Integrating different elements: Rebuilding of a kingdom and romance

I've now decided that my piece is sort of Volsunga Saga meets The Hobbit, with Regin as a sort of dangerous and scheming Thorin-type king-in-exile wanting his kingdom under the mountain, as well as all its treasure, back from his evil dragon brother. The rebuilding of the devastated kingdom is a large part of the plot, but I have no idea how to integrate the rebuilding of Nidavellir with the more familiar elements of Sigurd meeting Brynhild on Mount Hindfell and awakening her, then falling in love with Gudrun (and in process, discovering secrets about his family. Cue the incest and sword in tree story). Is the idea of "Icelandic Saga meets Tolkien with a strong steampunk aspect" even workable, or should I stick with a relatively faithful steampunk science fiction reworking of the original without the Tolkien-inspired twist?

edited 17th May '13 6:58:55 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

I think I maybe able to help. What exactly is the major plot in the story (I assume it's Sigurd's story) and how does this Regin guy fit in to it?

Also, answer these questions without referring to Tolkien or the original myth.

The major plot is: Sigurd kills a dragon, takes its hoard and then meets and awakens a sleeping maiden in a castle. Months later, he goes to another kingdom where he is tricked into marrying the princess through a forgetfulness potion. Regin is his foster father, the one who convinces him to kill the dragon.

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

Does Regin need the hoard to begin rebuilding, or is he independently wealthy?

He's got some money, but it's not enough. Thing is, I'm planning to have Sigurd there while the kingdom is rebuilt.

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

Ok, how about this: just based on what you've told me in the last post, completely ignoring the original myth, Regin and Sigurd had both intended to kill the dragon and rebuild the kingdom. That's their plan: kill dragon, take treasure, become royalty.

What is the princess' importance to the new kingdom? Why is Sigurd saving her?

The girl/princess in the mountain is important because she is the person Sigurd is destined to and does fall in love with. And she happens to have status and wealth, even through her 'brother' is a half-Orc chieftain, so if Sigurd married her the dwarven kingdom would have support. The same if he married the other princess.

Regin is trying to regain his royal status. He's the king, but lost his throne.

edited 17th May '13 9:42:11 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

Ok, so act 1 of the story would be Sigurd and Regin killing the dragon and getting the kingdom back. Act 2 would be rebuilding the kingdom so Sigurd goes to save the princess as some sort of political move. What's the climax of the story?

@WSM: Sigurd leaves the princess on the mountain out of a fear of commitment after giving her a Teenage Pregnancy and continues on to another kingdom where he's tricked by Grimhild Nibelung into marrying her daughter Gudrun through a forgetfulness potion. He marries and falls in love with Gudrun. Gudrun also gets pregnant (two teenage pregnancies) Finally the dwarves start to wonder what's happened to the heir of the kingdom *

and based on some directions given by a nuthatch, the search party passes Hindfell Mansion. Finding it deserted, they turn up at the Nibelungs' court where they discover that Nilda (girl in mountain) is now married to Gunnar and Sigurd is married to Gudrun. Nilda is quite unaware of who the man she married really is. The climax of the story is the quarrel of the queens where Nilda notices Sigurd's ring on Gudrun's finger.

edited 18th May '13 6:10:24 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

So the first princess, Nilda, is the villain?

edited 19th May '13 10:54:29 AM by WSM

Nope, Grimhild is the villain. Since this story is a partial demythification of the saga, she accomplishes her evil work partly through automatons.

And, interestingly, The Hobbit is basically a loose adaptation of Beowulf.

