Chapter Summaries

After Humbaba died, Annanu, Enkidu, and Gilgamesh discovered that the monster had swallowed Ishtar and freed her. Gilgamesh woke Ishtar and led the others back toward Uruk, reminding her of her duty as its guardian deity.

• Annanu and Enkidu found flower crowns woven from Humbaba's blossoms on their heads as Humbaba's body dissipated.
• Gilgamesh asked who had hung him from a tree, and Annanu and Enkidu laughed before noticing a pair of legs beneath Humbaba's remains.
• Gilgamesh recognized the legs as Ishtar's and yanked her free, throwing her into the distance.
• Annanu used divine suppression to prick Ishtar awake, and she mistook Gilgamesh for the one who had saved her.
• Gilgamesh told Ishtar to return to Uruk and take her duty as its guardian deity seriously, then left with Annanu and Enkidu.

On the journey back to Uruk, Annanu and Enkidu asked Gilgamesh to become their friend and said they planned to settle in the city. Gilgamesh agreed, but Annanu and Enkidu’s teasing left him unconscious.

• Annanu asked Gilgamesh to become their friend, and Enkidu said the two of them wanted to become residents of Uruk.
• Gilgamesh felt grateful to Humbaba for helping Annanu and Enkidu become more human and welcomed the chance to have friends.
• Gilgamesh agreed to the friendship, then Annanu dropped him from the Key of Heaven and Enkidu caught him with his chains.
• Annanu and Enkidu transformed into burly men and flirted with Gilgamesh, who fainted while Annanu laughed.

Annanu proposed creating a professional army in Uruk to defend against Demonic Beasts displaced from the Cedar Forest. Gilgamesh agreed to let him establish it, while Ishtar remained puzzled about why Gilgamesh had saved her.

• Ishtar wondered why Gilgamesh had rescued her from Humbaba's remains and suspected he might like her.
• Annanu told Gilgamesh that Demonic Beasts driven from the ancient forest would remain a danger to Mesopotamia.
• Annanu revealed that he had killed a Bashmu near Uruk, and Gilgamesh recognized the threat it posed.
• Annanu said Uruk's guards and defenses against beasts were too weak and primitive.
• Annanu proposed a year-round professional army for Uruk, and Gilgamesh gave him permission to establish it.

Annanu asked Adekate to lead a professional force meant to protect Uruk from Demonic Beasts, and Adekate reluctantly agreed. Annanu carried him into the air to plant his land before telling him that the role could keep him from returning to farming for the rest of his fighting years.

• Annanu visited Adekate, who had returned to farming after losing Kaderki and many other warriors in the Cedar Forest.
• Annanu accompanied Adekate to Kaderki's grave and explained that Kaderki had brought information about Annanu and Enkidu to Gil.
• Annanu offered Adekate the leadership of a professional soldier force, saying Gil considered him the most suitable person for the role.
• Adekate accepted after learning that the king would not reclaim his land, and Annanu flew him over it and planted it for him.
• Annanu told Adekate that the force would protect Uruk from Demonic Beasts rather than fight people, and that Adekate might have to serve until he could no longer fight.

Annanu gathered Adekate and nineteen recruits to form a professional soldier unit, then used the Key of Heaven to take them out of Uruk to show them how the profession could survive. The recruits screamed as they flew away, while Gilgamesh watched in confusion.

• Adekate wondered why he had agreed to become a commander and questioned how professional soldiers would earn a living.
• Annanu arrived with nineteen recruits, many of whom had previously served Uruk, and told Adekate that Gilgamesh had wanted the group to start small.
• Annanu introduced himself and explained that he and Enkidu could take both male and female forms, demonstrating by transforming into a muscular man.
• Annanu said he would show the recruits how a soldier's profession could survive in Uruk, then sent fragments of the Key of Heaven to carry them into the sky.
• Gilgamesh saw Annanu flying away with the screaming recruits and stared in confusion.

Annanu recruited military candidates to protect Uruk from the growing threat of Demonic Beasts and offered palace support, family provisions, and training. Three candidates withdrew, while seventeen agreed to become the first professional soldiers, establishing an army dedicated to defending the city-state.

• Annanu showed the candidates Uridimmu attacking antelope and killed the beasts with fragments of the Key of Heaven.
• Annanu explained to Adekate and the others that Humbaba’s departure had driven Demonic Beasts across the region, and Uruk needed protectors beyond Gilgamesh and his companions.
• The candidates asked how they and their families would survive, and Annanu promised palace support, possible rewards, and training to help them fight the beasts.
• Annanu asked who wanted to withdraw, and three candidates left while the remaining seventeen chose to join.
• Annanu and King Gilgamesh’s plan established the seventeen recruits as Uruk’s first professional soldiers, tasked with protecting the city-state and its people.

Annanu and Enkidu wrestled with their anger toward the gods and the danger of confronting them, choosing for now to remain in Uruk and live the life they valued. Siduri arrived to summon them to Gilgamesh, leaving them to go hear what the king wanted to discuss.

