Welcome to Your Introduction to Gargoyles!

One Thousand Years Ago,
Superstition and the Sword ruled.
It was a time of darkness.
It was a world of fear.
It was the age of...
Gargoyles

Introduction

In 1991, Disney went out on a limb in deviating from the tried-and-true formula of trite, comedy cartoons developed for young children. They released Gargoyles, a 'serious' venture with consistently high quality animation, an unusually dark and gothic atmosphere, and a continuous story arc of which the complexity the United States had never seen in an animated series. And thus began the epic adventure, spanning one thousand years, of the mythical creatures called Gargoyles.

Stone by day, gargoyles break out of stone shells at night, healed from wounds and refreshed. Though are inhumanely strong, and their eyes glow when enraged. Though winged, they nevertheless cannot fly, but only glide on currents of wind. A subset of the gargoyle race, gargoyle beasts, exhibit lower intelligence and are without wings, reminiscent of a dog. All gargoyles have an undying drive to protect.

Gargoyles were once common, and lived alongside humans one thousand years ago. One clan in particular, located in Wyvern, Scotland, lived alongside humans in a mutual relationship of protection, but not friendship. Led by the powerful and honorable gargoyle the humans named Goliath, the clan defended the humans at night, while the humans defended them during the day.

Then one night, the uneasy trust was shattered by betrayal. The clan was a victim of a Viking invasion and the betrayal of a close friend. Goliath, his mentor, three teenage gargoyles, and a gargoyle beast were all that were left of a thriving gargoyle clan. In a dreadful act of misinterpretation, the royal sorcerer, the Magus, cursed the survivors to sleep in stone hibernation until the 'castle rose above the clouds.' And as such, they slept.

Then the 20th century came. Humanity had forgotten about these defenders of the night, save a select few. A multi-billionaire industrialist, the cool and cunning David Xanatos, moved Castle Wyvern, stone for stone, gargoyle for gargoyle. He displaced castle and clan from Scotland to the top of his skyscraper, the Eyrie Building, in Manhattan. Finally above the clouds, the clause of the spell was fulfilled, and the clan awoke.

In adjusting to the 20th century lifestyle, each gargoyle choose a name. Goliath retained his name. The red, thrill-seeking gargoyle became known as Brooklyn. The overweight blue one chose the name Broadway. The technologically incline green one became Lexington. The old mentor took a liking to both telivision and the name Hudson. And finally, the beast-dog was named Bronx. The clan befriended the human detective Elisa Maza. And when things seemed like they were finally settling down, the clan was rocked by a blast from the past.

**Please note that the following contains basic overview of plot points that audiences should know when exploring Avalon Archives. If you have not seen the Gargoyles then the following paragraphs should be considered "spoilers". Proceed at your own risk.

Gargoyles Season 1: Awakenings.

Goliath's lover and mate too survived the massacre those many centuries ago. She was reintroduced to the clan by Xanatos shortly after the others had awakened. Her motives were dubious, though. She tricked Goliath into sending the clan out to steal from and destroy Xanatos Enterprise rival Cyberbiotics.

Though the clan succeeded, Xanatos and Goliath's lover, covertly working together, became convinced that Goliath was too difficult to effectively control. They used the stolen information to construct mechanical gargoyles called the Steel Clan. Sent to destroy the Wyvern clan, the robots proved ineffective against the clan's battle skills. It was then that Goliath's lover revealed her true nature.

It was she who plotted to let the Vikings into Castle Wyvern. She had planned for the Vikings to destroy the humans, leaving the castle empty for the gargoyles. The plot backfired when the Vikings shattered her clan as well. She survived, but not as the others had. One thousand years of suffering and betrayal had driven the kindness out of her, and instilled a new purpose- the total destruction of humanity. And she had a name given to her by humans long ago- Demona.

In the ensuing battle, she was knocked off the top of Castle Wyvern, apparently falling to her death. The manipulative David Xanatos was arrested for accepting stolen material, and sentenced to prison. And the gargoyles, after 1000 years, took their rightful place as owners of Castle Wyvern. Or so they thought.

Manhatten Nights

Even in prison, Xanatos was engineering the clan's demise. The Pack, a hit television series starring veteran mercenaries, were created for the sole purpose of killing the gargoyles. It maniacal members posed a unique threat to the gargoyles' survival. Xanatos also hired MacBeth, a man with an unusually extensive knowledge of gargoyles and a hinted shared background with Demona, to eliminate the gargoyle problem. Though these measures failed, Xanatos forced the clan to abandon their ancestral home. Relunctantly, they took shelter in the clock tower above Elisa's police department. With them they took the magic book, the Grimorum Ackanorum, which had belonged to the Magus.

