Chapter Summaries

Annanu rejected Nanshe’s affection and her offer of Enki’s protection, while reflecting on the danger facing him and Enkidu. Nanshe explained how her feelings had grown, but Annanu’s disgusted reaction left her protesting.

• Annanu struck Nanshe until she released him, then said his apparent affection had only been selfish refusal to see her as a god.
• Nanshe told Annanu he had succeeded despite their likely grim fate, while Annanu considered Utu’s role in creating them and the limits of their power against the Anunnaki.
• Nanshe warned that Ishtar could disrupt their peace and offered Enki’s protection, but Annanu said he trusted only her and Ereshkigal among the gods.
• Annanu asked why Nanshe was so attached to him, and she admitted she first liked his appearance before developing deeper feelings.
• Nanshe said her second love letter had been more sincere, and Annanu’s disgusted look made her demand to know what he meant by it.

Enki urged Ishtar to approach Gilgamesh as an equal and focus more on her duties, while Annanu and Nanshe quietly accepted the limits of their feelings. Back at the palace, Annanu and Enkidu teased and played together, leaving Siduri hesitating outside their room.

• Enki advised Ishtar to make amends with Gilgamesh through ordinary interaction, but she left displeased with his counsel.
• Annanu and Nanshe parted quietly after Nanshe restrained her affection and accepted their understanding of each other.
• Annanu returned to the palace exhausted and discussed his Underworld flower with Enkidu.
• Enkidu teased Annanu about attracting goddesses and suggested Gilgamesh had feelings for him too.
• Annanu and Enkidu playfully tickled each other while Siduri hesitated to enter the room.

Annanu and Enkidu gave Siduri a massage, and Gilgamesh suspected the piercing scream he heard that night came from her. The next day, Gilgamesh learned Annanu had gone to the barracks to inspect the warriors’ training and decided to join him, setting aside his afternoon duties for a rare break.

• Siduri brought food to Annanu and Enkidu, who offered to massage her and made her nervous by suggesting Ruslan watch.
• Annanu changed his appearance and massaged Siduri with Enkidu’s help, and Gilgamesh heard a woman scream that night.
• Gilgamesh noticed Siduri moving more briskly the next day and wondered if Annanu and Enkidu had massaged her.
• Siduri told Gilgamesh that Annanu had gone to the barracks to inspect the warriors’ training.
• Gilgamesh asked Siduri to clear his afternoon schedule so he could visit the barracks and see what Annanu was doing.

Gilgamesh visited Uruk’s barracks and found Annanu testing Adekate’s strength after Adekate challenged him. Meanwhile, Ishtar went to Anunnaki’s residence after failing to get answers from Nanna and Enki.

• Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and Siduri arrived at the barracks and saw Annanu overpowering Adekate.
• Ruslan explained that Adekate had challenged Annanu to assess the gap between their strength.
• Adekate described how joining the Army of Uruk had restored his strength and resolve, and he vowed to keep striving to improve.
• Gilgamesh warned Adekate that catching up to Annanu was unrealistic, while Annanu encouraged him to keep training.
• Annanu reacted to Adekate’s promise to catch up within twenty years by flying into the sky and wondering whether he could live that long.
• After Nanna and Enki failed to answer her questions, Ishtar went to Anunnaki’s residence.

A year after Ishtar left Uruk for Anunnaki, Annanu, Enkidu, and Gilgamesh worried about what her absence might mean. They recognized that the conflict was no longer about Ishtar’s feelings for Gilgamesh, but about the pride and power of the Anunnaki gods.

• A year passed as Nanshe returned to Uruk’s outskirts and resumed her friendship with Annanu.
• Annanu and Enkidu settled into Uruk life, while their antics and Gilgamesh’s workload helped wear down the king’s worldly desires.
• Annanu pointed out that Ishtar had stayed in Anunnaki for a year and warned that her poor judgment could cause trouble.
• Enkidu argued that Ishtar’s feelings for Gilgamesh were desire rather than love, and Gilgamesh said he was grateful for that.
• Annanu, Enkidu, and Gilgamesh concluded that the real danger lay in offending Ishtar’s pride and the Anunnaki gods behind her.

