Fanfic / The Cliff

The Cliff is a fanfic by AutumnLeaves based on The Ring of the Nibelung. It can be read in English and in Russian. There are an in-progress Interquel (which is also a crossover with Monday Begins on Saturday) available in Russian here, and an alternate take on one of the chapters available in English and in Russian.

The premise is the following: what if, in the end of The Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, in the heat of a moment, wished for an older husband instead of a young hero? She was hoping to get widowed quickly, but she forgot to specify the husband's species and therefore ended up getting woken up by Mime more than ten years earlier than in canon.

The fanfic contains examples of:

• Accidentally Broke the MacGuffin: The Tarnhelm, the only thing from the treasure hoard Mime still really wants to have, considering he made it, is stepped on in the battle against Wotan and twisted and damaged beyond repair.
• Affair? Blame the Bastard: Fricka let out all her anger at Wotan's infidelities at his daughters by Erda, the Valkyries.
• Age-Gap Romance: Downplayed with Mime and Brünnhilde, since both of them (even after Brünnhilde loses her immortality) have longer-than-human lifespans. However, Mime was already an adult before Brünnhilde was born (which allows him to qualify as the older man able to break Brünnhilde’s spell).
• All Amazons Want Hercules: Just after waking up, Brünnhilde is most of all repulsed by Mime's cowardice and muses she wouldn't have minded his looks if only he had been a heroic warrior. However, as they grow on each other, she realises she is perfectly happy with Mime the Cowardly Lion.
• All for Nothing: Fafner, driven crazy by the ring, murdered his brother, then wiped out the entire giant race, and the ring and the treasures have never brought him any joy. He knows Alberich is lurking right by his cave, but he doesn’t do anything about it precisely because the risk of the treasures being stolen gives him at least some drive.
• All-Loving Hero: Gibich. He immediately gives the warmest welcome to Mime and Brünnhilde the first time he meets them (even though humans usually are wary about Nibelungs). He has no troubles with raising his wife’s son from another man (although he isn’t doing a good job of it, it’s not out of malice, he is simply clueless about how to deal with someone like Hagen).
• Alliterative Family: As in canon, there are Gibich and Grimhild whose children are called Gunther and Gutrune. Plus they have Hagen, Grimhild's son by Alberich.
• Aloof Ally:
  • Hagen ends up like this, a brooding and aloof man living separately from the heroes, even his mother's family, but always helping them when necessary.
  • Fafner comes to help in the battle against Wotan but barely interacts with anyone afterwards. He gradually warms to the heroes, but still prefers living alone.
• Aloof Older Brother: A half-brother, but still. Hagen doesn't interact much with his younger half-siblings Gunther and Gutrune, preferring to keep to himself.
• Archnemesis Dad: Wotan is the closest the story has to a Big Bad. He has a huge fight with Brünnhilde in chapter ten already, and it escalates to outright war when Brünnhilde refuses to help him fight the Nibelungs and get the ring.
• Babies Ever After: Mime and Brünnhilde’s son Regin is born between the last chapter and the epilogue, as are Gunther’s two sons.
• Bastard Bastard: Hagen, the illegitimate son of Alberich and Grimhild, is mean and selfish, planning to seize the Ring for himself. Alberich cultivates all the negative traits in him, which leads to Hagen alienating Grimhild's relations, which only embitters him all the more. When Brünnhilde starts treating him kindly and urges Mime, Siegfried and even Grane to do the same, Hagen gradually gets better.
• Beak Attack: Wotan's ravens attack using their steel-like beaks.
• Befriending the Enemy: Brünnhilde starts trying it with the antagonists, after realizing how the Power of Love has changed Mime and being prompted by the Rhinemaidens. She manages to do it with Hagen, who is still a grump by the end but at least genuinely loves his family and friends, and Fafner, who is pretty much broken by all that he has done after getting the ring but still tries to recover and make amends. Even Alberich’s temper slightly improves, though it’s more due to Hagen’s influence than to Brünnhilde’s.
• Being Evil Sucks: Pride, cruelty or greed lead to dreary, lonely existence. Fafner, who has never known a moment of joy since turning evil, can testify to that. And if one longs for the Ring of Power, in the end of the fic, when said ring is returned to the Rhine, their feelings are akin to heavy Going Cold Turkey, and it takes years for Alberich and Hagen to recover from it.
• Best Friends-in-Law: Siegfried eventually marries his best friend's sister.
• Big Brother Bully: Mime reveals Alberich had bullied him relentlessly even long before the ring came into the picture.
• Book Ends: The first and the last scenes of the fanfic take place in the neighborhood of the cliff where Brünnhilde was kept in the magic sleep.
