Gargantua (Otherworld)

Gargantua
Name	Unrevealed
Current Alias	Gargantua
Affiliation and Relationships
Group Affiliation	Gurien
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Fair
Unusual Features	Goat legs; horns; goatee
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Troll
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Otherworld
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Steve Parkhouse, John Stokes
First	Hulk Comic (UK) #49 (February, 1980)
First	Hulk Comic (UK) #49 (February, 1980)
Death	Hulk Comic (UK) #54 (March, 1980)
Death	Hulk Comic (UK) #54 (March, 1980)

History

Gargantua was a giant rock troll, created by Merlyn from the bones of a whale when the wizard was young.

Inhabiting Otherworld, Gargantua became a servant to Gurien, Lord of the Stones -a servant in turn to Necromon, evil leader of the Nethergods. Gurien promised Gargantua victory and the taste of human flesh in exchange for his services, and the offer seduced him. Gurien had forbidden anyone to cross a given chasm en route to Camelot. To do this, Gargantua guarded the chasm and threw huge stone blocks to trepassers. He also claimed that each of the many intruders of his so-called mountain kingdom had been intercepted and killed.

The Black Knight, riding winged horse Valinor and wielding the sword Excalibur, aimed to reach Camelot, so he rode between Gargantua's legs, pierced his behind, and made him fall in the same abyss he protected. The impact caused an avalanche that buried the Black Knight. Gargantua, unharmed himself, climbed back to find the defeated warrior and he tried to smash him with his stone hammer. However, at that point the Knight held the dragon pearl, giving him extraordinary powers that destroyed the hammer. Gargantua suddenly felt intimidated at the sorcery and agreed to give directions to the Knight - but he planed to betray the Knight and throw him a boulder. The dragon power again saved the Knight by dematerializing him, but then Excalibur refused to serve the Knight any long, as the later was no longer worthy. The Knight captured and humiliated Gargantua to take him prisoner to Camelot, as that would give him a conqueror's reputation. Gargantua and the Black Knight were accepted to Camelot, the troll being taken to the dungeons.

As Necromon's forces besieged Camelot soon after, Gargantua called Merlyn's attention. The wizard offered freedom and redemption to Gargantua in exchange for his help in the battle, and the troll accepted. While Gargantua tried to defeat the enemy commander Maegog, the later killed the berserk monster with an arrow to his neck. Although Gargantua's attack had caused the enemy forces to retreat, they had already damaged Camelot to a great extent, threatening the stability of the castle.

Attributes

Powers

Superhuman strength.

Weaknesses

Vulnerable to dragon telepathy and to Excalibur's edge.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Rocks and a hammer made of stone.

Trivia

In his first panel, Gargantua wears bracelets. A few panels later, we see his arms naked. He had no time to remove the bracelets manually between those panels.

The Black Knight later says that Gargantua claimed "allegiance to one Gurien, Lord of Stones." Gargantua had never said the name of the Lord of the Stones.

See Also

• 3 appearance(s) of Gargantua (Otherworld)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Gargantua (Otherworld)
• 3 image(s) of Gargantua (Otherworld)