The people of Uruk came to accept Annanu’s army after it protected them from Demonic Beasts and bandits. Tired of hearing the gods condemn Annanu, Enkidu, and Gilgamesh, Ishtar decided to leave Anunnaki and return to Uruk to do something she had put off for a year.

• Annanu’s army gained the people’s trust by defeating Demonic Beasts, including Bashmu, and protecting Uruk from bandits.
• Gilgamesh held commendation ceremonies for the army, while Annanu reluctantly played along in public.
• Ishtar spent more than a year in Anunnaki and repeatedly heard gods condemn Annanu, Enkidu, and Gilgamesh.
• Ishtar grew tired of hiding in Anunnaki and decided to return to Uruk to do what she should have done a year earlier.

Ishtar flew to Uruk to confess to Gilgamesh, though she had realized she no longer loved him and was being pressured by rumors spreading through Anunnaki. She demanded that Gilgamesh marry her, and he rejected her with an insult.

• Ishtar reflected that her earlier feelings for Gilgamesh had been mistaken and that gods across Anunnaki knew about her supposed love for him.
• Gilgamesh considered his burdens as king and wished he could pass the throne to a child, but doubted any child of his could match his talent.
• After night fell, Ishtar crashed through the ceiling of Gilgamesh's hall with Maanna and confronted him.
• Ishtar told Gilgamesh that she loved him and demanded that he marry her.
• Gilgamesh laughed and called Ishtar stupid.

Ishtar returned to Uruk and proposed to Gilgamesh, who rejected her and demanded that she repair the palace she had damaged. After she left, Gilgamesh told Enkidu, Annanu, and Siduri what had happened, and they wondered how Ishtar had taken his refusal.

• Ishtar smiled at Gilgamesh’s rejection, then tried to leave on Maanna.
• Gilgamesh stopped Ishtar and demanded that she repair his damaged front hall.
• Ishtar used divine power to restore the front hall, then flew away without another word.
• Enkidu, Annanu, and Siduri joined Gilgamesh, and he told them Ishtar had come to propose.
• Gilgamesh explained that Ishtar seemed to expect his refusal but grew angry when he insisted she repair the damage.

Ishtar brooded over Ninshubur’s death, Gilgamesh’s rejection, and her sense of being treated unfairly until her anger erupted in divine power. Shamhat hurried to warn Gilgamesh, then saw a meteor Ishtar had launched streak toward Uruk’s outskirts.

• Ishtar remembered Ninshubur and grieved that her human maidservant had died and could never return.
• Ishtar grew resentful of Gilgamesh, Annanu, and Enkidu, and wondered why she had to endure so many injustices.
• Ishtar released a burst of divine power that shattered her stone bed and alarmed Shamhat.
• Shamhat rushed toward Gilgamesh’s palace to warn the High Priest about Ishtar’s rage.
• Shamhat saw a meteor streak across the sky toward the distant outskirts of Uruk.

Gilgamesh told Annanu and Enkidu that Ishtar had returned to the Anunnaki in tears, waking Enlil, the Great God whose past awakenings had brought disasters upon humanity. The three feared the consequences as Gilgamesh warned that they had a problem.

• Gilgamesh explained that Utu had visited Uruk and told him Ishtar had flown from her temple after destroying her stone bed.
• Gilgamesh revealed that Ishtar had returned to the Anunnaki crying, and Annanu and Enkidu worried about what had caused her distress.
• Gilgamesh said Ishtar's crying had disturbed Enlil's sleep, prompting the group to recall the disasters caused by his earlier awakenings.
• Gilgamesh ended by telling Annanu and Enkidu that they had a problem.

After the High God awakened in response to Ishtar’s breakdown, Gilgamesh prepared to protect humanity from the coming catastrophe. He sent Annanu to summon Nanshe and Enkidu to gather allies, including Kurgarru and Galatur, whose willingness to act remained uncertain.

