Bandos

Bandos, also known as the Big High War God, was the god of war and a very powerful, aggressive, sadistic and strategic entity, known for defeating many large armies by himself. His followers' main trait is strength if not high numbers, at the cost of intelligence, making them valuable warriors who would listen to him blindly. He did not usually care if most of his armies were wiped out - he fought solely for the sake of battle and would enjoy the bloodshed, provided that he retained enough troops to fight for him, as was most evident during the God Wars. He could get extremely angry when everything did not go as he wanted it to or when he was defied, as proven by his struggles to reclaim the Dorgeshuun goblin tribe for himself or his blind rage after the God Wars. The former made Bandos a key antagonist in the Dorgeshuun quest series. Much of Bandos' early history, such as his ascension to godhood, remains unknown, although a Bandos origin quest is in development.

Having first set foot on Gielinor in the Second Age, he was the patron god of the brutish and unintelligent races such as goblins, trolls, ogres, and orks, most of whom he took with him from their realm Yu'biusk, though Bandos himself is of greater intellect, and it should be noted some of his followers were once much more intelligent, and have only gradually lost their intelligence since he left Gielinor in the Third Age. Some followers, mostly goblins, refer to him as the Big High War God (with the exception of priests on holy days, although goblins native to RuneScape do not take this rule to heart). He was almost completely forgotten by the humans of Gielinor due to his disappearance after the God Wars until his battle against Armadyl in the early Sixth Age, which ended with his death. Bandos was rather large and strong, this fearsome appearance contributing to his prowess in battle.

How Bandos ascended to godhood is currently unknown. The earliest mention of him is on Yu'biusk, where he arrived prior to RuneScape's Second Age and turned it into a hellish plane torn asunder by war. He brought some of his followers to RuneScape, where they participated in the God Wars, much to Bandos' pleasure. After being banished at the end of the war, the furious god returned to Yu'biusk, which he completely destroyed in his rage. Afterwards, he turned his attention back to his remaining followers on Gielinor, and formed a plan to return. This plan nearly succeeded towards the end of the Fifth Age when Bandos possessed his 'Chosen Commander' and brought a powerful avatar of himself to the world, but it was thwarted, causing him to lose a considerable portion of his power. Several months after the death of Guthix, Bandos returned to Gielinor, with the same intentions as before - to rule Gielinor by himself and invoke massive war. He nearly immediately engaged in a large-scale-battle with Armadyl, which he lost due to overconfidence, and the fact that he lost massive amounts of power, resulting in his demise.

Personality and Beliefs
Bandos was quite egotistic and manipulative, as well as sadistic. Most beings who know of him, including other gods, viewed him as barbaric and brutish because of how he treats his followers, whom he views as disposable without remorse. Many of his followers are unintelligent and have been bred to follow him blindly from birth. Bandos found pleasure in his followers fighting in war scenarios set up by himself. He was an outright immoral god and enjoyed sending his followers into battles they could not win purely for his own amusement.

Bandos desired Gielinor to be under his control for it to be torn by war until it would be rent asunder as a "monument to his glory". If a battle or war was impeded or went out of bounds, however, Bandos would get infuriated and attempt to restore his source of fun, however possible. Likewise, defiance would invoke the war god's rage, with him often going as far as to demand worship, seeing that he considered his followers to be his rightful property. He has already demonstrated the former with the plane of Yu'biusk as well as his own homeworld and his goal for Gielinor was for it to be turned into a similar "playground" of perpetual warfare with him as the sole ruler. Bandos was convinced that the strong deserve to rule over the weak, viewing himself as the only being strong enough to do so, having defeated his entire race in combat. According to him, power to reign only exists to those with the strength to possess it, namely himself. He has shown to believe that only the strong are allowed to think for themselves and the weak only serve to exist as mindless, living weapons for the strong. Bandos claimed that he will reward his followers if they become strong enough to capture his attention, as he did with General Graardor, Zarador, Davosi and Crush, whom he granted high positions in his army, although few have ever achieved this. Many of his war scenarios seemed to be designed to make his followers strong as long as they can survive, although they rarely did, much to his pleasure. Additionally, he did not care for the well-being of his followers although this obvious fact seems to elude them, with the exception of the Dorgeshuun goblin tribe. Bandos also enjoyed mocking gods and other beings he perceived to be weaker than himself, but held no grudges against beings that fairly defeated him in a fight.

Various aspects of Bandos' personality can be seen in the holidays instated by him, such as Bandos Is Great Day, the Mandatory Annual Axe-Fighting Tournament and Death of the Weak Week. Other holidays include Victory in Gu'tanoth Day and the Festival of the Fire-Raining Weapons.

Bandos's philosophy can be seen by how he has treated the goblins. As the weakest of the Yu'biuskian races Bandos did not believe that they deserve to think for themselves. In fact it is a commandment in their holy book, which is filled with Bandosian propaganda. He viewed the goblins and other races as rightfully his and his attempt to reclaim the Dorgeshuun tribe was his effort to re-establish this authority. The defeat of his avatar in the Fifth Age has gained him respect for the adventurer who aided in doing so as they proved strong enough to stand against him. The defeat by mortals also angered him immensely and therefore he entered the battle with Armadyl with too much determination and overconfidence, not realising that he had lost much of his power with the destruction of his pendant. This mistake ultimately led to his death.

