Wagner suggests here that while religion should seek to influence ethics (as Wotan, by bringing Siegfried’s father Siegmund up, instilled in him an individual conscience which according to Feuerbach was religion’s best legacy to secular man, and one which Feuerbach believed had formerly flourished – and could do so again - without any dependence on religious belief), art itself should represent faith, since it can transform illusion into truth:
“In our times, R. continues, religion should seek to influence ethics, and allow faith to be represented by art, which can transform illusion into truth.” [994W-{11/14/79}CD Vol. II, p. 395]
Siegfried the artist-hero, having breached religious faith, and broken Wotan’s social contract, and therefore neutralized the fear of truth upon which both depended (Fafner), has fallen heir to the duty to guard man’s great unspoken secret in his own unique art, the Wagnerian music drama. It is Bruennhilde who keeps this secret not only “for” Siegfried, but “from” him, and Siegfried will soon wake her.
