kingofallkings | II. Creation and Purpose❋

II. Creation and Purpose.

Now then. I have the results of my information gathering, and I've read a part of Gilgamesh's legend. A king, born the child of a great king, with a goddess as his mother, his blood two thirds divine and one third human. Gilgamesh is a hero who was granted many privileges from the start. Is it actually reasonable for him to call himself "the king that rules over heroes"? He draws a line between himself and other Servants in all senses.

Gilgamesh: Hm, what is it, mongrel? You turn such a heated gaze on me. Is that it? Have you given into my Golden Rule?

By giving in to his Golden Rule, he means getting lost in desire for money. I'm not falling into that nightmare right now. I'm interested in something else entirely.

"What kind of hero was Gilgamesh?" If we're going to fight together, I'd like to have some mutual understanding...of course that's not possible, but I at least want to know my partner's personality. So I investigated his legend, but --

Gilgamesh: Oh, so you've examined my story? Well, how was it? Have you come to regret our contract knowing your partner is a demon?

Oh, certainly not. I came to regret that ages ago, now it's just part of my daily life. What I'm wondering is whether the legend is true or not.

Gilgamesh: It's the truth. The records in the SE.RA.PH are objective truth, after all. How that truth is perceived depends upon the reader. But as your subjectivity remains vague, I suppose truth is eternally unreachable for you. Very well. In light of that laudable quality, I will allow you a question. If there's anything you don't understand, ask. I will stave off tedium by answering you.

...! That's a result I didn't expect. If I ask something imprudent my life may be in danger, but I rarely get such a chance. So here --

[>] Is it true you were a tyrant...?
> Is it true your mother was a goddess...?
> So were you lying about the whole "child of the gods" thing?

Gilgamesh: As the epic goes, 'Gilgamesh left not the son to the father, nor the daughter to the mother,' was it. Indeed, that part is true. If a tyrant is one who rules through brutality, then I am indisputably a tyrant. After all, I was created as such.

....created? Gilgamesh was the son of the previous king. Something about that didn't seem to match up...

> Is it true you were a tyrant...?
[>] Is it true your mother was a goddess...?
[>] So were you lying about the whole "child of the gods" thing?

Gilgamesh has divine blood. That's what it says in the documents, but is it really true? And what does it mean by "divine" in the first place? He may be mankind's most ancient King of Heroes, but were there really "gods" in 2600 BCE?

Gilgamesh: That doubt is natural. The age of gods has been long over, and this planet has already been stabilized under those laws of physics humanity has observed. For humans, gods are nothing but a system to prop up their religion. For such a system to mingle with human beings is outside all your common knowledge and expectations. For now, at least. Well, let's not talk of the future. Your question concerns the past.

There are two types of gods. Things that were always there and became gods, and those that were reborn as gods. The gods of Mesopotamia were of the first type. They were natural phenomena with will and personality. Those were the gods of ancient times. I was made from one of those ancient gods and a king of men. Midway between the ancient gods and the present gods.

The ancient gods and the present gods, Gilgamesh says. The ancient gods were something like the worship of nature, and they were always here on this planet. As for the present gods, those are systems that came forth from human cognizance and engineering...is that it?

If it is, then I understand what he means by "midway between" as well. If the gods of the present are inventions made by humans, then Gilgamesh who was born between an ancient god and a human is an invention made by gods.

...however. Something about the word "made" seems improper. Like it doesn't suit Gilgamesh or something...

Gilgamesh: Is that how it sounds to you? Unlike me... I think so as well, but it is the truth. I was made as the gods predicted. Do you know the different between the Counter Force of the planet and the Counter Force of humanity? You don't. That's fine then. It's a side issue, forget about it. What I will speak of now transpired before I was born. The suffering in your eyes is pitiful enough that I will let just a small part slip.

