Kriemhild and Friends

It seems a bit odd to me that Kriemhild is described with so little detail for all that she is clearly the dominating female presence of The Nibelungenlied. We are told again and again that she is beautiful and “beyond all measure lovely” (17), et cetera, but we never really learn anything about what she actually looks like. In fact, it seems that as much detail is expended describing Kriemhild’s attendants as Kriemhild herself.

In the prelude to Siegfried and Kriemhild’s first meeting, “Uote appeared with Kriemhild, having chosen for company a hundred fair ladies or more, magnificently gowned, while her daughter, too, was attended by a troop of comely maidens” (47). In this instance, we have no description of how Uote and Kriemhild were dressed at all, and they are only bolstered by the grandeur of those they employ – as though having the lovelier attendants goes to proves one’s own beauty.

Kriemhild is constantly paired with this bevy of lovely ladies. When Siegfried and Gunther come to speak to her, “the lovely girl dressed herself exquisitely … and now her train, too, were adorned becomingly” (55). It is as though the presence of her well-dressed train is substitute for a description of her exquisite clothing. Yet, in some places we are told specifics of what people wear, and thus we can take those incidents therefore to have the greater weight for being so rare. These moments include descriptions of the clothing made for Gunther’s sojourn to Brunhild as being made of silk from fanciful Arabian cities.

But perhaps more interesting is the moment Kriemhild appears without her cohorts. The night of Gunther and Brunhild’s wedding, “Kriemhild was summoned before the King, and she appeared at the foot of the hall with her comely maidens in attendance: but at once Giselher leapt down the stair. ‘Tell these girls to withdraw – only my sister is to remain with the King!’ and so Kriemhild was ushered into the royal presence…” (85). Kriemhild has practically been asked to appear without her clothes.

It is not until the scene of Kriemhild’s legal marriage that she is permitted to appear without accompaniment, and it seems this is because she has gained some kind of new stature. After this scene she immediately begins appearing without attendants (mostly at night, with Siegfried), which leads me to conclude that once she is officially Siegfried’s bride, she no longer needs this lovely accompaniment to testify to her own beauty. Perhaps it is only in marriage that Kriemhild is finally made beautiful without question.