This drama feels especially sharp when viewed through the lens of ancient Sumerian texts. According to the original sources, a serious split existed among the Anunnaki. One faction — the so-called Enlilites (supporters of Enlil) — were not progressors at all.

English Continuation (to be inserted directly after the description of the two versions and personal sensations):

This drama feels especially sharp when viewed through the lens of ancient Sumerian texts. According to the original sources, a serious split existed among the Anunnaki. One faction — the so-called Enlilites (supporters of Enlil) — were not progressors at all. On the contrary, they actively promoted regression, degradation, and periodic cycles of depopulation of humanity. Enlil and his followers regarded humans as noise, a nuisance, and a potential threat. That is why the myths describe them initiating floods, wars, famines, and other “reset mechanisms” — to keep the population in submission, prevent overly rapid development, and maintain control.In this context, both film adaptations of Hard to Be a God read as a modern reflection of that ancient drama. The 1989 international version vividly portrays the Enki-progressor — with all his technology, the helicopter-dragon, and the camera implanted in the eye — descending with the intention of bringing knowledge and order, only to fall into a world deliberately kept in a state of primordial savagery. German’s version intensifies the feeling of a trap: here the Enki-progressor drowns in endless filth and violence created and sustained by “grey” and “black” forces — a direct parallel to the Enlilites’ strategies of regression.Thus, the two pictures together illustrate not only external intervention, but an internal war within the Anunnaki themselves:
Enki and his supporters try to elevate humanity, risking their own integrity,
while the Enlilites work actively to preserve cycles of degradation, control, and periodic “cleansing” of the planet.This ancient dichotomy perfectly complements the Progressors–Truth-Keepers theme in your thesis: every keeper of truth operates in a world where part of the “gods” (and their earthly representatives) deliberately pull history backward — through chaos, wars, ignorance, and mechanisms of depopulation. That is why “hard to be a god” is not only the personal drama of a progressor, but a reflection of a millennia-long struggle between the forces of development and the forces of regression.