Caster | Gilgamesh

Player Name: Crystal
Age: 29
Contact: rebreather
Timezone: EST
Other character currently in game: N/A

Character name: Gilgamesh (Caster)
Age: Technically, he's thousands of years old, but appearance-wise, he looks in his prime. So early to mid-20s-ish.
Canon: Fate/Grand Order
Canon point: Between Babylonia and Solomon
History: Wiki link + Archer wiki for Epic of Gilgamesh background!

Three key adjectives: wise, the world's oldest bully, duty-bound

Influential Events:
Clay Shaped Like A Friend
As much fun as it would be to just regurgitate the whole Epic of Gilgamesh (which is more or less canon for Fate's Gilgamesh), there are only a couple of parts that really merit mentioning as far as to how Gilgamesh managed to chill out enough to be less of an absolute dick when compared to his Archer form. The start of these parts begins with the whole of his friendship with a big ol' ball of clay made living via magic sent by the gods to kick Gilgamesh's ass for disobeying them.

After nearly pummeling each other to death, Enkidu (aforementioned ball of clay) and Gilgamesh become friends and go on a number of adventures together. (As you do.) Weirdly enough, this starts the chilling out of Gilgamesh because being a demigod, as it turns out, is actually pretty dang isolating. Enkidu is able to not only be his equal in power but also understand how/why Gilgamesh arrives at the conclusions he does regarding the gods and the future of humanity. This allows Gilgamesh to be a little less self-centered and relate to another person. What unfortunately spurs on the greatest amount of growth for Gilgamesh as far as his friendship with Enkidu, however, is their death.

Where before he was carefree and focused on adventuring and becoming the most extreme episode of Hoarders ever filmed, Gilgamesh's focus was forced to shift to that of his own mortality. Seeing himself accepting of the role of observer when it comes to humanity (even if he completely refused to use that to the advantage of the gods), Gilgamesh felt he could not abandon that role as death would inevitably force him to do. Thus, he became singularly focused on not dying and continuing to remain in his role to observe humanity until its end. For once, Gilgamesh's life and duty had weight and meaning beyond the petty sense of entitlement that came with it.

Or, in other words, Enkidu's death sends Gilgamesh on the demigod equivalent of a mid-life crisis.

A Witty Snakes on a Plane Joke
Rather than buying a leather jacket, wearing pants that are too tight, and buying a motorcycle he doesn't know how to drive (all of that is more of an Archer problem), Gilgamesh decides to set out on one final journal to obtain immortality. Long story short, he's successful! ...For a little bit. And then a snake eats the Herb of Immortality, sheds its skin, and has a great day/life. As for Gilgamesh? Rather than throwing a colossal temper tantrum or starting all over again, he actually ends up laughing it off.

More or less, Gilgamesh comes to realize that this entire adventure for immortality was a little dumb as far as being able to act as the observer of humanity or King of Uruk. It was, however, necessary for him to undergo that experience for truly adopting the perspective of humans. While amassing his previous treasures, Gilgamesh didn't exactly get all that hyped adding to his collection. Obtaining immortality though? After getting the Herb of Immortality, Gilgamesh for the first time in decades was able to relax to such a point that he let go of any anxieties he had been holding onto and experience a joy he'd never known before. When his greatest accomplishment ended up gobbled up by a snake cruising for a snack, Gilgamesh went full Hannah Montana and finally got the best of both worlds as much like all human experiences, his joy ultimately had been temporary.

This understanding ends up being incredibly important for Gilgamesh for the remainder of his life.

World's Best Boss King Tyrant?
Because Gilgamesh was a typical millennial and shirking his responsibilities due to his extreme amounts of existential dread, Uruk kinda sorta really fell apart in his absence during the decades he was looking for immortality. So, there was a lot of work that needed to be done to restore Uruk to its former glory.

