Here, then, we have the first of the inevitable moments which
Wotan did not foresee. Godhead has now established its dominion
over the world by a mighty Church, compelling obedience through
its ally the Law, with its formidable State organization of force
of arms and cunning of brain. It has submitted to this alliance
to keep the Plutonic power in check--built it up primarily for
the sake of that soul in itself which cares only to make the
highest better and the best higher; and now here is that very
soul separated from it and working for the destruction of its
indispensable ally, the lawgiving State. How is the rebel to be
disarmed? Slain it cannot be by Godhead, since it is still
Godhead's own very dearest soul. But hidden, stifled, silenced
it must be; or it will wreck the State and leave the Church
defenseless. Not until it passes completely away from Godhead,
and is reborn as the soul of the hero, can it work anything but
the confusion and destruction of the existing order. How is the
world to be protected against it in the meantime? Clearly Loki's
help is needed here: it is the Lie that must, on the highest
principles, hide the Truth. Let Loki surround this mountain top
with the appearance of a consuming fire; and who will dare
penetrate to Brynhild? It is true that if any man will walk
boldly into that fire, he will discover it at once to be a lie,
an illusion, a mirage through which he might carry a sack of
gunpowder without being a penny the worse. Therefore let the fire
seem so terrible that only the hero, when in the fulness of time
he appears upon earth, will venture through it; and the problem
is solved. Wotan, with a breaking heart, takes leave of Brynhild;
throws her into a deep sleep; covers her with her long warshield;
summons Loki, who comes in the shape of a wall of fire