So I just finished reading 'The Epic of Gilgamesh' yesterday and did some research on the Babylonian gods. Now I'm all good to go and write a bit about one of my favorite characters/ Type-Moon servants~ Gilgamesh (Who is unfortunately loathed by most of you). It will also contain some info on Enkidu who is also from the Babylonian legends and associated with Gilgamesh.

[Note: Before You start pointing out Where I made mistakes and that it's just a myth so it can be altered in one way or another, remember that the only purpose of this blog is to point out the similarities & differences between Type-Moon's Gilgamesh's & The Gilgamesh I read about in the epic & other sources.Contains some spoilers read it if it doesn't bother you and if I get anything wrong about the legend do mention in comments]

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Gilgamesh's Childhood

What I've learned from various sources is that Gilgamesh was a cheerful & friendly figure back in his childhood. Though he carried a God's bloodline (His father Lugulbanda was the king of Uruk and his mother Ninsun was a minor goddess.) The people of Uruk loved him and so did the gods, as he was devoted to them even though he hadn't submitted back then. Just as a precaution, the gods created Enkidu to observe him, who was also pretty much pleased with young Gil and decided to not take any action atm. (This part is Type-Moon's, the legend was a little different).We got a separate servant 'Young Gil' on FGO and his pretty well-mannered. You also have Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia, where good ol' goldie turned into a kid. He was pretty sociable I'd say, as he easily blended in with society, as he was having fun playing football (The Real One!! Where they use legs) with the local kids. And it's pretty hard to imagine just how different his attitude is compared his older self.

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The Spoiled King

Too much privilege & everyone's love spoiled him big time. Gilgamesh was always fond of gaining strength, treasure, & women. And pretty soon, he came to be known as Urk's strongest warrior. None dared to challenge him. His rich lineage, fondness for precious things further corrupted him. At one point he was known as the notorious ruler of Uruk. He would forcefully challenge people into duels, bed women & commit other hateful acts, but the people couldn't do anything as he was the strongest in Uruk and all feared him. Even the gods detested his acts and as a result sent Enkidu to prevent Gilgamesh from going astray. A slight difference I found was that Type-Moon mentioned that Enkidu had arrived when Gilgamesh was still a kid and observed him from then on. But in the epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu was created by the gods when Gilgamesh had already started to spoil and then she was sent from heaven. Anyway, Nasuverse's Gilgamesh is extremely arrogant & has a huge ego (Which is pretty amazing, cause that ego prevents him from being contaminated in Heaven's Feel). Those who have seen Stay/Night, Zero & UBW is pretty much familiar with Gilgamesh's habit of looking down on people. He is the absolute king of the world & those who try to imitate him or disrespect him are just simply ~ 'Mongrels', love it when he says that (ToT) (You don't have to do anything to disrespect him so that he thinks you disrespected him, he'll consider all of your acts disrespectful). Even in the legends, Gilgamesh was pretty full of himself. He would often be amazed at his own brilliance (Tch...Narcissist) and that lead to his amazingly arrogant personality. But he did become a little more mature after his quest to find immortality and not much has been told about him after that in the epic. So I think, the Gilgamesh Type-Moon introduced was probably before the demi-god started off for his quest to find immortality. But nevertheless, the. servant Gilgamesh's behavior is pretty close to the epic's Gil (at a certain time) but it feels a bit excessive at times.

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The Coming of Enkidu

[Note: I will be using she to address Enkidu as she looks like a girl (Enkidu copied facial features of the Harlot she made love to)]

I think most of us are more or less familiar with Enkidu. She was created by Aruru, specifically to get rid Gilgamesh's arrogance. Enkidu at first lived with the beasts in the jungle (That's pretty much why she was able to speak to her Chimera master in Fate/Strange Fake.) There she roamed around and eventually people were aware of her presence. The news reached Gilgamesh but he did not wish to fight a beast at first, then Shamash adviced him to send the holy harlot in order to civilize Enkidu a bit. Enkidu fell in the trap and made love with the harlot for 6 days & 7 nights, this awakened a bit of humanity in her. And as the beasts abandoned her (contaminated), she went to Urk with the harlot. She had already heard the tales of Gilgamesh, the man who was said to possess the power of gods. And as she saw Gilgamesh's vile actions she couldn't help herself and thus, she decided to stop him. On the other hand, Gilgamesh already had heard of Enkidu who was said to possess power equal to his own and his mother Ninsun told him that, Enkidu would become his comrade for many adventures so he was pretty eager to meet her. And at last they met and a wondrous battle took place. Both of them were left terribly injured and there was no clear winner. At last, Gilgamesh embraced Enkidu and accepted her as his comrade. That's how it went in the epic. But things are a little different in Type-Moon's story. In there, Enkidu was sent to earth as an observer back when Gil was still a kid. She didn't think of him as a threat then but as time passed by Gil became a narcissistic pervert. Enkidu decided to take action as she was supposed to. They fought, Gilgamesh had to draw his treasures from the Gate of Babylon and Enkidu was left with little clay but soon they gave up fighting and became friends, you could say. They went on many quests together and defeated great warriors like Humbaba. They were great pals and their companionship was built entirely on trust & respect for one another. Gilgamesh soon acknowledged Enkidu as his only friend and the only one worthy of being at his side. Enkidu too enjoyed Gilgamesh's accompany, she also started to become more human alike as she had many new experiences while accompanying Gil. Here's a part of the epic (When Enkidu & Gilgamesh were about to fight Humbaba)

