Thor has finally learned what Odin meant when he said he
once slew his own son (back in #292) and demands the Eye of Odin tell him what
happened next; the Eye obliges: After weeping over his fallen son Siegmund,
Odin returned to Valhalla to take vengeance against Brunnhilda, the Valkyrie
who disobeyed his commands. Meanwhile,
Brunnhilda went to her sister Valkyries begging them for help with
Sieglinda; they are shocked at her story of betrayal of Odin. Brun tells
Sieglinda that she is pregnant with Siegmund's child; Hildegard knows of a
place she can hide in Midgard, the Great Forest near where the giant-turned
dragon Fafnir watches over the Rhinegold. Brun sends Sieglinda there, giving
her the fragments of Siegmund's sword Needful. Odin arrives and scatters the
Valkyries who are trying to hide Brun. Odin strips her of her powers, rendering
her a mortal woman and sentences her to be the wife of the first man who encounters
her; she pleads for mercy that it be at least a man of worth. Odin grants her
plea and puts her, asleep, atop a mountain ringed with fire, so that only a
brave hero might find her....
Meanwhile, in the Great Forest, a gnome named Mime finds
Sieglinda; he takes her home and cares for her and helps her as she dies giving
birth to a son, Siegfried who, like his father, bears the essence of Thor. Mime
raises the boy as his own, forging sword after sword for the reckless and
high-spirited lad, who brings a bear home to fight. Siegfried, however, does
not trust Mime and keeps breaking the swords forged by the gnome. Mime show
Sieg the fragments of his father's broken sword and the young man demands that
Mime reforge it immediately; he does but it breaks so the angry Siegfried
forges it himself, Mime divining that only a man who has never known fear may
do so. The sword comes out so strong it even cleaves the anvil in half. Mime
warns Sieg that he can never be a great warrior unless he knows fear and the
best teacher of that would be the dragon Fafnir; Sieg demands the gnome take
him there immediately....
At Fafnir's cave, Alberich (who is Mime's father) and some
giant allies are there to take the magic ring back from the dragon; Odin shows
up to mock Alberich's pretension and waits to see the gnome lose the ring once
again. The slumbering dragon awakens and, annoyed, chases off Alberich and his
pals with its fiery breath. Then Siegfried arrives and he and Fafnir meet eye
to eye....