To other gods, Bandos appeared to be fully open about his beliefs and did not try to hide behind a façade of benevolence, although he had always deceived his followers, especially the weaker goblins. For instance, he told Grubfoot that he would send his 'Chosen Commander' to lead goblins into peace, when in actuality he planned to use her to create another war. He told Hopespear that fallen warriors would return to Yu'biusk, which is not only false, but Yu'biusk had also been completely destroyed by the time he made the claim. Nevertheless, he ironically viewed the other gods as hypocrites, stating that they are pretending to be something they are not. When he gave Hopespear the false dream in an effort to stop the Battle of the Plain of Mud, Bandos provided the goblins his holy commandments, which they still obey. These are as follows:


 * Not to run from battle. Cowards must die!
 * Not to show mercy. Merciful must die!
 * Not to doubt Big High War God. Doubters must die!
 * Not to make own plans. Thinkers must die!

Early history
Bandos was born in a tribe of warlike and combative rhinoceros-like creatures. At the age of ten, he was deemed old enough to be trained in combat, at which he excelled. That same year, he challenged the leader of his clan, and, as was tradition, duelled, killed and gutted him, becoming the new chief. This kratocratic culture eventually led to the extinction of the tribe, with Bandos remaining as the last of his species. Through means unknown, he ascended to godhood at some point. He also lost one of his four eyes in a battle at some point, although it is unknown how.

Housekeeping on Yu'biusk
At one point prior to the commencement of Gielinor's Second Age, Bandos discovered the prosperous realm of Yu'biusk, which was inhabited by relatively peaceful races such as goblins, ogres and orks, who lived in primitive, tribal communities as s. Yu'biusk was large and marshy, with massive mushrooms and other strange plants and structures covering the surface; overall, it was rich and fertile.

Bandos taught its inhabitants metalwork, agriculture and combat and they became Bandos' loyal soldiers. All of the races were initially peaceful and attempted to settle their conflicts with diplomacy rather than war. As Bandos took over however, he forced them to resort to violence on each occasion. Soon afterwards, the realm dissolved into a world of pure war, leaving little trace of its once pristine looks.

Bandos divided the races of Yu'biusk in tribes, each to live separately. Gradually, all traces of the races once being united disappeared, and Yu'biusk trembled with warfare. Bandos divided the goblins in twelve tribes and organised them. These were the Thorobshuun, Ekeleshuun, Garagorshuun, Idithuun, Rekeshuun, Narogoshuun, Drogokishuun, Dorgeshuun, Huzamogaarb, Horogothgar, Saragorgak and the Yurkolgokh. He also created tribes for his other followers, but most of the names of these are unknown, with the exception of the Thrasghdak hobgoblins, Verotark orks, Azkragthog ogres and Goltholglor ourgs. He also interbred ogres and ourgs, creating the fearsome raurgs and fayrgs. For thousands of years, Bandos ruled Yu'biusk, his followers soon becoming reliant on warfare, and losing their skills in most everything else. They built statues and other structures for him in worship and fought each other in recognition of his glory.

Arrival to Gielinor
At some point in the Second Age, Bandos learned of Gielinor and travelled there. He started introducing large numbers of his followers from Yu'biusk to Gielinor, ruling them on both planes now. Bandos also started gaining a relatively small number of human followers, such as Amanuensis.

Around the end of the Second Age, Zaros was defeated by his Mahjarrat general Zamorak, and the latter was banished by the other gods for having done so. However, he returned, having ascended to godhood, and declared war on Saradomin, who had taken the Stone of Jas from Zamorak in his absence, beginning the Gielinorian God Wars. Bandos would become one of the four major factions that fought in the wars.

Involvement in the Wars
During the God Wars, Bandos seemed to fight for the mere sake of battle. His allegiance was ever-shifting, his sole desire to revel in the bloodshed that threatened to destroy the world. During the wars, most of Bandos' attention had shifted to Gielinor, although he continued to rule Yu'biusk. While at times he fought alone, he is known to have entered alliances with the other gods. This was merely so that he could win certain battles and, once these were over, he would quickly turn against them. The war god became partially responsible for the immense length of the wars due to these actions. While his notorious switching of sides was an attempt to prevent any balance of power from developing, Bandos would, near the end of the wars, enter an alliance with Saradomin and Armadyl who had driven Zamorak to the point of imminent defeat.

The goblins were the lowliest of Bandos's army, used primarily as skirmishers or scouts. Typically, large numbers of goblins were sent into battle ahead of the ogres and orks as a means of weakening and disorganising the foe, or, in some cases, "checking the water", if for any purpose other than Bandos' pleasure at all. The twelve tribes each had their own generals. These rose to power through combat, each slaying his successor in order to receive his rank. Bandos, unlike what his soldiers thought of their Big High War God, did not care for his lower soldiers as he viewed them as weak and as such only viewed them as living weapons. Often, the goblins were sent to their death to battles Bandos knew they had no chance of winning. On other occasions, different tribes would turn against each other when they were either sold into service by Bandos, such as was the case with the Huzamogaarb and Saragorgak, whom he sold to Zamorak and Saradomin respectively, or were simply put into combat for Bandos' personal amusement, in a similar way to how he ruled on Yu'biusk. By the end of the wars, millions of goblins had died, the Gielinorian groups of ourgs, fayrgs and raurgs had become extinct (except for Graardor, who was frozen in the God Wars Dungeon) and the orks had greatly diminished in number, virtually none to be found on Gielinor today. Despite that, the tribes on Yu'biusk still thrived in the Bandosian art of war.

Bandos personally led the ogres as they conquered the area of the Feldip Hills, where they established their settlement Gu'tanoth and brutally enslaved the peaceful skavid race, although the exact time when this happened remains unknown. It is assumed that the area, like many others, was conquered and reconquered many times over and that the ogres established their current leadership of the region in the late Third Age.

