| “ | Gargarensis: They rush in red and purple / From the red clouds of the morn / From the temples where the yellow gods shut up their eyes in scorn… I will warn you, this once. Arkantos: Enough babbling, coward. Come face me - Atlantis does not fear the likes of you! Gargarensis: It should. I have warned you - continue to pursue me and I will spare neither you, nor your city, nor your son! |
„ |
| ~ Gargarensis meeting Arkantos for the first time. |
Gargarensis is the main antagonist of the video game Age of Mythology, more specifically the Fall of the Trident campaign. He is a cyclops warlord who intends to free the Titan Kronos from Tartarus in order to become immortal.
He was voiced by J. D. Hall.
Biography[]
Background[]
Gargarensis was born in Lerna 59 years before the events of Fall of the Trident. He is a distant descendant of the Greek god Poseidon who had seduced the cyclops' great-grandmother Amymone. Though Gargarensis has not 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 for ruling over all of 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 of the paths to Tartarus are sealed by adamantine doors known as Hades Gates. Since they can only be opened by mortals, Poseidon tasks Gargarensis with releasing the Titans through one of these doors. Believing that he shall be rewarded with immortality by Kronos and Poseidon, Gargarensis accepts the task.
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. Though Kamos gets away with the trident, the Atlantean admiral Arkantos pursues him and takes the trident back before continuing to help finish the Trojan War. Gargarensis also has his other main henchman, the Egyptian bandit leader 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 unearth the passage while he builds a fortress to keep away unwanted visitors.
When Gargarensis first appears, he oversees the prisoners who are digging the passage to Erebus open. 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 and tells Kemsyt to bring Kamos to speak with him.
Gargarensis continues to overlook the passage when Arkantos and his companions — the Greek prince Ajax and the centaur Chiron from Ioklos — fight their way to his fortress in search of the Ioklos prisoners. Arkantos speaks with Gargarensis for the first time while the former stands in the pit and the latter stands 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.
The three heroes enter Erebus and discover Gargarensis' forces trying to open a Hades Gate with a giant ram. Correctly suspecting it is in their best interest to prevent Gargarensis from 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 and states 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[]
As Gargarensis travels with Kamos to Egypt aboard one of the minotaur pirate's ships, they discuss if Arkantos will continue to be a problem. Gargarensis dismisses the issue by 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 would oppose them, Osiris, has been neutralized by Set. Little does he know that Arkantos ends up from Erebus to Egypt before the cyclops. Once 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.
When the heroes reach the city of Abydos, Kemsyt captures them all except for Amanra and imprisons them on a prison island. With the strong army of Gargarensis keeping watch in the city, Amanra attacks the cyclops' stronghold. This prompts his army to reposition itself so that Amanra is able to board a ship and reach the prison island unnoticed. Gargarensis and Kemsyt also go to the prison and interrogate Arkantos and the high priest Setna through 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 with a promise 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.
Arkantos has a dream where Athena reveals the motives of Gargarensis and Poseidon to him. He then ends up joining forces with his son Kastor, Gargarensis and Kamos. 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 three remaining parts of Osiris. Amanra fights Kemsyt in one of his strongholds 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 joins forces with Niordsir, a Norse warrior 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.
After all these skirmishes, Gargarensis oversees the workers who are unearthing the passage to the Underworld that is situated in front of Osiris' pyramid. Kemsyt arrives to inform him about his failure and Kamos' death. Gargarensis furiously demands from Kemsyt the army that the latter promised him. Upon being told that the army is traveling along the coast, the cyclops rides out to make the army move faster. Before leaving, he assigns Kemsyt to keep the workers digging and makes 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 the god's 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 are headed north where the next Hades Gate is located and set sail to pursue them.
Norse Arc[]
As the heroes arrive in the frigid Norselands, Gargarensis has already allied himself with the Norse trickster god Loki who has tricked various Norse clans into fighting each other. Gargarensis, having waited for the heroes, 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, servants of Loki. They afterwards realize that the avalanche sealed off their only pass into Midgard, and they are forced to find another route.
Gargarensis meets Kemsyt in Midgard as giants are destroying a village. Kemsyt reveals that Loki has rendered Thor powerless to oppose them by destroying the latter's hammer. Pleased with this knowledge, Gargarensis comments that he may not kill Kemsyt after all. The heroes run into the old man Skult who is truly a disguised Loki. He tricks them into carrying the banner of the despised frost giant Folstag, which incenses 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.
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 Underworld, 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 that are hot on their trail. The heroes meet the dwarf brothers Brokk and Eitri who have 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 in the hope 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 starts granting him his immortality. However, the newly assembled hammer of Thor closes the gate, and Gargarensis escapes with Kemsyt as the resulting explosion sends everyone out of Nifleheim and onto Midgard.
