This paper analyses all major appearances of the myth of Siegfried, from the earliest AngloSaxon texts, through the great narratives of the high Middle Ages, to its modern use by 19th century nationalism. The review allows not only to verify the logic of adaptation according to the intention of each of the texts, but also to make a history of the use of the legend which reveals, on the one hand, the ideological constant in the appropriation of the story and, on the other hand, how the legend of Siegfried is the last survivor of a type of heroic tale, that of the hero-king, which begins to be replaced in the the literature of the high Middle Ages.