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Siegfried
Left: Siegfried and the Rhine Maidens (19th Century Painting); Right: Siegfried Schtauffen (Soul Calibur)
As
the tragic, blond heartthrob with the massive broadsword in the Soul
Calibur series, Siegfried Schtauffen has always been a favorite with fans.
From his aesthetic, to his armor, to his
arenas in the game, there’s a distinctly Germanic flair to the
character. From this it has
led many to believe that the influence behind him comes from the
legendary German hero, Siegfried, made famous by his role in the
Nibelungenlied, a German variation on the Norse tales found in the Völsunga
saga.
Leafing through his adventures it’s not hard to see how the mythological Siegfried could be an archetype for his video game counterpart. He’s strong, brave, and daring. He iss quite the swashbuckler. While Siegfried went on countless adventures, the one that he became most well known for was his slaying of the dragon, Fafnir. It was a valiant battle, after |
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which the hero
bathed in the blood of the dead wyrm, as it would make him invincible.
However, while soaking himself, a leaf landed on his back,
preventing the dragon’s blood from touching the tiny patch of flesh
beneath it. As such,
Siegfried now had a fatal weak point, similar to Achilles’ heel.
Eventually this weakness would come to be Siegfriend’s downfall. Siegfried was friends with another hero named Gunther, and together they fought monsters, and did other good deeds. In time, they both became kings, but their wives simply could not get along, arguing over which of the heroes was they greater of the two, or if perhaps they were equal. As |
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these
tensions grew, Gunther’s aide, Hagen, feared that perhaps Siegfried
would try to overthrow their leader in order to prove who was number
one, and as such set a plan in motion to kill Siegfried.
In order to accomplish his mission, Hagen convinced Siegfried’s wife, Kriemhild, to mark the weak spot on her husband’s back, claiming that it was a holy symbol that would protect the hero. The truth of the matter was that it was actually meant to act as a bulls eye, allowing Hagen to aim his spear and kill Siegfried.
In the years that followed, Kriemhild had her revenge, in a bloody massacre that saw the deaths of all those involved in the murder of her husband, losing her own life in the process.
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