• Byronic Hero: The Rhinemaidens think Hagen has a gentle wounded soul behind his constant gloomy sullen demeanour, and fall head over heels.
• Cannon Fodder: The dead hero army of Valhalla turns out to be this, since they don't have any free will or intelligence of their own anymore. They get defeated ridiculously easily by five opponents.
• The Cavalry: When Mime and Brünnhilde are cornered by Wotan and his heroes’ army and things look pretty bad, not only do Siegfried (armed with Notung and riding Grane), Gunther and Hagen come to help them, but Fafner does as well.
• Cheerful Child: Both the Gibichungs are like this as children, being very friendly, curious and playful. Unlike in canon, no traumatic events or Hagen's Evil Chancellor advice take place to change it as they grow to adulthood.
• Chekhov's Skill: Siegfried and Gunther's extensive archery training, the description of which looks like a simple filler scene inserted before the dragon's sneezing leads up to the events of the story's climax. However, thanks to that training, they are able to save Mime's life by shooting down Wotan's chief raven.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Siegfried and Gutrune are friends starting from their very early childhood and start a relationship in their mid-teens.
• Cloud Cuckooland: The forest and Gibich's castle have weirdness happening there all the time. The events leading up to the climax deserve a special mention (a dragon scatters his own treasure hoard around the forest by sneezing, because he is allergic to poplar fluff). In the interquel, Erda explains it is caused by the high level of magic, the result of the many magical beings living in such a small area. In the epilogue, Grimhild is happy that her daughter-in-law Helmi is revealed to have a sense of humour, because one can't survive without it in this place.
• Completed Fic: The main fic and the alternate chapter version are completed.
• Content Warning:
  • The English version has one. "Not recommended for Wotan's fans, the Gibichungs' haters and/or Wagnerian purists".
  • There is one in the interquel, warning those who don’t want to see fun made of Wagner operas, as well as those who love Siegfried and hate Mime, to tread carefully.
• Cool Big Bro: Even though the two of them couldn’t be more different, Siegfried dotes on his little brother Regin, always making toys and thinking up games for him.
• Cool Horse: Grane, Brünnhilde's steed, no longer has wings but is still badass. He has a very high level of intelligence, understanding human speech, can gallop at a fantastic speed, and helps Brünnhilde in battle.
• Cowardly Lion: Mime is easily frightened by practically everything. But if Brünnhilde insists on going on a dangerous mission, he accompanies her to make sure her bravery won’t get her killed, and woe betide you if you actually try to harm Brünnhilde, Siegfried or the forest bird.
• Creepy Crows: Wotan's ravens attack the forest bird, and later Brünnhilde in the final battle.
• Dead Guy Junior: In a sense. Gunther's sons are given the names that Siegmund wished he had – Friedmund and Frohwalt.
• Dead Person Impersonation: One moment away from being attacked by Fafner for stealing his magic helmet, Mime hastily turns into a ghostly-looking Fasolt.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Brünnhilde starts as proud and haughty, but becomes much more easy-going and cheerful further on as her romance with Mime, as well as her motherly relationship with Siegfried and friendship with Gibich’s family, progress.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: More like "did I say that out loud five years ago?" Brünnhilde isn’t glad to realize she spoke her wish to marry an older man aloud and Wotan granted it.
• Dramedy: The final chapters are a roulette of the usual humor (such as a sneezing allergic dragon or Brünnhilde being worried about Mime's increase of bravery) and serious drama (Fafner's Villainous BSoD at the sight of what he thinks is the ghost of his brother, the battle when Mime and Brünnhilde believe each other to be killed).
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • Alberich can't believe that no, Brünnhilde really doesn't want the ring or any other treasures for herself, and yes, she really is trying to get him and Mime to reconcile.
  • Waltraute is shocked that Brünnhilde doesn't want to eliminate the Nibelungs, wishes the Ring of Power to be returned to the Rhinemaidens, and is genuinely happy with her life on earth.
• Fix Fic: The fanfic is tagged as an example. Indeed, Mime, Brünnhilde, Siegfried and all the others end up having much longer and happier lives than their canon counterparts.
• Formerly Friendly Family: Brünnhilde, previously an exemplary Daddy's Girl, has a terrible quarrel with her father and ends up facing him in battle. By the end of the fic, a possibility of a reconciliation is only hinted at.
• Free-Range Children: Before Brünnhilde comes along, Siegfried runs around in the woods by himself from dawn till dusk. Brünnhilde makes sure he spends at least some time at home, and then, after he makes friends with the Gibichungs, he prefers spending time with them to walking alone in the forest.
