Götterdämmerung

Alberich’s son Hagen is coveting the ring’s power. After convincing his half-siblings Gunther and Gutrune to marry Brünnhilde and Siegfried, he leads Siegfried into to the Gibichungs’ castle. Siegfried is given a potion that makes him forget Brünnhilde and fall in love with Gutrune instead. He decides to use the magic helmet Tarnhelm to ask for Brünnhilde’s hand as Gunther.

Waltraute tells her sister Brünnhilde about the gods’ desperate situation. Wotan is depressed and lost in his thoughts. He has ordered the world ash tree to be felled and its wood piled around Valhalla. The curse that is plaguing the gods and humans can only be lifted if the Rheinmaidens reclaim the ring.

The flames signal the return of Siegfried to Brünnhilde, but the man who steps through the fire turns out to be a stranger. The magic helmet has given Siegfried the appearance of Gunther.

He breaks down Brünnhilde’s resistance, humiliates her, and seizes the ring.

Alberich wants Hagen to retrieve the ring for the Nibelungs, but Hagen desires it for himself. At dawn, Siegfried announces the arrival of Gunther and Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde, who has been dragged into the Gibichungs’ castle by force, notices that Siegfried has forgotten that he loves her.

As she sees the ring on his finger, Brünnhilde realises that it was Siegfried who attacked her in the night. Amidst the preparations for Siegfried and Gutrune’s wedding, Brünnhilde becomes entangled in a plot with Hagen and Gunther. They decide to stage a hunting accident to eliminate Siegfried.

During his hunting trip Siegfried meets the Rheinmaiden, who are leading a miserable existence. They ask him to relinquish the ring.

Siegfried declines, and the maidens foretell the impending death of the ring’s bearer. As Siegfried tells Hagen about his past, Hagen gives him another potion to recover his memories. When Siegfried suddenly remembers Brünnhilde again, Hagen realises his deceit has been exposed and strikes Siegfried to death.

While fighting over the ring, Hagen also kills Gunther. Brünnhilde manages to prevent further bloodshed. As tradition demands, she has Siegfried’s body burned on a pyre. The fire destroys the castle of the Gibichungs and eventually spreads to Valhalla, where all the gods burn. The Rheinmaidens recover the ring, and Hagen rushes to his death while trying to obtain it. Alberich appears from the ruins. The old power struggle has ended but has the curse been truly lifted?