Trust, Loyalty and Vulnerability (or Everyone has their Kryptonite and their Lex Luthor)

In many epics, the hero has to struggle with the question of who he can trust. In "The Song of the Cid", the Cid entrusts his daughters to the king who are very dear to him. They function as his weak spot. Nevertheless, he lets the king decide who they marry and does not question his choice at all. The king makes a very poor choice and the daughter's of the Cid end up half dead on the side of a road abandoned and beaten by they treacherous husbands. Yet, even when that happens, the Cid does not blame the king for choosing such unworthy husbands. He even lets the king decide about the same issue for a second time. His loyalty almost seems to be blind faith in his leader.

In "Das Nibelungenlied", Siegfried tells his wife Kriemhild about his vulnerable spot because he is certain that she is never going to tell anybody about this. Kriemhild on the other hand trusts her uncle Hagen, when he is asking her about Siegfried's weak spot. She is naive and tells him about the place between his shoulders where Siegfried can be wounded. Hagen lets her mark the place, attacks Siegfried from behind and kills him.  

Almost every single epic hero has a weak spot: Achilles has his heel and Siegfried the spot between his shoulders. Arguably, the daughters are the Cid's vulnerable spot and Gilgamesh's is certainly Enkidu. It is like Superman and the Kryptonite. The only way of wounding the hero or of defeating him is attack his weak spot. Therefore, the hero has a tough decision to make. He either has to keep his vulnerability secret or he has to tell their secret to a trustworthy person. But if he trusts somebody he can, of course, be betrayed.

The Daughters of the Cid

Hagen kills Siegfried

The Arrogance of the Epic Hero (or You kinda asked for that...)

It is a human flaw that we become increasingly arrogant the more we achieve. After proving that they are strong and heroic for a couple of times, epic heroes become vain and to bold. They just start doing reckless things because they think that they can get away with stuff like that. 

A good example for this kind of behavior is Odysseus. The hero of the Trojan War who came up with the brilliant Trojan horse idea, is struggling to get back into his home country Ithaca and lands on this island which is inhabited by Polyphemus, a cyclops and Poseidon's SON. Knowing how vengeful ancient Greek gods can be you should be really alarmed already. But what is our brilliant hero doing? He tricks the cyclops so that he and his men can escape from the cave. He is more than just successful in doing so. Polyphemus ends up blind and screams that Nobody has hurt him. Brilliant, so far. But then suddenly, as Odysseus is reaching his ship, he starts bragging and gives away his name. If that isn't arrogant, then I don't know what is. So it is not surprising that Poseidon eventually takes revenge for his son.

Another smart guy is Gilgamesh. First off, he starts out as this very arrogant guy who sleeps with every virgin in town because he is the most powerful man. This goes on until Enkidu challenges him and tells him that he disapproves of his practice. The second time Gilgamesh proves his hubris is when he kills Humbaba the monster who was put in the Cedar Forest by the gods to terrify men. He just disregards the gods will. On top of that, he proves his arrogance when Ishtar tries to make him her lover. He does not just reject her but he humiliates her. But all of these deeds can, of course, not go unpunished. Therefore, his best friend Enkidu has to die.

Thus, arrogance is certainly another characteristic of the epic hero. However, after the hero is punished for his arrogant behavior, he grows and changes that. So this is part of the hero becoming mature. Whereas, in antique tragedies, the hubris brings about the hero's downfall, it   only leads to a severe punishment for him in the epic.

Odysseus blinding Polyphemus

The Temptation of the Hero (or You Better Do What She Says!)

In many cases, heroes in the epic are tempted. Most often it seems that temptation is presented as a sexual offering and the seductresses are most often goddesses or mythical creatures. However, it is unclear whether it is better to pass or fail these tests because not giving in to a goddess' advances almost always seems to end badly.

Particularly in the Odyssey, we meet a bunch of seductresses. They appear in very different shapes: a nymph, an enchantress, and sea monsters such as the Sirens. First, he gives in to the nymph Calypso and then he becomes the lover of the enchantress Circe. He cannot resist the temptation. Admittedly, he has his reasons for doing so (staying alive), yet, he does not resist the women’s temptations and doesn’t remain faithful to his wife Penelope. But it seems to be the wiser decision to make because he gains a lot of advantages out of being their lover. Both help him to go on with his journey and give him advice. The only time he does resist, he is tied to a ship's mast and this is probably for the better. He only does not jump into the water when he hear the song of the Sirens because he is prevented from doing so. Therefore, Odysseus proves that he can resist but that most often it is the wiser decision to give in.

In contrast to Odysseus, Gilgamesh is able to withstand the sexual advances of the goddess that is tempting him: Ishtar. Instead of giving in to her offers, he humiliates her. However, his arrogant rejection of her wish as well as the fact that he ridicules her, have terrible consequences for him. He is punished with the loss of Enkidu. Ishtar takes revenge on him. Yet, it would not have paid off for Gilgamesh to become Ishtar’s lover since she is very fickle and her previous lovers all ended up miserable. So either way, it seems to be unfortunate if you have to deal with Ishtar for men always end up miserable after dealing with her.

Thus, in comparison it seems to be the wiser decision to give in to temptation, i.e. when a goddess offers you to be her lover you better say yes or you are going to regret this because her wrath will destroy you. Giving in to a temptation is not necessarily a weakness of the hero but can also show his strength: Odysseus for instance does not like being Calypsos lover but he endures that because it is what he has to do. And he benefits from that in the end because she helps him to go home.

Odysseus and Calypso

Gilgamesh and Ishtar 

Dreams and Omens (or Mr. Sandman, Bring Me a Dream)

Foreshadowing is somehow vital to the epic. The reader knows how the story is going to end mostly from the beginning on. This knowledge is either provided by a prolog, and invocation or directly through the story. If the story gives away the ending, then this happens mostly through dreams that one of the protagonists has. 

In "The Epic of Gilgamesh", on their journey to the Cedar Forest Gilgamesh and Enkidu are always performing a dream ritual before they are going to sleep. Gilgamesh is having five horrible dreams about falling mountains, thunderstorms, wild bulls, and a thunderbird that breathes fire. However, he is unable to understand what these dreams mean. Enkidu is interpreting them, as a good sign and he is certain that they are going to defeat Humbaba. 

In the Odyssey, the future is given away by omens sent by the gods. Not everybody, however, can interpret them. Apparently, you have to be skilled in order to be able to read these signs. Helen for instance reads an eagle carrying a goose stolen from a pen swoops down beside him as an omen that Odysseus is about to swoop down on his home and exact revenge on the suitors. Also there is the scene where the prophet has the vision about the walls of the palace that will be dripping in the blood of the suitors.

In "Das Nibelungenlied", Kriemhild has a nightmare about her falcon that is killed by two eagles. She, too, has to ask somebody for advice because she doesn't know what to make of that. Her mother Ute tells her that the falcon is her future lover and that he is going to die.

As we can see, omens and dreams appear in a number of epics. Not everyone, however, is able to read them. Most often the hero has to ask somebody to interpret the sign for him. Apparently, you have to have a special skill to be able to read omens. And indeed, it is evident that the characters who possess this skill are either women (or even enchantresses) or in Enkidu's case a man created by the gods (he is not human). Apart from that, the dreams and omens are a major foreshadowing device because they give away the further plot.

Kriemhild's Dream