Gargoyles/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Manhattan Clan

Goliath (Keith David)

Leader of the clan, and the series' protagonist.

Elisa Maza (Salli Richardson)

A detective with the NYPD's 23rd precinct, Elisa is the first friend the gargoyles make after the curse is broken. As such, she takes it upon herself to introduce them to their new world. She becomes very close to them, particularly Goliath, and is later considered a part of the clan.

Brooklyn (Jeff Bennett)

Goliath's second-in-command. While once impetuous and a thrill seeker, Brooklyn soon grows into his reluctant role as the secondary leader and becomes more serious and a skilled tactician.

Broadway (Bill Fagerbakke)

A Big Eater who develops a liking for detective movies.

Lexington (Thom Adcox-Hernandez)

A gargoyle with a gift for technology.

Angela (Brigitte Bako)

Born and raised in Avalon, she joins Goliath in order to see what the world outside is like and to better know her father, Goliath.

Angela: I was raised by humans. There's no reason we can't all live together in harmony.

Hudson (Ed Asner)

Previous leader of the Wyvern clan. Now spends most of his days watching television and enjoying his well-earned rest.

Bronx (Frank Welker)

A gargoyle beast of the Manhattan Clan. Dislikes robots.

Katana (comic continuation only)

Brooklyn's mate from Edo Period Ishimura.

Allies

The Captain of the Guard (Ed Gilbert)

The captain of the Wyvern Castle guard, at the start ofthe series he is sympathetic to the gargoyles and identifies with them more than with the human population of the catle. Trying to grant a better life to the clan, he betrays the castle to Hakon's band of vikings, expacting them to drive out the humans while leaving the catle to the gargoyles. The plan backfires when Hakon shatters all the gargoyles anyway and tries to put the blame on the captain. Both of them plummet to their deaths before Goliath can have revenge on either of them.

Princess Katharine (Kath Soucie)

The ruler of Castle Wyvern. She initially fears the gargoyles and only begrudgingly allows them to stay and defend the castle. After Goliath saves her life from Hakon, she comes to see the error of her ways and does her best to defend the eggs from the gargoyle rookery, moving them to the magical island of Avalon and raising them as her own children.

The Magus (Jeff Bennett)

The castle mage of Wyvern and Princess Katharine's advisor. He is responsible for the Manhattan Clan living to the present day, cursing them to remain as statues for a thousand years in a fit of rage when he believes them to have caused Katharine's death. He tries to atone by raising the eggs from the Wyvern rookery on Avalon, but is later killed by the Weird Sisters when the Archmge attacks the island.

Matt Bluestone (Thomas F. Wilson)

Elisa's partner on the force. Convinced of the existence of the Illuminati.

  • Agent Mulder
  • Badass Normal
  • Badass Longcoat
  • Conspiracy Theorist
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Is briefly shown driving with Chavez in "Deadly Force" before being introduced in "The Edge." (Chavez even notes his previous involvement in the preceding case.)
  • Fair Cop
  • Friend on the Force: He uses much more of his power as a policeman to help the Manhattan clan than Elisa does, such as pestering Xanatos to ensure their well-being once they move back into the castle. Once he becomes the head of the Gargoyle Taskforce, he actively uses his position as someone who is supposed to be hunting them to protect them, and he's none too shy about it.
  • Properly Paranoid: As noted above, the Illuminati do exist and eventually induct Matt into their ranks, impressed at his perseverance in trying to prove it.
  • Redheaded Hero
  • Secret Keeper
  • What the Hell, Hero?: He gives one of these to Elisa after she reveals the gargoyles' existence to him (he already kind of knew, anyway).

Derek Maza / Talon (Rocky Carroll)

Elisa's younger brother, who eventually starts working for Xanatos, only to be mutated into a panther/bat/electric eel hybrid, re-naming himself "Talon."

Coldstone -- Coldstone (Michael Dorn), Coldsteel (Xander Berkeley) and Coldfire (CCH Pounder)

A gargoyle cyborg created by Xanatos and Demona from the remains of three of the lost in the Wyvern massacre, and animated by a combination of science and sorcery. Collectively known as just "Coldstone" until near the end of the series, when Xanatos created two additional robot bodies so each of the three had their own.

