A long, long time ago there once a ruler named Gilgamesh who reigned over a city named Uruk over the Mesopotamian area. Gilgamesh was no originally king, he was a demigod, a being of half god and half human. Even then he was more unique as he was two-thirds god and one-third human or just more god than human. No human or monster was no match for his strength, not even some of the gods wouldn’t dare to challenge him.
As a child, Gilgamesh was destined to connect humanity to the gods as a neutral party in order to discern their respective failings and understand each other in order to correct those failings. He was also born in order to show humans that the gods still existed in the time where the belief in gods started to wane. Yet, when he grew older, he grew arrogant, practicing absolutism, oppression, duress, levies, and the utmost decadence from self-interest that the people of the kingdom lamented the change. Even the gods in all their glory were perplexed at the extent of this transformation. But the gods had a back up plan.
A being known as Enkidu who was crafted out of mud and fused with the divine power of the gods whose sole job was to restrain Gilgamesh and punish him should he act out of place. A tool he was supposed to be and nothing more. When Enkidu was formed he was nothing more than a clod of mud with powers but no soul. He never had a human nature to begin with. To rectify that problem the gods brought in a harlot from the city of Uruk out into the woods where she would then spend six to seven days teaching Enkidu wisdom and reason of human existence. Now with human wisdom, Enkidu was ready to take on Gilgamesh and reprimand him once and for all.
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Enkidu and Gilgamesh first met each other at the temple of Uruk where Enkidu immediately stated that he would reprimand the king and rectify his arrogance. They entered a battle for several days, and Gilgamesh was forced to all his strength in order to match his transforming opponent. He was either angered or surprised at having found his equal for the first time, insulting Enkidu as a clot of mud. He forced to use his Gate of Babylon, a vault with all the the world’s divine weapons and marking it as his first use, and although reluctant and humiliated at first, he eventually began to enjoy the battle and brought out his power without regret. He eventually emptied the vault while Enkidu was left with only a tenth of his clay.
Rather than continue, Gilgamesh let himself fall backwards on his back while bursting with laughter, Enkidu following in suit. He remarked that there would be one chance to strike for each of them, and without any means of defense, it would leave only two foolish corpses. Enkidu was never able to interpret if it was a tie or if Gilgamesh wanted to make it so that there would only be one corpse. Enkidu asked, “Do you not regret the treasures you have spent?” to which he replied in a bright voice, “Why, if it’s someone I should use it on, then it’s not unthinkable to do him the favor.” With this the battle was over and on that day a great friendship was born.
Over the course of the years Gilgamesh and Enkidu became close friends, marking the one and only story of externally unchanging worth in all the world. They worked side by side and even took on the task to taking down Humbaba, the guardian of the forest. He became the greatest and richest king on Earth, who even acquired all the treasures in the world. Uruk became unprecedentedly prosperous, and Gilgamesh was considered so powerful that none could threaten his city. One goddess, Ishtar the goddess of fertility, even fell in love with with Gilgamesh and proposed marriage to the perfect king. He rejected her immediately because he knew her to be a witch who was unfaithful, cruel, and corrupter of all men.
She became furious, feeling that he had insulted her, and went to her father, the god Anu, to get revenge. She begged him to unleash the Bull of Heaven, a terrifying beast of pure destruction. The unstoppable beast of the gods caused seven years worth of starvation and destruction on the earth. Working together, Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeated it after binding it with the Chains of Heaven, causing the dark clouds covering the earth to fade and saving the land from the flood. Ishtar’s reputation was crushed, and with her fury ordered the body a human for the sin of slaying a beast of the gods. Enkidu, who was created by the gods, cannot defy the decree. Enkidu, crumbling to dust and decay, reassured his heartbroken friend saying that he was just one of Gilgamesh’s many treasures in this world and that he would find peace over time. Enkidu finally dispersed leaving behind Gilgamesh’s thundering cry.
Up until that point, Gilgamesh had lived by his own standards, but seeing his friend meeting death greatly changed his views. Death had never inspired fear in him until that moment, and seeing one as an equal to him made Gilgamesh determined to escape death by seeking out the Herb of Immortality, a spirit herb of perpetual youth and eternal life. Heading toward the underworld which took him decades he finally found the herb and collected the plant, planning to return back to Uruk. While heading back he noticed his rugged state and decided to bathe in a nearby spring in order to recover from his fatigue.
While bathing in the water he felt a sense of omnipotence, knowing he can enjoy the world as sees fit for the rest of eternity. It was in his carelessness that he lost the herb to a simple hunger of a serpent in the wilds. The snake was drawn to the herb’s smell, and although a panicked Gilgamesh emerged from the spring, it was too late. The snake gained the property of shedding, having been the restoration of youth instead of immortality, and all that was left was its shed skin. He was then struck with laughter at the event, the absurdity of the conclusion in all he stood to gain and all he took pride in being “naught”.
Though it was not that he was unable to obtain anything, he understood that his sole reward was that not one thing would remain for him. The fulfillment of life and joy he obtained just to vanish immediately made him realize the nature of the human world. Having laughed away the theft he returned to Uruk, governing it until entrusted to the next king before going to his eternal rest as humanities most ancient hero and illustrious king who was the first in this world to have “become a story”.
