Oh, don't get me wrong, I love Siegmund! Especially, yeah, the part where he gives up Valhalla for Sieglinde, that part is just wonderful. You know, I think this might be an interpretation thing -- it's been a while, so I might have details wrong in my head, but I remember the first Siegmund I watched (Hofmann, Chereau Ring) played him as quite prideful and rather arrogant, which came across to me as obnoxious sometimes (although made the moving parts, like giving up Valhalla, even more moving and amazing), and the other Siegmund I've watched (Schunk, Sawallisch Ring) played him as much nicer.

Hmm, I like Shaw's idea there, because I also like the characters in Rheingold a lot, and then although I still like the story in Gotterdammerung the characters are just... so... dislikable!

Yeah, the thing is, the free Nietzschean superman is apparently a total jerk! Does being free of the gods also mean that you're free of basic decency, like, being minimally polite to people? (At least in Siegfried, I realize Mime and Wotan have their issues, but Siegfried is just rude to them.)