Halcyon Renard (Robert Culp)

The founder and head of Cyberbiotics, a successful technology firm. Turned cynical by a series of perceived betrayals, he begins to re-consider his view after meeting Goliath.

Macbeth Mac Findlaech (John Rhys-Davies)

The historical king of Scotland. After losing his kingdom and family, he seeks to find and kill the one responsible: Demona.

Villains

Hakon (Clancy Brown)

The leader of the vikings who destroyed the Wyvern clan. He is Wolf's ancestor.

Demona (Marina Sirtis)

Goliath's former love and one of the co-conspirators in what became the Wyvern massacre. Blaming humans for her misfortunes, she has spent the last thousand years seeking to exterminate them.

  • The Aloner: Seeing nearly all of the Wyvern Clan slaughtered by the vikings, followed by decades of watching the remnants of her species being slaughtered by the Hunter and his human allies (often through her own fault, though she remains in denial about that), have left her completely, helplessly, maddeningly alone. Centuries of endless pursuit by the Canmore dynasty have made her even more bitter.
  • Anti-Villain: Demona is actually not an example of this trope, but a big point is made about how she thinks she's a clear-cut Type III, when she isn't.
  • Ax Crazy: On occasion.
  • Bare Your Midriff
  • Big Bad: She's the second most recurring villain after Xanatos, and her plans tend to be the most dangerous and destructive, since she's out for Revenge on the whole human race. She's also the main villain of "Hunter's Moon," which is effectively the Grand Finale for the canon show.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With Xanatos, until "City of Stone."
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: She has ultimately betrayed just about every group she has ever worked with.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: As Dominique Destine.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Twice. First when she's linked to Macbeth so neither can die except at the hand of the other. There is a fairly hefty downside, but still. Then, Puck gives her a parting "gift" of human form during the day. She's angry at first, but it's a big help for her nefarious plans.
  • Cute Little Fangs
  • The Cynic
  • Dark Action Girl
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Even Bad Women Love Their Daughters
  • Evil Matriarch: She loves Angela so much, she's willing to kill humanity to protect her.
    • Well, she's willing to kill humanity anyway, but she really loves Angela.
  • Evil Redhead
  • Face Heel Turn: In her Backstory.
  • Fantastic Racism: Her opinion of humans is not very high and for good reason too.
  • Fiery Redhead
  • Future Me Scares Me: Which, unfortunately, sets up the Stable Time Loop that turned her into "future me" in the first place.
  • Green Eyed Red Head: In her human form.
  • She Who Fights Monsters
  • Heroes Want Redheads: She was Goliath's mate, after all. Averted when her true personality showed.
  • Hot Amazon
  • Hot Mom
  • Hot Witch: She does have magical abilities after all.
  • Hypocrite: Demona sees herself as the self-proclaimed savior of her race, and that Goliath and those who stand with him will be the death of the race. Never mind the fact that she herself caused the birth of the Hunter, their generations, and indirectly the Quarrymen, whose sole purpose is to destroy they Gargoyles with extreme prejudice. And she had the gall to say Goliath with be the death of all of them? If anything, SHE was the one who nearly caused Gargoyle extinction.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: Her strongest belief.
  • I Reject Your Reality: Her response whenever the heroes tell her that she is in the wrong.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Writ large.
  • Kill All Humans
  • Knight Templar: Subverted; she's convinced herself her cause is noble, but it's really just her lashing out at the world due to all the pain she's brought upon herself.
  • Lady Macbeth: Shades of this in her relationships with Goliath, Macbeth and even Xanatos. Inverted with her relationship with Thailog, as he's far more straightforwardly evil and is really using her to advance his own ends.
  • Magic Knight: She uses her powerful magic (she's probably the strongest mortal mage in the show, not counting the Archmage's enhanced form) and formidable combat skills about evenly.
  • Mama Bear: Would rather pull an Enemy Mine than letting Angela be hurt.
  • Manipulative Bitch: She even pulled this on Angela, her own daughter. It failed BADLY.
  • Meaningful Name: Her alias "Dominique Destine" literally means "Divine Destiny."
  • Ms. Fanservice
  • My God, What Have I... What Have THEY Done?
  • Never My Fault: Employed in a very serious fashion. If there is one defining character flaw for Demona, this is it. Most of her troubles and emotional agonies are entirely her fault, and her refusal to admit any responsibility on her part is the basis for her bitterness AND her racism, all of which she formed mostly to avoid the overwhelming guilt she would feel.
  • Psycho Ex-Girlfriend
  • Revenge by Proxy: "Their descendants shall pay. I will have blood for blood!"
  • Secret Identity
  • She's Got Legs
  • The Unfettered
  • The Vamp
  • With Us or Against Us: "If you are not my ally, then you are my enemy."
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: By the end of City of Stone, it's hard not to feel sorry for her, even though she's long since passed the Moral Event Horizon.