Back on the surface, 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 are defeated after Odysseus arrives with his own army, and Kemsyt (still disguised as Gargarensis) is executed by Ajax.
The Final Confrontation at Atlantis[]
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.
Gargarensis takes over 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, and the last Hades Gate is revealed. As Arkantos has the other heroes evacuate the Atlanteans, he faces Gargarensis' army. Gargarensis remains standing in front of the Hades Gate where he cannot be reached. When he gets tired of Arkantos' Norse allies who are providing him with units, he summons a dangerous earthquake to destroy the Norse settlement. He soon does the same to the Egyptian allies of Arkantos.
When Arkantos is blessed by Zeus, he becomes a demigod powerful enough to fight against Poseidon's walking statue. After he delivers the statue a fatal strike in the face, Gargarensis can only yell impotently. As the statue grumbles, it drops its trident which impales Gargarensis and kills him instantly. Though the island of Atlantis is destroyed, its citizens are rescued, Kronos remains imprisoned, and Arkantos is rewarded for his heroics by being turned into a god.
Personality[]
Gargarensis is a ruthless and tyrannical warlord who desires to become a god more than anything. Being Poseidon's descendant through his great-grandmother Amymone whom the sea god seduced, the cyclops somehow believes that Poseidon owes him for what he did to Amymone. He is willing to risk the end of the world by releasing the destructive Titans back on earth and cares only about being rewarded with immortality by Kronos. He cares nothing about the lives he ruins in his campaign.
Gargarensis also doesn't think highly of his cowardly yet useful henchman Kemsyt whom he threatens to dispose of for the bandit leader's failures. He eventually forces Kemsyt to impersonate him and be killed in his place while he escapes the north unnoticed. He is also shown to be one to blame others for his setbacks, for he blames his other henchman Kamos for the cyclops' own failure to open the Hades Gate of Erebus by claiming that Arkantos wouldn't have come to intervene had Kamos killed the Atlantean before that.
Gargarensis is arrogant and manipulative, and he often taunts the heroes for their attempts to stop him. While a strong fighter and a cunning general, he doesn't seem to believe in putting himself in harm's way, for he is usually encountered in secure positions where the heroes cannot reach him, or accompanied by his soldiers. He also makes quick escapes when the situation turns south for him. This could be because he doesn't want to die, which is supported by the fact that he desires immortality. He also has a poetic and imaginative side to him, for he utters verses on several occasions.
Powers and Abilities[]
Gargarensis is a warlord with vast resources and troops. Being both a cyclops and a hero unit, he's a strong fighter, has a lot of hitpoints and strikes swiftly with his trident. Like regular cyclops units, he has a Throw special attack. Like them, he can pick up and hurl human units, though he has the additional power to kill many surrounding units as well.
Quotes[]
| “ | Gargarensis: And he strides among the tree-tops and is taller than the trees / And his voice through all the garden is thunder sent to bring… What is it Kemsyt? Kemsyt: Kamos has returned, sir. He lost the trident. He says the Atlantean was headed for Troy. The battle there will not last much longer once he joins the Greeks. Gargarensis: The siege at Troy is already over. Kemsyt: Zeus could still interfere. (*Gargarensis points his trident at Kemsyt*) Gargarensis: Do you question me, Kemsyt? Kemsyt: N-no! Everything is exactly as you said it would be; the fortress, the tunnel, Troy. Gargarensis: Giants and the Genii / Multiplex of wing and eye, / Whose strong obedience broke the sky… Send Kamos, I want to speak with him. Kemsyt: Yes, general. |
„ |
| ~ Gargarensis speaking with Kemsyt in their first appearance. |
| “ | (*chuckles*) This is interesting. I would have thought you smarter than to ignore my warning. Fortunately, there are other routes to Tartarus, so this one can be closed. (*laughs as the earthquake commences*) | „ |
| ~ Gargarensis trapping the heroes in Erebus after they foil his attempt to open the first Hades Gate. |
| “ | Kamos: We should have opened the first gate to Tartarus. Gargarensis: And if you had killed the Atlantean when he came to take the trident back from you, we would have. Kamos: What if he escapes the Underworld? Gargarensis: What if he does? He isn't going to gather an army and bring it to Egypt before I've let the Old One out. Kamos: What of the Egyptian gods? Gargarensis: Only Osiris would stand against us. And Kemsyt claims Set has seen to him. Kamos: Excellent. If Arkantos does manage to escape Erebus, he will not escape me again. Gargarensis: He had better not. Poseidon wishes his sons returned to power. No man from Atlantis will stop this. |