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Ishtar & Enkidu's Death

So, Ishtar (Goddess of Love, war, fertility, bitchiness etc.) was amazed about Gilgamesh's strength, his divinity, wealth, golden body etc. So she asked him to marry her. But Gilgamesh knew of Ishtar's bad reputation with men & thus, he turned her down......hard.

Ishtar felt humiliated and was enraged by this. She went to her father Anu and asked him to kill Gilgamesh but as he refused, Ishtar threatened to cause havoc in the world of the dead and thus, Anu was forced to release the Bull of Heaven- Gugalanna. Gugalanna caused drought in the land of Uruk and brought great destruction. So Gilgamesh & Enkidu fought with the divine beast and seized it with the Chains of Heaven & later killed it. So, Ishtar demanded punishment for those 2 in a seminar of gods as those two had killed a deity. Though Shamash & a few others protested but in the end, they decided to take action. One of them had to die and they picked Enkidu as she was originally meant to serve them. Later, Enkidu was informed about this in her dreams which caused her great pain. She became bedridden and she was filled with hatred for the gods & those who changed her ways. But as Shamash told her, how Gilgamesh would lament over her death & that it would bring maturity for Gilgamesh, who would then embark on a journey to attain immortality. This calmed Enkidu down and instead she started to worry about Gil's ways & the solitude he would have to put up with. In her final moments, Enkidu thanked Gilgamesh for all he had done & turning a lump of clay like her into something near human. She then passed away peacefully. Gilgamesh was overcome with grief at the loss of his only friend. He cried and wailed over her death for a long time. This also created insecurity in his heart as he realized that even someone as strong & divine as he is powerless in the clutches of death. And that lead to his quest in search of immortality.

In Fate, Gilgamesh always expressed his fondness for Enkidu. He remarked in Fate/Zero several times about Enkidu being the only friend he will ever have and we also got a look at Enkidu's final moments in the manga.

Enkidu & Gilgamesh's bond in the legends & fate (Though not mentioned that much) are pure & similar to those of two brothers, lovers or whatever else you can think of. I don't really have any complaints about any of the changes Type-Moon made to Enkidu if they kept the original I wouldn't have shipped em. And Type-Moon also followed the old legend, when they made the death of Enkidu as the reason for Gil's journey to attain immortality, which results in the more mature caster class Gilgamesh.

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To Attain Immortality

Those who played FGO are familiar with Gil's caster counter part. Caster Gil is all together more mature and knowledgeable. I think his personality is like that because we have Gilgamesh right after his journey for immortality had ended.

After, Enkidu's death Gilgamesh became aware of his ephemeral self. He did not wish to die, he was sent to earth to rule over men. His grief & terror impelled him onto a futile quest for immortality. He had become determined to find Utnapishtim, the one who obtained eternal life. Gil let go of his belongings and embarked on a journey. He traveled facing many dangers and yet he overcame them one after one. And thus, in his frail condition he was able to find Utnapishtim. Utna reveals that he had gained this blessing from the kind gods as he overcame the great flood. But Gilgamesh refused to take mercy from the gods as he loathed them for taking away Enkidu. He realized that death is inevitable and he started off for Uruk again. But Utnapishtim did not send him off empty handed, he gave him the Herb of Eternal Youth, which would keep his body in fine condition. He was overjoyed because he thought he had found a away to survive longer than usual but as he rested near a lake, a snake had devoured the plant, which caused him to laugh at his own foolishness at first and then burst into tears (Gil's biography in type-moon left out the crying part, that's what's important there). It made him understand that no matter what he does or how godlike he is, his still just a human and no man can escape the clutches of death. The plant caused the snake to shed it's skin, that's where the legend concerning snake's skin shedding started and if you notice it was used as a catalyst to summon him as a servant in Fate/Zero. After that Gilgamesh continued to rule over Uruk but he had turned into a rather understanding king who would hand out fair judgment. He followed something similar to the Code of Urnammu which may seem ridiculous now but was accepted back then. He wanted to observe mankind as they progressed & struggled. He knew that he could not observe them forever but as long as he lived he would do so. The info Type-Moon gave in their website about Gil's quest for immortality is identical to the legend. Caster Gil is originates from this legend. And his behavior is similar to what I would have expected. Unlike, arrogant Gilgamesh he doesn't tend to look down on others so much and he is pretty much ready to cooperate with others, he was finally able to overcome what Enkidu feared. He abandoned his path of solitary kingship.