Throughout the wars he would continue his manipulations on Gielinor. For example, an ourg named Graardor at one point became chief of his tribe after Bandos had encouraged him to challenge the previous chief in a dream. As Graardor fought and won more and more battles, Bandos came to him once more and told him to go to a nearby town. This town Graardor raided and he used the large piles of gold he found to bribe the goblins into following him. Soon, Graardor had control over most of the goblin tribes. When his money began to deplete, however, the goblins abandoned Graardor and he had to sell his armies to other gods to avoid defeat. He prayed to Bandos for aid, but this aid did not come. General Graardor was still one of the most powerful Bandosians and owned massive armies. Thus Bandos had stopped supporting him, knowing that he was able to hold his own.

Conflicts with the Dorgeshuun
In the thirty-third or thirty-fourth century of the Third Age, in the last millennium of the God Wars, the Dorgeshuun tribe began to develop a resistance against Bandos, realising how terribly he treated them. This was strengthened when Bandos decided to discard the Dorgeshuun as unnecessary force. Unsurprisingly, he sent the Dorgeshuun forth into what would be their last battle. The forces of the enemy, whoever it was, greatly outnumbered and overpowered the Dorgeshuun and the goblins realised they would all be slaughtered. This order proved enough for the tribe to completely defy the Big High War God. Under General Bloodfist's leadership, the Dorgeshuun ignored Bandos' order and moved to what are currently the Lumbridge Swamps. They discovered a large fissure in the ground and, not awaiting what Bandos would do next, marched inside.

Bandos was enraged by this act of defiance. When he saw Bloodfist standing on the surface nearby the fissure after the rest of the tribe had already entered, Bandos demanded that the general lead the Dorgeshuun into battle as he had ordered, but Bloodfist steadfastly refused. Bandos then forcibly smote Bloodfist. The blast obliterating him instantly and the force of the impact sealing the fissure shut, leaving the Dorgeshuun goblins trapped inside. The goblins knew there was no way back and thus, led by Lieutenant Strongaxe, they explored the caves further and built a massive tunnel network. Eventually, they found a cavern large enough to build a civilisation there, and determined on never dealing with any gods again, they built their city of Dorgesh-Kaan. The tribe had not yet lost their combative nature that Bandos had given them, however. On one occasion, while exploring, a goblin party stumbled upon the Tears of Guthix cavern, where they saw Juna, a snake who is a Guardian of Guthix. Initially curious, they quickly charged at her with raised weapons, and thus Juna swept them into the chasm with her tail. Such encounters were extremely rare, however, and would not take place often.

Over time, the Dorgeshuun would grow acquainted to their new environment. Throughout the Third and Fourth Ages, they adapted entirely to a life beneath the surface, both biologically and socially. They established a Council to lead the city and their society flourished. Aside from a brutal civil war, peace would rest over the Dorgeshuun and they would not hear from Bandos for centuries.

During the God Wars, Forinthry was one of the many sites where armies of Bandos battled, adding to the chaos and confusion of Saradomin and Zamorak's forces, who were destroying the remnants of Zaros' empire there in alliances that did not last long. When a flock of aviantese were transporting the newly forged godsword, which Bandos, Armadyl and Saradomin had planned to use to kill Zamorak, through the mountains of the Troll Country, they were ambushed by Zamorakian demons and a battle ensued. Bandos sent forth an army of Rekeshuun goblins, ogres, orks and others, led by Graardor, to ward off the Zamorakians. As the battle grew between Bandosians, Armadylians, Zamorakians and Saradominists near the Temple of Lost Ancients, who had turned against one another in an attempt to obtain the sword for themselves, the Zarosian Mahjarrat Sliske tricked a group of Saradominists into opening the Ancient Prison, releasing the Zarosian general Nex and her armies, who had been imprisoned there during the Battle for the Ritual Site. As Nex was too powerful to defeat, Graardor temporarily aligned with the other factions to re-imprison her and participated in the ritual to freeze and seal the door. He received one part of the key and entrusted it to a highly-ranked soldier. The battle for the godsword then continued and Bandos' forces would fight viciously.

Relatively soon, Zamorak stole and used the Stone of Jas in a last-ditch-effort to save himself, annihilating Forinthry, scorching the Anima Mundi and waking Guthix. The balance god ended the war and had a mage, Aeternam, freeze the Temple of Lost Ancients. Only near the end of the Fifth Age, millennia later, did tectonic activity thaw the temple and its combatants out. They fight over the godsword still, oblivious to time.

Destruction of Yu'biusk
When the God Wars came to an end and the Edicts of Guthix were put in place, beginning the Fourth Age, Bandos was banished from Gielinor by Guthix along with most other gods, leaving followers behind. Bandos returned to Yu'biusk and, furious at the end of the war and, more prominently, his banishment, took out his anger at his followers there by invoking massive wars in the realm. For example, when the hobgoblins of the Thrasghdak tribe built a magnificent statue of the finest resources on Yu'biusk for Bandos, he dismissed it and ordered the hobgoblins to demolish the statue and smith weapons instead. The hobgoblins obeyed, but, meanwhile, Bandos visited the orks of the Verotark tribe and told them how each tribe was supposed to have a statue in his honour before informing them that the Thrasghdak had committed sacrilege by destroying their statue. He ordered the Verotark to assault the Thrasghdak and eradicate them, but to keep the weapons they had forged. When the ogres of the Azkragthog attacked the weakened Verotark, he praised their generals for their cunning. He ordered them to create more weapons like the hobgoblins had, and prove their worth in war. For example, they attacked the ourg tribe of the Goltholglor, whom Bandos provided with the exact same weapons the Azkragthog had obtained and berated them for attempting to settle the war rather than fight back.

