Wagner's Ring

Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876) — the comparison Tolkien refused

ca. 1 min

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In briefanswer capsule

Richard Wagner built his four-opera cycle from the same Norse and German material Tolkien loved — Andvari's cursed gold, Fáfnir the dragon, Sigurd/Siegfried — and readers have compared the two rings ever since a Swedish translator suggested that Tolkien's Ring was in a certain way the Nibelungs' Ring. Tolkien's reply was curt: both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases. He disliked Wagner's treatment of the sources, which he knew at first hand; a ring of power that corrupts its bearer is in the Völsung legend already. The comparison is recorded here so that it can be marked for what it is.

Siegfried kills Fafner — Arthur Rackham, 1911Rackham’s illustration for Wagner’s Ring. That Tolkien’s Ring came from Wagner’s is often claimed — Tolkien himself: “Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases.”© Arthur Rackham · Public domain

Often claimed — denied by Tolkien

The One Ring
The claim that the One Ring descends from Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung. Tolkien, answering his Swedish translator's foreword in 1961: both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases.
- The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien — Letter 229Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases.

Sources

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien — Letter 229

Cite this page

Legendarium (2026): „Wagner's Ring“. Last updated September 3, 2026. https://www.legendarium.page/tolkien/wagner-ring/

APA

Legendarium. (2026). Wagner's Ring. Last updated September 3, 2026. https://www.legendarium.page/tolkien/wagner-ring/

MLA

„Wagner's Ring“. Legendarium, 2026, https://www.legendarium.page/tolkien/wagner-ring/. Last updated September 3, 2026.

BibTeX

@misc{legendarium-wagner-ring-en,
  title        = {Wagner's Ring},
  author       = {{Legendarium}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://www.legendarium.page/tolkien/wagner-ring/}},
  note         = {Last updated September 3, 2026}
}