Speaking of Gilgamesh's counterparts, Gilgamesh- Prototype is pretty amusing. His similar to Gilgamesh (normal) in a lot of ways, excluding his pride as a king. And I actually think that Prototype- Gil looks more similar to the legends Gil. His armor is more Sumerian-ish, I mean the golden armor Gil (normal) uses looks similar to what I would expect from European tales (compare his armor to Lancelot's for example) but Proto-Gil's has a Akkadian look in it.

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Gate of Babylon

I didn't really find any direct reference to Gilgamesh's treasury in the epic. While, it did say that Gilgamesh back before Enkidu came (arrogant Gil) used to cause trouble in Uruk. One of such would be, he often took valuable possessions from the people saying that as their king those were rightfully his. That kind of action indicates his desire to collect prized items and so I think he would naturally have a place to store those. Type-Moon explained the Gate of Babylon this way,

It's the treasury of Gilgamesh. He used to collect valuable items, weapons and what not! Even Gil doesn't know the amount of treasures he stored there & it contains all the prototypes of noble phantasms used by servants. And Gil did want to observe mankind's growth so I think it would be natural for him to keep some stuff. In his era, magical items & such were really developed. And don't think that they were far behind on technology either. Gilgamesh amassed a perfect storage that contains weapons, youth potions, submarines, and even UFO's??

Remember that flying thingy Gil used in Fate/Zero? It's supposed to be a Vimana which is an ancient flying device mentioned in Mahabharata, apparently Rama & others used to use that thing. Since Gil has all the ancient valuable items & all the servant's weapons or crafts in his storage, so I guess it's pretty normal for him to have that thing too. And that youth potion he used in Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia was probably the potion of youth he obtained during his quest for immortality. He apparently started using Gate of Babylon as a weapon ever since he clashed with Enkidu and that led to the now extremely overpowered & beautiful ability Gil now possesses.

I do think that the Gate of Babylon fate introduced is a bit farfetched though.

It contains all the noble phantasms prototypes as they were later adapted and handed down to the heroes, my ass. Gil has Gae Bolg's ancestor you could say. But here's the thing, there's no way Gae Bolg could exist back then, it was created from a monster (right? Not completely sure about that) same goes for Excalibur which was crafted by the nymps of Avalon.

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Chains of Heaven- Enkidu

This my favorite phantasm, Chains of Heaven!! Or you can call it Enkidu as Gilgamesh named it. So this is said to be Gil's most trustworthy treasure, yep even more than Ea. I guess there's a pretty good reason for that. First let's look back at the countless times these chains helped Gil. In Zero, Iskander was stopped by these chains in the end and in UBW, the highlight of Gilgamesh vs Heracles would be these chains. He pretty much won the battle with these.

But why name it Enkidu? Well Enkidu was Gil's only friend & comrade, they shared a bond that even the gods failed to understand. So for obvious reasons, Gil has a lot of faith in Enkidu & in return Enkidu would go to any lengths for her friend Gil. Now, if you look back in the anime, you'll see that every time The Chains of Heaven appeared it was to protect Gil from potentially deadly attacks.

It may just be my imagination (probably cause I ship Gil & En) but it seems that the chains act on it's own at times when it senses that Gil might be in danger. Though I'm sure Gil commands those but still. It feels better to think of them as divine protection for Gilgamesh. Now what about the legend?

The Chains of Heaven have been mentioned in the epic though it didn't have such a cool name in it. So when Gil & En were fighting the Bull of Heaven- Gugalanna, these chains made it's debut. They were used to chain Gugalanna, and as they did that with ease Gil & En finished Gugalanna off. Actually the idea type-moon came up with is pretty damn smart.

