Gargarensis

"I have warned you - continue to pursue me and I will spare neither you, nor your city, nor your son!"

- Gargarensis warning Arkantos not to intervene with his goals when they first meet.

Gargarensis is the main antagonist of the video game Age of Mythology, more specifically the Fall of the Trident campaign. He's a cyclops warlord who intends to free the Titan Kronos from Tartarus in order to become immortal.

He was voiced by J.D. Hall.

Background
Gargarensis was born in Lerna fifty-nine years before the events of Fall of the Trident. He was a distant descendant of the Greek god Poseidon who had seduced the cyclops' great-grandmother Amymone. Though Gargarensis hasn't forgiven Poseidon for what he did to Amymone, the cyclops figures that the sea god owes him. Rather than try to exact vengeance against Poseidon, Gargarensis wants to become a god more than anything else.

Poseidon envies his brother Zeus of ruling over all the heavens and is promised power by Kronos in exchange for his and the other Titans' liberation from Tartarus, the deepest part of the Underworld. While the Underworld can be entered from different places, all the paths to Tartarus are sealed by adamantine doors know as Hades Gates. Since they can be only opened by mortals, Poseidon tasks Gargarensis with releasing the Titans through one of these doors. Gargarensis accepts the task, believing that he shall be rewarded with immortality by Kronos and Poseidon.

Greek Arc
At the beginning of the campaign, Gargarensis sends one of his two main henchmen, the minotaur pirate Kamos to attack Atlantis and steal a trident from a statue of Poseidon, the civilization's patron. While Kamos flees with the trident, he's pursued down by the Atlantean admiral Arkantos who takes the trident back before continuing to help finish the Trojan War. Gargarensis also has his other main henchman, the Egyptian bandit-assassin Kemsyt to attack the port city of Ioklos after its army has left to join the Trojan War. Kemsyt brings some of the citizens to a northern countryside where the passage to Erebus, the Greek section of the Underworld, is located. Gargarensis forces the prisoners to dig the passage from the ground while he builds a fortress to keep away unwanted visitors.

Gargarensis first appears at the closing cinematic of the campaign's sixth scenario, overseeing the prisoners digging open the passage to Erebus. Kemsyt arrives to inform him that Kamos has lost the trident and Arkantos has joined the Trojan War. Gargarensis correctly deduces that Troy's siege has ended (as happened in the sixth scenario) and tells Kemsyt to bring Kamos to speak with him.

In the eight scenario, Arkantos and his companions — the Greek prince Ajax and the centaur Chiron from Ioklos — arrive at Gargarensis' fortress in search of the Ioklos prisoners brought there. For the entire scenario, Gargarensis stands at the edge of the pit that has Erebus' passage at its bottom. After the heroes fight their way through to the pit, Arkantos speaks with Gargarensis for the first time, with the former standing in the pit and the latter standing at the edge of it. Gargarensis warns the Atlantean to keep out of his business or else Arkantos will be destroyed along with Atlantis and his son Kastor. As two meteors rain on Arkantos' men, Gargarensis jumps at the passage and enters the Underworld.

In the ninth scenario, the three heroes enter Erebus and discover Gargarensis' forces trying to open a Hades Gate with a giant ram. Correctly suspecting nothing good will come out of Gargarensis opening the gate, they proceed to attack the ram. Gargarensis first appears by arriving at the ram, but he leaves when the heroes first attack it. After the ram is destroyed, Gargarensis mocks the heroes from a high ground, stating that there are other routes to Tartarus. As he laughs, an earthquake traps the heroes in the Underworld, forcing them to find another way out.

Egypt Arc
In the tenth scenario closing cinematic, Gargarensis is traveling with Kamos to Egypt aboard one of the minotaur pirate's ships. They discuss if Arkantos will continue to be a problem, with Gargarensis saying that even if the Atlantean escapes from Erebus, he can never build up an army and bring it to Egypt before Kronos is released. He also says that the only Egyptian god who'd oppose them, Osiris, has been neutralized by Set. Little does he know that Arkantos ends up from Erebus into Egypt before the cyclops. There he allies with Amanra, a mercenary servant of Isis and Osiris, against her nemesis Kemsyt. Osiris has been killed and cut to four pieces by Set, but he can be revived by reassembling his body parts. If one piece is destroyed, however, Osiris cannot return.

In the fourteenth scenario, Kemsyt captures all the heroes except for Amanra when they arrive in the city of Abydos, imprisoning them on a prison island. With the strong army of Gargarensis blocking her way to a ship, Amanra attacks the cyclops' stronghold. This prompts his army to move from Amanra's path to the ship, allowing her to reach the prison island. In the closing cinematic, Gargarensis and Kemsyt interrogate the imprisoned Arkantos and the high priest Setna through the bars. The cyclops swears to find out which deity is supporting Arkantos, but when Arkantos declares it to be Poseidon, Gargarensis laughs and attempts to stab the Atlantean through bars. However, Amanra and the other heroes appear behind Arkantos. Gargarensis then retreats with Kemsyt to Osiris' pyramid, promising to deal with the heroes in due time. The heroes then fight against Kemsyt and Kamos' troops before they escape from the city with the first piece of Osisis.

While Arkantos dreams in the sixteenth scenario, he's revealed the motives of Gargarensis and Poseidon by Athena. He then ends up joining forces with his son Kastor, Gargarensis and Kamos, with the two villains becoming playable for the rest of the scenario. They destroy an enemy empire that resembles Atlantis, after which Athena tells that Atlantis will share the empire's fate if Gargarensis manages to free Kronos.

