Richard Wagner's four-part opera cycle "Ring des Nibelungen" makes Brunhild into a major character, mostly according to the Old Norse sources, but Wagner occasionally took elements from the "Nibelungenlied" or invented them himself. Wagner refers to his Brunhild character as "Brünnhilde", deriving the -e ending from the dative of the Middle High German name and likely respelling "Brün-" as "Brünn-" to make the connection to modern German "Brünne" (armor) more obvious. Wagner's depiction of the character has largely eclipsed the original sources in the popular imagination, with most modern references to Brunhild deriving from Wagner in one way or another, particularly outside of Germany and Scandinavia.