In Richard Wagner’s opera Die Walküre, Brünnhilde’s father is Wotan. Wotan is Wagner’s name for the Norse god Odin, and he is the central divine figure of the Ring cycle.
Brünnhilde is one of the Valkyries, the warrior daughters born to Wotan and the goddess Erda. In Die Walküre, Wotan’s relationship with Brünnhilde is especially important because she becomes his chosen agent in the conflict surrounding Siegmund, Sieglinde, and the Wälsung family.
A common mix-up is to answer Odin, which is the mythological equivalent rather than Wagner’s name for the character. Wagner also gives Wotan the identity of “Wanderer” in other parts of the cycle, but Brünnhilde consistently recognizes him as her father.
Die Walküre premiered in Munich in 1870 and is the second opera in Wagner’s four-part Ring des Nibelungen. Its famous “Ride of the Valkyries” appears in Act III.