However, Bandos had accidentally allowed the wars to get out of hand in his blind fury; all life on Yu'biusk was wiped out as a result. Although it had stopped resembling what it had looked like before Bandos' reign shortly after the god's arrival, the world was now completely destroyed by the wars; the once rich land was charred black, covered in craters and poisonous sludge. By the end of Bandos' wave of warfare, it had become completely uninhabitable and no life remained on the plane. What remained of his Gielinorian followers never knew this; they fought for Bandos at the promise of returning to Yu'biusk upon death.

The war god left the lifeless Yu'biusk and turned his attention to Gielinor again, although he was not able to directly interfere with it due to the Edicts. Instead, he attempted to regain control of his followers. Without the guidance of their god, these followers had fallen into chaos. In the Feldip Hills, the ogres of Gu'tanoth resorted to a mass genocide of the goblin tribes in a civil war, forcing the goblins to retreat northwards.

The Chosen Commander
While the Dorgeshuun lived prosperously underground, the surface goblin tribes' lives became increasingly difficult. Food and resources began to deplete and the goblins lost territory to other upcoming races, such as gnomes and humans, who were superior in all fields, as they fled the Feldip Hills. As would occur many times in history, such as much later during the Battle of Atarisundri in 1950 of the Fourth Age, the goblins were driven back, unable to reconquer areas. Around the middle of the Fourth Age, tensions increased between the tribes. Tribes without sufficient food attacked those that had food. Eventually, the eleven remaining goblin tribes gathered in central Kandarin and a large battle erupted.

The battle lasted several days and, due to constant rainfall, the battlefield became increasingly muddy, thus earning the Battle of Plain of Mud its name. Bandos watched the battle and enjoyed it immensely, until he saw that the goblins were slaughtering each other so greatly, that, soon, the race would be extinct. Having learnt from his earlier mistakes on Yu'biusk, the war god swiftly interfered.

He picked a goblin at random to send a vision since he was impeded from interfering directly by the Edicts of Guthix. It was Hopespear of the Narogoshuun tribe. Bandos visited Hopespear in a dream and spoke to him in his throne room. He told the goblin to stop the fight and spoke of his "Chosen Commander", whom he would one day send to lead the goblins to victory over the whole world. This was not true, since it was only a trick of Bandos to be able to manipulate the goblins later and to make sure not all goblins were killed, so that they could fight each other for his fun in the future. However, Hopespear obviously believed him and proclaimed his 'vision' to all the other goblins.

As Bandos had planned, the battle immediately stopped and the goblins cooperatively build a temple for the Big High War God. The muddy ground caused the temple to sink into the ground though, and it remains underground today. Bandos, through Hopespear, also placed his commandments upon the goblins to make sure they would follow him blindly. The commandments were to fight mercilessly ("Merciful must die!"), to always fight in Bandos' name and to never doubt Bandos ("Thinkers must die!"). The historically inaccurate holy goblin book was written in name of Hopespear, the prophet, and some of the goblin tribes gradually began to merge. Goblin high priests who succeeded Hopespear would always tell their followers of the prophecy and of the promised return to Yu'biusk.

Reclaiming the Dorgeshuun
Throughout the Fifth Age, minor tectonic activity began to occur. While usually unnoticeable on the surface, these supposedly minor earthquakes occasionally caused trouble for the Dorgeshuun. On one such occasion, in 169, a Dorgeshuun explorer accidentally mined a hole through the wall of the cellar of Lumbridge Castle. Although it was quickly patched, the "cave goblin" had already been seen. Sigmund, the advisor to Duke Horacio of Lumbridge and a fanatic member of Humans Against Monsters, a cult that strives to "cleanse" the world of "unpure races", i.e. non-humans, saw the event as an opportunity to persuade the Duke to declare war on the "monsters from beneath". He stole silverware from the Duke and blamed it on the cave goblins, convincing him to declare war. However, due to the efforts of an adventurer, the Duke found out about Sigmund's real plans and fired him. Sigmund left to the H.A.M. Hideout, making it his life goal to wipe out the Dorgeshuun. The Duke then established a peace treaty with Ur-tag, head of the Dorgeshuun Council, and trade began between the Dorgeshuun and the "surface dwellers". Some time later, the adventurer was contacted by the council and appointed to guide the first Dorgeshuun to step foot on the surface world for thousands of years: Zanik. It was likely coincidence that Zanik of all goblins was chosen, for she had been born with a small mark of Bandos on her head. She had received this mark when drinking from the tears of Guthix one day. It is most likely that Bandos had picked her as his 'Chosen Commander'. Zanik was unaware of this, however, and knew little of Bandos, if anything at all. After some exploring of Lumbridge and meeting the brutish surface goblins, Zanik insisted on going to the H.A.M. base (disguised in their pink apparel). In the base, they overheard a plot being made by Sigmund, H.A.M. leader Johanhus Ulsbrecht, the deacon and another high-ranked member. Sigmund had prepared machinery in the cellar of the Lumbridge watermill and would use it to drill his way up and flood Dorgesh-Kaan. While eavesdropping, the adventurer and Zanik were caught. The former was simply thrown out of the base, but once Sigmund found out Zanik was a cave goblin, he had her beaten up severely. When the adventurer returned to the base and discovered Zanik's body, she was dead, due to the severe beating that Sigmund subjected her to. They took her body to Juna, an acquaintance of Zanik's. Juna allowed them to use the tears of Guthix to revive Zanik, for she felt that the goblin's destiny had not been fulfilled yet. When using the tears on Zanik, she was suspended into the air and was suddenly resurrected. The symbol on her head had also begun to glow. The trio believed Guthix had allowed Zanik to live to fulfill whatever destiny she had, but this was not the case. In reality, it had been Bandos who revived Zanik to make sure he could use her as his Chosen Commander to fulfill his plans. Zanik and the adventurer then went to Sigmund's drill, killed his lackeys and fought the ex-advisor himself until his ring of life saved him before disabling the drill. The adventurer was given access to Dorgesh-Kaan as a reward.