The heroes split up across Egypt to recover the remaining three parts of Osiris. Amanra fights Kemsyt in his offshore stronghold while Arkantos and Ajax face off against Kamos. Kemsyt manages to escape while Kamos is killed. Chiron in turn faces Gargarensis' troops while trying to recover Osiris' head from a great Tamarisk tree. He's joined by a Norse warrior Niordsir who has followed Gargarensis from Midgard. He explains that the cyclops has united the giants that have ruined much of Midgard, and that the Norsemen hope to prevent Ragnarok - the end of the world - by stopping Gargarensis.

In the twentieth scenario, Gargarensis oversees the workers digging open the passage to the Underworld situated in front of Osiris' pyramid. Kemsyt arrives to inform him of his failure and Kamos' death. Furious, Gargarensis demands from Kemsyt the army he promised. Upon being informed that the army is traveling along the coast, the cyclops rides out to make the army move faster, assigning Kemsyt to keep the workers digging and making it clear he won't care if the bandit will be killed by the Underworld's creatures. While the cyclops is gone, the heroes bring the four pieces of Osiris in front of his pyramid. As the priests begin the reviving ritual, Gargarensis arrives with Kemsyt's army. He starts bragging that Osiris is dead, but then the ritual takes effect and Osiris appears in flesh and blood. He then proceeds to destroy Kemsyt's army, but Gargarensis and Kemsyt manage to escape on a ship. The heroes, however, know that they're headed north where the next Hades Gate is located and set sail to pursue them.

Norse Arc
In the twenty-second scenario, the heroes arrive in the frigid norse lands where Gargarensis has allied with the Norse trickster god Loki who has tricked various Norse clans into fighting each other. Having waited for the heroes, Gargarensis triggers an avalanche that scatters the heroes over the area. As they reunite, they have to fight off the cyclops' troops as well as the Dwarf Eaters and Lost Souls, other servants of Loki. They afterwards realize that the avalanche sealed off their only pass into Midgard, forcing them to find another route.

In the twenty-third scenario closing cinematic, Gargarensis reaches Kemsyt in Midgard as giants are destroying a village. Kemsyt informs that Loki has destroyed Thor's hammer, rendering the god powerless to oppose them. Pleased with this knowledge, Gargarensis comments that he may not kill Kemsyt after all. Afterwards the heroes run into the old man Skult who's truly a disguised Loki. He tricks them into carrying the banner of the despised frost giant Folstag, incensing some Norse clans into attacking them. After he escapes, the valkyrie Reginleif joins up with the heroes to unite the remaining clans against Gargarensis before he can ignite Ragnarok.

In the twenty-seventh scenario, the heroes learn that Gargarensis has found the entrance to the Underworld (Niflheim), the Well of Urd, and built a fortress around it a few days before the heroes' arrival. As they fight their way to the Well, Gargarensis lingers by the Well before the heroes are too close. He has entered Niflheim by the time the heroes reach the Well.

In the twenty-eight scenario, the heroes find Gargarensis trying to break Niflheim's Hades Gate with his giant ram. They kill the fire giants protecting the ram, but Gargarensis' reinforcements force them to retreat to the Well. Chiron sacrifices his life to stop the fire giants hot on their trail. In the next scenario, the heroes meet the dwarf brothers Brokk and Eitri who've followed them to Niflheim in order build a new hammer for Thor. With Gargarensis' forces at the Hades Gate too strong for them, the heroes assist the dwarves, hoping that Thor can seal the gate with his new hammer. Gargarensis manages to damage the gate sufficiently, and Kronos starts opening it. Gargarensis is then enveloped by a purple haze as the Titan begins to grant him his immortality. However, the newly assembled hammer of Thor closes the gate, and Gargarensis escapes with Kemsyt as a resulting explosion sends everyone out of Nifleheim and onto Midgard.

In the thirtieth scenario, Gargarensis is with Skult and Kemsyt as the latter berates him for not killing Arkantos when they had the chance. Gargarensis and Skult assure Kemsyt that all is not lost because they have a plan in which Kemsyt gets to play an important role. Gargarensis leaves the north and sets sail to Atlantis where the last Hades Gate is located. Meanwhile, Skult disguises Kemsyt as Gargarensis, and they attack the heroes with a large army. They're defeated after Odysseus arrives with his own army, and Kemsyt (still disguised as Gargarensis) is executed by Ajax.

The Final Confrontation at Atlantis
In the second last scenario, Arkantos sails with Ajax and Amanra back to Atlantis, but when they arrive, the severed head of "Gargarensis" turns out to be that of Kemsyt. The real Gargarensis has already laid siege to Atlantis, and Arkantos proceeds to rescue citizens. In the final scenario, Gargarensis enters the great temple where he pleads for Kronos' assistance. A large statue of Poseidon comes to life, and it proceeds to strike the ground with its trident, revealing the Hades Gate located beneath Atlantis. As Arkantos makes the other heroes to evacuate the Atlanteans, he faces Gargarensis' army. Gargarensis spends the entire scenario standing in front of the Hades Gate where he can't be reached. After Arkantos is blessed by Zeus, he becomes a demi-god powerful enough to fight against Poseidon's walking statue. After he delivers the statue a fatal strike on the head, Gargarensis call only yell impotently. As the statue grumbles, it drops it trident which impales Gargarensis, killing him instantly. Though the island of Atlantis is destroyed, its citizens are rescued, Kronos remains imprisoned, and Arkantos becomes a god.

Trivia

 * The poem verses Gargarensis utters several times are from Lepanto, a poem of G. K. Chesterton.