Comprising four separate operas, Wagner�s Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) took 25 years to complete. Centred around a ring of power and the attempts of various people to acquire it, the Ring cycle explores the relationship between love and earthly power and the themes of yearning and loss, all within a setting of medieval legend. The second part, Die Walk�re, tells the story of the meeting of Siegmund and Sieglinde, children of Wotan, and the death of Siegmund through Wotan�s unwilling intervention.