Rhinemaidens

Three Water-Nymphs who live in the Rhine. They are the first and last characters to appear in the Ring Cycle. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde (Floßhilde), although they are generally treated as a single entity and they act together accordingly. At the beginning they swim about the Rhine happily while guarding the Rhinegold, which their Father told them to. They mock the lustful Nibelung dwarf Alberich. They tell him that someone who renounces love can forge the Rhinegold into a ring with which the world can be ruled, thinking the amorous advances of Alberich mean he is no threat. However, angry at his failure with the Rhinemaidens, Alberich curses love and steals the Rhinegold. The Rhinemaidens tell the Fire God Loge of their gold being stolen, however the Chief God Wotan decides to use the treasure of Alberich to pay the Giants instead of returning it to the Rhinemaidens. In Gotterdammerung the Rhinemaidens encounter Siegfried, he offers them the ring but they say they will soon recover it. After Siegfried's death, his lover Brunnhilde returns the ring to the Rhinemaidens as she throws herself into Siegfried's funeral pyre. Alberich's son Hagen tries to take the ring himself, but is drowned by the Rhinemaidens.