This foundational northern epic traces the sweeping destiny of the Volsung family from its divine origins through generations of glory, betrayal, and absolute ruin. The narrative opens with Sigi, son of Odin, and follows the rise of King Volsung and his valiant son Sigmund, who draws the enchanted sword Gram from the Branstock. After Sigmund falls through divine intervention, his legacy is inherited by his posthumous son Sigurd, the greatest champion of the northern world. Sigurd slays the monstrous dragon Fafnir, seizes the cursed gold of Andvari, and rides through a wall of fire to awaken the shield-maiden Brynhild on Hindfell, plighting his troth to her before cruel wiles and magical potions tear them apart.
Entangled in political alliances with the powerful Giukings, Sigurd is married to Gudrun through the sorcery of her mother Grimhild, while Brynhild is won for Gudrun's brother Gunnar by deception. The bitter truth surfaces during a quarrel at the riverbanks between the queens, igniting a consuming jealousy that drives Brynhild to demand Sigurd's death. Bound by their oath of brotherhood, the Giukings commission the young Guttorm to murder Sigurd in his bed, sealing their own inevitable doom. Gudrun laments her husband with profound sorrow, while Brynhild, consumed by remorse, ends her own life to be burned beside Sigurd on a great funeral pyre.
Left behind in a world shorn of its greatest hero, Gudrun is eventually forced into marriage with Atli, king of the Huns, who harbors a greedy desire for the remainder of the Volsung hoard. Atli invites Gunnar and Hogni to his hall under the guise of an honorable feast, but the invitation is a trap designed to seize the treasure. Despite dire warnings from their wives, the brothers ride to their fate and fight valiantly until they are captured in Atli's burg. Hogni laughs as his heart is cut from his chest, while Gunnar dies defiantly playing a harp with his toes in a pit of venomous serpents after hiding the location of the gold forever in the waters of the Rhine.
Seeking a terrible retribution for the slaughter of her brethren, Gudrun orchestrates a horrific vengeance against Atli by slaying their young sons and feeding their flesh to the king before assassinating him in his sleep with the help of Hogni's surviving son. Following these fiery tragedies, Gudrun casts herself into the sea, only to be borne ashore to the realm of King Jonakr, bearing sons who will eventually seek to avenge her daughter Swanhild, who was brutally trampled to death under the horses of King Jormunrek. The saga concludes with the tragic demise of Gudrun's last sons, marking the complete extinction of the great northern kindred through relentless cycles of vengeance.
