Recap pages are Spoilers Off by default, so in all these pages all spoilers are unmarked. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned
"An unlikely man rises to power in the city-states of Mesopotamia: Sargon is a simple cupbearer to the king, but everything changes when the war goddess Ishtar appears in his dreams. Under her guidance, Sargon leads the quarreling Sumerians into a new age, but the appealing nature of power forces him to choose between his divine destiny and his personal ambition."
Campaign Intro
Sargon of Akkad is one of three campaigns introduced by the Age of Empires II DLC Return of Rome. It follows the eponymous hero.
In this campaign the player takes control of the Sumerians, using the color Blue.
Scenarios
#1. The Chosen One
#2. Divine Will
#3. The Prophecy
#4. The Land of Kings
#5. Subartu
The campaign shows examples of:
- Book Ends: The campaign begins and ends with the narrator facing a downed Sargon. In the beginning of "The Chosen One", it's to terminate him under the orders of Ur-Zababa. In the end of "Subartu", it's a Mercy Kill on behalf of the narrator's end towards a power-mad Sargon.
- Cosmetic Award:
- "The God of War" for completing the campaign.
- "Not Cutting Corners" for subduing both Sippar and Borsippa in "The Chosen One".
- "Expedited Delivery" for bringing the Artifact to each city-state before 30 minutes have elapsed in "Divine Will".
- "Ur Out of Here" for destroying Ur's Wonder before it's completed in "The Prophecy".
- Defeat Means Friendship: Destroying the Temples located in Sippar and Borsippa and building your own there in "The Chosen One" will make these cities join your cause.
- The Dreaded: By the time of "Divine Will", the narrator outright proclaims that "The masters of [the cities conquered on Ishtar's name] scoffed at Sargon's ambitions, yet secretly they all feared him".
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Sargon's dreams about a golden age under his reign are what drive the campaign forward.
- Escort Mission: The entire point of "Divine Will" is to bring an artifact to flagged areas in four cities in order to weaken the power of the alliance led by Lugal-Zaggisi.
- A God Am I:
- The opening lines of "The Chosen One" outright refer to Akkad as "a man who considers himself a god".
- The outro of "Subartu" discusses the trope after the fall of Sargon:
"Can a mortal being of flesh and blood become a god? The answer is no. No matter how much power a man attains, anyone who towers too far above others is doomed to fall in the end. Sargon was the king of kings, the most powerful man that had ever walked the earth, his empire the first that mankind had ever seen. In the temples, Sargon had replaced the statues of the gods with statues of himself - and now truly believed that he was divine, yet I had seen him bleed." - Heel Realization: The narrator of the campaign eventually comes to blows against Sargon when he advices him to take things down a notch.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Ur-Zababa didn't send Sargon into exile when he told him about his dream, the entirety of the campaign could have been avoided.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: The whole campaign begins with Sargon facing the tyrants who were oppressing his land, and ends with him being the actual oppressor.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: In open opposition towards his former king, the narrator joins the rebellion as they quash Sargon once and for all.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: "The blood of the innocent will be paid for by the blood of the one". Those were the words of the dying priest at the beginning of "The Prophecy". In the outro for "Subartu", the narrator of the campaign reflects on those words.