Gilgamesh's personal growth did not include becoming a kinder ruler. Just as before, Gilgamesh's word was absolute with no tolerance for being questioned or challenged. He also didn't change his mind when it came to the gods and still firmly believed that their power would only continue to fade as humanity grew and developed. But his growth from his journey did allow Gilgamesh to be the sort of ruler capable of adopting more nuanced perspectives when reaching a decision. For example, despite the fact that he knew without a doubt that Uruk would decline after his inevitable death, he did not see that as a reason not to continue pushing for its growth and development during his lifetime. Gilgamesh was also a little more intentional in his rule when it came to the longevity of his laws; he intended for his laws to serve as a template and model for humanity to ensure its continued survival beyond him. This differs significantly from his previous means of ruling, which could often fall into ruling based on whatever suited his whims or fancy at the time.

Big Damn Hero
Lastly, we come to the events of the Babylonia Singularity aka where everyone gets mad that they care about Gilgamesh all of a sudden because he's actually a good boy??? What the fuck.

Gilgamesh's ability of clairvoyance has allowed him to see the future of Uruk's fall to Tiamet where he is alone at the very end. Yet, he opts not to take this vision lying down and enlists the help of the protagonist and a motley crew of Servants to prepare Uruk and the surrounding city-states for the end times. During this time, Gilgamesh cannot intervene too much directly by way of running off and getting into fights as he would have in his earlier reign, and must rely on the others to take care of those matters as he continues to rule over his people until the bitter end.

Because Gilgamesh recognizes the importance of the protagonist's success, it's now that he adopts somewhat of an instructor or mentor role. For the most part, he's still a bully by offering more criticism than praise, but everything that he ends up sending the protagonist to do is ultimately a lesson. While nothing they do is really ever going to stop Tiamet's destruction (even if there's a little bit of minimizing it since Gilgamesh's vision doesn't come entirely true), Gilgamesh is teaching the protagonist the lessons he's learned throughout his life -- particularly after his quest for immortality -- for them to carry beyond this singularity. This is far more than could ever be expected from Gilgamesh in the past even shortly after his return from his journey. But with these extraordinary circumstances, Gilgamesh knew he needed to step up to the plate.

Throughout the events of the singularity, it becomes obvious that Gilgamesh ends up being everything that he was meant to be. Even though the gods intended for Gilgamesh to side with them and preserve their power in the world, he truly was able to obtain the balance between the perspectives of the gods and humanity. He is able to lay the foundation for human civilization through his reign and ensure the preservation of humanity beyond its unnatural end through his instruction of the protagonist.


Link to Samples: Sample 1; Sample 2

Chosen path: Cleric
7 Abilities: Channel Divinity, Cure Wounds, Ceremony, Sacred Flame, Silence, Zone of Truth

I would also like for Gilgamesh to retain his access to Gate of Babylon aka his Noble Phantasm that's basically a bag of holding. However, because the crap Gilgamesh has in there (even as a Caster) is insanely OP, I would propose that the limitation be that it doesn't always work exactly as intended. Some examples of ways in which it could fail would be: incorrect items being pulled; items may come out and yet be unable to be put back in (right away or potentially forever); items only coming out partially and then getting stuck; straight up nothing happening; multiple items coming out that were or weren't asked for, etc. I'm cool with RNG directly with mods whenever using it or just having a table of some kind and RNG it myself. Whatever is easiest.

Why this path?: Being a demigod, Gilgamesh was meant to be the conduit for the gods to maintain their dominion over humanity. In the long run, Gilgamesh came to the conclusion of "fuck that" because the Age of the Gods was coming to an end, and the gods needed to put on their big god and goddess panties on and deal with it. Thus, he very purposefully allowed for humanity to do its thing and told the gods (especially Ishtar) to fuck right off.

...Do you have any idea how much being a cleric will piss him off?

Now, I know. I know. The Bureau and the Reclaimers don't really deserve a mean (and by extension, likely terrible) cleric like this, but sometimes what we need isn't always what we deserve.