The clan would be pitted against Anthony Dracon, New York's leading mobster. Demona would reappear as well, trying to eliminate Goliath so she could assume leadership of the clan. Elisa's life would not remain static. Along with getting conspiracy fanatic Matt Bluestone for a partner, her brother Derrick quit the police force to join Xanatos's employ.

Xanatos eventually returned from his stay in prison, and began a new scheme afresh with Demona. They created Coldstone, constructed from the remnant of a shattered gargoyle, bound to machinery and magic. After being released on the clan and the city, he was disabled and deactivated. And from that experience, the Wyvern Clan realized that Manhatten was their protectorate, their responsibility. With their new mission, the gargoyles truly lived again.

Gargoyles Season 2: Complications

Things were only starting to heat up in Manhatten, though. Hudson and Broadway would begin learning to read, inspired by the blind man Tim Robbins. Derrick was injected with a mutagen created by the unethical Dr. Anton Sevarius. Derrick turned into a Mutate, a gargoyle-like being with the ability to shoot electricity from its hands. Xanatos had Sevarius create Thailog, a clone of Goliath. His plans for Thailog drastically backfired when Thailog, as manipulative and self-serving as Xanatos ever was, struck it out independently.

Demona was hardly out of the picture. In summoning the trickster fay, Puck, she set in motion the events that resulted in her worst nightmare. In parting, Puck cursed her to turn into a human during the day. The secret society called the Illuminati cast its shadow upon events, inducting Matt Bluestone as a member and revealing to him the secret of the gargoyles.

It was revealed that Xanatos's relation with the Pack's former leader, Fox, was of a romantic nature. He gave her the amulet the Eye of Odin as an engagement present, but due to its disastrous results, surrendered it to Goliath. The Phoenix Gate would also end up in Goliath's hands after the newlywed couple used it to travel back in time. Thus, with the Grimorum, the Pheonix Gate, and the Eye of Odin in the clock tower, the scene was set for a magical extravaganza.

Demona tricked Xanatos into giving her control of the airwaves, in which she cast a spell that turned everybody watching and listening into a statue at night. Goliath and his clan teamed up with Xanatos to stop her, but neither side reckoned on another force- the mysterious but noble MacBeth.

Through the magical intervention of the fays known as the Weird Sisters, Demona and MacBeth are eternally bound in life and death. They feel each others pain, and can only die when one kills the other. MacBeth has been hunting her for the past 1000 years. As Demona's spell was broken, the Weird Sisters took their 'children' and vanished. The two mortal enemies would reappear working with each other, with Coldstone in tow. Coldstone, built from the remains of three gargoyles, had the souls of all three inside. It was a constant war to see which one controlled the body, and the Coldstone dilemma occupied the clan for enough for Demona and MacBeth to steal the three magic talismans for the Weird Sisters. Then the fun really started.

Adventures in Avalon: The World Tour Episodes.

The Weird Sisters joined forces with another shock from the clan's past- the evil wizard, the Archmage. Empowered with the three magical talismans stolen from the clan, the Archmage tried to expel the residents of the magical island of Avalon so he could use it as a base to launch his attack against the world.

Goliath, Elisa, and Bronx were brought to Avalon by Tom, christened the Guardian of the Eggs one thousand years ago when he and Katherine were entrusted with the care of Wyvern's surviving gargoyle eggs. With the Magus, Tom and Katherine had fled to Avalon. Due to Avalon's magic, they aged only one hour for every day that had gone by in the mortal realm. The eggs had hatched, and a new clan of gargoyles had grown to young adults, including Angela, daughter of Demona.

The Weird Sisters and the Archmage controlled Demona and MacBeth in the fight for posession of Avalon. Only with the help of King Arthur, awakened from his magical sleep, did Goliath and his friends end the Archmage threat.. The Grimorum was destroyed, but the Phoenix Gate and Eye of Odin were taken by Goliath for safe keeping. King Arthur went on his own way, and Goliath, Elisa, Bronx, and Angela set sail on the skiff. Instead of sending them home, though, Avalon sent them where they 'needed to be,' and thus the Travelers got to go sightseeing.

The Travelers were sent to the furthest reaches of the world, from Egypt to Easter Island, Australia to Nova Scotia. Along the way, they met surviving gargoyle clans in Guatemala, England, and Japan. They met up with old enemies, and found new friends. Relationships were redefined as Angela discovered that her biological parents were Goliath and Demona, and that Demona now loved Thailog. And while the familiar face occasionally popped up, so many new people they met in their journeys.

Meanwhile in Manhattan, Brooklyn had assumed position of leader in Goliath's absence. He held the stalemate with Xanatos, and made an alliance with Derrick and his clan of Mutates. All the while, they held on to the hope that the Travelers would return. Goliath and company met many magical creatures, the fays, in their travels. Back in Avalon, though, they met the most powerful of the fays, their Father and Master, Oberon, Lord of the Third Race. With the intervention of Oberon's wily wife, Lady Titania, Goliath and the Avalon clan were spared a direct confrontation, and declared a truce with him. That stalemate would hold for only so long.

