existential fear into his unconscious mind, Bruennhilde, putting this trouble behind him, as it were), Bruennhilde need only protect Siegfried at the front. This is subtle: it is precisely because Bruennhilde protects Siegfried at the front, from that foresight of the shameful end of the gods which Erda imparted to Wotan, that foresight which is the source of Wotan’s existential fear, that Siegfried is fearless and needs no protection at the back. But this is just a semantical question, for Bruennhilde is merely expressing a metaphor: Siegfried can be killed only by what is behind him, i.e., a memory of something forgotten, something past, something which Wotan repressed into his unconscious mind and which therefore has been temporarily forgotten and put behind him. Siegfried can be killed if the knowledge which Wotan in his fear repressed, and from which Bruennhilde protects Siegfried, rises to consciousness as a remembrance of things past and long forgotten. Siegfried’s death means nothing more nor less than the end of unconscious artistic inspiration, which historically has been, up until modern times, the basis for religious belief and authentically inspired secular art.
[T.2.5: C]
Having settled the main affair, how to dispatch Siegfried, Hagen turns to Gunther with surprisingly wry humor, asking him, with subtle mockery, why he should be hanging his head in grief. Gunther, accompanied by #159 (the Vow of Atonement), cries out with a despair which reminds us instantly of Wotan’s despair just before he confessed its secret cause, his divine “Noth,” to Bruennhilde in V.2.2:
Hagen: (He turns quickly away from Bruennhilde and towards Gunther. #170b; #164:) Up, Gunther, noble Gibichung! (#159 vari:) Here stands your stalwart wife: why hang your head in grief (:#159 vari)?
Gunther: (with an impassioned outburst: #159 vari:) O shame! O disgrace (:#159 vari)! Woe is me, (#37 [reminiscent of the remark Wotan made to Bruennhilde in V.2.2, “The saddest am I of all living things,” just before he made his confession her]) most sorrowful of men (:#37)!
Hagen: (#164: #33b?:) You’re beset by disgrace, can I deny it (:#33b?)?
Bruennhilde: (to Gunther: #164 >> :) O craven man! False companion! (#7?) (#150 vari?: [is there any #155, #152, or #20a here?]) Behind the hero you hid yourself, that the harvest of fame he might reap for you (:#150 vari [is there any #155, #152, or #20a here?])! (#167) (#164:; #33?:; #voc?: [perhaps a musical reference to Siegmund’s refusal to accept the fate Bruennhilde announced to him, and threat to kill himself, Sieglinde, and the unborn Siegfried in V.2.4?]) The much-loved race has sunk far indeed (:#164; :#33?; :#voc? [V.2.4 Siegmund reference?]) (#88 urgent vari &/or #90
