Which Germanic hero is made invulnerable by bathing in dragon blood?
Correct answer to the quiz question
Siegfried
The Germanic hero who becomes almost invulnerable by bathing in dragon blood is Siegfried. In the Saga of the Nibelungs, Siegfried kills the dragon Fafnir and then bathes in its blood. This bath gives him almost complete invulnerability, as the blood makes his skin as hard as horn. However, one spot on his shoulder remains […]
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Detailed answer to the quiz question
The Germanic hero who becomes almost invulnerable by bathing in dragon blood is Siegfried. In the Saga of the Nibelungs, Siegfried kills the dragon Fafnir and then bathes in its blood. This bath gives him almost complete invulnerability, as the blood makes his skin as hard as horn. However, one spot on his shoulder remains vulnerable because a lime leaf stuck to his skin and the dragon’s blood could not reach it.
This weak point later becomes Siegfried’s undoing when he is killed by Hagen, one of his supposed allies, in this very spot. The story of Siegfried and his invulnerability is a central element in Germanic mythology and has been taken up in various stories and operas, such as Richard Wagner’s “The Ring of the Nibelung”.
