Choices are what we make when our wants and desires compete with the greater good. No one knows that more than an immortal who is sworn to protect a sect of Geomancers. In the case of Gilad in “Wrath of the Eternal Warrior†he has an impossible decision to make. He could leave the family he’s buried to go back to the land of the living and help his companions fight off the darkness or remain with those that he has loved and lost.
In the opening scenes, Robert Venditti juxtaposes the happiness of everyday family life, where there is comfort in routine, to flashbacks of Gilad having to bury not only his family but his village. The year is so far into B.C.E. that the three kings who rode to Bethlehem didn’t even have ancestors yet. Gilad’s lived so long that the reader wonders why go to revisit the world of the dead? Well, it’s not as if he has a choice. In that regard, he’s met a temporary end. After all, he is the Eternal Warrior. For him it’s not death but the journey back that seems arduous. Going back to reality doesn’t seem to be worth it. But he’s called warrior, not the eternal philosopher. He knows his duty.
During the 1990’s there’s a scene between Gilad and an old man. The old man says at one point that Gilad hasn’t known real loss since he has never known what it is like to bury his grown son. Appearances are deceiving and Gilad’s return is important to the Valiant universe. Think about it Aric is also a warrior, but the focus of his comic is not a moral center. It’s more about keeping a certain alien from destroying the human race. Ninjak has his own destiny to play out and at this time isn’t overly concerned with humanity’s survival. He cares more about his own. Gilad, warrior that he is at the moral center of this world. His return is essential to the ongoing narrative.
Gilad being one of three immortal brothers in issue two of this series threatens an unseen force by informing his minions that he’s going through his realm. And there’s a lot of minions, so many that artist Raul Allen, spotlights individuals who have failed to stop Gilad in the past. At one point he may have been captured and even tortured by this monster. But who is it and besides the obvious, why would it think that it could capture Gilad a second time?
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