'The more diving the target is the stronger it's effect will be'

They came up with that just cause the chains stopped Gugalanna. But if you think about it, the chains did stop a divine creature descended from heaven. So I think if those chains really did exist then yeah, why not? It may just be the weapon Gil can use to avenge his friend (Kill Ishtar damn it!! Though it won't change a thing and the chances of them being in the same war is pretty slim but nevertheless kill her. It's sure to come in handy as it was really effective against Heracles, who's just a demi-god but Ishtar on the other hand is a goddess. Avenge Enkidu!!) And Gil's bio also revealed that this was one of his most treasured items. Well, it should be. He used this in his last quest with Enkidu & it's so handy that Gil even named it after Enkidu. Overall I like it because those chains symbolize the strong & unbreakable bond Gil and Enkidu shared.

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Sword of Rupture- Ea

The sword of Rupter a.k.a Ea. The only weapon in Gil's collection which is only unique to him and it's the pinnacle of all the servants noble phantasms. Ea is an anti-world weapon and the strongest Gil possesses. Apparently it was made by a god & that's why Shirou wasn't able to trace it in UBW. Gil rarely uses Ea, as he believes only those who are worthy should get to see it and occasionally brings it out when he thinks a stage good enough for Ea has been set. Is Ea related to the legends? Yes, Ea is actually the Sumerian great God of Water & Land. You could say that he created the world & looks after it's beings. So why is that weapon called Ea? For starters, Type-Moon described that weapon as a weapon which was created before heaven & earth were seperated. It's a truly divine weapon and it has seen the genesis. So, in a sense you could consider that as a divine weapon which not even most gods can use properly. Ea just like the god (Ea), has been here since the dawn of the universe. It has seen the world in it's hellish condition before genesis, so it can probably either create or destroy worlds on it's own. And another cool similarity would be that Ea possesses the skill to pass on knowledge regarding creation, which is one of the traits of the god Ea. And it's power as an anti-world weapon is comparable with Ea, who was the creator of the universe. It's the 'Sword that cuts the world apart'. Remember when Gil used Enuma Elish in Iskanders Ionioi Hetairoi? (Enuma Elish is a Sumerian creation myth) It's not an anti world weapon for no reason. Since Ea (God) created the world he naturally has the power to destroy it and Gil's Ea can also do that. I believe that's where the name originates from.

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Enki

Behold! The inferno of destruction fills the heavens! Come forth! The Surge of Utnapishtim! This is what it means to destroy the World!

Another one of Gil's great treasures though this is used by proto Gil. So anyway, Enki A.K.A. Sword of The End is a pair of twin blades. It's pretty much as strong as Ea, both of them can destroy worlds but this one is also good for close combat and much much cooler. So how is this thing supposed to destroy a world? Well summon a great flood of course!! Upon it's activation this blade summons a flood which at the seventh day turns into the Surge of Utnapishtim. It's said in Sumerian legend that a great flood had occurred (similar to the one Noah faced). It goes like this,

'Because of mankind's overpopulation the God's were pissed. So Enlil suggested the extermination of mankind and the gods decided to flood em. But good ol' Ea (surprise surprise this old geezers in here too, that's cause Enki & Ea are the same ಠ_ಠ) decided to warn Utnapishtim about it. He told him to build a boat and blah blah blah (He's Noah's counterpart so just take that story for a reference).

Pretty similar to The legend, Enki will flood the entire world on the seventh day. And yes, Enki does make Gil look more like an archer class. See Fate Prototype to know how the flood thing works.

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A Few More Words...

Overall, I'm not saying that Type-Moon's Gilgamesh is bad or anything but the issue is that Gil is too damn unlucky. He's the strongest freaking servant and yet he looses to bunch a wimps. I had to see him lose to Saber in a fair fight in Stay/Night (No offense Saber) and he lost to f***ing Shirou in UBW!! ಠ_ಠ They even defeated Gil in Fate Prototype even though he summoned the great flood!

Why do you have to embarrass this mighty king Nasu!!! Give the guy some rest already. He may be cocky, arrogant & a narcissistic jerk but his still the strongest of them all.

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So how was that blog? Was it so bad that you didn't read it to the end? Thank You. Anyway if you're gonna express your hatred for my blogs your more than welcome but just don't swear. And no leaving comments like 'Good blog' without even reading it! I find that more insulting than saying that it's bad.

Anyway which servant's life or legend should I study next? Leave suggestions. And Note: Next decent blogs gonna be epic here's a hint it has something to do with St. John's Apocalypse. Mushi Out~~

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