The Shadow · S1 · E2 · The forest
Two men went into the forest to kill a thing that had never hurt them.
Epic of Gilgamesh, Standard Babylonian version, Tablets III–V
The story, as told
190 words. The narration, exactly as spoken.
Two men went into the forest to kill a thing that had never hurt them.
The king dreamed of a meteor he could not lift, and an axe he loved like a wife. His mother read the dreams for him: a friend is coming. Now the friend had come, and the king was restless again. He wanted a name that would outlast him. There was a forest of cedar no man had entered, and a guardian living in it.
Enkidu had seen the forest. He begged him not to go. They went. Seven days they walked, and slept on the mountain, and every night the king woke from a worse dream. The guardian came out to meet them in seven coats of light. The two of them cut it down to its face.
It begged for its life. It offered the king every tree in the forest. Enkidu said: kill it, before the gods hear. They killed it. Then they felled the tallest cedar, made a door of it, and floated the door home on the river.
When the shadow becomes your weapon, you stop asking what it is for.
The reading
the shadow recruited as a weapon; the unconscious invaded for a name
The friend as weapon
Having met his shadow, the king does not change. He recruits it. The dreams his mother reads, the meteor he cannot lift and the axe he loves like a wife, both point at Enkidu, and both are about power. Within a few lines of the embrace Gilgamesh is restless again and wants a name that will outlast him. Jung warned that integrating the shadow can look, from outside, like a man simply getting stronger. That is what episode two shows.
The forest
The cedar forest no man has entered is the unconscious in the oldest possible costume: dark, alive, guarded. Enkidu has been there, which is why he is afraid, and why he is right. The guardian, Humbaba, has done nothing to them. He is killed for lumber and reputation. In the film he is made of leaves with two holes of light for eyes; when the axes reach his face the lights go out.
Kill it before the gods hear
The plea and the answer are the hinge of the episode. Humbaba begs, offers every tree in the forest, and it is Enkidu, the wild man, the one who belonged to the forest, who says kill it. The shadow, once armed, is the most ruthless part of us, because it has the least to lose. The door they make from the tallest cedar will be cursed by Enkidu on his deathbed two episodes from now. The poem knew what it was doing.
When the shadow becomes your weapon, you stop asking what it is for.
How it was cut
12 shots, each a ten-second silhouette scene, cut to the sentence it carries.
- Shot 1 · hook
Two men went into the forest to kill a thing that had never hurt them.
- Shot 2 · setup
The king dreamed of a meteor he could not lift, and an axe he loved like a wife.
- Shot 3 · setup
His mother read the dreams for him: a friend is coming.
- Shot 4 · setup
Now the friend had come, and the king was restless again. He wanted a name that would outlast him.
- Shot 5 · twist
There was a forest of cedar no man had entered, and a guardian living in it.
- Shot 6 · push
Enkidu had seen the forest. He begged him not to go. They went.
- Shot 7 · push
Seven days they walked, and slept on the mountain, and every night the king woke from a worse dream.
- Shot 8 · spike
The guardian came out to meet them in seven coats of light.
- Shot 9 · spike
The two of them cut it down to its face.
- Shot 10 · spike
It begged for its life. It offered the king every tree in the forest. Enkidu said: kill it, before the gods hear. They killed it.
- Shot 11 · button
Then they felled the tallest cedar, made a door of it, and floated the door home on the river.
- Shot 12 · button
When the shadow becomes your weapon, you stop asking what it is for.