As told in THE RHEINGOLD: In the world's dawn, Wotan, king of the gods, sets three mermaidens to guard a hoard of magical treasure - the Rheingold. A Ring fashioned from it will grant its wearer power beyond measure, but the gold can be stolen only by one who renounces love for all time. The greedy dwarf, Alberich the Nibelung, accepts these terms and makes off with the gold. Later, Wotan, with the help of fire-god Loge, wrests both Ring and Rhinegold from Alberich, to pay the giants Fafner and Fasolt for building the gods' fabled palace, Valhalla. Fafner kills Fasolt and takes the treasure for his own - as the gods, uncaring, enter Valhalla. But the trio of Rhinemaidens sense, if the gods do not, that unless the gold is restored to the Rhine, Valhalla and the gods are doomed... - Roy Thomas

