Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King (also known, in different cuts, formats and markets, as Ring of the Nibelungs, Die Nibelungen, Curse of the Ring and Sword of Xanten) is a 2004 German television film directed by Uli Edel and starring Benno Fürmann, Alicia Witt, Kristanna Loken and Max von Sydow.
Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King was written by the husband and wife team of Diane Duane and Peter Morwood and is a Tandem Communications production.
On December 23, 2005, Channel 4 showed the entire series in one evening under the title Sword of Xanten, describing it as a "megafeature".
It was shown on the SciFi Channel on March 27, 2006, retitled Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King for the United States audience, and minus about one hour of material.
Part 1 The film opens with a young Siegfried awakening in the middle of an invasion of his parents' castle by Saxons.
That night a meteor, a described announcement to a war between the gods called Ragnarök, hits the earth near the smithy and despite Eyvind's warning, Eric goes to investigate.
Eric convinces Eyvind to let him go with him to Burgund (the kingdom of the Burgundians) and on their way down the river they see a town in flames.
Afterwards Eyvind presents his swords to Gunther, who reveals that the dragon Fafnir has awakened and is responsible for the burnt village.
He enters Fafnir's lair and, after a fierce battle, manages to slay the dragon while receiving only a scratch on his arm.
Outside he is attacked by an ex-Nibelung who lost his immortality for trying to take all the treasure, who happens to be Hagen's father Alberich.
Eric returns to Burgund with Fafnir's head and shows it to the people; Gunther proclaims he is a hero, which makes Hagen jealous.
That night, Eric dances and spends the evening with Kriemhild, who wears a mask during the party, and tells her he is already in love with another woman (Brunhild).
It is also at this point that Eyvind (who tells Eric that he suspected his origin from the beginning) passes away from old age and Siegfried gives him a proper pagan funeral in his honor.
Gunther reveals he is pining for Brunhild, but he is not the best fighter and she challenges all her suitors to single combat and no-one has beaten her yet.
She then offers herself to Siegfried as Gunther, who is briefly conflicted perhaps remembering of his old feelings towards Brunhild, but nonetheless retrieves himself from the room to get rid of the belt he has taken from her.
Siegfried returns to his bedroom to see Kriemhild waiting for him: she convinces him to explain what has happened and he does, breaking his vow of secrecy towards Gunther.
The men leave for the hunt, where Gunther and Hagen plot to cause Siegfried's death, but for a long time they are unable to.
Kriemhild, realizing that Siegfried's previous love was in fact Brunhild, is devastated with guilt and confesses the use of the potion given to her by Hagen.
A vengeful Brunhild arrives and furiously kills the men who allied themselves with Hagen using the belt that Kriemhild returned to her earlier.
The original motion picture soundtrack to Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King was released on March 7, 2006, on Dancing Ferret records (DFD203-16), and contains tracks from various artists.