David Xanatos (Jonathan Frakes)

Billionaire responsible for breaking the Magus' spell over the Gargoyles. Determined, practical and brilliant, he searches for eternal life and comfort, and finds something altogether different.

  • Affably Evil: Impeccably polite to his enemies.
  • Anti-Hero: Type V, post Heel Face Turn.
  • Anti-Villain: Type I, while he was developing toward his Heel Face Turn.
  • Arch Enemy: To Goliath initially, and others.
  • Badass Normal: He can hold his own with Goliath and even Oberon with his own gadgets and know-how.
  • Big Bad: Especially in the first half of the series, when he's the most recurring, most intelligent, and arguably most dangerous villain. By the end, while he doesn't quite make a Heel Face Turn, he is edging more into dark Anti-Hero territory.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With Demona, until "City of Stone."
  • Beard of Evil
  • The Chessmaster: The original movie especially. He moves the heroes like they were pieces until the end.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: "A man's gotta make a living." We seldom see what that actually means though. Usually it has to do with high-tech weaponry and medicine.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Determinator: "Nothing terrifies me, because nothing is beyond my ability to change."
    • Implied to ultimately be averted when his wife and child are threatened, and by Thailog's existence.
  • Enemy Mine: Xanatos had a habit of working with the Manhattan Clan, "City of Stone" being the first and arguably most notable example.
  • Evil Genius: He personally built the technology his billion dollar company sells.
  • Evil Virtues: Ambition, Hard Work, Love, Patience, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Determination, Loyalty, Honor. (Yea, for being a Big Bad, he has a lot of these.)
  • Fascinating Eyebrow
  • Fiction 500
  • Friendly Enemy: He rather likes the Manhattan Clan, although the feeling isn't mutual (although they eventually stop thinking of him as a Complete Monster, so that's worth something).
  • Genre Savvy
  • Graceful Loser: Xanatos always takes losses well and considers revenge beneath him.
  • Happily Married: To Fox.
  • Heel Face Turn: Kind of. It's less that his personality changes and more that his priorities shift.
  • Hot Dad
  • Honesty Is the Best Policy: In "The Edge."
  • I Love You Because I Can't Control You: He admits this outright during his chess game with his new bride Fox.
  • Immortality Seeker: "What good are all the riches in the world if Fox and I can't can't enjoy them forever?"
  • Ink Suit Actor: A strange aversion by weird coincidence. Although Xanatos looks almost exactly like Jonathan Frakes, he was designed before Frakes was cast in the role.
  • It's Personal: Explicitly averted. Xanatos spent enough money to build a skyscraper expressly to free the gargoyles, funds advanced robotics, cloning and bio-engineering facilities without showing any concern for the costs involved, and spends not a cent on revenge, ever.
  • Love Is a Weakness: When Fox is turned into a beast, he maintains a clinical view on the situation, expressing only that his inability to get her back was an unforeseen circumstance and his desire to get the jewel that turned her in the first place. He attempts several plans, all of which fail to get her back—it is only towards the end when she is nearing death that he reveals his desperation and gives up the jewel to have her back. Afterwards, he tells Goliath coolly that he now knows Xanatos' weakness.

Goliath: Only you would regard love as a weakness.

Owen Burnett (Jeff Bennett)

Xanatos' right-hand man and confidant. Smart, capable and loyal—the perfect employee. he's actually Puck, a trickster spirit that became Owen for kicks, and because Xanatos is "many things, but never boring."

Fox (Laura San Giacomo)

Xanatos' true love and equal. Formerly Janine Renard, she legally changed her name to Fox.

