Introduction
Atli was king of the Huns, brother of Brynhild in several versions of the tradition, who married Gudrun after Sigurd's death, largely at the urging of Gudrun's mother Grimhild.
Family
- Spouse: Gudrun (married)
Greed and Its Price
Learning that the cursed Nibelung gold, once Sigurd's, had passed to Gudrun's brothers Gunnar and Hogni, Atli invited them to his court under a show of friendship and had them killed when they refused to reveal the treasure's hiding place, Hogni's heart cut out and Gunnar thrown into a snake pit. Gudrun's revenge was swift and total: she killed the sons she had borne Atli and served him their flesh at a feast without his knowledge, then killed Atli himself, in most versions burning his hall down around him. This figure is traditionally linked to the historical Attila the Hun, though the saga's Atli belongs to legend rather than history proper.
The Volsunga Saga and the Poetic Edda preserve the Norse-Icelandic form of this legend; the German Nibelungenlied recounts substantially the same events under different names (Sigurd as Siegfried, Brynhild as Brünnhilde, Atli as Etzel/Attila), reflecting a shared Germanic legendary tradition rather than a single fixed text.