüdiger (speaker)
Page Number: 267
Explanation and Analysis:
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Rüdiger Quotes in The Nibelungenlied

The The Nibelungenlied quotes below are all either spoken by Rüdiger or refer to Rüdiger . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Idealized and Deviant Womanhood Theme Icon
).
Chapter 37 Quotes

The noble Margrave stood there in despair. “Alas,” cried that most faithful knight from the depths of his anguish, “that I have lived to know this, Godforsaken man that I am! I must sacrifice all the esteem, the integrity, and breeding that by the grace of God were mine! Ah, God in Heaven, that death does not avert this from me! Whichever course I leave in order to follow the other, I shall have acted basely and infamously - and if I refrain from both, they will all upbraid me! May He that summoned me to life afford me counsel!”

Related Characters: Rüdiger (speaker)
Page Number: 267
Explanation and Analysis: