Humbaba

His howl is a flood, his voice is fire, and his breath is death. The texts describe Humbaba as a monster and creature, and as the greatest being after the Storm God. He hears every whisper for a thousand miles. Enlil appointed him to guard the cedars in the Cedar Forest and made him the terror of men. The forest is also called the Country of the Living, a place at the outer bounds of earth and reality.

Humbaba says that he had no mother or father who reared him. He tells Shamash that the god brought him to birth in the land and raised him, while Enlil made him keeper of the forest. Another account calls him a holy protector installed by the gods. In the myths, he guards a sacred forest rather than serving as the central figure of an independent tale. He belongs to the episode of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, who set out against him. He tends the trees and offers timber in exchange for his life, promising to serve Gilgamesh as his lord.