Later, when Dorgesh-Kaan and Keldagrim began the project of building a train service between the two underground cities, the adventurer and Zanik went to help with the excavation. There they found ancient goblin artefacts - weapons the Dorgeshuun used when they had only just abandoned the surface world. They found an ancient mace and went to the Goblin Village to have it identified by Generals Wartface and Bentnoze. After a conversation, Grubfoot, a small goblin serving as a lackey for the generals (who also has special magical powers, but keeps these secret from everyone, for goblins are not allowed to use them by the commandments), recognised Zanik as the Chosen Commander and had her give a speech for the Thorobshuun and Garagorshuun in the village. She told the story of the God Wars, the Dorgeshuun's ancestry and the evil War God, but the surface goblins simply began to cheer unstoppably about Bandos and thought Zanik a fake goblin for defying him. At that point, two H.A.M. snipers assassinated the village. The goblins scattered and hid in their houses, while the adventurer dispatched of them. As the assassins died, Sigmund appeared and captured Zanik, threatening to kill her. He abducted the goblin and tied her to the railway tracks of the recently finished train, hoping the kill would initiate a war between the goblins and dwarves. The adventurer rescued her though and defeated Sigmund. At least, he teleported away with his ring again.



While Zanik returned to Dorgesh-Kaan, having become close friends with the adventurer, Bandos commenced phase two of his plan. He created a dream for Grubfoot. The dream was a vision of Yu'biusk how it used to be before Bandos had his way with it. In Yu'biusk stood Zanik, there to lead all goblins to victory and Grubfoot understood her to be Zanik. An overexcited Grubfoot made his way to Dorgesh-Kaan and informed Zanik and the adventurer of his dream. He revealed the location of the Plain of Mud Goblin Temple and advised them to go there to find out how to reach Yu'biusk. Transmogrifying into a goblin, the adventurer entered after Zanik, only to find out she had been placed in jail because she couldn't answer any of the high priest's questions about goblin religion. The adventurer freed her and then opened the door to the crypts of the former high priests, for the current one could not help him. The adventurer summoned and asked each of the former goblin priests but they all said that death was dark and they never went to the promised land of Yu'biusk. The oldest priest buried there, Strongbones, told of its legend, but could not help more. With the assistance of Oldak, a brilliant Dorgeshuun scientist and mage, a fairy ring connection to Yu'biusk was established, although the portal was very weak.

The trio went through to discover the atrocities that had occurred in the once so prosper realm. Bandos had turned it into an utter wasteland filled only with barren rocks, craters and toxic waste. The adventurer and Zanik went on to seek a form of life and discovered an ornamental box with Bandos' symbol on it. Upon opening it, Bandos' power sucked Zanik into the box and she disappeared. Oldak demanded that the adventurer return instantly, otherwise the portal would shut down permanently. Thus, the duo returned, without Zanik.

Meanwhile, Zanik appeared in Bandos' throne room. She balanced on the statues there to get onto Bandos' throne. There, she found a pendant and put it on. She didn't know Bandos had his godly power into the pendant, and was now able to enter the mind of his Chosen Commander, and control her actions and thoughts. Zanik got off the statue and approached the other end of the room. The legion of statues stepped aside for her to pass through and kneeled before her. She entered the portal and appeared in Dorgesh-Kaan to witness a fight between the adventurer and someone else.

Bandos' plan had ultimately succeeded; he had given Grubfoot the fake dream of Zanik leading the goblins back to Yu'biusk, for him an idyllic view of the Chosen Commander and the Big High War God, in order to lure Zanik to the realm, so that she could be transported to Bandos' throne room and, most importantly, get hold of the pendant.

Possession of the Chosen Commander
Concurrently, the H.A.M. had sent an agent disguised as a merchant to poison the young Dorgeshuun goblins in the nursery. The adventurer teamed up with Undak, Captain of the Guard, to find the agent and apprehend him. Walton, the agent, proceeded to blind Undak and attack the adventurer, but was defeated by them, with the help of Zanik, who had appeared. Walton was taken to the council, where it was decided that he, like all human criminals, had to be sent to the surface to be tried. Zanik, influenced by the pendant, strongly disagreed and left angrily.

As Undak escorted Walton out of the city, the latter was assassinated by Zanik, who fled to the dark caves south of the city. A warrant for Zanik's arrest was made, but the adventurer found Zanik first and convinced her to face the council. The council, although acknowledging her heroic actions in the past, decided that she was not above the law and they banned Zanik from Dorgesh-Kaan. Meanwhile, the adventurer was sent to the H.A.M. base to investigate, only to find out Sigmund had left the organisation with a splinter group, intent on exterminating the Dorgeshuun. The group were stationed in the cellar of Mill Road Mill near East Ardougne, where they had captured Grubfoot. While the adventurer rescued Grubfoot from Sigmund and his cronies, Bandos' grip on Zanik's mind tightened. She made her way to the Goblin Temple and spoke to all goblins there to rise against the humans and fight in the name of the Big High War God. She was met with eager enthusiasm and gathered a small army of goblins, including the high priest Bighead, to join her. As Bandos possessed her more and more, cyan armour features began to develop around her body. Bandos decided to enact his plan to conquer not only the Dorgeshuun, but the entirety of Gielinor, by reasserting his authority over his followers, and amassing them into a mighty army. His goal was to use the Goblins, specifically the Dorgeshuun tribe, as his heralds. By using the peaceful Dorgeshuun for his warlike purposes, he hoped to punish them for abandoning his cause in the God Wars.

