#gutrune

Porcelain Princess and Abyssal King.

Anon, you're asking me this at a time when I'm working on a Music Inspired By The Nibelungensage That Is Not By Wagner post in my drafts... I must admit, I just love the coincidence/fate/however you wanna call it of it all. :D

That said, talking about songs that aren't about Kriemhild but remind me of her:

Song Of The Storm by Émilie Simon. Quintessential Vindictive Mythological/Legendary Lady Song, if you ask me, but something in Émilie's voice makes me think especially of Kriemhild... somehow, she sounds to me both so young and like she has years of pent-up bitterness and hatred she's barely holding onto before she can finally let them loose at just the right time, which is a vibe I think goes well with her character even after her second wedding -- you could imagine her perpetually stuck in the moment when she realized she had lost Siegfried forever, and why. Also, I absolutely adore the line "I hope you're satisfied/To see the wind blow over me," which she could easily think about Hagen, or Gunther, or Brunhild, or Gernot and Giselher and whoever else in the court of Worms she might suspect to have been in the know of what would happen during the hunt yet told her nothing.

Tu vas le payer from the La légende du Roi Arthur musical. (Showcase version picked here exclusively because I find it so much fun.) In context, sung by Morgan as she plots the fall of Camelot and of her half-brother, Arthur. In my deranged internal ramblings, wonderfully easy to associate with Kriemhild refusing her family's attempts to make amends after Siegfried's death ("I had never stopped believing in you/But tonight your words are really not ringing true") and deciding in her heart that no, she can never never forget, and no, she will never forgive ("You can beg/Deny all/Your hands are tied/You are going to reap/What you have sown"). It could even go well with her accepting Etzel's marriage proposal because she understands what she could do with his army. I like that there's also a softness to it, made up of sadness and doubt, in between all the anger ("Heal me of you/Heal me of my pain/Heal me of your words") that could even be made into a try at convincing herself that "if they would just hand Hagen over to me, I could let them live" ("When I balanced between love and hate/Ready to restart everything from zero"). Also, I like that it's as close as I'll probably ever get to listening to an European rock opera type musical about the Nibelungenlied that's actually available to watch online and with subs, too, lol.

Forever Yours by Nightwish. I don't really think I need to explain this choice, it should be enough to listen to the lyrics. A calmer, quieter, utterly melancholy piece for a moment of solitary mourning in between all the scheming and death. "My time is yet to come/So I'll be forever yours"... besides the obvious association, it reminds me of a line said by Etzel after Kriemhild's death in Lang's Kriemhilds Rache, which I unfortunately don't remember by heart but I think sounded something like "She was never my wife. She was only ever Siegfried's."

... and I thiiiink that's everything, at least as of right now.

But as a little bonus, here's also a song that reminds me of Sigurd and Gudrun/Siegfried and Gutrune: Herr Olof by Garmarna, based on a Medieval Swedish Ballad involving a man, a siren, and an apparently harmless drink.

The Sovereign -> Aigis -> Joker -> Ryu

Aigis is a Pre-order bonus party member portrait (skin/character swap) in Etrian Odyssey III HD. Aigis appears alongside Joker (Persona 5) in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. Joker is a fighter in Smash Ultimate with Ryu. This gives the Sovereign a Ryu number of 3.

Alternatively, Joker himself is a Pre-order bonus portrait for Etrian Odyssey HD. (The first game) If the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection containing the full remastered trilogy is counted as a single title, Aigis could be skipped, giving the Sovereign a Ryu number of 2.

The Sovereign is a class that people/your party members can take on, so I'm not super keen on counting that as a unique character that can have a Ryu Number.

Gutrune, however, has a Ryu Number of 3.

(clarification below)