Gilgamesh

"Enough expository banter! Now we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men! For Gilgamesh...it is morphing time!"

Gilgamesh is by no means weak; most of his fights outside Final Fantasy V are tough, and his Dissidia Final Fantasy profile describes him as having "strength that once decimated an entire army" (specifically, it is Galuf's army that Gilgamesh decimated). Though Gilgamesh is often portrayed as cowardly, putting up a bluff before pressing an attack and then fleeing, in truth he is among one of the most difficult boss fights in the Final Fantasy series and among the strongest of Final Fantasy villains. It may be that Gilgamesh has never shown his full strength; it is unknown if this is true, but he came close to revealing his true power to Bartz in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy before being carried off to the Rift.

Gilgamesh is a sword collector, and in most games has a wide variety of weapons. His primary target for collection is the holy sword Excalibur, but most of the time Gilgamesh finds what he believes to be the Excalibur, it is actually the knock-off Excalipoor. The first incident of this occurs in Exdeath's castle in Final Fantasy V. In Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy VI, Gilgamesh attacks the party due to their possession of Excalipoor, and in Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy VI possesses the genuine Excalibur when called as a summon. Despite being famous for being a swordsman, Gilgamesh's trademark weapon, seen in his sprite-based appearances, is anaginata (erroneously referred to as a halberd in the English translation).

Gilgamesh is reported to have come across virtually every world's version of Excalibur, or at least, the knockoff. Why he seeks these weapons is unknown, but it might not have anything to do with power, as he already has some of the highest tier weapons in the series. Indeed, when he obtains the Zantetsuken in Final Fantasy VIII he mentions "the fourth one" as though he was expecting the blade to fall into his hands. It could be that he needs the weapons to control his rift hopping, as in the 20th Anniversary port of the original Final Fantasy when the party finds Excalibur, Gilgamesh chances upon them, and says "I've finally found it! Now I can go home!"

As shown in Final Fantasy XII, though Gilgamesh has many other famous swords besides Excalibur, most, if not all of them, are also knockoffs. In battle, Gilgamesh has retained a few key characteristics across the series: when weak, he will feign defeat, then cast Protect, Shell, and Haste on himself, and renew his attack. In games where Blue Magic is featured, he tends to use many Blue Magic spells.

Though he frequently appears to challenge the party and is first featured as a villain, Gilgamesh is not truly evil. In Final Fantasy V he is saddened when he learns of Galuf's fate, and when he is banished to the Interdimensional Rift he almost offers to join the party, and sacrifices himself so the party can defeat Necrophobe. In Final Fantasy VIII he becomes the party's ally, and again is not hostile in Final Fantasy IX (though he attempts to steal gil from the party several times).

He attacks the party in Final Fantasy XII, but later appears to give them a useful item, and in Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, is available as a summon after being bested in battle. Gilgamesh can be considered more of a rival than an enemy or ally. Gilgamesh is one of the more well-spoken characters in the series, often using lengthy terms in dialogue or archaic phrases such as "I must egress post haste!" or "enough expository banter!"

Unlike other recurring characters, like Cid and Biggs and Wedge, Gilgamesh has generally the same appearance and personality in every game he appears in (but not always). As implied in Final Fantasy VIII and confirmed in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, this is because the Gilgamesh seen in the series is actually the same person, traveling between worlds via portals in the Rift. When he appears before Bartz alludes to being banished to the Rift the last time Bartz saw him, and mentions traveling a great journey and fighting many opponents before making his way back to face Bartz. When he runs across Zidane, Squall, and Vaan in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, Zidane points out Gilgamesh has only two arms and thus doesn't seem familiar, alluding to Gilgamesh's appearance with four arms in Final Fantasy IX.

-----Etymology-----

Gilgamesh was an ancient Sumerian king who ruled Uruk, modern day Iraq around 2650 BC. He is the main character of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is considered one of the earliest great works of literature, the most complete edition dating back to the 7th century BC, though earlier editions date back to about 2000 BC. The epic centers around the king and demigod Gilgamesh and the wild man Enkidu who was sent to kill him. After a fight between the two, in which neither Gilgamesh nor Enkidu prove themselves stronger, they become loyal friends and embark on several epic adventures.

Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy is often portrayed with additional arms, which parallels with the multiple arms the historical Gilgamesh is often portrayed with. Enkidu, in turn, appears alongside Gilgamesh in bestial form, which likely refers to the wild and formerly untamed nature of Enkidu.

Gilgamesh is also inspired by Saito Musashibo Benkei, a famous Japanese warrior monk said to have posted himself at Gōjō Bridge in Kyoto and dueled every passing swordsman, defeating 999 opponents and claiming their weapons. On his 1,000th duel, however, Benkei was defeated by Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Benkei devoted himself to Yoshitsune and became his faithful retainer throughout the rest of his life.

From the story of Benkei, Gilgamesh takes his preference for the naginata (Benkei's traditional weapon as a monk), his penchant for fighting on bridges, his collecting of weapons from enemies he defeats, and his friendship with the player's characters who defeat him. Benkei's devotion to Yoshitsune is the basis for Gilgamesh's association with Genji equipment—the Minamoto Clan is also called the Genji Clan, using the alternate pronunciation for the Chinese characters for mina and moto, gen and uji, respectively. Gilgamesh's face paint is based on traditional kabuki actors, for which Benkei is a popular character to portray.

-----Trivia-----

To date, Gilgamesh has had more appearances in any Final Fantasy media than any other character, and may be the only character to appear in more than one game in the main series.

Gilgamesh is referred to by Natsuki Takaya in one of her side columns in Fruits Basket, stating her love of the Final Fantasy series.

In the starting quote, Gilgamesh refers to the 1990's series, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

In Final Fantasy III, there is a character called Gigameth. A common misconception, he is not the same character as Gilgamesh, and his katakana is (ギガメス, Gigamesu), while Gilgamesh's is (ギルガメッシュ,Girugamesshu).