• Annanu told Enkidu that he had found only twenty people for the team and worried that Uruk’s young people felt little loyalty to Gilgamesh.
• Annanu and Enkidu recalled the gods’ deception and recognized their anger, but decided not to confront the Anunnaki because they would almost certainly die.
• Enkidu said they should let things be for now because they liked their life, and Annanu promised to stay by Enkidu’s side.
• Siduri entered, saw Annanu stroking Enkidu as Enkidu rested on his lap, and told them Gilgamesh wanted to speak with them.
• Annanu agreed to go to Gilgamesh, while Siduri tactfully withdrew, finding the scene tempting.

Annanu prepared to train Uruk’s warriors to fight Demonic Beasts, while Adekate struggled with his doubts and accepted that he had no choice but to continue. Annanu outlined an extensive training program and left Adekate wondering whether the commander knew more about soldiering than he did.

• At dinner, Annanu told Gilgamesh that the warriors who had agreed to train could not back out, and Gilgamesh urged him not to use methods that were too intense.
• Adekate lay awake regretting his agreement, but resolved to train and protect Uruk alongside his fellow soldiers.
• The next day, Annanu arrived at the military camp and told Adekate to call him commander.
• Annanu listed training in conditioning, survival skills, Demonic Beast knowledge, tracking, camouflage, and weapon use, leaving Adekate bewildered.

Annanu rallied his soldiers with an unexpected transformation and took them outside Uruk to begin training, prompting Gilgamesh and Enkidu to investigate. In Eridu, Nanshe cried to Enki about Annanu rejecting her, and Enki tried to comfort her.

• Annanu transformed into a beautiful woman to encourage his soldiers, and they enthusiastically answered his call to train.
• Gilgamesh and Enkidu found Annanu's military camp empty and learned from an elderly woman that he had taken the soldiers outside the city.
• Gilgamesh and Enkidu left to see what kind of training Annanu had planned.
• Nanshe wept to Enki about Annanu teaching her to write a love letter, becoming prettier than her, and rejecting her.
• Enki comforted Nanshe and suggested she try pursuing Annanu again later, though he could not answer her question about the other ninety-nine hundredths.

Annanu put Gilgamesh’s warriors through endurance training, prompting Gilgamesh to stop their morning run and arrange for Ruslan to cook for them. Ruslan was then drafted into training, while Enkidu left and the warriors prepared to continue.

• Gilgamesh and Enkidu arrived outside Uruk and found Annanu making the warriors run since morning.
• Gilgamesh ordered Annanu to stop the exhausted warriors, and Annanu explained that the training would build their endurance.
• Gilgamesh asked whether the warriors needed a cook, and Annanu realized he had forgotten to arrange one.
• Enkidu and Annanu brought Ruslan, Siduri, cooking utensils, and ingredients to the warriors, and the Siduri siblings prepared a meal.
• Gilgamesh assigned Ruslan to stay and cook for the warriors, then left with Siduri.
• Annanu told Ruslan to join the training, and Enkidu departed after saying goodbye.

After Annanu led the soldiers through exhausting hole-digging drills, Ishtar wondered why Gilgamesh had not come to see her despite rescuing her. She suspected he might be interested in weapons and decided she had to take action herself.

• Annanu put the expanded group through training in digging holes, then carried the exhausted Ruslan back to the palace and left him with Siduri.
• Ishtar asked Shamhat why anyone would remain unmoved by her beauty, then admitted Gilgamesh was the one who had caught her interest.
• Ishtar recalled that Gilgamesh had rescued her in the Cedar Forest but had not sought her out after she returned to Uruk.
• Ishtar considered whether Gilgamesh cared so much about Annanu and Enkidu because he liked weapons, then resolved to pursue him herself.

Enki accepted Nanshe’s decision to pursue Annanu, while Ruslan reflected on his exhaustion and the many lives and tragedies he had witnessed. He resolved to finish his journey on his own terms, first honoring the bonds he had formed and sparing those who loved him worry.

• Enki warned Nanshe that Annanu was only a weapon, but encouraged her to pursue him rather than live with regrets.
• Siduri treated Ruslan’s injured hands and urged him to take care of himself as he trained under Annanu.
• After Siduri left, Ruslan reflected on the centuries he had lived and the deaths and tragedies he had witnessed.
• Ruslan admitted that he was afraid to approach Annanu again and that his mission as an observing eye would eventually end.
• Ruslan resolved to cherish the bonds he had formed and walk the final stretch of his journey himself.

Ishtar visited Gilgamesh, but he dismissed her and spent the morning handling Uruk’s affairs. After secretly following him, Ishtar flew to the outskirts to investigate Annanu and was shocked by what she found.

• Ishtar waited outside Gilgamesh’s bedchamber, but Gilgamesh ignored her and left for the front hall.
• Ishtar checked her reflection, wondered why Gilgamesh had no interest in her, and secretly followed him.
• Gilgamesh worked through clay tablets with Siduri and said he would check on Annanu’s training.
• Ishtar flew to the outskirts of Uruk and found Annanu sitting beside a group of exhausted men.

Annanu trained Adekate and the warriors while Ruslan cooked for them, and Gilgamesh praised their efforts to defend Uruk. Ishtar, wary of Annanu after sensing him as a natural predator, decided to act, then prepared to convey her feelings by a stream outside Uruk.

