Character Discussion Thread #1: Gilgamesh Varlash

[Pluto]

There will be a new character thread next week.
~ ~ ~
The protagonist of this story, and he's ultimately the face of Legend:

Proclaimed Son of The Great White Wolf, Alphonse Varlash. The fourteen year old Gilgamesh (Gil) hails from the small town of Illik not far from the the Black mountains in which Blackwood Academy was founded upon. He is primarily English. The other side hails from a more southern portion of Europe and into some parts of Asia.

His name, Gilgamesh, originates from Egyptian mythology. A name given to him by his mother for the light she saw in his eyes. The story of Gilgamesh by folklore is a prince who was two thirds a god, and one third a man.

An aloof boy with a love for fighting and taking great pride in himself and his father, he appears in the very first chapter of the story with little more then ambition and the dream to become a Legend.

Good with his fists, good with his words, he specializes in a primal form of Kickboxing utilizing his electric current, and a very tenative form of Judo typically used to restrain, control, and shut down his opponent with the potent nature of his abilities.

His morals are more or less ambiguous, when confronted by Hojo about the issues of bullying, he showed no hesitation nor ill will toward the bullies and simply asked Hojo, "What if I became your bully instead?"

Random Fact 1: His favorite food is Caribou
Random Fact 2: His favorite season is winter.
Random Fact 3: His birthday is December 5th.

I've spent alot of time developing his character, and despite the age this story takes place in Gil is a much more modern protagonist then his is a standard shounen one.

That being said, his character development is not perfect, and there is a long road between here and the end of the story.

What more do you want to see from this character?

Discuss.

[Juggers]

I'd like to see him interacting with more characters, namely Tafari and Bar. I'd also like to see him lose a match against a peer and deal with that.

[Johnnu]

I'd actually like to see him get some tutelage from Juniors like a Day off he gets bored asks for extra training.

Oh oh!
And eventually Like maybe Senior
When he punches lightning strikes at his fist

[Pluto]

Discuss moar shit in this thread about Gil, this is getting changed out on Monday and not today because there is alot more that needs to be said about the protagonist.

Hojo will be next.

[Juggers]

So Gil's your typical ambitious kid, striving for what he's going to be when he grows up. He's not into academics though, which is a bit confusing. You'd expect a kid like that to study as much as he could if he wasn't training, to learn all that he could about what he's going to become and how best to get there. He's got Hojo to fall back on, but he has to know that he'll be lost in making decisions if he's not up to snuff himself in knowledge and intelligence.

Thus, I was wondering what steps Gil takes to achieve his goal in his spare time other than physically training his ass off. Is there a certain school subject that he's very interested in, like Arela who's into history, and Hojo who's into general ken theory and abilities? He's obviously not that into history since he doesn't really care to know all his father's accomplishments, but ken theory seems up his alley since he's very interested in how he stacks up against opponents of other elements.

Gil seems to be a loner as well, though he made friends quickly enough with Luna and Hojo and Abram. He seems to keep others, like Arela and Bar at arm's length. I was wondering what he thinks about the people he's met so far. Here's my theories:

Abram: really likes him, sees great potential in him, though doesn't really value his opinion that much
Hojo: closest to him of course but maybe doesn't like him very much as a person, however greatly values his knowledge and learned opinion, perhaps considers him a project to work on to try to influence his negative mindset and apathetic nature
Arela: tolerates her and admires her spunk but doesn't get very close to her, turned off maybe because of her tendency to complain and pout about things
Luna: instant liking to her, perhaps sees a lot of himself in her, perhaps again taking her in as a project to influence her attitude
Daniel: working respect but not overly so, doesn't see much use in seeking his advice but likes him pretty well
Hineas: deep respect, greatly values his opinion, taking him on as a mentor more than other teachers (as expected)
Charon: little respect, seems to have fun treating this professor as an equal rather than a superior
Bar: just plain doesn't want to get to know him
Rei-Mi: early to tell, but seems to dislike her because she takes an instant liking to Bar
Donovan: respects as an opponent but considers them finished as rivals, already "over him" so to speak
Seiya: never knew him or knew of him, I'm wondering if they ever met
Ganbi: respects as an opponent but is already "over him" like Donovan, not much more consideration, perhaps doesn't recognize him as a workable ally
Ares: instant animosity, the next big benchmark in his eyes
Tafari: quiet animosity, doesn't want to tackle this benchmark very soon, maybe he dreads the confrontation
Other Juniors: respects them as fighters but doesn't seek to know more about them

