History YMMV / TheRingOfTheNibelung

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Wagner's "''Musik der Zukunft''" ("The Music of the Future") was considered daringly, even outrageously, innovative in his own time, but he became so influential that his music is now reckoned old-fashioned and even stereotypical by some.

* UnfortunateImplications: There has been [[https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,3605,345459,00.html much discussion]] over the years as to whether Mime and the other dwarves are anti-Semitic caricatures, given Wagner's own anti-Semitism.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

* WhatAnIdiot: The Rhinemaidens have waited almost four operas for somebody to return their precious gold, now forged into a ring. They manage to convince Siegfried to give it to them.\\
'''You’d Expect''': Them to squee, say thank you, take the ring and go back underwater.\\
'''Instead''': They suddenly begin to tell Siegfried that he can keep it, and that the ring is cursed, and then that he should give it to them after all so that the curse doesn't hit him. Siegfried, being who he is, was ready to give it up when they just asked him nicely, but the moment they begin threats and warnings, he decides to keep it just to show he is not scared.

* DesignatedHero: Wagner had a classical sense of TheHero, i.e. someone who is the protagonist of his story and whose actions have consequence, and not necessarily someone that the audience is supposed to identify with on a moral level (which is the more contemporary notion of a hero):
** There are some people out there who cannot ''stand'' Siegfried, whom they view as a bully and a boor. The anti-Semitic connotations with his treatment of Mime don't help. And he kidnaps Brunhilde under the disguise of Gunther, then gives her to the real Gunther in a forced marriage (i.e. rape), which is pretty despicable; even if he was under the effects of LovePotion, he still saw it as no big deal to kidnap a woman on behalf of someone else.
** Wotan's pretty openly a ManipulativeBastard, the [[EvilIsPetty Rhinemaidens]] taunt Alberich cruelly for their own amusement, Alberich is as miserable as he is power-hungry, and Siegmund and Sieglinde are incestuous murderers. Brunnhilde is arguably the only sympathetic protagonist, being manipulated rather than knowingly choosing evil, and accepting her HeroicSacrifice to try to undo the crimes of everyone else.

** Fasolt, an honest, humble and lonely giant who is genuinely in love with Freia and believed the building of Valhalla to be a sort of EngagementChallenge. Unlike the vast majority of characters, he doesn't go crazy about the ring until Loge advises him to get it (and even then, it's not world domination that matters for him but the memory of Freia's look).

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Die Walküre'', the second of the four operas, is the most popular and widely-performed of the four, and the one which is most often performed as a standalone work. It also contains the most well-known and celebrated piece of music in Wagner's entire ''oeuvre'', "Music/TheRideOfTheValkyries".
* HarsherInHindsight: Wotan punishes Brunnhilde for disobedience by stripping her of her power and reducing her to the status of a lowly wife. In Wagner's time, this would have been the standard role for a woman and would possibly have been seen as an IronicHell; however, in today's more emancipated world, many women can easily empathize with Brunnhilde's horror at the prospect.

** The expression "It ain't over till the fat lady sings" is very possibly a reference to the end of the ''Ring''[[note]]although an even better case can be made for ''Tristan'', which actually ends with Isolde's ''Liebestod''[[/note]]. The last scene of ''Götterdämmerung'', features Brunnhilde singing a exceedingly long farewell to the dead Siegfried („''Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort!''[[note]]"Stout timbers stack for me there!"[[/note]]), although the very last vocal utterance of the work is Hagen's „''Zurück vom Ring!''"[[note]]"[Keep] back from the Ring!"[[/note]].

* KarmicOverkill: Mime's fate can seem way too harsh. Yes, he wants the Nibelung treasures and the RingOfPower for himself, but he decides to go after them after being cruelly taunted and beaten by his own brother who usurps power in Nibelheim (before that, as Mime recalls, life was wonderful). Then he takes in baby Siegfried to raise him to fight Fafner (who owns the treasures). He treats Siegfried decently, clothing, feeding, teaching him and making toys for him, but Siegfried only taunts and humiliates him even more ''for years'', even ''setting a bear on him'' ForTheEvulz. Then Wotan randomly drops in and bullies Mime a bit more, finally telling him he'll get killed. After that Mime snaps and starts planning to kill Siegfried, but with the HumiliationConga he endures ''before'' that for no particular fault of his own, it's hardly a shock.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Following the ''Venusberg'' scene in ''[[Theatre/TannhaeuserUndDerSaengerkriegAufWartburg Tannhäuser]]'', Creator/RichardWagner was no stranger to this:

