Gilgamesh (Final Fantasy V)





Gilgamesh is a recurring boss and a villain in Final Fantasy V. The right hand man of Exdeath and declaring Bartz Klauser his rival, Gilgamesh fights the Warriors of Light on many occasions. Though antagonistic toward the party, Gilgamesh serves as comic relief.

Gilgamesh is the first recurring boss in the Final Fantasy series, and has since made numerous appearances in the series retaining many of his characteristics from Final Fantasy V, such as his affinity to search out swords of legend.

Appearance and Personality
Gilgamesh has a pale gray complexion, thick red/orange armor and cape, and is a humanoid. His sprite contains a battle pose with his knee bent forward, presumably signifying readiness for combat. He wields a lance, hinting that he is a Dragoon (he also uses the Jump in one of his encounters).

While he is Exdeath's right man, Gilgamesh is not necessarily evil, and does not share Exdeath's goals. Rather, Gilgamesh fights mostly to prove himself and as a challenge. During their encounters Gilgamesh exchanges banter with the Warriors of Light and while he claims to be a powerful fighter, and his lore supports this, he often gives the Warriors excuses for running away mid-battle. Gilgamesh speaks in a tone that appears to be upper class, though he is clumsy and has comedic value.

After his "morphing time" in Castle Exdeath, Gilgamesh's true form is revealed. He has multiple limbs, all of which wield different weapons, and no longer retains his sprite's battle pose, instead standing tall and upright. His armor has thinned as he appears more threatening with his weapons instead. Despite his appearance change, Gilgamesh's personality remains the same.

Story
In an interview, Hironobu Sakaguchi alludes to Gilgamesh's early life of growing up in a village of warriors. The Genji equipment sets were ancient and precious sets of armor from the village passed on to its best warriors upon proving their worth in battle. It is said that the centuries of "blood, sweat and dust" accumulated on the Genji equipment have made them extremely resistant.

Gilgamesh came to work for Exdeath and is commanded to guard the prisoners Bartz, Lenna, and Faris in Castle Exdeath. Galuf saves the trio and easily defeats Gilgamesh, and the latter runs off. When the party crosses the Big Bridge after escaping Castle Exdeath Gilgamesh halts their path. They defeat him even though he casts Protect, Shell and Haste on himself, and he makes up an excuse and runs off again.

Gilgamesh attacks the ship the party and Xezat are on during the battle to unlock the barrier surrounding Castle Exdeath, and brings an ally with him: Enkidu. The party defeats him, and Gilgamesh is thrown into the ocean after attempting to take Galuf with him. Swearing revenge, he swims off.

When the party attacks Castle Exdeath Gilgamesh attacks again and halfway through the battle transforms into his true form, hoping to use the blade he had taken from a chest shortly before the fight, the Excalibur, to defeat the party. Finding himself unable to hurt the party, the sword turns out to be the Excalipoor, a weak replica of the Excalibur. Exdeath banishes Gilgamesh to the Void as punishment for his incompetence.

Gilgamesh is lost in the Void, fighting monster after monster. When Gilgamesh runs into Bartz's party in the Void he at first mistakes them for monsters before recognizing them. Gilgamesh no longer wishes to serve Exdeath and simply wants to leave the Void, but realizes there is no way to do this. When the party attacks Necrophobe, Gilgamesh arrives to support the party. He sacrifices himself to save them and defeat Necrophobe, but if the party defeats Necrophobe before Gilgamesh sacrifices himself, he can be considered alive, although he will not appear again.

Battle
Gilgamesh is a recurring boss who knows many different Blue Magic spells, as well as the Dragoon's Jump.