SOURCE: Koheil, Ruth, and Herbert Richardson. “Why Brünnhilde is the True Hero of the Ring Cycle: An Analysis of Her Psychological Development.” In New Studies in Richard Wagner's ‘The Ring of the Nibelung,’ edited by Herbert Richardson, pp. 177-89. Lewiston, N.Y.: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.

In the following essay, Koheil and Richardson present a reading of the Ring as “mythological psychology,” viewing Brünnhilde as the central protagonist of the operas as she undergoes the process of ego development and sacrifice.

The source of The Ring is myth. This means that although both humans and gods are characters in the drama, the purposes of the gods govern the action. The human characters—Siegmund, Siegfried, Sieglinde, Gutrune, Gunther, etc.—act as instruments of the will of the gods. Failure to maintain this understanding of the opera-cycle as myth leads to a misinterpretation of its meaning.

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