The Descent of Inanna

Story beats

1. 1) Inanna prepares for descent, donning her me (powers): crown, lapis beads, breastplate, gold ring, measuring rod, and more. She instructs her vizier Ninshubur to seek help if she doesn’t return.
2. 2) At each of the seven gates of the underworld, she must remove an item, entering humbled before Ereshkigal.
3. 3) Ereshkigal kills and hangs Inanna on a hook. Ninshubur petitions Enki, who crafts two genderless beings with the food and water of life.
4. 4) The beings empathize with Ereshkigal’s labor pains, earning the right to sprinkle life on Inanna. Revived, Inanna must provide a substitute to leave.
5. 5) She passes mourners but finds Dumuzi, her consort, feasting on her throne. Furious, she marks him as the substitute; demons chase him.
6. 6) Dumuzi’s sister Geshtinanna shares the burden, creating the seasonal cycle: half the year in the underworld, half above.

Context & symbolism

The myth contains themes of power exchange, empathy, and seasonal renewal. Inanna’s stripping shows that status dissolves before death. Enki’s crafted beings succeed through compassion—not force—reflecting the value of understanding over might. The demanded substitute underlines cosmic balance; no one leaves the underworld free.

Dumuzi’s rotation relates to agricultural cycles—dying vegetation and returning fertility. The seven gates mirror initiation and ritual passage. Inanna’s me catalog societal order; losing them shows how fragile authority is outside its domain.

Motifs

• Descent and stripping of power
• Underworld queen asserting parity
• Empathy as key to negotiation
• Substitution to escape death
• Seasonal cycles through shared burden

Use it in play

• Characters must surrender key items at each gate to reach a captive ally.
• Genderless emissaries mimic emotional states to pass guardians.
• A queen demands a substitute before allowing any soul to leave her realm.
• Seasonal curses tied to an absent consort—solve who trades places when.
• Hooks on the wall hold previous intruders; removing one angers the throne.

Comparative threads

• Descent parallels: Persephone’s pomegranate bargain; Izanagi’s failed rescue; Orpheus’ conditional return.
• Stripping motifs: Shamanic initiations often require surrendering clothes/skins; similar to shamanic deaths before rebirth.
• Shared burden: The rotating sacrifice echoes seasonal myths worldwide.

Hooks and campaign seeds

• A demon posse chases the marked substitute; PCs may swap or bargain time.
• A ruler plans a descent; players must craft empathy-beings to retrieve them.
• A relic me (crown, rod, beads) surfaces topside, but taking it draws underworld attention.
• Ereshkigal offers alliance if shown genuine empathy—a rare commodity among surface kings.