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The four elements - earth, air, water and fire - are having important parts in Wagner's major work, The Ring of the Nibelung . The story commences under water, in the depths of the Rhine - and the work is terminated with water and fire - as the Rhine overflows and flames engulf the castle of Walhall. The earth is impersonated by the goddess Erda, and the central character of the Ring - Brünnhilde - flies through the air on her horse, Grane.

The element of fire is here especially interesting, since it plays a double part, both as a person and as an element - and the transformation from the one into the other is even depicted scenically in Das Rheingold . Loge, the god of fire, is central to most of the second, third and fourth scene of this Vorabend .

Together with the element of water, the fire seems to a certain degree to contribute both to the start and the end of the whole of the Ring : Fire is suggested as the sun illuminates the Gold of the Rhine in the beginning. Both water and fire are original, clean and potentially cleansing, a potential that will be realised in the final scene of Götterdämmerung .

Loge's qualities as a person are also fascinating. His somewhat enigmatic combination of unpredictability and cunning is intriguing. He often takes a commenting, distanced attitude towards the action of which he is a part. This attitude he seems to support with the following statement concerning his own nature:

Somewhat flippantly he says this to the gods as they all (with the exception of Loge himself) suddenly grows old and weak following the abduction of Freia, the goddess of youth and love, by the giants - Freia who "accidentally" also is the guardian of the tree with golden apples, the same apples that secures eternal life and eternal youth for the gods.

As early as his first appearance Loge has made it clear that he stands apart from the gods:

Not only is Loge assuming that he is smarter and more independent than gods and other beings, he also expects consciousness about and gratitude for the decisive part he must have played during the emergence of some sort of civilization. Here follows Loge's words to the Nibelung Alberich when he visits Nibelheim with Wotan:

In addition to Loge's complementarity as fire and person one may find other complementary opposites in the demigod. The final scene of Götterdämmerung is mentioned above - the fire here contributes to the cleansing and possible redemption from the sins of persons and of the society. Quite naturally one would claim that the fire is liberating. Compare this scene with the final scene of Die Walküre , in which the fire displays a restricting, inhibiting function - reminding of a prison! Could this possibly be Loge - as intellect - who makes Brünnhilde - as intuition and empathy - unfree? (The scenic solution of Harry Kupfer and Hans Schavernoch in their Bayreuth production seems to point in this direction: At this point they arrange for Brünnhilde to be surrounded by a cube which seems to be mathematically perfect in its proportions and which glows eerily from the intensely red laser light.) And finally, in the last scene of Siegfried - at this place the function of fire would be to frighten, although this function is never realised, Siegfried is (for the time being) incapable of feeling fear.

Loge, in his appearance as element, as fire, displays himself with different aspects - as restricting, as frightening and finally as liberating. The nature of fire is of course characterized by unrest, change and transformation. The flame is in constant unrest, its form and direction is always changing, and the fire is in reality a transformation from one substance and one condition to one or more new substances and new conditions. If we again consider the three final scenes, we will find that they all share a fundamental character of transformation. In the final scene of Die Walküre it is Brünnhilde who is transformed by the magic sleep and the imprisonment of fire from a goddess to a mortal woman, from powerful and invulnerable to powerless and helpless. At the transition from scene 2 to scene 3 in the third act of Siegfried , Siegfried's own mind seems to be transformed by his entrance through the - for others - frightening fire, from cheeky fearlessness and impetuosity to awe-struck wonder and vulnerable longing for love. And finally, at the very end of Götterdämmerung , maybe it is we that are transformed from desperate onlookers to hopeful participants - at this same point where the past is transformed into future and where history is transformed into a new beginning.

If we return to Das Rheingold and study the final scene in this Vorabend , we find that Loge again takes a dramaturgically important part. This is the place where he for the last time appears as a person. Loge's departing words are marked by irony and distance-keeping regarding the blind and vain actions of the gods - and he establishes, for us as spectators and listeners, a necessary reserve in relation to the much too pompous music. Wagner seems to anticipate 80 years in advance of Brecht the technique of Verfremdung - and thus raises a decisive signpost for how we should correctly understand the whole of the tetralogy, both text and music.

At this spot we find a very surprising parallel between Loge's last words and the last words in the book 2001: A Space Odyssey which is founded on the film of the same name (Kubrick / Clarke; 1968):

Loge, at the end of Das Rheingold :

Star-Child, at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey [A.C.Clarke]:

Just like the satellite-carried nuclear weapons, Walhall may be seen as a means of power and suppression, and when Loge - in the last minutes of Götterdämmerung - finally changes this earlier moment's desire into action, he actually does the same thing as the Star-Child does at the end of 2001 - he gives mankind another chance.

The ironic, distancing words of Loge, and the manner in which he speaks of himself, are in a way negated; he prefers to present himself as a commentating spectator while he in reality takes an active part in the action - and this at the dramatically most remarkable places: at or near the conclusion of each of the four great dramas.

However, it is not only as an agent of the finales that Loge influences the advance of matters. It also turns out that he is able to initiate important series of events. This happens almost imperceptibly - he may with a single sentence, only a hint, release ideas and actions with one or the other of the major characters. Examples of this are how he convinces Wotan that he should get hold of the gold of the Nibelung, how he gives the same Wotan the idea that the Ring of the Nibelung might be of great value to the god, how he tricks Alberich into letting himself be captured and thereby losing the gold and the Ring - and how he advices the giant Fasolt that he should keep the Ring and not mind the rest of the golden hoard (which again leads to the brother-murder - Fafner kills Fasolt!)

Loge is, as mentioned above, perhaps even present at the very beginning of the tetralogy, but only as a mere suggestion, when the sun with its first rays shine on the gold at the bottom of the Rhine. Without this glimmer...

...Alberich would not even be aware of the gold - and the events in the tetralogy would never have started.

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