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Gibborim was a member of the Nephilim Order, a tribe of giants, who was remembered in legend as the "Nameless Crusader", a warrior of few words and immense size said to have fought during the First Crusade centuries after his arrival in Ancient Rome.
Biography[]
Nameless Crusader[]
Having arrived in Imperial Rome during the 1st century AD alongside two others of his kind, Gibborim served the Nephilim Order in an important capacity for several centuries. Whereas his contemporaries met different fates over time—their leader Junia was felled by malevolent beings during a mission to secure a relic important to the Great Reclamation and Abgal, whether by choice or coercion, soon deviated from the Order to serve as a gladiatorial champion for Emperor Nero—Gibborim embodied the Order's clandestine oath of allegiance to Saint Peter, serving well into the era of Augur the Giant during the height of the First Crusade.[1]
It was during the conflict that Gibborim was dispatched to the Near Eastern city of Antioch, disguised as a knight, in order to retrieve an artifact important to the Nephilim Order. For this mission, an exceptionally large armor was fashioned for him and he joined with other Crusaders to reach the city, participating in the Siege of Antioch, in which he and his fellow soldiers emerged victorious.[1]
Although he secured the relic, Gibborim remained a participant in the Crusades up through the Battle of La Forbie—two centuries after the giant's role at Antioch—on October 18, 1244. Despite the combined forces of the Crusaders with the Knights Templar, their Damascene allies, the Knights Hospitaller, the Teutonic Knights and the Brothers of Saint Lazarus, Gibborim was ultimately slain alongside 5,000 of his fellow Christian brothers-in-arms with much effort by the Khwarezmion mercenaries of the Ayyubid forces, although he reputedly took many of the Mamluk fighters down with him in the process. His mortal remains were eventually brought back to catacombs beneath the city of Rome, where the Nameless Crusader was memorialized with a large statue flanked by a pair of knights of smaller stature.[1]
Legacy[]
Parts of Gibborim's armor and his helmet fell into the collection of Pope Paul IV beneath the Villa Pia in the 16th century, although the Pope died shortly after beginning his research into its origins. The helmet and armor subsequently lay in a secret study beneath the villa for hundreds of years.[1]
Indiana Jones in the Tomb of Gibborim in 1937.
By October 23, 1937, Father Orlando Ricci-a Vatican City conservator-became aware of Gibborim's helmet. Secretly a member of the Cult of Mithras, a fanatical revival of the ancient Roman mystery religion which had revered three of the Nephilim, Ricci tasked Indiana Jones with retrieving the helmet as part of a wider plot to uncover the tomb of Gibborim. Jones eventually found the Nameless Crusader's resting place, where he recovered a piece of the Arcanum Tripartitus associated with Gibborim.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Gibborim is a Hebrew term meaning "mighty ones" or an imposing individual. The Nephilim in the Hebrew Bible are described as having the quality of "Gibborim"--or mightiness.
Appearances[]
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – The Order of Giants (Mentioned only)