Though Siegfried instinctively abhors Mime and wishes to deny Mime credit for having contributed in any way to making Siegfried what he now has become (reminding us of Wotan’s hope that his chosen hero would do what Wotan desires spontaneously, wholly free and autonomous from Wotan’s influence, which Wotan now loathes), nonetheless Siegfried can’t escape his roots, his true identity and origin, any more than Wotan and the gods (and all those who wittingly or unwittingly serve them) can escape the implications of the fact that Alberich’s forging of the Ring of power (consciousness) gave birth to the gods’ abode Valhalla, with all its beliefs and ideals, and even Wotan’s longing for redemption. Siegfried is in fact the product of Wotan’s artificial endeavor to purge from himself all that is craven, fearful, egoistic, narrow, stilted, mundane, etc. Of course, Siegfried will soon learn that the primary reason he has always returned to Mime was to learn from him what Siegfried’s true origins are, to learn about Siegfried’s real parents.
Mime introduces two new motifs. As Mime suggests that Siegfried has always returned to him because Mime is dear to his heart, we hear #106, which is in the same family as #22, #74, and #99. #22 was first heard in R.2 when Fricka asked herself how she could preserve Wotan’s fidelity to her, hoping that the domestic tranquility of Valhalla (represented by #23) would serve; #74 expressed the tenderness of Siegmund’s growing love for Sieglinde; and #99, it will be recalled, was that extraordinarily poignant theme to which Wotan sung his nostalgic reminiscence of all the love he has shared with his daughter Bruennhilde, which he must now relinquish forever. Therefore, Mime is engaging in a subtle manipulation of Siegfried’s instinctive longing for parents, his longing to belong, and trying to thwart Siegfried’s longing for a heritage more exalted than that which Siegfried could ever hope to obtain by virtue of being Mime’s actual son. #107 is introduced as Mime describes how young children long for their parents’ nest. Mime describes this longing as “love.” But, as it turns out, Mime is not Siegfried’s blood-parent but only his foster-parent. He has been posing as both Siegfried’s father and mother, and therefore offering his lowly self as a poor substitute for Siegfried’s heroic parents Siegmund and Sieglinde. What Wagner is dealing with here is not merely any child’s natural longing for his parents: Wagner is distinguishing the artistic genius from the average man, and suggesting that Siegfried is instinctively striving to escape the prison of his involvement with the average man Mime, in order to discover his true place in an artistic tradition which has been lost to him. Siegfried is instinctively seeking to re-connect with his spiritual ancestors, the collective body of all prior artist-heroes who created our first religions, and all truly inspired secular art.
[S.1.1: F]
Siegfried now pursues his suspicion that something is amiss in Mime’s claim to be his sole parent, for Siegfried has noted that in the natural world all children have both father and mother, and what is more, children in nature resemble their fathers and mothers:
Siegfried: Hey, Mime, if you’re so clever, tell me one thing more! (#106 >>: [with possibly a hint of Sieglinde’s “Du bist der Lenz,” i.e., #25?]) In spring the birds would sing so blithely, (tenderly) the one would entice the other (:#106; :#25?): you said so yourself – since I wanted to know – (#106 >>:) that these were fathers (tenderly) and mothers (:#106). [[ #108: ]] They dallied so