The Pack

A group of mercenaries-turned-TV stars organized and funded by Xanatos, though after their first encounter with the Manhattan Clan they were arrested and turned to crime for good when Xanatos broke them out of prison. The members are:

    • Fox (Laura San Giacomo): See above. Original team leader, but when the Pack broke out of prison she stayed behind to serve out her sentence. She ultimately got an early release for good behavior - just as Xanatos planned, of course.
    • Wolf (Clancy Brown): The biggest guy on the team and most likely to go straight to brute force.
    • Dingo (Jim Cummings): The tactical expert. He eventually got fed up with the Pack being reduced to common criminals, and found he missed being considered a hero like he was on TV; prompting him to leave the group as well. He eventually got picked up by the Redemption Squad (see below).
    • Jackal (Matt Frewer) and Hyena (Cree Summer): A brother/sister pair of twins, and probably the team's most depraved members - Word of God is that he's a sociopath, she's a psychopath.
    • Coyote (Jonathan Frakes): A new member who engineered the prison breakout, replacing Fox as team leader. At first thought to be Xanatos, but was soon revealed to be a robot in his likeness. Tends to get thrashed and rebuilt by Xanatos every time it appears, with the successive versions obviously not human.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Not in the series itself, but Word of God is that by 2198 Coyote will have become autonomous and turned to conquest.
  • Animal Theme Naming
  • Awesome Aussie: Dingo, natch.
  • Ax Crazy: Jackal and Hyene.
  • Badass Abnormal: All of them get upgraded one way or another (except Fox, who was gone by then).
  • Complete Monster: Jackal.
  • Badass Grandpa: Wolf
  • Brother-Sister Team: Jackal and Hyena. Even when the Pack split up to work solo, these two stayed as a team. Which leads to...
    • Incest Subtext: Hyena and Jackal seem really close to each other.
      • When Jackal kills Coyote Hyena complains that he always kills the guys she likes, meaning it's not the first he does it. This can be easily taken as jealousy.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Dingo is the go-to guy for long-range weapons and explosives. The rest of the team are all hand-to-hand combat junkies.
  • Crush! Kill! Destroy!: Though normally rather calm and competent, Coyote tends to do this.
  • Dark Action Girl: Hyena
  • Five-Bad Band:
  • For the Evulz: Jackal, Hyena, and sometimes Wolf really fall into this one.
  • Heel Face Turn: Dingo, eventually. Fox's is more of a Hazy Feel Turn (she left the team to be with Xanatos - they're a lot better than they used to be, but not quite full "Faces" yet).
  • Name's the Same: Xanatos pits Coyote 4.0 against Coyote the mythical Native American trickster. The latter threatens to sue for copyright infringement. (Xanatos: "Think of it as a homage.")
  • Won't Work On Me: Coyote 4.0 was built with iron from the Cauldron of Life, making it immune to magic.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Wolf, Jackal, and Hyena. Of the others, Coyote doesn't have any other name, Fox had hers legally changed, and Dingo started using his real name more after he left (it's Harry Monmouth, by the way).
  • Only Sane Man: Fox and Dingo, which is why the latter eventually quit (Fox basically just got a better offer).
  • Punch Clock Villain: Dingo, definitely; he's just there for the paycheck, and gets increasingly disgusted with his teammates' craziness. Coyote might also count, since he's just following his programming.
  • Psycho for Hire: The core Pack covers the whole spectrum; Jackal and Hyena are clearly this; Dingo is a perfectly sane mercenary and Coyote is just doing what Xanatos programmed him to; Wolf is a vicious brute who falls somewhere in between.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad
  • Ridiculously Human Robot: Coyote 1.0 looks exactly like Xanatos, but later versions are rebuilt as an obviously robotic being.
  • Robosexual: Hyena has the hots for Coyote. Even Jackal considers this "sicker than usual".
  • Robotic Reveal: Coyote 1.0
  • Sixth Ranger: Coyote
  • The Sociopath: Jackal is this, per Word of God. His sister Hyena is a psychopath.
  • The Starscream: Wolf seems to work fine with Fox, but he clearly doesn't like Coyote and tries several times to take leadership of the Pack from him. It never works.
  • They Killed Kenny: Coyote
  • Transhuman Treachery: Sort of, as the treacherous ones were the ones who chose transhumanism when offered; Dingo was uneasy with it and was the one to eventually have a Heel Face Turn.
  • Two-Faced: After half of Coyote 1.0's face was torn off in the Robotic Reveal, further versions always included the split face somehow.

