The Huns’ invasion of the federate Burgundian kingdom and the killing of their king is a central event in Germanic epic tradition, forming the basis of the Nibelungenlied and Wagner’s Ring cycle—but the invasion of 451 is forgotten. That second attack similarly resulted in the death of a federate king and the departure of the Huns, but it’s considered a central event in European history while the 437 attack is a historical footnote.

The Germanic epic tradition is otherwise very interested in the Goths (e.g., Ermanaric and Theoderic), so why does the “lesser” Hunnic attack (by historical standards) loom so much larger in that tradition than the attack on the Goths?