Gilgeam
| Gilgeam | ||
|---|---|---|
| A clenched red fist backed by a golden sun on a black lozenge | ||
| Aliases | The Great, The Tyrant | |
| Alignment | Lawful Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Demigod, Intermediate God or Dead God | |
| Pantheon | Untheric | |
| Portfolio | Battle, Prowess, Strength, Unther | |
| Domains | Air, Strength, Tyranny, War | |
| Home Plane | Zigguraxas on Avalas | |
| Worshippers | Untherites | |
| Favoured Weapon | Heavy Mace | |
Gilgeam is a divinely ascended Gilgamesh and as such followed the rest of the Untheric pantheon to the Forgotten Realms when the proto-Untherites were forcibly splintered from ancient Mesopotamia by the Imaskari. Son of Enlil and brother of Enki, when his father retired from the position of actively ruling over the Untheric pantheon, Gilgeam took his place.
For centuries, Gilgeam was actually a pretty decent leader, and his skills in war were handy when ancient Unther was plunged into the Orcgate Wars. Then came "The Battle of the Gods", one of the most bitter battles, when avatars of the Untheric and Mulhorandi gods collectively entered the Prime Material plane to battle the avatars of Gruumsh and the other orc gods. This battle didn't exactly go the way of the humans, and Tiamat tried to take advantage of the situation to assassinate Gilgeam, only to be intercepted by Marduk, resulting in the bitter rivals fighting to a mutual kill. Somehow, this led Gilgeam to become a brutal and domineering tyrant... as in, he got so bad that the Untherites wanted Tiamat back.
And they got their wish; nearly 1300 years later, Tiamat returned to Unther, and during the Time of Troubles, she immediately went after Gilgeam again. Whilst Gilgeam killed her in their first match, Tiamat had taken steps to avoid death; once reborn, she attacked again, and this time she killed Gilgeam, causing the dissolution of the entire Untheric pantheon.
For centuries, Gilgeam was forgotten... until the Spellplague saw most of Unther sent to Abeir. Somehow, their new position as slaves to the genasi of Shyr caused a reincarnation of Gilgeam, who led an uprising... largely by forcing a pact with Graz'zt and turning the Untherites into demon-binders. When The Sundering returned the Untherites to Toril, he immediately launched the first of a series of war against the Dragonborn nation of Tymanther, hoping to recapture the territories that had once belong to Unther in generations past.
Enlil has suggested that this reincarnated Gilgeam may be either a brand new deity or a flat-out imposter.
Shifts in Power
Originally, Gilgeam was an Intermediate Deity, but his dwindling in popularity after his descent into tyranny following the Orcgate Wars saw him reduced to the status of Demigod... and then Tiamat killed him, and so he became a Dead God. Duh. The current Gilgeam running around in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is a Demigod once more.
The Many Names of Gilgeam
Given that he is part of the Untheric pantheon, Gilgeam has naturally picked up a wide variety of aliases, not all of them so flattering:
- The Great
- Father of Victory
- Master of Wars
- God of the Sky and the Cities
- Supreme Ruler of Unther, Chessenta, Threskel, Chondath, Turmish, the Shaar, and Yuirwood
- The Tyrant
- Son of Victory (as his second incarnation)
- The God Who Walks the Plane (as his second incarnation)
- Lord of All Unther Reborn (as his second incarnation)