Tony Dracon (Richard Grieco)

A crime boss constantly harassed by the gargoyles.

The Archmage (David Warner)

An evil wizard seeking ultimate power, defeated by Hudson and Goliath a thousand years ago, but later comes back with a vengeance.

Archmage: I could destroy you with a word.
Goliath: Then why don't you?

Archmage: Because I'm having too much fun!

    • Even more glaring: he could have killed the gargoyles during daytime in their own lair in NY. He could have travel in time and learn all of his enemies' secrets and weaknesses. Instead, he give our heroes some time to prepare themselves and then got his ass kicked.
      • Justified in that he was wearing the Eye of Odin, which, in addition to granting tremendous power, also makes the wearer "more like him/herself." The Archmage was already a petty, egomaniacal wizard obsessed with vengeance against all who slighted him...

The Weird Sisters (Kath Soucie)

Three powerful Children of Oberon who interfere in the series from time to time, particularly where Demona and Macbeth are concerned, loosely adapted from the Three Witches of Macbeth as well as various Three Goddess myths. Their goals and motives are their own.

Dr. Anton Sevarius (Tim Curry)

A freelance geneticist specializing in creating mutates and clones - for evil!

The Hunters

A family of masked vigilantes who have hunted Demona over a millennium, attacking any other gargoyle that enters their sights as well.

Thailog (Keith David)

Goliath's clone, designed to combine his physical attributes with Xanatos' intelligence and ruthlessness.

John Castaway

Formerly a reluctant Hunter named Jon Canmore, John Castaway later becomes convinced that the gargoyles must be destroyed and forms a new gargoyle-hunting organization called the Quarrymen.

The Quarrymen

A KKK-esque group of gargoyle hunters formed by John Castaway.

  • Card-Carrying Villain: In The Goliath Chronicles, the Quarrymen couldn't care less about public safety and were also apparently aware that the gargoyles were trying to protect people, which is odd given that when Castaway recruits them in the first episode, they are just normal, concerned citizens who genuinely believe the gargoyles are a menace to society.
  • Drop the Hammer
  • Faceless Goons
  • Fantastic Racism
  • Mooks
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Very much so in The Goliath Chronicles.

Shari

Introduced in the comic continuation, Shari is a mysterious girl with a high standing in the Illuminati. She currently aids Thailog as his assistant.

Others

Margot Yale & Brendan Quarters

The very cynical Assistant District Attorney and her husband.

Vinnie Grigori (Jeff Bennett)

A strange man who, throughout the series, suffers various unnoticed misfortune because of the gargoyles, and eventually gets fed up.

Puck (Brent Spiner)

One of the Children of Oberon described in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night's Dream," a prankster who relishes his independence.

Goliath: Puck! I should've known. But why this subterfuge?
Puck: Hey, I live for subterfuge!

Preston Vogel (Peter Scolari)

Halcyon Renard's right-hand man and confidant. Smart, capable, but not all that loyal—the near-perfect employee. No blood relation to Owen Burnett.

  • Expy: At first glance, he's just a Palette Swap of Owen Burnett and, indeed, when he first appeared, he was negatively received by audiences who thought the writers only knew how to write one kind of executive. Subverted in that, in-universe, it's Owen who's an Expy of Vogel.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul
  • The Starscream: Unlike Owen to Xanatos, Vogel has no problem with turning on Renard when offered enough money. However, when Fox's plan to sabotage Fortress-2 threatens to kill Renard and the staff in Cyberbiotics tower, he's quick to turn back to Renard's side.
  • The Stoic
  • Yes-Man: Shows some signs of this. "You're a genius, sir," indeed.

Lord Oberon (Terrence Mann)

The all-powerful and rather arrogant Lord of the Third Race, likewise taken from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night's Dream."

Queen Titania (Kate Mulgrew)

The wife of Oberon that divorced him and reconciled their relationship 1000 years later.


The Redemption Squad

A team made out of people who previously fought the Manhattan Clan, organized by persons unknown and led by Robyn Canmore. The stars of comic-book Spin-Off Bad Guys. The members are the Hunter (Robyn), ex-Pack member Dingo, artificial intelligence Matrix, Japanese gargoyle Yama, and the mutate Fang.

Back to Gargoyles
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Gargoyles/Characters?oldid=2046538"