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 que ...

(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 whic ...

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 poetry, 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 ...

''. Here, he is decapitated by

Hagen Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...

, after the latter hears of Bloedelin's attack on the

Burgundians The Burgundians ( la, Burgundes, Burgundiōnes, Burgundī; on, Burgundar; ang, Burgendas; grc-gre, Βούργουνδοι) were an early Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared in the middle Rhine region, near the Roman Empire, and ...

, which Kriemhild had urged him to undertake. After Kriemhild decapitates her own brother

Gunther Gundaharius or Gundahar (died 437), better known by his legendary names Gunther ( gmh, Gunther) or Gunnar ( non, Gunnarr), was a historical king of Burgundy in the early 5th century. Gundahar is attested as ruling his people shortly after they ...

, 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 me ...

s '' Atlakviða'' and ''

Atlamál hin groenlenzku ''Atlamál in grǿnlenzku'' (''The Greenlandic Lay of Atli'') is one of the heroic poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It relates the same basic story as ''Atlakviða'' at greater length and in a different style. The poem is believed to have been comp ...

'', 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 ''Guðrúnarkviða II'', ''The Second Lay of Gudrún'', or ''Guðrúnarkviða hin forna'', ''The Old Lay of Gudrún'' is probably the oldest poem of the Sigurd cycle, according to Henry Adams Bellows. The poem was composed before the year 1000 a ...

'' 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 Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

References

{{reflist German heroic legends Fictional German people Huns