These three stories present a dark but accurate picture of how the Norsemen viewed human life. All men, even the strongest and noblest, are fated to unhappiness. Sorrow is man's one sure heritage, and "the best way to meet it is to grapple with it courageously, in one's bare hands so to speak, as the aged Beowulf met the dragon. This quality of risking one's whole life in combat gave the Norsemen a special vibrancy. At its best, in Beowulf, it could be truly ennobling. Beowulf accomplished his feats of monster-killing to help others, and whatever wealth he gained from them he gave away. His unselfishness made him an exemplary king and hero.
At its worst the fighting instinct came down to mere tribalism, as in the tale of the Volsungs. Hunding and Sigmund are of different tribes, and in the animosity between them any cruelty is justified. Signy, of course, is caught between them. And while she does everything possible to avenge the murders of her family, she also decides in the end to die with her husband. This story underscores the ferocity of tribal loyalty.
The legend of Sigurd demonstrates how a notable and courageous warrior is brought low by the cunning and malice of women who want him for selfish reasons. Yet even these women have a somber dignity. They are not ignoble, merely intensely passionate. Sigurd is trapped between Brynhild and Gudrun and he falls victim to their jealousy.
In Norse myth there are no happy endings, because the Teutonic races saw the world as harsh, bleak, cold, with inexorable laws. That gloomy outlook persists today in Scandinavia and northern Germany, although it has been Christianized.
