Who is Enkidu from Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others and what is their importance?

Enkidu is Gilgamesh's partner and friend. He begins his life as a primitive man, who is tamed by a whore and taken to Uruk to rival Gilgamesh. The two, however, become friends, and they travel together to kill the King of the Pine Forest, Humbaba. Enkidu also assists Gilgamesh in the killing of the Bull of Heaven, but he is stricken with illness by the gods after they decree that someone must die for the act. Gilgamesh mourns Enkidu's death by searching for immortality, and during his solitary journey, he manages to discover his own strengths.