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Table of Contents

Title Page
Dedication Page
General Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations for key references
Guide to abbreviations used in text
Allen Dunning's numbered Guide to the Ring's Musical Motifs
Detailed Table of Contents

The Ring

Introduction


References
Appendix I
Appendix I I

Key Colour Coding

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I would be grateful for donations of any size, small or large, to help defray the cost (1) of maintaining this website, (2) and to finance my past and present research which produced my book posted here, Volume One of "The Wound That Will Never Heal," and my forthcoming revision of Volume One (to be submitted for publication), and completion of Volume Two on Wagner's six other canonic operas and music-dramas. I sacrificed at least seven years of paid employment and incurred debts to complete this project, and am currently unemployed, so I thank you in advance for any financial help you can provide. Your friend, Paul Heise.

Mime is too “wise,” too conscious of his egoistic motives, to find the sole path to redemption, feeling (love).

(#114’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained)

[[#115]] Former “Power of the Gods,” and future destruction of the Gods

(#115’s motival links uncertain; Cooke describes #115 as a #21 variant based on its inversion, and transformation into a stepwise form; Millington considered it a relative of the Valhalla Motif #20; however, it sounds very like #1 – could it be a #53 variant, with perhaps #20 harmony?)

[[#116]] Hallowed contracts’ allegedly binding runes, which Wotan whittled into the Spear he made from the most sacred branch of the World-Ash Tree

By making his spear of divine authority and law - containing the social contract which Wotan never intended to honor - from the most sacred branch of the World-Ash Tree, Wotan delivered a fatal wound which eventually made the World-Ash wither and die, and dried up the sacred spring which formerly trickled out from its roots, whispering wisdom

(#116 is in the same family as #27, #36, #44, and #101: the original, archetypal contract Wotan engraved on his spear, he intended to break)

[[#117]] Mime’s conspiracy of one to outwit the Wanderer and prompt Siegfried to kill Fafner and win Alberich’s Ring for Mime

(#117’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained)

[[#118]] Mime’s (Wotan’s) “wise” head forfeit to the hero who alone can re-forge Nothung and redeem the world by restoring lost innocence, the fearless Siegfried, Wotan's heart

(#118’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained)