Ortlieb is the son of

Kriemhild Gudrun ( ; non, Guðrún) or Kriemhild ( ; gmh, Kriemhilt) is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two qu ...

(Gudrun) and Etzel (Atli) and a minor figure in

Germanic heroic legend Germanic heroic legend (german: germanische Heldensage) is the heroic literary tradition of the Germanic-speaking peoples, most of which originates or is set in the Migration Period (4th-6th centuries AD). Stories from this time period, to which ...

and literature. He is definitively named in the ''

Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...

''. Here, he is decapitated by Hagen, after the latter hears of Bloedelin's attack on the Burgundians, which Kriemhild had urged him to undertake. After Kriemhild decapitates her own brother Gunther, Hagen is in turn decapitated by Kriemhild after she forces him to reveal the location of the hoard of the Nibelungen. In the ''

Þiðreks saga ''Þiðreks saga af Bern'' ('the saga of Þiðrekr of Bern', also ''Þiðrekssaga'', ''Þiðriks saga'', ''Niflunga saga'' or ''Vilkina saga'', with Anglicisations including ''Thidreksaga'') is an Old Norse chivalric saga centering the character ...

'', he is likewise killed by Hagen (Högni) in the hall, after he provokes him following the counsel of his mother. This causes a fierce fight to erupt. Kriemhild (Grimhild) is then killed after an enraged Thidrek sees her checking if her brothers are dead by sticking pieces of flaming wood into their mouths. Similarly, in the '' Heldenbücher'' she has her son provoke Hagen, who kills him, leading to an outbreak of hostilities in which many heroes die. When Dietrich takes Gunther and Hagen prisoner, she cuts off their heads, causing Dietrich to cut her to pieces. In the Scandinavian ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...

'' and the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...

s '' Atlakviða'' and '' Atlamál hin groenlenzku'', Ortlieb is not mentioned by name but there are references to "Atli's sons". Here, after Atli kills her brothers, Gudrun (Kriemhild) makes him eat the flesh of his own sons. In the '' Guðrúnarkviða II'' poem, however, Atli simply has a dream about eating his sons, and Gudrun consoles him, interpreting the dream harmlessly, by explaining that the people will talk about sacrifice.

References

{{reflist German heroic legends Fictional German people Huns