As the adventurer and Grubfoot were about to escape the base, Zanik and the goblins from the temple stormed in and assaulted the H.A.M. members. Sigmund attempted to escape, but the adventurer confronted him and a duel ensued, with Zanik joining in. As he was low on health, his ring of life was about to save him again, but Zanik cut off his hand in cold blood. Sigmund stated that he'd rather die than live in a world ruled by goblins and Zanik stabbed him, ending his life. Bandos then commanded her to kill the adventurer as well, and a fight began between the two friends. The adventurer defeated Zanik, but the pendant allowed her to regenerate fully without leaving a scratch. The skirmish continued, while the other goblin and H.A.M. forces were diminishing, and the adventurer eventually managed to get Zanik to fight against the possession. Zanik then removed the pendant from her neck and threw it away.



Bandos' Ultimatum and Defeat
It was found by a curious Bighead, who hung the pendant around his neck. His inferior mind was immediately taken by Bandos right away. The war god commented that he had no more need of his Chosen Commander and left the cave, causing a cave-in. Zanik and the adventurer teleported to safety, although they passed through Juna's cave first, the snake commenting that Zanik still had her destiny to fulfill and that's the only reason why Guthix had supposedly resurrected her (although it had been Bandos, of course). Meanwhile, Bighead, now fully transformed into an avatar of Bandos, stormed into Dorgesh-Kaan and smashed the police that were trying to stop it. The avatar smashed an obelisk into the ground, containing Bandos' ultimatum and left before it could do any more damage. The goblin scribe immediately began to translate the alien markings when the adventurer and the exiled Zanik arrived and were summoned to the council. The Dorgeshuun Council was in utter panic when the translation of the text arrived. In summary, it read that Bandos gave the Dorgeshuun a final chance to rejoin him and fight to the death. Otherwise, he would return and have his avatar destroy Dorgesh-Kaan and finish with the goblins what he had started with General Bloodfist. Some councillors wanted to flee, others wanted to retreat deeper into the caves and others still were simply arguing in fear. Zanik reinforced them with courage, stating that the Dorgeshuun had been defying the War God for years and that this final resistance would crown their defiance. She said that the councillors remarked that the Dorgeshuun could not fight Bandos and win, but discarded that statement, saying that "Perhaps you're half right; perhaps we can't win. But we can fight." A moment of silence followed and Ur-tag agreed to fight Bandos against all odds. After final preparations were made, including Oldak modifying Zanik's crossbow to slay gods, Zanik and the adventurer approached the portal to Bandos' throne room and went through.

The avatar of Bandos was waiting for them and commented how he was the rightful owner of all goblins and had the right to use them in any way he pleased. He was angry at Zanik for abandoning her privileged position as his Chosen Commander and proceeded to attack her. Zanik fought valiantly, but was losing the battle. With the adventurer's help, the avatar was weakened sufficiently for Zanik's modified crossbow to eliminate him, but a smash of the avatar's mace hit the individual parts off the crossbow and the avatar simply regenerated. Zanik had no means of defending herself and, while the adventurer was dealing with the statues attacking him during the collecting of the crossbow parts, she was hit unconscious by the avatar, who then began to attack the adventurer. The latter managed to reassemble the crossbow parts and fired a surge of magical energy at the weakened avatar, breaking Bandos' ties to Gielinor and destroying his avatar and the priest in the process. He then woke up Zanik, who smashed Bandos' pendant, marking the end of his attempt to conquer Gielinor. As an considerable amount of the god's power had been put into the pendant, its destruction left him but severely weakened. With the pendant destroyed, it seemed unlikely that Bandos will be able to rebuild his strength for another assault in the foreseeable future. Back in Dorgesh-Kaan, the adventurer and Zanik were declared outright heroes.

Return from Banishment
However, only months after aforementioned events, the cave where Guthix had retreated to after the God Wars was discovered by an archaeologist. After this discovery, armies of many gods stormed inside to attempt to kill Guthix, abolish his Edicts, and allow their respective god to return to Gielinor. Amongst these was General Graardor, who had left the God Wars Dungeon with a small legion of followers to slay Guthix, intent on returning Bandos to the world, so that he could fight in wars once more. Graardor and his posse attempted to get into the main chamber and were the first to penetrate one of the storage wings. The Bandosians, however, were not very intelligent and were stopped from advancing by the adventurer, who had become a Guardian of Guthix and another Guardian(s) of Guthix as part of the Guthixian faction there to save their god. Graardor battled the adventurer valiantly, but eventually had to admit defeat and retreated out of the cave.