• Girliness Upgrade:
  • Downplayed with Brünnhilde, who gradually becomes a capable housewife but doesn’t let go of her Action Girl traits.
  • The interquel reveals Gutrune was One of the Boys during childhood. She becomes more gentle and feminine in her teens.
• Hand on Womb: Brünnhilde announces her pregnancy by telling Mime he'll soon know what having one's own children is like, and putting her hand on her stomach.
• A Handful for an Eye: Mime throws sand in the eyes of the leader of Wotan's ravens to buy some time for the forest bird to hide.
• Happily Adopted: Siegfried ends up living in a loving if rather eccentric family.
• Harmless Villain: Fafner, constantly hyped as Siegfried’s future deadly enemy, does absolutely nothing throughout the story beyond letting out a scary roar in the first chapter. Until he turns back to the good side and actively helps Brünnhilde and Mime.
• Honorary Aunt: Gunther and Gutrune take to calling Brünnhilde "Aunt".
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: Brünnhilde calls Mime all sorts of insults all the time and occasionally fights with him physically. When Waltraute tries to insult him, all that she manages is "this disgusting, repulsive, vile Nibfffff..." before Brünnhilde gives her a slap.
• In Spite of a Nail: Some canon events still happen, albeit under entirely different circumstances:
  • Siegfried still meets the Gibichungs, but it happens way earlier than in canon.
  • Wotan still comes to Mime's house to offer him the question game, but quarrels with Brünnhilde and leaves before it can come to questions (in one version of the chapter) or attempts the question game and is defeated by Mime and Brünnhilde (in the alternate version).
  • Siegfried and Gunther still swear blood brotherhood.
  • Siegfried still reforges Cool Sword Notung, and Wotan's spear breaks against it.
  • The ring still gets returned to the Rhinemaidens.
• Interclass Friendship: Gibich is a pretty wealthy lord while Mime and Brünnhilde only have their forest hut. When Brünnhilde first visits Gibich's family, she hastily lies that they have a castle of their own as well, but after the truth gets revealed, turns out their new friends don't care. The interquel reveals that Gibich and Grimhild offer their friends to move to the castle permanently several times, but Mime and Brünnhilde always refuse, and eventually the matter is just dropped.
• Jacob and Esau: Mime and Brünnhilde's sons. Siegfried, fearless man of action, has a much closer bond with Brünnhilde, and Regin, timid smith, has a much stronger relationship with Mime. However, it doesn't mar the family peace, and the brothers get along with each other wonderfully.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: When Wotan's spear is broken and his chief raven is defeated, Valhalla's army acknowledges defeat pretty quickly.
• Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone:
  • When it becomes clear Siegfried and Gutrune are an item, everyone starts tactfully giving them space even at family gatherings.
  • After making sure Brünnhilde wasn’t seriously wounded in the battle, everyone, including Siegfried, leaves the hut for Gibich’s castle to give Mime and Brünnhilde some privacy. After more than ten years of Cannot Spit It Out, the two finally confess their love (and, well... conceive Regin).
• Lethal Chef: In the beginning, Brünnhilde's attempt at bread turns to coals, and her attempt at cereal turns to a heap of slightly roasted grain with, for some reason, a pike underneath. According to Brünnhilde, Mime's cooking is only marginally better and his soups taste like rainwater at best.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Discussed. Thanks to Brünnhilde's lessons, the rule of oneself and one's opponent having equal chances gets firmly instilled in Siegfried's heart, so much that he is ready to assist with the dragon's medical treatment to make sure he won't fight a sick enemy.
• Light Is Good: Played straight concerning birds. Silvery-white forest birds are benevolent and friendly while bluish-black ravens are the enemies.
• Lighter and Softer: The tone is much more whimsical than in Wagner's operas, not to mention that the ending is achieved with significantly less bloodshed.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • Just like Mime, Regin is cautious, careful, and absolutely loves smithery. He also gets his Nibelung looks (from Brünnhilde, he only inherits her black eyes and human height).
  • Gunther and Gutrune are friendly, kind and trusting, like their parents.
  • Hagen is (initially, at least) paranoid and gloomy, like Alberich.
• Maligned Mixed Marriage: Downplayed. Nobody cares that Mime and Brünnhilde are a mixed-species couple – nobody, that is, except for the residents of Valhalla. Wotan and the rest of the Valkyries are appalled that not only has Brünnhilde married a Nibelung, but she is also (gasp) happy with him.
