Tarnhelm

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Alberich puts on the Tarnhelm and vanishes; illustration by Arthur Rackham to Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold

Tarnhelm is the name of a magic helmet in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. It is used as a cloak of invisibility by Alberich in Das Rheingold. It also allows one to change one's form:

• Alberich changes to a dragon and then a frog in Das Rheingold, Scene 3
• Fafner changes to a dragon at the end of Das Rheingold and appears thus in Siegfried Act II
• Siegfried changes to Gunther's form in Götterdämmerung Act I, Scene 3.

Finally, it allows one to travel long distances instantly, as Siegfried does in Götterdämmerung Act II, Scene 2.

[edit] See also

• huliðshjálmr (concealing helmet) of Norse dwarves
• Fafnir's helmet Aegis

[edit] Trivia

• It is also an item found in the game Diablo 2.[1]