The gods did not make me in order to give their support to humanity. It was because they feared humanity that they needed me. Gods and humans. They needed a king for this new era, possessing traits of both. Living beings have an instinct to adjust the environment they dwell in into something more suited to their way of life. What we call the survival instinct. The ancient gods lacked that trait. No matter how much energy they possessed, the were nothing but beings that were "just there."

In contrast, the human will to survive was extraordinary. Individuals might be lacking, but there were many of them, and the average was high. There was no particular species endowed with supreme authority, but human beings had a higher standard of intelligence than other lifeforms. On the other hand, no matter how powerful the forces of nature the heavenly gods embodied, in character...in ingenuity, and in cognition they were not so different from human beings.

Do you see? An omniscient being can only reach a single possible conclusion, can only have one personality. On that point, human beings were a threat to them. It was a difference in the number of minds... no, a difference in adaptability. Human desire is unlimited, endless, and unsparing. The world is transformed according to their desires.

"If human beings continue to multiply like this the rules of this planet will change. The time is coming when we gods, the wills of nature, will become unnecessary."

The ancient gods feared that future. Therefore they wanted a sovereign who was aligned with their beliefs but still on the human side. Thus the folly incarnate of a goddess giving her body to a human king. It was an attempt to prolong the life of a dying era, but it was a truly unsightly death throe. The creature made this way would be a new sovereign, bearing the blood of gods and the blood of men as well. The gods would call it a linchpin. A linchpin heaven had driven into the earth to stop themselves and humanity from tearing apart. Those were the circumstances of my birth.

Unlike the rest of you, I was not born of the proper workings of life. From the beginning these limbs were designed to stand in warning to humanity, reigning over them as the mouthpiece of the gods.

Gilgamesh's tone is light, indifferent, and ironic. Those eyes hold a sneering hostility toward the gods, but no disdain toward himself. So, Gilgamesh doesn't depreciate himself as something made -- a life made for the gods' expectations...is that it?

Gilgamesh: Why would I. No matter what you think of the rights of human beings narrowly, don't you? Whether animals or puppets, all living things are made with their parents' expectations. It is simply that in my case those were the expectations of the gods of this planet. Understand? All the creatures of this world are made by the hands of their predecessors. The only thing that arises spontaneously is the soul. That is the only "self" that you or I possess. As the body is a manufactured thing, it begins as the reflection of someone else. The moment you awaken and stand in opposition, you acquire your own ingenuity. And that was not constructed.

The body...no, the form of a living being is made by its predecessors, and the soul alone arises on its own...If that's true, then there are things in Gilgamesh's legend I can assent to. Gilgamesh was made as a go-between. The gods feared humanity abandoning the worship of nature, so they produced a superior being who would be able to see both perspectives but would ultimately be on the side of the gods. It was a good counter measure. The problem was that their go-between didn't behave exactly as they expected.

Gilgamesh: Yes. I didn't live up to those expectations. Though they created me, I was born as a new kind of being. Thus -- I had no reason to endorse the ideas of those old gods. I lived according to myself, and no other. It is true that this body was originally made to be a king. But that is all. Their designs and the fact that I am a king have no connection. I declared myself a king, and saw through the path of kingship that suited me. That is all. I governed Uruk because I wanted to. The gods' expectations had nothing to do with it. To me all living things were either "those that will die now" or "those that will die eventually," nothing more. If I judged something "a life which must end now," it did not matter if it was a sage or a god before my judgment. Understand? My path of kingship is simple. I acquire treasures which catch my interest, and protect them. I completely annihilate all that gets in the way of my pleasures. That is all. Regard me as a demon or a tempest if you must. In any case my mother was a goddess. Isn't it only natural that I should be inhuman?

With a simmering smile Gilgamesh gulps down his drink.

A hero from the age of gods who lives only according to his own desires, fearing nothing. It seems that character hasn't changed from his time on earth to his time here as a Servant. ...speaking of which. Honestly, why does such and extreme and unreasonable person exist as a Servant in the first place...?

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