Tuesday, March 14, 2006

They ought to put a warning on that opera

A: good summary of the end of Siegfried: "Also in the third act, Siegfried finds Brünnhilde where Wotan had sentenced her to an enchanted slumber, on the top of a mountain surrounded by fire. There was real fire on stage. Built in to the rock. It was SO COOL. They fall in love. She’s his aunt."
A: from the seattle ring
J: "They fall in love. She's his aunt"
A: although I guess she isn't really
J: oh good I thought I was remembering wrong
A: in that sieglinde and brunnhilde have different mothers
A: is that still an aunt?
A: or is that like first cousin once removed?
J: well, your parents cousins' children are your first cousins once removed
A: hm
A: I think the rules breakdown somewhat when there is incest and multiple wives involved
A: Brunnhilde is like a half-sister to both Sieglinde and Siegmund
A: so maybe she is a 'half-aunt'
J: huh makes sense
A: seems like a legitimate term
A: per google
A: it's only a 1/8 blood relationship as opposed to a 1/4 blood relationship
A: that's totally not as gross
J: it is less gross
A: dang
A: the idea of doing it with my aunt just popped into my head
J: eww
A: gah
A: ok
A: gone

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

she's more, though, isn't she?

because Siegfried's parents are twins, so Brunnhilde is actually 1/2 related to Siegfried if only because she's half-sister to BOTH Sieglinde and Siegmund.

It just got gross again.

Alex said...

Whoa...the genealogy is blowing my mind. I don't know if that's the same as 1/2 though...maybe 1/6? 11/24ths?

Anonymous said...

yeah, it's not the same as 1/2, i just realized this as I posted.

i tried to figure it out according to the linked genealogy tables...

but then i realized that it might be taken the wrong way if i was discovered at work drawing/filling in tables for incest blood relations...

still. i didn't quite realize how *messed up* the whole geneology was until now... blech.

Anonymous said...

I thought your parents' cousins' children are your second cousins. Your parents' cousins are your first cousins once removed (one generation removed). Not that it matters.

I became obsessed with this 30 years ago when watching "I, Claudius." The Caesars were certainly a geneological cluster-fuck.