Fan CastingThe Ring of the Nibelung: Twilight of the Gods

Twilight of the Gods (Götterdämmerung) is the fourth and final installment of the non-musical movie version of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle. After leaving Brünnhilde and setting off on his travels, Siegfried meets Gunther, king of the Gibichungs (a race of mortals who live near the Rhine), his sister Gutrune, and their half-brother Hagen, Alberich’s son. They trick Siegfried into drinking a potion that makes him forget about Brünnhilde and fall in love with Gutrune instead. Then using the Tarnhelm, a magic helmet, he disguises himself as Gunther and brings Brünnhilde - against her will - to the hall of the Gibichungs to present her as Gunther’s new bride. Upon realizing Siegfried’s betrayal, an outraged Brünnhilde plots with Gunther and Hagen to kill Siegfried. In a hunting excursion, Hagen kills Siegfried by stabbing him in the back, and later kills Gunther over Alberich’s ring on Siegfried’s finger. Brünnhilde, however, now remorseful, builds Siegfried a funeral pyre, on which she burns his body, her horse Grane, and herself. The fire then rises up and sets the hall of the Gibichungs ablaze, after which the Rhine overflows its banks, the Rhinemaidens swim in, drown Hagen, retrieve the ring and return with it to their underwater home, while the world is destroyed.