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The following is a brief synopsis of the events from The Ring that are discussed in this essay. It is difficult, and inevitably somewhat misleading, to abstract the later parts of the story from the overall cycle in which it is embedded. The interested reader is referred to a more comprehensive summary or to the text of the libretto itself.
In the final scene of Siegfried, Siegfried penetrates the protective ring of fire that surrounds Brunhilde, and awakens her with a kiss from the slumber in which she had been placed by her father. This was her punishment for having acted in defiance of his command, though in accord with his secret and true wishes. As Siegfried, in his first encounter with a woman, learns the meaning of fear, and Brunhilde begins to experience the shame of now being a mere mortal, the two fall rapidly in love.
In Götterdämmerung, the final opera of the cycle, the two lovers have consummated their relationship and Siegfried is about to leave Brunhilde temporarily behind as he pursues fame and fortune. He arrives in the kingdom of the Gibichungs, where he encounters Gunther, king of the Gibichungs; Gutrune, his unmarried sister; and Hagen, their half brother and master mind of the events that follow. Siegfried is seduced by this trio when he drinks a magic potion that erases his recent memories of his life with Brunhilde. He conspires to marry Gutrune, and to use his magic helmet in order to disguise himself as Gunther in order to win Brunhilde as Gunther's bride. Since Brunhilde is now the possessor of the magic ring, which gives its owner power over the world, the marriage of Gunther and Brunhilde would provide Gunther — and behind the scenes Hagen — with this unlimited power.
Brunhilde is horrified about the double wedding in which she is about to be forced to participate. At this point, Brunhilde notices the ring on