[FN#1] The word Vidar means forest.
[EN#30]—Loki.
“Loki, in nature, is the corrupting element in air, fire, and water. In the bowels of the earth he is the volcanic flame, in the sea he appears as a fierce serpent, and in the lower world we recognize him as pale death. Like Odin, he pervades all nature. He symbolizes sin, shrewdness, deceitfulness, treachery, malice etc.”—Anderson’s Mythology, p. 372.
He corresponds to the Ahriman of the Persians, to the Satan of the Christians, and remotely to the Prometheus of the Greeks.
[EN#31]—The Quarrel of the Queens.
In the ancient versions, the culmination of this quarrel occurred while the queens were bathing in the river: in the Nibelungen Lied it happened on the steps leading up to the door of the church.
[EN#32]—Hagen.
Hagen corresponds to the Hoder of the more ancient myth of Balder. In the Sigurd Sagas he is called Hogni, and is a brother instead of an uncle, of Gunther (Gunnar).
[EN#33]—The Death of Siegfried.
This story is related here essentially as found in the Nibelungen Lied. It is quite differently told in the older versions. Siegfried’s invulnerability save in one spot reminds us of Achilles, who also was made invulnerable by a bath, and who could be wounded only in the heel.