Read the excerpt from gilgamesh: a new english version. at four hundred miles they stopped to eat, at a thousand miles they pitched their camp. they had traveled for just three days and nights, a six weeks’ journey for ordinary men. when the sun was setting, they dug a well, they filled their waterskins with fresh water, gilgamesh climbed to the mountaintop, he poured out flour as an offering and said, "mountain, bring me a favorable dream.” which characteristic of an epic hero is most reflected in this excerpt? the ability to persuade others through speech the ability to act as a strong warrior and leader the courage to embark on a challenging journey the courage to undertake life-threatening risks

The answer would be the last option D

The right answer is the last one: The courage to undertake life-threatening risks.

Explanation: Although some of the other options are arguably valid - epic heroes are strong warriors, leaders, and courageous men (epic heroes are for the most part men) that embark on challenging journeys, in this excerpt the characteristic that is most reflected is their courage to undertake life-threatening risks. The young king Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu had traveled for just three days and nights on the way to the Cedar Forest, but they covered an overwhelming distance that would have taken an ordinary man over forty days to cover, yet they still had the strength to prepare a camp, dig a well and performed a ritual. Furthermore, they only stopped to eat once they had covered four hundred miles in a brief amount of time and surprisingly without fainting, courageous and determined as they were to fulfil their mission. So this reflects that Gilgamesh and his alter ego had the courage and the endurance to undertake the risk of covering such a vast distance in an incredible short amount of time without stopping for hundreds of miles, which would have certainly compromise their lives.        

  the conflict is the challenge the main character need to solve to achieve their goals, is the major literary element because creates challenges in the story by addin uncertainty to if the goal would be achieved. in the story could be more than a single conflict, in fact, most of the stories have a diversity of them. the resolution creates a closure that may or may not be the end of the story.

  the basic types of conflict have been classified as "person againsta nature", "person against person" and "persona against self". nevertheless the basic types, some authors think that it could be more than only three types, for instance:

  i´m gonna give you a little summary about the three basic types that i think are the one importants for the question

  the confict involves stories where characters are against each other, is an external conflict, as in a gun fight or a robbery or it could be more subtle between the desires of the characters as in a love story. this type of conflict is very common in traditional literature, fairy tales and myths.

  is an external conflict between the character and an animal or a force of nature, like a tornado,a storm or even a rain. a great example of this is ernest hemingway´s "the old man and the sea"   in which the main character struggle with a marlin when he was fishing.

  in this case the conflict is internal, the character must overcome her or his own nature or make a choice between two paths.

  i hope the answer is correct and you. regards