This article should be merged with Grimhild

In the medieval Nibelungenlied, Kriemhild is one of four children of Uote. Her brothers were the three Nibelungen Kings Gunther, Gernot and Giselher.

Sigurd (also known as Siegfried) fell in love with Kriemhild, and to gain her hand in marriage, agreed to help Gunther win the hand of Brunhilde, the amazonian queen of Iceland. Having done so, Sigfried and Kreimhild married.

Brunhilde, learning of Sigurd's artifice, orders her husband to kill him, but Siegfried, who has bathed in the blood of a dragon (named Fáfnir in Norse tradition), is invulnerable. The task falls to Gunther's "grim retainer" Hagen. Hagen tricks Kriemhild into revealing the vulnerable spot between Sigurd's shoulders, then betrays and murders Sigurd while hunting.

Heartbroken, Kriemhild gives in to her fury and vows to avenge Sigurd's death. She agrees to marry Etzel (= Attila the Hun). Some years after the marriage, Kriemhild invites her brothers to come to Etzel's court for a feast. When they arrive, Kriemhild betrays Etzel's hospitality by provoking a confliect which results in the death of her siblings, along with Hagen, the assassin.