• Gilgamesh told Annanu and Enkidu that humans and gods could not understand one another and that humanity needed a chance to resist the gods’ oppression.
• Gilgamesh asked Annanu to bring Nanshe to his palace and sent Enkidu to gather Siduri, Ruslan, Adekate, Shamhat, Kurgarru, and Galatur.
• Annanu found Nanshe fishing and told her that the Great God had awakened after Ishtar’s crying and fussing.
• Enkidu told Kurgarru and Galatur that the Great God’s awakening threatened the land with another catastrophe and challenged them to consider what they wanted for themselves.

Annanu asked Nanshe for help, and she agreed while insisting that he choose her for love rather than out of gratitude. Gilgamesh prepared to travel with Annanu to Eridu to meet Enki and arranged for Nanshe to examine Kurgarru and Galatur before he left Uruk.

• Nanshe agreed to help Annanu, then told him she wanted his love rather than repayment for her assistance.
• Gilgamesh gathered his companions and waited for Annanu to return with Nanshe.
• Gilgamesh told Nanshe he planned to travel to Eridu with Annanu, Enkidu, Siduri, and Ruslan to meet Enki.
• Gilgamesh had Enkidu and Annanu bind Kurgarru and Galatur, then asked Nanshe to see if she could modify the clay men.
• Gilgamesh gave Adekate a spear and ordered him to guard Uruk's city gate.

Gilgamesh questioned Shamhat about her view of Uruk, its people, and her past persecution, while Nanshe began reconstructing Kurgarru and Galatur. The brothers were reduced to red sludge, and Nanshe asked Annanu and Enkidu to shape them.

• Adekate departed with the crude long spear to help protect Uruk, and Siduri, Ruslan, Annanu, Enkidu, and Nanshe left the front hall.
• Gilgamesh asked Shamhat how she viewed Uruk, its gods, its king, and her friends, recalling that he had once sent her into the dangerous wilderness.
• Nanshe explained that Kurgarru and Galatur were incomplete clay people who had failed to find meaning in their lives after becoming Ishtar's retainers.
• Nanshe released Kurgarru and Galatur from their restraints and used her divine power to turn them into two puddles of red sludge.
• Nanshe asked Annanu and Enkidu to shape Kurgarru and Galatur anew.

Annanu and Enkidu reshaped Kurgarru and Galatur into powerful beings adapted to divine power, while Gilgamesh forced Shamhat to choose between her gods and Uruk. Shamhat found herself with no way out, and the work on Kurgarru and Galatur was nearly complete.

• Annanu and Enkidu began reshaping Kurgarru and Galatur from lumps of red clay, using their former appearances as a model.
• Gilgamesh applauded Shamhat for speaking truthfully about his past misdeeds and said he would not punish her for it.
• Gilgamesh demanded that Shamhat choose between her god and Gilgamesh, Uruk, and humanity.
• Shamhat struggled to choose, but Gilgamesh seized her hand and insisted that Uruk's plan could not be jeopardized.
• Annanu used the Key of Heaven to make final adjustments to Kurgarru while Nanshe's divine power helped Kurgarru and Galatur adapt to it.

Annanu, Enkidu, and Nanshe transformed Kurgarru and Galatur, erasing their pasts and remaking them as weapons to protect Uruk. Enkidu explained that they could nullify divinity and shield the city, though attacks from chief gods would strain them too much.

• Annanu and Nanshe awakened Kurgarru and Galatur after altering them into new beings with their pasts erased.
• Kurgarru and Galatur called Annanu, Enkidu, and Nanshe their mothers, prompting Nanshe to attack Annanu for transforming into a woman.
• Enkidu brought everyone to the main hall, where Gilgamesh asked what had happened to Kurgarru and Galatur.
• Enkidu told Gilgamesh that Kurgarru and Galatur would serve as Uruk's shield and could render divinity inert, but warned that chief-god-level attacks would strain them too much.

Gilgamesh left Shamhat to guard Uruk and departed with Annanu and Enkidu to find Siduri and Ruslan, while Nanshe agreed to lead them to Eridu. Annanu and Enkidu comforted the devastated Shamhat, who reaffirmed her duty to Uruk and urged them to stay alive; Nanshe then confronted Annanu about her connection to Ereshkigal.

