Bandos

Bandos, also known as the Big High War God, is the god of war. Bandos is large, powerful, very aggressive, egoistic, manipulative as well as the only known god to be openly described as immoral. He is also known to be a god that is very straightforward, his intentions being clear (though not to some of his gullible followers) and he does not seem to care about looking better than he is - unlike most other gods.

Having first set foot on Gielinor in the Second Age, he is the patron god of most races of the least intelligence such as goblins, trolls, ogres, and orks, whom he took with him from their realm Yu'biusk, though Bandos himself is of greater intellect. Some followers, mostly goblins, refer to him as the Big High War God (with the exception of priests on holy days). Until recently, Bandos was almost completely forgotten by the humans of Gielinor due to his disappearance after the God Wars. Bandos is rather large and strong, this fearsome appearance contributing to his prowess in battle.

Much of Bandos' early history, including his origins how he ascended to godhood, remains unknown.

Bandos is very powerful, 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 for Bandos. Bandos' previously neglected followers listen to him blindly, making him very capable of using them as pawns. He does not usually care if most of his armies are wiped out - he fights solely for the sake of battle. He may get extremely angry when everything doesn't go as he wants it to or when he is defied, as was evident in his struggles to reclaim the Dorgeshuun goblin tribe for himself or his blind rage after the God Wars. This made Bandos a key antagonist in the Dorgeshuun quest series.

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 was turned 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 intent on almost solely warfare. They built statues and other structures for him in worship and he made them fight each other purely for his own amusement.

Arrival to Gielinor
At some point in the Second Age, Bandos learnt of Gielinor and travelled there, following other gods such as Saradomin and Zaros. He brought large groups of his followers from Yu'biusk to Gielinor, ruling them on both planes now. An unknown amount of time later, Bandos also gained a relatively small number of human followers, such as Amanuensis.

He continued 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.

At the end of the Second Age, Zaros was defeated by his 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 infamous Gielinorian God 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. While at times he fought alone, he is known to have entered alliances with Armadyl and Saradomin. 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.

Forinthry was one of the main 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. Goblin religion teaches that Bandos first arrived to Gielinor at the beginning of the wars and attempted to recruit various races to fight for him, but took the goblins and tutored them to make them strong warriors when he was denied loyalty by the former races. They are, however, quite mistaken, for both Bandos and the goblins had been on Gielinor for much longer. During the wars, most of Bandos' attention had shifted to Gielinor, although he continued to rule Yu'biusk.

Little of Bandos' involvement in the major battles is known, aside from that in the Battle for the Godsword. 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 earlier. As Nex was too powerful to defeat, Bandos 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 valiantly. Eventually, a mysterious spell froze the entire dungeon and the combatants within. Only near the end of the Fifth Age, millennia later, did tectonic activity thaw them out. They fight over the godsword still, oblivious to time.

Bandos 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 re-conquered many times over and that the ogres established their current leadership of the region in the late Third Age.

The goblins were the lowliest of Bandos' army, used primarily as skirmishers or scouts. Typically, vast 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". 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. 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 Yu'biuskian colonies still thrived in the Bandosian art of war.

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. For reasons unknown, but most likely out of callousness or sadism, Bandos 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, he unleashed his full power upon the general. Bloodfist was obliterated in less than a second, and the force of the hit made the very earth quake. The weak grounds surrounding the fissure collapsed and the Dorgeshuun were 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 and there, 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.

Soon, 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.

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, although he retained a small group of followers. Some goblins say he left for new plans; others say he left because he was scared and could not make some of his followers fight. They are, however, once again mistaken.

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 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. Next, he proceeded to tell the ogres of the Azkragthog tribe to perform an attack on the Verotark when they were recovering from their battle with the Thrasghdak. 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.

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 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 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. The latter, of course, would never take place.

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 Lumbrige 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. 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 put most of his godly power into that 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 ensure that Zanik would find access 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 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. An arrest was warranted, 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 Demise
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 Bloodfists. 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 re-assemble 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 most of the god's power had been put into the pendant, the god was enraged, but severely weakened. With the pendant destroyed, and most of Bandos' power with it, it currently seems 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
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, he is very likely to return to Gielinor himself.

