CLT3378 Ancient Mythology Word Count 1557 1 The Epic of Gilgamesh in comparison to The Lord of the Rings The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from early Mesopotamian literature written with cuneiform characters on clay tablets It is about the Uruk King Gilgamesh who was a part god and part human who possessed supernatural powers On the other hand the modern movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings is based on three books written by British author John Ronald Tolkien Epic quests wise teachers heroic companions and the use of supernatural powers are some of the striking similarities that are very common in both stories This essay points out that there are more similarities than differences in The Epic of Gilgamesh and the epic fantasy movie The Lord of the Rings Quests of heroic characters take place in both stories and greatly contribute to the main plots Both quests have similar road of trials to overcome Frodo Baggins the hero in the movie The Lord of the Rings goes on a long and tough journey to Orodruin The purpose of his journey is to destroy the magic ring of invisibility called One Ring He overcomes countless obstacles that changed him and his character through his journey He became resilient a stronger character and managed to destroy the ring at the end of the quest 2 In Epic of Gilgamesh the Uruk King Gilgamesh goes on quests similar to Frodo s journey His first quest is more like an adventure with his friend Enkidu The gods created Enkidu as a companion for Gilgamesh Enkidu was as magnificent as Gilgamesh They quickly became great friends and decide to go to cedar forest to steal from demon named Humbaba servant of Enlil Gilgamesh s real quest starts when Enkidu dies of an illness inflicted by the same gods who created him After suffering of Enkidu s death Gilgamesh starts a quest for immortality Gilgamesh s purpose in his quest is a little different compared to Frodo and his journey He is in pursuit for immortal flood hero Utnapishtim in order to learn secret of eternal life Both quests teach Gilgamesh and Frodo good lessons about life and death Gilgamesh learned more about immortality and Frodo bonded further with The Fellowship of the Ring When Gilgamesh finds Utnapishtim he listens to flood story in which gods granted Utnapishtim the immortality The flood story followed by series of tests proving that there was no escape from death for Gilgamesh A good lesson learned and disappointed Gilgamesh goes back to Uruk to document his quest In contrast to Gilgamesh s quest Frodo tackles death many times and achieves his ultimate goal by destroying the One Ring Frodo and Gilgamesh had comparable friends whom helped them greatly through their adventures Sam is one of the friends of Frodo escorting him through his tough quest He is also a member of The Fellowship of the Ring a group formed of nine people who are committed help to Frodo in his quest of destroying the ring 3 In contrast to Epic of Gilgamesh in which Enkidu the great friend of Gilgamesh dies of an illness none of Frodo s friends die in this quest They are not with him all the time but they help a lot even when they are away from Sam and Frodo Sam is the closest friend and could be compared to Enkidu Gilgamesh s great friend The close ties between Sam and Frodo is very similar to two adventurer friends Enkidu and Gilgamesh Sam and Frodo shared food tackled death developed further trust in each other fought together protected each other and slept side by side in harsh weather conditions throughout Frodo s quest They helped each other in many ways and also learned from each other bonding further In Epic of Gilgamesh king s quest for immortality starts after the death of a great friend Enkidu Gilgamesh and Enkidu fought side by side to defeat Humbaba in cedar forest In their fight they get help from the sun god Samash Then gods send more trouble from the sky for Gilgamesh Enkidu fights side by side with Gilgamesh again to tackle it The bond becomes stronger between Enkidu and Gilgamesh after all the adventures they have been through That is one of the reasons why the death of Enkidu leaves Gilgamesh heart broken and in search of immortality The king starts to worry about his own appointment with death after Enkidu s faith In contrast to Frodo s the King of Uruk starts his quest alone to seek immortality There are other comparable characters in both Epic of Gilgamesh and movie The Lord of the Rings whose have great impact on outcome of both quests The 4 immortal wizard Gandalf is in human form throughout the story Other than being the wisest character in the movie The Lord of the Rings Gandalf helps to Frodo and the others when they are in trouble Gandalf is a wizard with a lot of super powers but his powers are not limitless He comes back even stronger after sacrificing himself in a fight for his fellow friends He has a special bond with Frodo and he appears just in time for help throughout the journey He is one powerful but merciful character Gandalf is committed to help destroy the ring and specially bonded with Frodo predicting he is the only way to destroy the One Ring Gandalf s supernatural powers could be compared with the wizard Saruman in the same story Gandalf also has great similarities and powers like Utnapishtim in Epic of Gilgamesh Both characters are immortal in stories and both have impact on how each story ends Utnapishtim in a way is the wise guy in The Epic of Gilgamesh He gets respect from Gilgamesh for being immortal and wise Gilgamesh listens to Utnapishtim s flood story and obeys his decision of not being ready for immortality Utnapishtim is a character that gods took an interest in and granted immortality He sends Gilgamesh back home killing his dream of having immortality Utnapishtim had impact on the outcome of the quest as much as Gandalf did in The Lord of the Rings Gandalf helped Frodo and others in The Fellowship of the Ring to destroy the ring using his supernatural powers and just being there when they needed an advice and guidance form a wise guy 5 There are comparable supernatural powers used in both stories In Epic of Gilgamesh gods use their powers to send flood to wipe out the mankind Utnapishtim becomes aware the plan of the gods with the help of Ea the smart and wise god Ea builds a house with smart walls that let the sound to the other side so Utnapishtim could become aware of the horrible flood plans of the gods to kill all the mankind As a result Utnapishtim builds a massive
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