• Marriage Before Romance: Mime is attracted to Brünnhilde, but even he mostly wants someone to help him raise Siegfried. Likewise, Brünnhilde decides to stick with Mime because he is at least willing to give her and Siegfried a roof over their heads and because Wotan might devise a new punishment for her if she evades marriage. Love only comes into the picture much later.
• Missing Mom: Brünnhilde’s mother abandoned her in all but name, refusing to see her since she was nine. As Fricka was pretty resentful towards her husband's children, Brünnhilde grew up without any proper mother-figure.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Literally. Mime and Brünnhilde's son is called Regin, the name of Mime's counterpart from Norse mythology. The latter was Wagner's main source of inspiration for the Ring cycle.
  • Regin is enormously like Mime in looks and personality, barely having any resemblance to Brünnhilde. In Siegfried, Siegfried muses that if Mime ever had a son, the latter would look exactly like Mime.
  • Gunther jokingly says that if Mime wasn't so skilled with a hammer, he would have married Brünnhilde himself, which is what he does in The Twilight of the Gods.
• Nephewism: In this continuity, Siegfried is raised by his aunt and her husband.
• Nice Mean And In Between: The three boys of the younger generation grow up like that – kind and helpful Gunther, abrasive loner Hagen and stubborn and reckless but friendly Siegfried.
• No Macguffin No Winner: Downplayed with respect to the entire plot, as the Rhinemaidens do get the ring, but they aren’t planning to use it for world domination. Played straight in the context of chapter 21, where neither side in the battle has even any chance to get the Ring, as it has already been blown into the Rhine.
• O.C. Stand-in: Gibich and Grimhild are dead in canon, and the only thing we know is that they existed. Here, they are prominent supporting characters.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Siegfried forges Notung, a sword nobody else can reforge, offscreen.
• Operation: Jealousy: Mime pretends he wants to visit the Rhinemaidens alone, merely to get Brünnhilde to admit she's jealous.
• Original Character:
  • Epilogue-only: Gunther's wife Helmi and their sons Friedmund and Frohwalt, and Regin, son of Mime and Brünnhilde.
  • Mentioned in the main story but only appearing in the interquel: Gibich's second cousin Amalrica, her husband Ramon and their daughters Miguela and Monica.
• Parental Abandonment: Revealed by Mime to be the norm in Nibelung culture. Children are left to be Raised by the Community soon after being weaned.
• Plot Allergy: Gibich plants two rows of poplars, and soon it turns out Gutrune and Fafner are horribly allergic to poplar fluff. Fafner's sneeze ends up blowing the ring into the Rhine, effectively solving the key problem of both the canon and the fanfic, while Gutrune’s allergy attack prompts Brünnhilde to realize what the matter with the dragon is.
• Practically Different Generations: Siegfried is seventeen years older than his little brother Regin. Justified, since they are siblings by adoption.
• Promoted to Love Interest:
  • Obviously, Mime and Brünnhilde for each other (in canon, they don't even meet).
  • Inverted with Siegfried, who never has any relationship with Brünnhilde beyond that of aunt and nephew.
  • Downplayed with Gutrune, with whom Siegfried only falls in love in the opera after being dosed with a Love Potion. Here they have a genuine romantic relationship.
  • All three of the Rhinedaughters end up falling madly in love with Hagen of all people.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Brünnhilde gives one to Waltraute when the latter calls her to fight against the Nibelungs and seize the ring for Wotan. She says that the residents of Valhalla have nothing to their credit but pride, selfishness, empty pathos and Meaningless Meaningful Words, and none of the warmth, trust and true friendship she has learned during her life on earth.
• Replacement Goldfish: After Brünnhilde is put into enchanted sleep, Waltraute becomes Wotan's favourite daughter and messenger.
• Resentful Guardian: Initially Mime, like in canon, is more annoyed than happy about having to raise Siegfried. He gets better.
• Sex for Solace: The first time Mime and Brünnhilde become intimate, it's after her quarrel with Wotan that results in You're Not My Father / I Have No Daughter! vibes on both sides and Brünnhilde breaking down in tears after Wotan leaves.
• Sexless Marriage: Brünnhilde insists on it when she finds out it's Mime who has woken her up. They only sleep together for the first time after several months and ten chapters.
• Shipper on Deck: The forest bird is very enthusiastic about Mime and Brünnhilde getting together.
• Shrinking Violet: Gunther's wife is terribly shy around almost everyone for the first couple of years, before taking a level in cheerfulness.
• Sibling Yin-Yang:
  • Half-siblings Hagen and the Gibichungs. Hagen is gloomy, silent and constantly angry. Gunther and Gutrune are friendly, cheerful and sociable.