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* NarmCharm: Siegfried's line on seeing Brünnhilde for the first time, ''"Das ist kein Mann!" ([[CaptainObvious "this is no man!"]]) never fails to get an unintended laugh in any production where the audience understands the words, but it's so in-character for Siegfried, who after all has never seen a woman before in his life, that it gives some charm to a character who can come off as a DesignatedHero.

* WeirdAlEffect: Many 20th and 21st century American audiences are more familiar with the cycle's [[WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc ultra-abridged seven minute animated version]] than the operas themselves.

* NarmCharm: Siegfried's line on seeing Brünnhilde for the first time, ''"Das ist kein mann!" ([[CaptainObvious "this is no man!"]]) never fails to get an unintended laugh in any production where the audience understands the words, but it's so in-character for Siegfried, who after all has never seen a woman before in his life, that it gives some charm to a character who can come off as a DesignatedHero.

* MemeticMutation: The expression "It ain't over till the fat lady sings" is very possibly a reference to the end of the ''Ring''[[note]]although an even better case can be made for ''Tristan'', which actually ends with Isolde's ''Liebestod''[[/note]]. The last scene of ''Götterdämmerung'', features Brunnhilde singing a exceedingly long farewell to the dead Siegfried („''Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort!''[[note]]"Stout timbers stack for me there!"[[/note]]), although the very last vocal utterance of the work is Hagen's „''Zurück vom Ring!''"[[note]]"[Keep] back from the Ring!"[[/note]].

* WeirdAlEffect: Many 20th and 21st century audiences are more familiar with the cycle's [[WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc ultra-abridged seven minute animated version]] than the operas themselves.

** Some critics, notably Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw, have argued that ''Götterdämmerung'' suffers from this, and by extension the whole cycle: even though the title means "Twilight of the Gods," Wotan and the other gods disappear and most of the opera is taken up with a story of romance and revenge that could have been part of a much more conventional opera. (The reason for this is that Wagner originally wrote the text of ''Götterdämmerung'' as a standalone opera and didn't revise it after deciding to make it part of a cycle instead.)

'''Instead''': They suddenly begin to tell Siegfried that he can keep it, and that the ring is cursed, and then that he should give it to them after all so that the curse doesn't hit him. Siegfried, being who he is, was ready to give it up when they just asked him nicely, but the moment they begin threats and warnings, he decides to keep it just to show he is not scared.

** There are some people out there who cannot ''stand'' Siegfried, whom they view as a bully and a boor. The anti-Semitic connotations with his treatment of Mime don't help. And he rapes Brunhilde under the disguise of Gunther, which is pretty despicable; even if he was under the effects of LovePotion, he still saw it as no big deal to kidnap a woman on behalf of someone else.

* WeirdAlEffect: Many 20th and 21st century audiences are more familiar with the cycle's [[WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc ultra-abridged seven minute animated version]] than the operas themselves.

* EarWorm: The constant Heijahei phrase to signify joy. Especially when the Rhinedaughters belt out "RHEINGOLD RHEINGOLD... HEIJAHI" in the cycle's first act. It recurs in the famous Ride of the Valkyries too.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Whether or not Alberich was looking for love or just looking for sex is left up in the air.
** And whether Gutrune loved Siegfried and just wanted to secure his love or she trapped him merely because he was the coolest hero ever.

* JumpingOnPoint: As [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Creator/AnnaRussell, in the opening of ''[[Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung Götterdämmerung]]'', the Fates re-tell the story of the first three operas "right over again ''from the beginning.'' That is, of course, [[SarcasmMode in case you couldn't hear it the first time]]. As a matter of fact, you can miss out parts one, two, and three, and go in at the beginning of ''Götterdämmerung'' and you'll be just about as far ahead as anyone else is."

* SequelFirst: ''Das Rheingold'' was actually the last of the plays to get an American production.