[Tyki Mikk]

One thing you need to ask yourself is what separates Gil from all the other wanna-get-stronger main protagonists of other anime/manga/story/shows that are already out there. Right now, he is just a bit flat and needs more depth.

Wanting to be strong is great and all, but why he wants to be that way isn't revealed much.

But I've said this and more on MSN months ago, so stopping now.

[Juggers]

Well you can pretty much infer from the setting that Gil sees strength as the only way toward independence. He doesn't want anyone telling him what to do or leading him down any path, and the only way someone with ken can walk his own way is to become real strong.

It's very much counter to people like Naruto and Luffy who can just quit one day and become regular people. Gil doesn't have that luxury, as he getting stronger is necessary to achieve his own freedom and shed the shackles society has put on him.

[Tyki Mikk]

And therein lies the problem, we have to rely on the setting and assume that is the reason why Gil wants to become strong, even though his comments to Hojo make it clear he is oblivious to the politics involving the elemental-human mentality.

Though yes, the setting being so much a counter to anime like Naruto and One Piece is one of the very memorable things about Legend.

[Juggers]

There's probably not a whole lot going on behind the scenes with Gil. His father prolly just stressed strength as a way toward independence and didn't bother filling in any details. So the politics come as something of a shock to him when he hears from Hojo, but his answer also impresses Hojo IIRC. I'm guessing his father had a big influence on him and conditioned his current mindset.

Maybe the Great White Wolf didn't want to get too specific with Gil because he might make him bitter and hateful toward society, so he tried to maintain the boy's innocense for as long as he could while still pounding into his mind to always work to get stronger so he can become a Legend and be a leader to his people.

After all, one thing Gil has shown is a willingness to get close to people who are able to see things like he does. He had that scene with Abram where he confided in him his ambitions, and he's constantly giving pep talks and manly advice to Hojo.

I'm thinking it all comes back to his father, and that's the scene where Gil's personality will really come out, when they finally meet on panel. I think the story so far has been leading up to that. It doesn't fill you in on everything as quick as One Piece or Naruto, but I think the other characters are doing a nice job of picking up the slack in making the story interesting.

Looks we're pulling a Kishi. "Gil has to wait."

[Pluto]

Juggalo, actually hit the nail on the head pretty hard in one of his earlier posts, so much so I'm impressed at your understand of his character.

To me, personally, not as the guy who imagined him, Gil has made leaps and bounds compared to how he was in the original. He was highly dependent on his Varlash name, his father, and his own abilities, and very much a Naruto or a Luffy he had no real reason to do much of anything other then be what he wanted and he was very standard and textbook.

"Gil has to wait" is accurate, but the original model for this character was a good portion of what I like about Luffy and OP's style, you don't always have to be told about a characters good points, and you can't tell just by looking.

Is there alot more to wait for his character? Indeed.

I've never confirmed anything about his backhistory, his name, his home, nothing. There was no backround check on Gilgamesh, from day one its been his story of growing to becoming a Legend, and not a minute sooner.

Are there alot more twists to come? Undoubtedly so.

But the idea behind him is very modern, he's not the type you can read by just looking at him, and his manners are probably the few you can see stay very simple and consistent for awhile but remain perfectly in character when he drops a bombshell and says something much more challenging.