Introduction
Signy was the daughter of Volsung and twin sister of Sigmund, married against clear ill omens to King Siggeir of Gautland.
Family
Vengeance at Any Cost
After Siggeir betrayed and killed her father and brothers, sparing only Sigmund, Signy dedicated herself entirely to avenging her family, going so far as to conceive a son with Sigmund in disguise (Sinfjotli) to produce an heir of pure Volsung blood capable of completing the vengeance. Once Siggeir was finally killed, having achieved what she set out to do, Signy chose to die alongside her husband and his household rather than live on, revealing her true role in the plot only at the very end.
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.