  • Downplayed with Siegfried and Regin, who are technically cousins through Brünnhilde but are brothers by adoption. Siegfried is a fearless, energetic, charismatic fighter but not too keen on studies or smithing. Regin is a timid Non-Action Guy who makes quick progress with his studies and spends all his free time in the smithy.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Mime and Brünnhilde switch from fights to heart-to-heart talks, to fights, to kisses, to quarrels, etc. etc.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Everyone who wasn't dead by the beginning of Siegfried survives to the end of the fanfic.
• Speaks Fluent Animal:
  • Wotan can understand the forest bird. He isn't pleased by what he hears from her.
  • In the interquel, it's revealed Erda can also understand the forest birds and reply in their language.
• Sworn Brothers: Like in canon, Siegfried and Gunther take a vow of brotherhood. Unlike in canon, it doesn't end in tragedy.
• Thicker Than Water: Though Hagen is extremely emotionally distant from both his parents and especially his father, he nevertheless goes to live with and support Alberich after the ring is lost for them forever.
• Threat Backfire: Wotan tries to frighten Siegfried by pointing out the latter has seen the Valkyries and is therefore doomed. Siegfried calmly replies he sees a Valkyrie every day.
• Time Skip: Justified, as the twenty-four chapters cover nearly twenty years. Several times months pass between or even within chapters, and chapters fifteen, seventeen and the epilogue are preceded by a skip of several years.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Brünnhilde is almost twice her husband's height.
• Took a Level in Badass: Mime progresses from being scared of a horse to facing Wotan's ravens and later Fafner by himself to participating in an actual battle.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • Under Brünnhilde’s influence, Siegfried becomes more respectful and responsible than he ever was in canon.
  • Now that he gets a real loving family and good friends, Mime stops being as embittered and angry at the world as he is in canon. After a while, he admits he doesn’t even want the ring anymore.
  • Hagen grows nice enough to help the rest of the heroes in battle and behave much more like a Graceful Loser than in canon after the ring gets returned to the Rhine.
  • Fafner ends up an emotional wreck who feels there is no meaning in his life, but still aids in the battle against Wotan, and Brünnhilde gradually helps him to recover.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Hagen talks like a Grumpy Old Man... when he is five.
• Tuck and Cover: Mime shields Brünnhilde from an attack by Wotan's ravens. The head raven only has time to tear at his clothes before being shot by Siegfried and Gunther.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: By human standards, Mime is incredibly ugly, being hunchbacked, hook-nosed and with long and thin fingers. Brünnhilde is a raven-haired beauty.
• Wild Goose Chase: Mime tears off pieces of greyish fabric from his clothes and throws them into the air, to confuse Wotan's ravens who are chasing down the white forest bird.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The final chapter is set five years after the conclusion of the main plot arcs and describes what has happened to the characters in the meantime. Mime and Brünnhilde are happily raising their son Regin, and Mime has gradually overcome his resentment of Alberich. Siegfried, Gunther and Hagen have successfully fought in two wars against the Danes and Gauts. Siegfried has married Gutrune, while Gunther has married a Finnish woman called Helmi, and they have two sons. Hagen lives with his father, and they have become slightly more sociable. Fafner lives alone by the forest lake but keeps in touch with everyone else, being especially fond of Regin.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks:
  • The characters are so tired of all the fuss going on around the dragon’s treasure hoard that they stop really caring about it. When the gold is scattered around the forest, it’s gathered by its rightful owners the residents of Nibelheim.
  • In the interquel, Cristobal Junta has zero interest in using magic to make gold, preferring the more philosophical pursuits.

Tropes specific to the interquel, The Cliff-2: A Job for Fafner:

• Betty and Veronica: Gibich recalls how his second cousin Amalrica used to be torn between two suitors, more down-to-earth Ramon and his more dashing and mysterious brother Cristobal. She was in love with Cristobal for months before announcing he was heartless and marrying Ramon.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Erda is very absent-minded and often lapses into mumbling disaster predictions. However, Mime, Brünnhilde, Siegfried and Gibich's family are so used to weirdness they don't pay much attention to it.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: The Ring of the Nibelung meets Monday Begins on Saturday.
• One of the Boys: Gutrune happily takes part in the boys' messy, active games, so much that Grimhild is very glad for her to meet her more feminine Spanish cousins and interact with girls for once.
• Slut-Shaming: Erda and the Norns think it's a horrible degradation for Brünnhilde when they learn she is no longer a maiden. Never mind that she only ever sleeps with her husband, the sheer fact that she does it makes Erda and the Norns react as if she is Defiled Forever.
• Uplifted Animal: Erda explains that the forest birds' family has become sapient due to the high level of magic present in the forest.