Gilgamesh is Unrecognizable?

After reading through Tablets IX-XI in "The Epic of Gilgamesh," I have noticed a disconnect between the first few tablets and the later ones. In the first few tablets, there are so many descriptions of the greatness of Gilgamesh and everyone who sees him immediately notices him and knows who that he is the great king of Uruk. However, when we reach Tablet IX, there is a physical transformation of Gilgamesh that seems to have noticeably affected him. Gilgamesh is extremely affected by the death of Enkidu and this is apparent because it is constantly repeated in the tablets that he mourns for Enkidu and has done so for six days and seven nights. Along his journey in Tablet X, he meets Siduri, the goddess, Urshanabi, and Utnapishtim. All of these characters see Gilgamesh and fail to recognize him. Each of them notices his transformation and asks: “Why are your cheeks so hollow, [your face so] sunken, your mood so wretched, [your visage so wasted?]. There is a lot of repetition that occurs throughout the tablets, and after each of these three characters meets Gilgamesh, they give him the same advice to stop his quest for immortality. Each time, Gilgamesh describes to them his motives behind his quest, which revolve around his fear of death. The epic started off so gloriously and Gilgamesh was shown off so grandiosely but as the epic progresses, Gilgamesh’s weakness and cowardice is shown more and more. However, I can see how this can be an effective way of describing the story because it starts with a grand prologue and ends with a grand lesson and eventual glorification of Gilgamesh again. Unfortunately, I still find the small disconnects and hypocritical moments to be unbelievable. For example, Shamash helps Enkidu and Gilgamesh slay Humbaba knowing that the gods would be angry and punish the humans. It just seems as if the gods, who are supposed to be models for humans, play to human flaws as well.