Religion
In Goblin religion, it is believed that Bandos will one day send the "Chosen Commander" to Gielinor, who will then lead the goblins to victory over the rest of the world, while some, such as Grubfoot, believe the Chosen Commander will bring peace to the goblin race. The Dorgeshuun goblin Zanik was the Commander. This was, however, a scam made up by Bandos to avoid his goblins becoming extinct at the Battle of the Plain of Mud. Most goblins deem Zanik a "fake" commander for not fulfilling her destiny and still wait for the real one. The Goblins are also expected to follow a series of commandments that detail Bandos' demands. The commands were given at a battle with goblins. They fought the 'Beardy-Short-People', (Dwarves), here, as well as the evils of the 'God of Dark Flame', Zamorak. They are, as follows:

Whether or not these exact commandments are followed by Bandos' other followers is unknown, although they likely follow similar rules. The Bandosian religion puts great value on war, strength, and subservience to Bandos.
 * 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!"

There is also Bandos' book of war, which gives more details as to what Bandos' followers believed in. It mainly consists of Bandos' orders to his followers.

It should be noted that the religious texts written by the goblins are largely inaccurate and falsely describe the origins of their own race as well as the history of Bandos. While they well illustrate how the goblins see themselves in relation to the Big High War God, they are an idolisation of him and, for the most part, not true.

Goblins are also not allowed to use Bandos' real name. They must say "Big High War God" to show respect. Only on holy days do (high) priests use the name 'Bandos'. Ogres and orks are free to say Bandos any time, however.

As of the revelation of Bandos' real goals with the Dorgeshuun when he created his avatar, Grubfoot became aware of the gods evilness. This, however, did not break his faith. The goblin simply believes that was a pseudo-Bandos and that the real Big High War God is good-hearted to goblins, still waiting for this non-existent Bandos to arrive. Grubfoot has, of course, always been different.

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. It is mainly their lack of mental acumen, dispersed numbers, and disorganisation which 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. Prior to recruiting the goblins, he attempted to recruit the dwarves and demons, but was unsuccessful. His followers include:

Goblins
The goblins make up the lowest ranks of Bandos' troops. Originally from the realm of Yu'biusk, Bandos took the goblins and made them into soldiers of war before destroying their realm. 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. They inhabit the Feldip Hills and are known to have enslaved the skavids. They are currently at war with Yanille. The female ogresses and ogre children left Gu'tanoth and established Oo'glog in the south. Ogres are large, fat and generally lacking mental wherewithal. Some ogres are intelligent enough to speak perfect English while others 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
Very little of hobgoblins is known except that they are likely a different form of goblin. They have tusks and a brown skin and sometimes fight with spears. Hobgoblins appear to be of lower intelligence than regular goblins. However, 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. They were some of the most valued soldiers during the God Wars, but they seem to have all died out. 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 tusked. They seem to prefer large axes and maces and heavy plate armour and helms.

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 extinction. Only one, General Graardor, has survived. Ourgs are huge and presumably green as well. 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 men.

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. How they came into Bandos' services is a mystery. Cyclopes are very tall and their body parts are disproportionate to each other; for example, their legs appear much smaller than would be excepted 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. 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 maces in battle. New-born trolls are named after the first thing they attempt to eat. 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 almost entirely. Additionally, they are the only known race to have followed Bandos not native to Yu'biusk, save the small group of humans and cyclopes.

Other
Other followers of Bandos include the extinct fayrgs and raurgs, who must have been similar to ourgs, as well as some humans.

Trivia

 * Bandos is also the name of an island in the Indian Ocean.
 * According to Bandos's Ultimatum, Bandos' preferred weapon is the mace. He also wields a mace during the Origins of Gielinor video and as Bandos avatar.
 * In the Origins of Gielinor video, Bandos is shown fighting Saradomin and on Bandos' right shoulder is the symbol of Varrock, a golden shield with two black swords crossing each other. This is strange because Varrock was not founded until the Fourth Age though it's possible that Bandos' territory was where Varrock currently is. This could, however, be coincidental.
 * When translated from Latin to English, "Bandos" means "in order to test".