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In Eternal Opposition
By Kasper Bech Holten
Of all the characters in Das Rheingold, it is perhaps Loge who is the most interesting. Wagner was clearly obsessed with the character, and both Loge’s music and libretto are refined, complex, and extremely exciting.
  
However, it is only in Das Rheingold that Loge appears as a human being. In both Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung he has assumed the form of a pure element: Fire. Nor is Loge permitted to live in Valhalla along with all the other gods. Why not?
Wotan is the very image of political power, and Loge has often been interpreted as his right-hand man – the capable henchman who executes Wotan’s political will with both intelligence and aplomb. But if he really did fulfil this role, wouldn’t Wotan bring Loge to the seat of institutionalised power represented by Valhalla – shouldn’t Loge also act as Wotan’s assistant and adviser later on in The Ring?
What if instead Loge represents the power of the free press: The aggressive and ambitious journalist who poses hard-hitting questions about everything that surrounds him. For a while, he finds it advantageous to forge an alliance with power: For money (Loge as spin doctor), for a common cause (the Ring) or against a common enemy (Alberich). But when Wotan moves into the seat of institutionalised power, the press must be in opposition.
Loge’s entire role is to be in opposition. He does research and gathers information about the world, bringing the message about Alberich and the new ring. His role is also to challenge and tempt; to provoke in order to see what will happen. And above all, he must stand in opposition to those in power. Loge has no choice but to challenge Wotan about the theft of the Ring and the move to Valhalla. Loge’s very raison d’être is to question power as well as the powers that be.
Loge is the god of fire. However, he is only a demigod. Wotan makes it clear to Loge that he is only close to the family on his sufferance and the other family members repeatedly disassociate themselves from the advisor in whom Wotan places all his confidence. The gods need Loge’s stories as well as the stories he tells others about them. But he doesn’t belong in polite company.
Loge himself tells us that he does not possess the divine privilege of eternal life promised to the gods through partaking of Freia’s golden apple. He is Wotan’s adviser and his closest confidante, though he constantly challenges and provokes Wotan. And indeed we later find out that Loge once worked for Wotan’s enemy, Alberich, who now has nothing but contempt for his former henchman.
Loge is at the ready for whatever circumstances may bring: He is a tool to be used, but he also has his own agenda, including continually asking Wotan what he intends to do for the poor Rhinemaidens, those sacrificial victims on the altar of power. Loge is intelligent, hard-working, and curious. And like fire, he is at the same time tempting and alluring, dangerous and all-consuming. He can be used for a higher purpose – and he can also be used for less savoury tasks. But he can never be completely tamed.
But Loge is also a tempter: Loge likes when things develop and change. Like the press, he thrives on conflict. He loves to provoke and poke at things in order to see what will happen, and he is not shy about providing a little instigation. After all, if he hadn’t told that giant to take the Ring from his brother, a murder could have been avoided.
And though Loge has allied himself with Wotan’s aims throughout Das Rheingold, he ends by placing himself in strong opposition to Wotan: "Ihrem Ende eilen sie zu". He threatens to consume Valhalla’s palatial glory in his flames. Why can’t Loge just keep his mouth shut?
Loge brings to mind the tale of Prometheus, his Greek mythology twin. Prometheus stole the fire of the gods and gave it to the humans. As punishment for the theft, an angry Zeus ordered Prometheus chained to a rock and sent a huge eagle to constantly gnaw on his liver. In Norse mythology Loki is punished by the gods in much the same way, though in his case he is chained to some boulders and poison is dripped onto his face. And a similar figure from our own Christian mythology, Jesus Christ, who also represents the divine made human, must also be punished and die a painful death on the cross.
In Wagner’s Ring, how is Loge allowed to challenge Wotan’s power at the conclusion of Das Rheingold? Can Wotan really live with Loge’s threat to steal the power from the gods’ new home? With the threat that Loge will consume Valhalla in flames? Shouldn’t Loge be punished like his predecessors Loki, Prometheus, and Jesus Christ?
We must ask ourselves: Since Loge does not appear as a human in the remainder of The Ring, perhaps it is because he has already been punished and tamed by Wotan. Wotan can hardly have Loge walking around freely after moving to Valhalla – Loge knows too much and will always pose a potential threat. And who knows when he will next join forces with Alberich? Who knows if he will suddenly reveal to Alberich the terrible crime on which Wotan’s power is based? Totalitarian, ideological power can never work together with the free press.
Our world needs people like Loge, but he is both dangerous and irresponsible. This is why Loge can no longer be a part of events after Wotan’s move to Valhalla. And Wotan will make sure that he is not.
So it can be seen that Wagner had by the mid-1800s already made some very serious comments on the nature and circumstances of the free press – and on the necessity of not allowing it to be tamed, but to ensure that it continues to remind the world’s power brokers of just what their power is based upon.
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The four operas
Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Siegfried
Götterdämmerung
Articles
Kasper Bech Holten:
Mythologies
Interview with Michael Schønwandt:
On Das Rheingold
Kasper Bech Holten:
In Eternal Opposition
Nila Parly:
The Women of Das Rheingold
Gallery
See the photos from Das Rheingold
Biographies
The Ring Team...
Cast
See the cast
Biographies are available at www.kglteater.dk
Das Rheingold is sponsored by the Bikuben Foundation
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