Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
religionJan 16, 2026pending

The Rhizomatic Evolution of the Nibelung Dragon-Slayer

The Great Tales

About this episode

The story of Sigurd the dragon-slayer is one of the most celebrated tales in all of European literature—but it doesn't come to us in a single, authoritative form. Instead, it spreads like a root system across languages, centuries, and cultures: Old Norse sagas and Eddic poetry, Middle High German epic, Scandinavian ballads, and medieval German song. In this episode, we begin mapping that rhizomatic network, introducing the major sources that preserve the Völsung-Nibelung tradition before diving deep into three extraordinary poems from the Icelandic Codex Regius.

Get every episode summarized

Each time The Great Tales publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

Hosts & guests

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

The Rhizomatic Evolution of the Nibelung Dragon-Slayer

The Great Tales

0:00
0:00

More episodes

More from The Great Tales

View all episodes →