consciousness, his curse on the Ring. That is to say, Wotan, reborn as Siegfried, has through Bruennhilde’s protection freed himself from Alberich’s curse, so long as that Hoard of knowledge remains safely hidden in silent depths by Bruennhilde, who will hold its power safe, just as Fafner - religious faith and its fear of knowledge - once did. We must not neglect to remember here something of cardinal importance: Bruennhilde, just prior to Wotan’s confession, whose signature is #82, heard here again, persuaded him to share his unspoken secret with her by calling herself his “Will.” Wotan’s response was that since she is his will, in speaking to her he speaks to himself, and what he tells no one in words will remain forever unspoken. It will reach consciousness solely in the safe, sublimated form of music-drama, and specifically music, which, staking no claim on the truth nor proclaiming any falsehood to be the truth, is freed from conceptual contradiction and its liability to exposure by reason.
{{ In fact, when Erda tells Wotan that he is not what he claims to be (i.e., he’s not a god), there may be a musical reference to Bruennhilde’s remark to Wotan in V.2.2: “To Wotan’s will you speak, when you tell me what you will. Who am I if not your will?” }} In V.2.2 Bruennhilde’s words were sung to #25 [from the family of love motifs], while the orchestra subtly hinted at #20a, the first segment of the Valhalla Motif which is actually a variant of #19, the Ring Motif. However, immediately after her remark there are some chord changes in the music which I once suggested to Dunning would likely be extremely important at this critical moment, when Wotan acquiesces in Bruennhilde’s plea to hear what ails him and offers her his confession of his unspoken secret. Dunning checked the score and found, amazingly enough, a hint of #15 and #59a, motifs associated not only with the Rhinedaughters but also with the magical protection from wounds Bruennhilde’s love grants to Siegfried (see T.2.5 where Bruennhilde tells Hagen and Gunther how she protects Siegfried from wounds, unbeknownst to him, only at the front). That is, by virtue of holding for Siegfried the fearful knowledge of the shameful end which Wotan confessed to her, and thus protecting Siegfried from Wotan’s foresight of the end and the existential fear it engenders, Bruennhilde, as the repository for Wotan’s confession, and soon-to-be guardian of Alberich’s Ring, is the surrogate Rhine who neutralizes Alberich’s curse on the Ring, the curse of consciousness, so long as Bruennhilde remains the repository for Wotan’s knowledge. Hints of #15 and #59a are heard in the finale of Twilight of the Gods when Bruennhilde (after Siegfried has unwittingly betrayed their love and therefore also betrayed Wotan’s unspoken secret to the light of day), while preparing to actually restore the Ring to the Rhine where the Rhinedaughters will dissolve it, tells Wotan that his travails are over, and that he can rest: “Ruhe! Ruhe!”
[S.3.1: E]
Wotan now parries Erda’s thrust - her accusation that he is not what he calls himself, a god - brilliantly, by informing her that he no longer fears the end of the gods she once prophesied, because now he wills it. He wills it because, having once, in despair, left Alberich’s son Hagen heir to the world, including all that Wotan despises about himself and the gods (religion), he sees now that the very essence of Valhalla, the promise of sorrowless youth eternal, freedom from fear, and transcendent love, will now live on as pure feeling unadulterated by refutable claims to truth, in Wotan’s chosen (yet free) heir, the artist-hero Siegfried:
