Hagen Tronje

I think the brothers were stupid to protect Hagen til the end instead of helping their sister.

Actually, whether one finds him sympathetic or not, Hagen is the "truest" character in the whole story, since he never betrays his driving ethos, which is 100% loyalty to his king, no matter the cost. It is the old-medieval version of the similar samurai code.

Think about it - which other major character does not betray his closest kith and kin at some point in the story?

o Gunter is a lying, weak-willed weasel-king who talks his "newest best buddy" Siegfried into helping him "cheat on his examination" and win a wife of whom he is undeserving;

o Kriemhild, though legendarily beautiful, is a manipulative bitch, and thoroughly unsympathetic by the end of the 2nd film.

o Even "noble Siegfried" lets himself get manipulated into shameful behavior and court intrigues.

Also, I disagree re. Brunhilde - the "classic" Germanic telling of the tale (as opposed to the older Nordic saga from which it came) tries mightily to make her appear unsympathetic as possible (Contrast that with the more-recent film starring Kristanna Loken as Brunhilde, which is much more nuanced). But consider: Brunhilde never lied or cheated anyone, rather she was cheated out of her one true love, her "destiny's soulmate" Siegfried, by human treachery. Said soulmate not only lets himself get duped into betraying Brunhilde (by using his Tarnhelm to take Gunter's place and overpower Brunhilde - who has similar supernatural strength as Siegfried - both during the "marriage exam" and on the latter's wedding night, thus enabling the u"berweasel Gunter to "earn" a woman of whom he is undeserving), but marries a "lesser" (in the sense that she may be beautiful, but is not a super-powered warrior like Siegfried and Brunhilde) woman, and gives said lesser woman the proof of Brunhild's shameful betrayal as a kind of bizarre wedding gift. Brunhilde must then suffer the neverending ignominy of seeing Siegfried and Kriemhild together every day at court and basically playing dutiful meek wife to the weasel-king who she believes "conquered her" instead of the warrior queen role she was born to. I'd be pissed, too, under the circumstances. Really the only character flaw Brunhilde can be faulted for is her overweening pride - but is she less prideful than the other royals, whose serial betrayals and "mere human" powers make them her lessers in both character and flesh?

One can make a good argument that Brunhilde is in fact the only central character besides Hagen (by "central" I mean in all parts of the story, which excludes loyal but lesser-roled nobles like Volker and Ru"diger) who is true in that consistency-of-character-and-actions sense.

Hagen is an Iago, an evil motivator of everything. It wasn't necessary to have Gunther pursue Brunnhild in the first place or have Siegfried "tame" her. All of that was just unnecessary mischief that caused all the problems downstream.