Ah, Gilgamesh. He began the tradition of incompetent, comical and persistent recurring bosses in Final Fantasy – that were surprisingly challenging. Yet, I don’t find him to be funny. Sure, I laugh at him but he’s not really a comedian. His humour comes from our knowledge of what he’s saying, that what he’s saying sounds like something else. Take a look at these quotes:

Let’s see how you handle the mighty me! And by me, I mean Gilgamesh!! And by handle, I mean DIE!!!

Starkle, starkle little twink… Now it’s time that you guys SINK!!

IT’S MORPHING TIME!!! (which is what Gilgamesh would have said to Gladio if he were wearing his Power Rangers ExoSuit).

Hasta la bye bye!

It’s days like this that get you high on life! But you, sirs, are harshing my buzz!

See these weapons I picked up in the rift? They let me predict the weather: bullet showers and rocket storms!

These are pretty funny one-liners. And I bet many of us can pick up on at least one of pop culture references from this list. But Gilgamesh is just talking about himself. There’s no indication he even knows what the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” is. He’s morphing because one of his moves is to buff himself.

Gilgamesh isn’t Deadpool or Bugs Bunny. Deadpool knows he’s in a comic. Bugs Bunny addresses the television audience. They both make puns based on the situation. But their puns are intentional. Gilgamesh’s puns seem to be coincidental.

But consider Final Fantasy XIII-2.

I’ve been waiting in this Coliseum for so very long now! I was starting to worry that you’d never download this part of the game and I’d be stuck in digital limbo!

Is this a dead giveaway that Gilgamesh does indeed know that he’s breaking the fourth wall? Maybe, even though the camera’s on Gilgamesh, he’s looking at Noel and Serah. And Noel and Serah don’t give any indication they don’t know what he’s talking about. In a sense, maybe they downloaded him, so to speak.

All fights that have been downloaded are accessed from the version of the Coliseum at the far left of the Historia Crux by talking to the Arbiter of Time.

And even now, we have episode Gladio, where I don’t think Gilgamesh addresses the “camera” at all.

The brilliance is it’s as if he’s talking to us. But the question is, what’s going through Gilgamesh’s mind when he says what he says?