| abstract | - Dumuzi was the gatekeeper to the Underworld in the Sumerian Pantheon. No living mortal had ever laid eyes on him. After Gilgamesh destroyed the Chalice of the Gods, Dumuzi was forced to find a new source of nourishment: human souls. With the power to stop souls from crossing over to the underworld, he amassed a collection that sustained him and maintained control of his mortal victims' drained bodies from afar. Dumuzi encountered Hercules in the hero's quest to reclaim the soul of Iolaus. He held Hercules responsible for the death of the other Sumerian gods and believed that the demigod savior allowed his own friend to be sacrificed in his name. An enraged battle between the two ensued, in which Dumuzi claimed Hercules' soul could feed a world of gods and would sustain him for an eternity. However, with his defeat, the weakened god revealed that his friend crossed over before he began collecting souls and was lost to him forever. The resultant scream of Hercules freed the captive spirits, Dumuzi's only sustenance.
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