• Gilgamesh asked Shamhat, Adekate, Kurgarru, and Galatur to guard Uruk, then set out with Annanu and Enkidu to find Siduri and Ruslan.
• Nanshe agreed to guide Gilgamesh and the others to Eridu to meet her father.
• Annanu and Enkidu stayed with Shamhat and reassured her that they would respect and bless her choice.
• Shamhat pulled herself together, declared she would serve as an official of Uruk, and urged Annanu and Enkidu to stay alive.
• Nanshe stopped Annanu and asked her to explain her relationship with Ereshkigal.

Annanu's account of his time in the underworld upset Nanshe, while Gilgamesh led his companions on a journey and reassured Siduri about Uruk. Ruslan reflected on the Anunnaki's nature and realized that this was the final journey of Lord Anno, after which everything would be settled.

• Annanu told Nanshe about his visit to the underworld, and she lamented that he had given Ereshkigal flowers but never given her any.
• Siduri asked Gilgamesh how long the journey would take, and he said Shamhat, Kurgarru, and Galatur could manage Uruk while they were away.
• Gilgamesh brought Siduri and Ruslan along so they could learn beyond their usual duties and be prepared for Uruk's future if he, Annanu, and Enkidu died.
• Siduri wondered why humans and gods had to stand opposed, while Ruslan judged the Anunnaki to be self-righteous and dismissive of humanity.
• Ruslan recognized that this was the final journey of Lord Anno and that, when his life ended, the Thread of the Root would be cleansed and there would be no next Anno.

Adekate defeated Kurgarru in a sparring match and spoke with Kurgarru and Galatur about their new lives and purpose. Meanwhile, Enlil confronted Ishtar over her actions and demanded that she prove she still had dignity.

• Adekate used his spear to defeat Kurgarru in a duel, despite Kurgarru wielding the water jug and chain.
• Kurgarru explained that he and Galatur held no resentment toward those who had restored their personalities, and said their new desires were better than having none.
• Adekate left to return to the army after telling Kurgarru and Galatur to keep the city-state running under Lady Shamhat's direction.
• Enlil rebuked Ishtar for waking him and bringing shame upon the gods.
• Ishtar promised to destroy her enemies, and Enlil told her to prove it if she still possessed any dignity.

Gilgamesh led Siduri and Ruslan toward Eridu to seek Enki’s help against Enlil and prepare for the Bull of Heaven. Ten days later, Ishtar rode Gugalanna through the storm, forced to carry out Enlil’s plan to destroy Mesopotamia or face destruction herself.

• Gilgamesh considered Siduri’s doubts about separating Uruk from the gods and planned for her and Ruslan to study Eridu’s administration.
• Gilgamesh hoped Enki would use the Fountain of Life to withstand the Tablet of Destinies and persuade the enraged Enlil to stop.
• Gilgamesh, Annanu, and Enkidu prepared to reach Eridu and fight Gugalanna, which Ishtar would need time to bring down from the sky.
• Ten days later, Ishtar urged the enormous golden-skeleton Bull of Heaven to move faster through the storm.
• Gugalanna promised to destroy whatever Ishtar wished, but Ishtar admitted that Enlil wanted Mesopotamia destroyed and she had no choice but to obey.

Gilgamesh and his companions visited Enki to discuss Ishtar and the conflict with the great gods. Enki agreed to persuade the Great God, while Gilgamesh’s group planned to stay for ten days before returning to Uruk to prepare for the Anunnaki’s hostility.

• Gilgamesh respectfully greeted Enki, who welcomed him and embraced Annanu and Enkidu before greeting Siduri, Ruslan, and his daughter Nanshe.
• Enki sent Siduri and Ruslan out of the temple so he could speak privately with Gilgamesh and the others.
• Enki asked whether the matter could be compromised and offered to intervene with the great gods if Ishtar was spared.
• Annanu assured Enki that they did not intend to kill Ishtar, and Enki agreed to persuade the Great God.
• Gilgamesh said they would remain for roughly ten days before returning to Uruk to gather information and prepare for the Anunnaki’s malice.