Another question would be; How do I mix elements together to make this story my own? I mean, The Hobbit and Volsunga Saga are like chalk and cheese. The saga is tragic and absolutely not a children's story, while The Hobbit, even though it includes the deaths of Thorin, Fíli and Kíli in the Battle of the Five Armies, the murder of Thráin in the backstory, and the Arkenstone incident and Thorin's dragon-sickness is very light in mood in comparison to the saga, which has incest, cannibalism, betrayal, infidelity, political intrigue and people being eaten alive.

edited 19th May '13 3:47:31 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

So you want to take two stories and shove them together? I've never done anything like that before but I guess what you would do would be two figure out what the two stories have in common, then pick what parts of both stories you like and then make an outline based on that. Then you use that outline as the foundation of your story.

Back to the princess: why exactly would it be hard to integrate the romance and political stuff. It seems to fit together pretty neatly. Except for the part where your hero knocks up an underage girl and then runs-out on her. I'd change that part if I were you, it makes Sigurd seem pretty despicable.

edited 19th May '13 4:37:59 PM by WSM

@WSM: Not many fifteen-year-old guys would be exactly overjoyed at the thought of being a father. The girl's only a year than older than Sigurd. Both of them aren't exactly thrilled. However, he is considered to be a young adult in dwarven culture, due to the fact that his beard has grown in. This causes a Culture Clash when he spends a significant amount of time among humans at the Nibelungs'.

The Hobbit and Volsunga Saga both have an exiled dwarf prince forced to work as a blacksmith due to a horrible dragon killing their father, the dragon's conversation with the hero (Sigurd/Bilbo), a malicious creature hoarding a magical ring and associated with water and caves, a riddle contest, a sentient dragon and the hero not revealing his name.

edited 19th May '13 7:26:51 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

"He's got some money, but it's not enough. Thing is, I'm planning to have Sigurd there while the kingdom is rebuilt."

So, if Sigurd, instead of giving the hoard to Regin, instead gives it to Grimhild (as a dowry), then Regin and the other dwarves have to stop their building to go find Sigurd and the gold. Obvious plot complications then ensue, including possibly a war-

-the War of the Five Armies. The Dwarves, some humans, and some creatures aligned with the Maiden from the Mountain (Brynhild?) on one side, and Grimhild's people, with some dragons, on the other.

That's a GREAT idea! And orcs, you can't avoid orcs. Maybe Brynhild/The Maiden of The Mountain has some special orcs on her side.

edited 20th May '13 6:27:54 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

You're welcome.

Hey, quick question: after reading one of your threads, I've actually started plotting a story that's a re-imaging of Beowulf with light Hobbit elements. Is the Thorin character the only major aspect Tolkein took from the Volsunga Saga? I'm wondering because adding a character like that might help me tighten-up some plot holes in my story but I'm too lazy to do research on it.

@WSM: He borrowed Smaug's conversation with Bilbo and the character of Gollum (and the character of Smaug himself).

And it's "Tolkien", by the way.

edited 20th May '13 5:47:21 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

Sorry, typo. So is there a Gollum and Bilbo in the Sigurd myth? And who's the Thorin character of the myth?

edited 20th May '13 5:25:56 PM by WSM

I think it's Regin. Of course, he's a lot more of a schemer than Thorin.

Sigurd can also be an Aragorn (and Bilbo/Bard) because of the way he's manipulated into killing the dragon by Regin.

Gollum is Andvari, who lives in a pool as a fish.

edited 20th May '13 5:42:18 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

Interesting. Thanks, that helps a lot

Any chance I could read this Beowulf retelling when it's done?

Also, is the dragon going to talk to Beowulf?

edited 20th May '13 5:48:22 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien

It's probably going to be awhile before it's done. I'm going to be busy this summer. Once I get to it, I'll be thrilled if you want to read it.

The dragon isn't a dragon, it's a political faction with a dragon motif. I'm thinking I could use a Thorin/Regin character as its leader, ironically enough. The story's hero is a member of this faction and Beowulf is the villain.

edited 20th May '13 8:44:34 PM by WSM

Wow, that's interesting.

You can read mine if you want and check to see if I'm shoehorning too much of the original in.

edited 21st May '13 1:23:49 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien