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Before analyzing Enkidu’s dream, which depicts his “journey” into the underworld, it proves imperative to briefly explain what initiated Enkidu’s downfall. To explicate, because Gilgamesh and Enkidu had conquered the Bull of Heaven, defeated Huwawa, and removed the largest cedar tree from the Cedar Forest, the gods resolved one of the two heroes had to perish. The heroes’ insolence towards the gods and hubris, instigate Enkidu’s inescapable fate, his death.

Moving along, this segment of the epic reiterates the theme that dominates The Epic of Gilgamesh,--humanities’ mortality. The first line immediately foreshadows the inevitability of death, yet it also portrays death as the terminus for all humans. To elucidate, Enkidu indicates that “no one comes back [from the House of Darkness.]” Moreover, the author’s diction, “stillness” and “dust,” symbolizes the inescapability from death, and the afterworld as well. The term “stillness,” in this passage, generates a feeling of futility and, therefore, surrender by the dead. The dead comprehend they cannot escape the House of Darkness, so they do not attempt to escape. As a consequence, literally and figuratively, “dust” accumulates on the door and bolt, for they are never utilized. The door, which separates the living from dead, and the bolt ensure the permanence of that division.

Moreover, the author depicts the underworld as lacking any sort of light. Once again, this highlights the futility of struggling to escape death. To explain, light, in this instance, symbolizes hope; however, since light does not exist in the underworld, hope of evading death does not exist. In other words, those alive cannot escape death, and the dead cannot revert to their living state. Also, on a more superficial level, the lack of light may also symbolize an additional aspect of the author’s theme, the undiscriminating nature of death. That is, death comes to all, for it is blind to worldly social status, age and gender. Therefore, in the underworld all are equal. This interpretation is validated by Enkidu’s catalogue of those he encountered in the netherworld. Enkidu references kings, princes, high priests, chanters and anointers. This list illustrates the composition of the underworld, in other words, kings and anointers, who on earth would not live side by side, agonize together in the House of No Return.

Lastly, the concept of the underworld representing a distinct spiritual plane is conveyed by the depiction of the dead’s garments, which were composed of feathers. In various cultures, feathers symbolize the ascension to a distinct spiritual plane, so perhaps the image of plumage sheds some light on Sumerian belief that death is a spiritual evolution to a distinct realm. At the same time, the feathers may symbolize humanity’s metamorphosis back into an animal. In short, while significant motifs, such as the omnipotence of the gods and animalistic aspects of humans, are present, the imagery and diction employed by the author are, more importantly, instruments that establish the overall theme of the epic,--the impermanence of mortals.