History Awesome / TheRingOfTheNibelung

*** Case in point: he is completely ignorant of the enormous power of Wotan, and doesn't even tremble at his glance (Sieglinde says in Die Walkure that men shuddered just by looking at Wotan's only eye).
*** At the end of Die Walkure, Wotan says "he who fears my spear's point will not pass through this fire!", and precisely because of that, Siegfried manages to cut his spear, and later break through the fire and reach the summit of Brünnhilde Rock.

** Wotan went to great pains to create the ultimate hero who could save the world from the ring and its destructive power, and he never realized that his creation was already made, [[FridgeBrilliance because it is Brünnhilde that ultimately saves the world from the ring's curse in Götterdämmerung!]]

** He built his power by way of diplomacy, compromises and treaties. Quite different to the usual depiction of gods as omnipotent beings that act unilaterally.
** Even though he's the king of the gods and could take advantage of his enormous power, lots of times during the operas he shows constraint (he even stops Donner as he intents to hammer the giants, because that would tear down the power he gained respecting his treaties).

*** In a sense, [[Franchise/DragonBall he's like Goku]] but instead of always wanting to meet someone strong for the sake of being stronger, he wants to meet persons with knowledge to gain more knowledge!

** He's possibly the smartest, craftiest and foxiest in all the Ring cycle. Even though the gods loathe him because, like Fricka says, he has already dealt lots of troubles and fooled them lots of times by the time the story starts, they still rely on him as the only one that can fix the troubles they get themselves in.

*** When Wotan orders him to say something to the Rhine's daughters to make them shut up, he craftilly utters some banters that make the gods be viewed in an even more negative light. Thus, the Rhine's daughters come to see the gods as if they were heartless riches without a sense of justice.

** At the end of Rheingold, he muses that he's tempted to burn the gods and their false splendor. Seeing how the Ring cycle ends, he succeeds.
* Fricka (assuming you root for her at all) has a Crowning Moment of Awesome in ''Die Walküre'' when Wotan says "Was verlangst du?", indicating that she has won.

** Plus, he was a gentleman and treated tenderly Sieglinde while she was pregnant, showing that he has empathy for the other gender.
* Fasolt. He seems to be the only one smart enough to realize that the only way the dwindling race of giants has to avoid extinction, is catching Freia.

** He's so tough that the only reason he escapes from Hunding's goons is because his equipment was shattered. In his own words: ''"if only my spear and shield had been as half as tough as my body, I would have never ran away!"''

** She is brave and rises against her abusive husband, who she always resented because it was a forced marriage.

** [[https://youtu.be/hmMsQ-RVKPg?t=923 In the 2006 Copenhagen production, this becomes an even more important plot point]], as the production, which has been called the ''"Feminist Ring"'', puts an even greater emphasis in the feminine side of the Ring cycle.

** After dealing a deadly strike to [[spoiler:Fafner]], he's respectful with his dying enemy and talks respectfully with him.

*** [[spoiler:When he's dying, he talks about Brünnhilde, proving she was his one and only love, and that he loves she until the last second of his life]].

** Wotan went to great pains to create the ultimate hero who could save the world from the ring and its destructive power, [[spoiler:and he never realized that his creation was already made, [[FridgeBrilliance because it is Brünnhilde that ultimately saves the world from the ring's curse in Götterdämmerung!]]]]

** At the end of Rheingold, he muses that he's tempted to burn the gods and their false splendor. [[spoiler: Seeing how the Ring cycle ends, he succeeds.]]

* Fafner. [[spoiler:He survives long enough to be the LastOfHisKind]]. Plus, both as a giant and as a dragon he's badass.

** He's so strong that [[spoiler:it is required the divine intervention of the king of gods to kill him]].