Soon, after the Zarosians had arrived and an argument had started, the devious Mahjarrat Sliske broke into Guthix's chamber and slew the god using the staff of Armadyl. Thus, although not by Graardor's hand, the path was cleared for Bandos to return and re-commence his plans. Saradomin teleported into the cave shortly after the kill and stated that the other gods would soon follow, likely referring to Bandos as well. This event opened a new opportunity for the War God to return to Gielinor, since he would not have to work around the Edicts of Guthix anymore. Before the assassination of Guthix, Bandos was not planning to return at all; the reason for this is that his ego was immensely hurt after his defeat and it was at the hands of mortals, not even fellow gods. This, coupled with the fact he had lost a significant portion of his power with the pendant, did not make his return likely. However, with his only obstruction, Guthix, gone, Bandos regained the desire to establish himself as the sole ruling god of Gielinor and set foot on the planet once more some time in the first year of the Sixth Age.

Sliske's Grand Ascendancy
Some time after, Bandos was contacted by Sliske and invited to attend his "Grand Ascendancy", an event during which the Mahjarrat would supposedly ascend to godhood, at the Empyrean Citadel, the former court of Armadyl. At the promise of war, Bandos obeyed and travelled there with General Graardor, though the ourg was denied access to the actual event. The god then waited for the event to take place impatiently as he was joined by Armadyl, Brassica Prime, Saradomin and Zamorak, whose arrivals Sliske had also ascertained. Eventually, Icthlarin and the same adventurer who had defeated Bandos with Zanik arrived to the citadel in search of Harold Death, who had been kidnapped by Sliske to use as leverage, forcing Icthlarin to attend. The latter began searching the citadel for the Reaper, while Icthlarin entered the throne room to witness the ascendancy, to Bandos' dismay, who deemed it an event for exclusively the mightiest gods and was displeased with the demi-god's attendance. As the adventurer was forced to pass Sliske's puzzles, tensions between the gods began to grow, with Icthlarin desparately trying to convince the others that Sliske was not to be trusted and they had all been manipulated into coming, to which Bandos simply replied the promise of warfare was sufficient for him to come voluntarily. At that point, Sliske himself emerged and revealed two cages, one holding Death imprisoned, the other detaining the enraged Necrosyrtes Dragonkin Strisath, from whom he had stolen the Staff of Armadyl.

Meanwhile, the adventurer had managed to obtain an invitation to the event - as the only non-divine being, with even Sliske's Zarosian Mahjarrat allies being denied access - and joined the scene, to Bandos' displeasure. Sliske then revealed his ascension had been a ruse and the "guests" were actually present to witness his announcement. Initially, Bandos, like the others, was angry and was about to leave, when Sliske proceeded to tell he had managed to obtain the Stone of Jas and announced a contest between the gods: whoever can slay the most gods before the next solar eclipse will be given the Stone. This revelation resulted in shock amongst the gods, except for Bandos, who expressed his satisfaction at the competition, desiring the Stone for himself. Sliske then released Strisath and tossed the adventurer the key to Death's cage before leaving the scene, causing the dragonkin to release surges of dragonfire at anyone present. As the adventurer released Death and, along with Icthlarin, quickly left the scene, Bandos and the other gods, except for Brassica, also teleported away to escape Strisath's fury.

Battle against Armadyl and Death


Shortly afterwards, Bandos assembled an army of goblins, ogres, orks and even humans who had joined him since his name became more widely known due to the efforts of Murknose, an emissary of his. They constructed a massive tower under the ground, complete with throne for Bandos to sit on and a powerful weapon called 'the Scarecrow', which the god intended to load with divine energy that he would use to kill his rival gods. Alarmed, Armadyl started a war with Bandos in hope of killing him before he could complete Scarecrow. He amassed an army of aviantese and humans, who constructed a similar weapon to defeat Bandos. This action would only serve to increase Bandos's considerable hatred of Armadyl.

Eager to attempt to conquer and rule Gielinor after his previous failure, Bandos' tower emerged from the ground between Ice Mountain and the Goblin Village. However, he failed to realise how much the destruction of his pendant had weakened him and thus entered the battle with great overconfidence. Upon seeing the wisps containing the divine energy necessary to power The Scarecrow near the walls of Falador, Bandos ordered his troops to collect it, after which convoys of goblins mounted on ogres set out to do so. Armadyl also set up a tower just south of Falador and sent forth his followers to gather the energy as well. Additionally, both armies utilised golems in battle to speed up the gathering processes. The gatherings led to many skirmishes around Misthalin and Asgarnia between Bandosians and Armadyleans, with ambushers from the Godless also joining in, content with the prospect of the losing god being slain, while Bandos and Armadyl, seated upon their throne and perch respectively, observed the war.

After six weeks of battle, the war came to an end when Armadyl's troops filled his weapon with enough divine energy to activate it. It blasted all the energy it had towards Bandos' tower, with the god of war only noticing the attack in total shock after it was too late. The divine energy landed a direct vertical hit, obliterating the tower from the top down and decapitating Bandos on impact, while most of his body was incinerated in the blast. The adventurer, who had participated in the battle, decided to take a look at the site to see what damage had been done, where all that remained was a crater and the petrified remains of Bandos' head. Armadyl landed next to it, smashing the head to pieces with Bandos' own war mace to send a warning message to remaining Bandosians before raising the weapon in a cry of victory.

Bandos' followers have reacted surprisingly calmly to his death, with some stating that he had proved his point that the strong always conquer, while others simply refused to believe he had died.

