So, this is genuinely going to be a bit disconnected, but I needed to get out a few of my thoughts on how Fate handles Gilgamesh in comparison to the Epic.
If we put the original Epic Gilgamesh at a ‘10/10′ with how ‘Gil-like’ he is, then Archer Gilgamesh is a 2/10, and Caster Gilgamesh is a 5/10.
Archer Gilgamesh’s materialism and arrogance in Fate represents literally represents two out of the twelve most commonly referenced tablets of the Epic (the first two, specifically). The majority of his characterization at best 17% of his total character arc. Caster Gilgamesh and CCC adds in a little bit from the end as well, so I’ll be more generous and say that it adds about two more tablets. So like, 33%.
Fate removes a lot of Gil’s thoughtfulness. He’s the prideful king of Uruk IN THE BEGINNING, yes, but he’s also a man who finds himself considering a lot. He worries about his legacy, his relationships both to his friend and the gods. Just as Enkidu lost his connection to animals and became more human on his journey to meet Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh loses a lot of his godliness and becomes more human after he finds companionship in Enkidu- and with that humanity comes mortality.
Gilgamesh, in the Epic, is inherently full of doubt and emotion. Doubt drives him to go adventuring towards Humbaba, doubt causes him to err on his journey towards Humbaba, doubt causes him to hesitate killing Humbaba. He’s emotional, he’s openhearted, he acts on his emotions rather than calculated logic. He’s plagued by nightmares and prophetic dreams, loses all sense of self-care and grooming when Enkidu dies to the point where when he first encounters Siduri, she thinks he’s a maddened murderer and runs from him. He was afraid of his own mortality since Humbaba, but Enkidu’s death is far too close for his comfort, especially because it was indirectly caused by his own pride and hubris. His pride lead to Enkidu’s death. That’s important.
And people act as if Caster Gilgamesh solved this problem, when he really didn’t. Caster Gilgamesh is wiser, sure, but he’s still arrogant and looks down on others. He’s still calls people mongrels, laughs at their struggles, and sees himself as someone who still ‘owns all things’. He suffers from the same aggressive materialism and arrogance as Archer Gilgamesh, just with a little bit more self-reflection thrown in, making him only a little more recognizable as ‘Gilgamesh’.
When it comes to his treasury, that becomes irrelevant once Enkidu dies. Once Enkidu dies, he’s willing to give every beautiful thing he has for the sake of his friend’s funeral, sacrifice the fattest cows and prayed to all of the gods. Even Ishtar, showing that despite his grief and their previous altercations, he’s willing to let go of his grudges for the sake of others- and prays that the gods are willing to do the same.
Which moves on to Gilgamesh’s hatred for the gods, which isn’t… I don’t like it. Because not only does it serve as erasure towards the gods that Gilgamesh cared for such as Shamash and Ninsun (his own MOTHER), but the way that Fate approaches the concept of ‘humans needing to be unbound from the gods’ is so overly gung-ho that it doesn’t entirely make sense.
Reading the Epic, you can see that perhaps Gilgamesh became more jaded towards the gods due to losing Enkidu and meeting Utnapishtim, and perhaps pushing for humans to gain further autonomy, giving providence to his own humanity in the process. But Fate makes it seem as if he waged this grand rebellion towards the gods and despises their very beings, which in the case of the Epic, just makes it seem shallow. Especially because he still possesses the arrogance and materialism that made the people cry out for the help of the gods in the first place. It presents a contradiction. It’s a fine concept, but how it’s presented in regards to Gilgamesh makes it fumble in execution.
It also strips Fate from giving Gilgamesh like… actual Noble Phantasms that would correspond with his legend. He had the divine protection of Shamash, which allowed the weather itself to bend in his favor when fighting Humbaba. Ninsun granted him support through prophetic dreams (or at least served as a source to help interpret them). There’s also the thing with Fate Gilgamesh’s fighting style being to ‘stand back and watch’, rather than ‘rush in and get his hands dirty’, but that’s less important.
I feel like if I can just recommend something, it’s that people should at least try reading a translation of the Epic in some form, because it’ll make my points a lot clearer.
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