Chapters 33-36Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 33 Summary: “How the Burgundians Fought with the Huns”
Dancwart reaches Hagen with “his armor all streaming with blood and his strong sword naked in his hands” (242). He relays what happened and assures his brother that the blood on him “comes from the wounds of other men” (242). Hagen orders Dancwart to guard the door as he converses with the Hunnish knights.
Hagen proceeds to tease the Huns: “I wonder what the Hunnish knights have to whisper about here in the hall […] I fancy they would rather be quit of the doorkeeper and of the court-gossip he has told the Burgundians” (242). He proposes a toast to the dead and decapitates Ortlieb. This gory action sends the Hunnish knights into a frenzy. Hagen, Volker, Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher slaughter them while Dancwart refuses to let anyone leave the hall.
Kriemhild begs Dietrich to help her and Etzel. He grants her request by shouting “with might and main so that his voice resounded like a wisent-horn” (245). The fighting halts, and Gunther allows Etzel, Kriemhild, and Rüdiger to leave. Once removed from the bloodbath, Etzel complains about Volker and his fighting style.
The battle carries on and the Burgundians slaughter all of the Huns left in the hall.
Chapter 34 Summary: “How They Threw the Corpses from the Hall”
Gunther and his brothers converse after the battle, which left the hall a gory landscape. Giselher says, “These corpses must lie under our feet no longer. Before the Huns get the better of us in battle we shall inflict such a wound on them as will warm the cockles of my heart” (249). Hagen approves of Giselher’s statement. The Burgundians carry 7,000 corpses to the door of the hall and fling them down the stairs, traumatizing the Hunnish knights’ relations, who “[raise] a most pitiful clamour at the sight of it” (249). Volker listens as the relations weep and refers to them as cowards for mourning so bitterly instead of tending to the wounded.
Hagen and Volker taunt Etzel, goading him to fight—but Kriemhild cautions against facing Hagen one-on-one. Hagen continues to mock him: “It was a very distant relationship that Etzel and Siegfried shared […] [Siegfried] had his pleasure of Kriemhild long before she met [Etzel]!” (249). Kriemhild promises castles, lands, and gold to anyone who kills Hagen and brings her his head.
Chapter 35 Summary: “How Iring Was Slain”
Margrave Iring of Denmark declares that he will fight Hagen. Hagen demands that Iring order the Huns to stay out of the fight. Iring scoffs, “I shall take you on with the sword single-handed, so where will your boasting get you?” (252). Iring approaches Hagen, and 1,000 or more knights follow him until he orders them back. Iring and Hagen duel with spears then swords. Iring struggles to land a blow and turns his attention to Volker, Gunther, and Gernot. Gernot and Giselher both land substantial blows on Iring that nearly kill him. Iring manages to wound Hagen through his helmet before retreating. Emboldened, Iring tries to strike Hagen again, but Hagen “[makes] a grim end of him” (255).
Irnfried and Hawart, members of Etzel’s retinue, lead 1,000 warriors against the Burgundians, but they quickly slaughter their attackers. The poet asserts that “the blood from the corpses was flowing away everywhere through the water-spouts into the gutters” (256). The fighting stops, and Etzel and Kriemhild lament.
Chapter 36 Summary: “How the Queen Had the Hall Burned Down”
Hagen asks the Burgundians to remove their helmets and rest, but they have nowhere to squat except on top of dead bodies. Etzel and Kriemhild assemble 20,000 warriors and send them to fight the Burgundians, but they once again leave no Hunnish knight standing. The Burgundians begin to think “that a swift death would suit them better than this long-drawn agony in the hall, with unspeakable torment to come” (258). Weary, Gunther and his companions ask Etzel for a truce.
Etzel rejects the idea of a truce, asserting that Gunther and his brothers turned Hungary into “a land of orphans” (258). Gernot suggests that Etzel’s men may have a chance in the next round, and Etzel almost dispatches more warriors. Kriemhild stops him, knowing that the Burgundians might still possess their fighting spirit.
Giselher states that he did not wrong Kriemhild and implores her to show mercy. She replies, “I cannot show you mercy—my heart has none to show” (260). She considers letting her brothers live if they hand her Hagen.
Giselher, Gernot, and Dancwart proclaim that they will never surrender Hagen, so Kriemhild commands the Huns to drive them back inside the hall and burn it down.
Trapped in the blazing hall, the Burgundians become thirsty but have no water to drink. Hagen instructs the others to drink the blood from the corpses. Despite the horrid conditions, 600 men survive the night. The next morning, Kriemhild musters 1,200 Hunnish knights to slaughter the survivors. In addition, she offers even more riches to anyone who cares to fight the Burgundians.
Chapters 33-36 Analysis
The chaos brought on by Bloedelin’s breach of chivalry intensifies once Hagen murders Ortlieb and catalyzes a massacre in Chapter 33. From this point on, the poet writes fast-paced action and scenes depicting gratuitous violence and gore. The tone becomes frenzied, and it—coupled with the chaos depicted—reflects a loss of civility and therefore, chivalry and honor.
As the Burgundians slaughter wave after wave of men, questions regarding honor emerge. For a knight living in medieval Europe, slaying many men in battle was viewed as honorable because it showed bravery. The poet previously endorsed this view by praising Dancwart in Chapter 32, referring to his vanquishing of Bloedelin’s men as “mighty prodigies of high courage” (240). However, the brutality of Chapters 33-36 raises the question of whether or not such killing is truly noble—even if it is “brave.” The poet’s lamentations regarding this bloodshed suggest that he does not see mass murder as something to be honored. Instead of singing high praises, he focuses on the agony and futility of the struggle between the Burgundians and Huns: “None could resolve the conflict, and so the blood had to flow. Many death-wounds were given there, and you could hear them, one and all, lamenting the loss of their friends” (263).
The Burgundians, whom the poet establishes as heroes in Book I, become bloodthirsty killers during their conflict with the Huns. When trapped in the burning hall, Hagen tells the others, “If any of you are plagued with thirst let them drink the blood here—in such heat it will be better than wine!” (261). After one knight proclaims the blood of their enemies to be “an excellent beverage” (261), others follow suit and regain their strength. The poet maintains that this act leads to ruin as “many fine women were to pay for it through the loss of their dear friends” (261). The Burgundians’ recovery also suggests that they are now barbaric warriors vitalized through death and killing.
While Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher act as warrior kings, leading their men into battle, Etzel cowers and relies on his men to fight for him and Kriemhild—though the poet insists he is “a very brave man” (249). Etzel considers fighting when taunted by Hagen in Chapter 34, but Kriemhild tells him, “Now take care […] and be sure to offer your warriors gold by the heaped-up shieldful, for if Hagen reaches you there, die you surely must” (249). Etzel’s cowardice and conceding to his wife subvert the poet’s source material. Etzel is based on the historical Attila the Hun, who was notorious for being a ruthless warrior. Attila the Hun, sometimes called “the Scourge of God,” would not hesitate to fight, so it is unusual that Etzel lacks his spirit. The poet portrays Etzel as such to make the Burgundians, who were defeated by Attila the Hun (and to whom he feels allegiance to as a Germanic person), seem stronger than they were in history. The poet also weakens Etzel to make Kriemhild appear more dominant, which plays into the epic’s theme of deviant womanhood.
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