„ |
| ~ Gargarensis speaking with Kamos on their way to Egypt. |
| “ | Arkantos: But why did he want to kill Osiris? (*Gargarensis arrives to interrupt Arkantos' conversation with Setna*) Gargarensis: Then you truly do not know? Arkantos: You always seem to hide behind something when I see you, cyclops. Gargarensis: You interrupted me in Greece, escaped the Underworld, and arrived here before me. There is no way you did this on your own. I will know which gods support you - now. Arkantos: Lord Poseidon watches over all the people of Atlantis. Gargarensis: Lord… Poseidon? Ha-ha-ha-hah! You're more a fool than I expected. Let's see if he's watching over you now… (*Gargarensis raises his trident to stab Arkantos through the bars, only for Arkantos' allies to appear through the cell's back wall*) Ajax: You may feel less like fighting after I pull off your head!) Gargarensis: I will deal with you all in due time. We have more pressing matters to attend to at Osiris' pyramid. |
„ |
| ~ Gargarensis speaking with the imprisoned Arkantos before leaving upon the other heroes' arrival. |
| “ | Gargarensis: So… you failed me again, Kemsyt? Kemsyt: There was nothing I could do, General… Kamos is dead. Gargarensis: And you're about to join him! Can you at least deliver me the army you promised? The passage to the Underworld will soon be open - and you know what manner of creatures lurk within. Kemsyt: They are traveling along the coast now… they will be here soon. Gargarensis: I'm going to ride out and motivate them to travel faster. Kemsyt: What should I do? Gargarensis: Keep the men digging. If they reach the Underworld, pray to Poseidon that you can hold off whatever comes out until I return. |
„ |
| ~ Gargarensis threatening Kemsyt as they are about to open Egypt's Underworld passage. |
| “ | I'm glad you've all gathered here. You're just in time! And I'm glad you've brought the pieces of Osiris with you. Do you see now? Nothing happens. Your god is dead… What… NO! | „ |
| ~ Gargarensis gloating when the reviving ritual of Osiris doesn't seem to work, only for the reviving to commence during his monologue. |
| “ | The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes / And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise… | „ |
| ~ Gargarensis springing the avalanche trap he has prepared for the heroes in the north shores. |
| “ | Kemsyt: What kept you? Gargarensis: It took Arkantos longer to get to the pass than we expected. Has Loki taken care of our opposition? Kemsyt: Yes. There is a god who watches over these people, but Loki found the source of his strength, a hammer, and destroyed it - he has no power without it. Gargarensis: Excellent. I may not have to kill you after all, Kemsyt. Let's go. |
„ |
| ~ Gargarensis meeting up with Kemsyt in Midgard. |
| “ | Kronos, finally you are free. (*the Hades Gate opens and a purple haze envelops Gargarensis*) Yes! My reward! What? (*the new hammer of Thor closes the gate*)
|
„ |
| ~ Gargarensis managing to open Niflheim's Hades Gate and nearly becoming rewarded by Kronos before Thor closes the gate with his new hammer. |
| “ | Kemsyt: I told you! We should have killed Arkantos when we had the chance! Gargarensis: Calm yourself, worm. All is not lost. Kemsyt: What! How can all not be lost? All of the gates have been closed! Skult: We have a plan, my friend. Gargarensis: Yes… Yes! And you get to play an important part in it. (*Gargarensis and Skult both take a step towards Kemsyt*) Kemsyt: What? What plan? |
„ |
| ~ Gargarensis and Skult about to use Kemsyt as a diversion. |
| “ | Kronos! Old One! Give me my reward! | „ |
| ~ Gargarensis pleading for Kronos' assistance in the final battle. |
| “ | Your Norse friends will no longer be able to help you! Feel the power of the gods! | „ |
| ~ Gargarensis destroying the Norse allies of Arkantos during the final battle. |
| “ | Your Egyptian allies have been destroyed, as you will be… | „ |
| ~ Gargarensis destroying the Egyptian allies of Arkantos during the final battle. |
| “ | Ahhh… Zeus has blessed you… it is of no use. Kronos will soon be free and Zeus his slave! | „ |
| ~ Gargarensis underestimating Arkantos when the latter becomes more powerful through the blessing of Zeus. |
| “ | NOOOooooooooo! You promised me, Kronos… | „ |
| ~ Gargarensis breaking down as he is defeated. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The poem verses Gargarensis utters several times are from Lepanto, a poem of G. K. Chesterton.
External Links[]
- Gargarensis on the Age of Empires Wiki
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 Villains
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Age of Mythology Age of Empires III | ||