Followers
Bandos has one of the greatest populations of followers in all of RuneScape. Most of his followers are depicted as ugly and bad-tempered beings with low intelligence, although many of them are not inherently unintelligent, and many intelligent races have served him in the past. It is mainly their lack of mental acumen, dispersed numbers, and disorganisation which has prevented them from causing serious problems for the rest of the world. It is notable that Bandos actually bred a few of his followers for specific purposes. Some examples of this would be that he bred a special breed of ogres for jungle survival, now known as Jogres. He also bred Mogres, ogres adapted to surviving underwater. He has also attempted to recruit other races such as humans, dwarves and demons, but has only been marginally successful. His followers include:

Goblins
The goblins make up the lowest ranks of Bandos' troops. Despite this, they are one of the more intelligent of the Bandosian races, although very few modern day goblins exhibit this intelligence, as their commandments tell them not to think for themselves. Originally from the realm of Yu'biusk, Bandos took the goblins and made them into soldiers of war before engulfing their realm in battle. One of the twelve tribes, the Dorgeshuun, later defied him. The surface goblins eventually began fighting each other, but Bandos intervened when he saw how many goblins had died, remembering his mistakes on Yu'Biusk. He gave the goblins the promise of sending a Chosen Commander, and later used this as part of his plan to reconquer the Dorgeshuun, but this failed. Goblins are small, green-skinned and hunchbacked. They use various weapons in combat.

Ogres
The history of the ogres remains largely unknown, aside from the fact they originated in Yu'biusk. They inhabit the Feldip Hills and are known to have enslaved the skavids, and attempted a genocide of the goblin race during the Feldip Hills Civil War. They are currently at war with Yanille. Ogres are large, fat and generally lacking mental wherewithal. Most of the male ogres live in their city of Gu'Tanoth in the north, while most of the female ogresses and ogre children live in Oo'glog in the south. Some ogres, such as those in Gu'Tanoth, are intelligent enough to speak perfect English, while others, such as Rantz, can't even pronounce the most basic words correctly. They usually don't wear clothes and eat rocks. They fight with clubs, maces or their hands, but they do seem to have powerful shamans which use magic. Variations include jungle ogres, marine ogres, skeletal ogres and zombie ogres.

Hobgoblins
Hobgoblins appear to be a different breed of goblin. They have tusks, brown/green skin, and sometimes fight with spears. However, hobgoblins appear to be of lower intelligence than regular goblins, although there is a fairly intelligent hobgoblin geomancer in service of the Mahjarrat Bilrach, who keeps a diary of sorts and has built a shrine to Bandos. Hobgoblins are described as hardy but highly mobile soldiers.



Orks
Orks are brutal and aggressive, but slightly more intelligent, soldiers from Yu'biusk. They were some of Bandos' most valued soldiers during the God Wars. Armies of orks are known to exist at Orks Rift. The notorious Fairy Mafia used these orks to take over Zanaris, but they were defeated when the Fairy Godfather was sucked into the rift and died. Some orks can still be found in the God Wars Dungeon today. Orks are dark green and often tuske. They seem to prefer large axes and maces and heavy plate armour and helms, although staves and bows are not unheard of.

Ourgs
Ourgs are enormous ork-like giants - they were the single most powerful units in his army, but the God Wars and the subsequent wars on Yu'biusk drove them to near-extinction. The most prominent of the ourgs known to have survived are General Graardor, and Zarador, but there are a small handful of others. Ourgs are huge and yellow, not looking disimilar from ogres. They seem to like wearing heavy armour and terrifying decorations such as skulls. Ourgs can use weapons, but the blow of their fists is enough to kill several troops. Ourgs are one of the more intelligent of Bandos' followers, with some individuals capable of inventing technology and speaking proper English.

Cyclopes
Cyclopes and cyclossi are large, one-eyed eaters of humans, native to the Wushanko Isles. Virtually nothing about them is known, except they originate from the island of Cyclosis. Currently, several cyclopes can be found in the Warriors' Guild, the God Wars Dungeon and one in Ardougne Zoo. Bandos presumably travelled to Wushanko to recruit them for use in the God Wars, although those outside the God Wars Dungeon have likely since forgotten him. Cyclopes are very tall and their body parts are disproportionate to each other; for example, their legs appear much smaller than would be expected with such a large torso. Cyclossi are described as cyclopes' 'big brothers' and these are often adorned with scary masks.

Trolls
Trolls are the least intelligent of all races to follow Bandos. They are the only known race to have followed Bandos not native to Yu'biusk, save the small group of humans and cyclopes. Nowadays, any trace of their service to Bandos is nowhere to be found, for they do not worship him and have forgotten about his existence without him present Gielinor to remind them. While they have a civilisation of sorts, it is incredibly primitive and they are not even familiar with inventions such as the wheel. There are several kinds of trolls, mountain trolls being the most common. These look like rocky monsters and live in mountain communities. In addition, there are river, ice and sea trolls. Trolls are very bulky, but powerful, using large clubs or warhammers in battle. New-born trolls are named after the first thing they attempt to eat.

Other
Other followers of Bandos include some humans, as well as the extinct fayrgs and raurgs, who were a product of him crossbreeding ourgs with other Yu'biuskian species.

Trivia

 * Bandos is the only known example of an old race resembling four-eyed . He has lost an eye himself in battle, although it is unknown when or by whose hands.
 * According to the granite mace's examine text, Bandos' preferred weapon is the mace. He also wields a mace during the Origins of Gielinor video, as Bandos avatar and at his concept art. It was said in Bandos's Ultimatum that "I should smash every Dorgeshuun goblin beneath my holy mace.", implying that the mace would be Bandos's weapon of choice in combat.
 * With Bandos' death at the hands of Armadyl, his race is now completely extinct.
 * If Armadyl hadn't killed Bandos, then Bandos would likely attack the Dorgeshuun; he even planned to make a calibration date for it.
 * Bandos shares a voice actor with The Raptor.