• Ruslan served the hungry warriors and shared a meal with Annanu, who praised his stamina.
• Annanu assigned the warriors to practice rapidly digging foxholes and said they would take turns washing dishes.
• Gilgamesh asked Adekate and the warriors about their training, then urged them to grow strong enough to protect Uruk.
• Ishtar returned to her chambers, sensed danger from Annanu, and decided she should do something about it.
• Outside Uruk, Ishtar stood in a stream and declared that she had found a way to convey her feelings.

After the army’s successful defense against three Mushhushu, the warriors accepted Annanu’s intensified training, and Adekate continued training despite his lingering regrets about the Cedar Forest. Ishtar challenged Annanu’s ability to be accepted by humans, but he rejected her judgment and argued that humans could choose for themselves.

• The warriors gained confidence after they defeated three Mushhushu with only one man poisoned, and Ruslan cooked the beasts for lunch.
• Adekate spent time speaking with Kaderki after training until Ruslan called him back to prepare for the next day’s trip to the forest.
• Ishtar visited Annanu and asked whether he knew about the Underworld, then said she was interested in the Key of Heaven and the Chains of Heaven.
• Ishtar claimed Annanu and Gilgamesh could not integrate with humanity, but Annanu argued that humans could make their own choices and pointed to his and Enkidu’s births.
• Annanu refused to be provoked by Ishtar and left, while Ishtar was left without a reply.

Annanu confronted Ishtar over her description of his and Enkidu’s bond with Uruk as a game, and nearly attacked her in rage. Gilgamesh stopped him and warned Ishtar not to provoke either of them.

• Ishtar told Annanu that she had come to argue that treating humans like playthings would lead nowhere.
• Annanu demanded to know what Ishtar meant and revealed his anger over the gods dismissing his and Enkidu’s efforts to become part of Uruk.
• Ishtar felt Annanu’s overwhelming power and prepared to flee if he attacked.
• Gilgamesh intervened and asked Annanu not to kill Ishtar, so Annanu withdrew the Key of Heaven and left.
• Gilgamesh warned Ishtar that Annanu and Enkidu could feel anger like humans and that she could not withstand it.

Annanu rejected Ishtar’s judgment of his and Enkidu’s actions and decided to visit her temple the next day to question how she viewed humanity. As Enkidu agreed to manage the army in his place, Ruslan anticipated Annanu’s future descent into the underworld.

• Gilgamesh told Ishtar that Annanu and Enkidu were his friends before leaving her alone in the corridor.
• Annanu told Enkidu he would visit Ishtar’s temple tomorrow and challenge her claims that their actions were wrong and meaningless.
• Enkidu agreed to manage the army while Annanu was away, and Annanu gave him a training plan to deliver to Adekate.
• Ruslan recalled that Annanu would eventually enter the underworld alone, preserving a sliver of hope before its eventual destruction.

Annanu questioned Ishtar’s claim that she understood humans, and her account of having experienced death prompted him to announce that he would visit the underworld and return. Ishtar was left alone, stung by his accusation that she had never understood humans.

• Annanu asked Ishtar whether she understood humans better than he did.
• Ishtar claimed that her experience of death in the underworld gave her a deeper understanding of human life.
• Annanu said he would go to the underworld, experience death, and return.
• Annanu accused Ishtar of never understanding humans and left her in a dark, troubled mood.

Annanu planned to enter the Underworld to make the gods wary of him, despite Enkidu's concern. He postponed the journey until he had finished making arrangements and planned to tell Gilgamesh that night.

• Annanu returned to the training grounds and found Enkidu had continued training the warriors with the clay tablet.
• Enkidu urged Annanu not to enter the Underworld, but Annanu explained that surviving the journey could make the gods hesitate to move against them.
• Annanu agreed to tell Gilgamesh about his plan, though he said he would not leave until he had arranged everything.
• The exhausted warriors watched Annanu and Enkidu lean together and silently resented their affectionate moment.
• Gilgamesh asked Annanu why he had sought out Ishtar, and Annanu told him that he and Enkidu would speak with him in the front hall that night.

Annanu and Enkidu told Gilgamesh that Annanu had to go to the Underworld and gave him miniature versions of the Key of Heaven and Chain of Heaven. Gilgamesh reluctantly accepted Annanu’s decision, but remained overcome by helplessness as his friend prepared to leave.

• Gilgamesh waited with Siduri and Ruslan until Annanu and Enkidu arrived at the palace hall.
• Annanu and Enkidu gave Gilgamesh miniature versions of the Key of Heaven and Chain of Heaven so he could wield some of their power.
• Annanu told Gilgamesh he was going to the Underworld, and he and Enkidu explained the gods’ anger and the danger ahead.
• Gilgamesh protested and lamented that he could not protect his friend, but ultimately acknowledged Annanu’s choice.
• Annanu said he would leave in a few days and asked Gilgamesh to assign any demonic beasts near Uruk to others; then Annanu and Enkidu departed.
• Gilgamesh remained slumped on his throne, worrying about the danger Annanu faced and feeling powerless to help.