Dreams as foreshadowing

Dreams play an important part in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Just as Gilgamesh's dreams in Tablet I predict the creation and arrival of Enkidu, Gilgamesh's dreams in the beginning of Tablet IV foreshadow future hardship. The conversations Gilgamesh has with Enkidu about his dreams sets an ominous mood for the next two tablets. In his first two dreams, Gilgamesh sees a mountain that crushes him, and each time Enkidu assures him that the mountain is not Humbaba. Enkidu's attempts to comfort Gilgamesh seem forced, however. Although he says the mountain is not Humbaba, Enkidu never says what it does symbolize. Instead, he simply says that they will be able to defeat Humbaba without backing it up. In his second dream, Gilgamesh tells of a man who helps him out from under the mountain and gives him water. This suggests that the mountain is indeed Humbaba. In Tablet V, when Gilgamesh and Enkidu face Humbaba, they are not able to face him on their own. They win only with the help of Shamash's winds. The second dream predicts this.
These dreams in Tablet IV also emphasize that what Enkidu and Gilgamesh are about to do is going against the natural order of things. Though Gilgamesh and Enkidu want to believe that they will be successful, the dreams always center around something or someone much more powerful than Gilgamesh. The dreams are filled with imagery of danger and helplessness: the mountain, fire, the Thunderbird, and being helped out of trouble every time. These dreams seem to say that Gilgamesh and Enkidu cannot face what lies ahead by themselves. Still, they claim victory and celebrate. It seems fitting that the gods make Enkidu fall ill, since the dreams foreshadowed that their good fortune could not last forever. Gilgamesh and Enkidu eventually get punished for doing something they should not have.