The Nightmare and the Return

In Norway, Goliath returned the Eye of Odin to its rightful owner, Odin himself. The Phoenix Gate, however, could not be gotten rid of so easily.

Puck created a entire nightmare scenario so he could obtain the Phoenix Gate to appease Lord Oberon. Released from the nightmare, Goliath threw the Phoenix Gate into its own flames without a mind to direct it, so it was lost in time. Thus freed from the two magic amulets, the Travelers arrived home.

Fox gave birth to Alexander Fox Xanatos. Unbeknownst to her, her mother Anastasia Renyard held an unnatural interest in the child. Meanwhile, Oberon was holding the Gathering in Avalon, where his children, the fays, returned from Earth to this magical paradise. Oberon went to find Puck, who had not returned. What he found was Lady Titania in her human form, Anastasia, trying to take the baby Alexander to Avalon for magical training.

Despite Fox and Xanatos's protests, Oberon declared that he would follow through with Titania's intentions. Oberon gave them one hour to say good-bye. Owen , Xanatos's loyal assistant, activated secret defenses against magic before taking his leave. And then the hour was up.

Aided by Cyberbiotics CEO Halcyon Renyard, the gargoyles, and Owen's defenses, Xanatos and Fox managed to hold Oberon at bay. Inevitably, though, Oberon crushed through each. Finally, he came face to face with Owen, who then revealed his true form- Puck, the trickster. At the last moment, Fox displayed her untrained magic in an uncontrolled surge. Goliath realized that if Fox could activate her own magic, then Alexander could be trained in the mortal realm, by Puck. Oberon, weary of battle, agreed. He stripped Puck of his magical abilities, except when training or defending Alex. And thus, Oberon and Titania left for the paradise of Avalon for a long, long rest.

The Night Will Never Be the Same

Oberon may have left, but the old forces of evil weren't so easily dispelled. Mobster Tony Dracon shook up the city in a turf war with Prague crime lord, Thomas Brod. Demona and Thailog created clones of each gargoyle before their lover's spat turned into a fight to the finish. The three personalities trapped inside Coldstone were released into mechanical bodies, with the help of Alex's magic and Puck's training.

The full clan was getting back into the habit of patrolling the city, but a gargoyle's life is never without change. And the biggest change of all had yet to come.

Seasons 1 and 2 Finale: Hunters Moon

Demona's evil deeds for the past millennium were paid for by her daughter, Angela, when an assault team known as the Hunters nearly killed Angela. The Hunters are a family of gargoyle assassins who hold a special vendetta against Demona. Demona's plans for the complete destruction of humanity was quickly coming to fruition. Using her company Nightstone Unlimited as a front, Demona combined magic and technology to engineer a virus that could wipe out humankind.

Elisa and Goliath's relationship was in the midst of redefining itself. Elisa's feeling for Goliath were knocked askew by feelings for her new partner.

The Hunters tracked down the clan to the clock tower. They blew it up and exposed the fleeing gargoyles to the mass media, making existence of these creatures a secret no longer. In the final battle, the youngest of the three siblings, Jon Canmore, accidentally shot and paralyzed his brother, Jason. He fled, blaming his mortal mistake on the gargoyles. Demona's plan was defeated when Goliath destroyed the Demona's magical protection against the virus. And Xanatos, his gratefulness building up since the Gathering, gave the gargoyles back their home, Castle Wyvern. And Elisa and Goliath cemented their long-delayed romance with a kiss. So ended Season 2.

The Goliath Chronicles : Season 3

In the third, and final (?) season of the well beloved show, we found our heros facing another, yet just as important problem. Until the 3rd season, the Gargoyles were able to keep their existance to nothing more than rumors floating about. Now, with their existance publicly known, Goliath and his clan found themselves in the midst of persicution by the city they had protected for so long. So much, in fact, that a group called the "Quarrymen" was formed to meet the total anihalation of the clan.

The Quarrymen, led by John Castaway (who was actually Jon Canmore), weilded hammers possesing great electrical power. They often led demonstrations which always ended with a statue of a Gargoyle (Which always resembled Goliath) being smashed into little peices. Though they were dilligent in their efforts to bring down the Gargoyle clan, they ultimately failed time and time again.

The Goliath Chronicles though without it's creator, Greg Weisman, still held fast to the ideas of exploring new morals. Though many viewers showed their obvious dissaproval of the relationship that formed between Broadway and Angela, it didn't take long to realize that TGC's reasoning behind it was that to make the obvious couple was to be like all the other shows.

Sadly enough, though, the adventures of the scottish clan of gargoyles in Manhattan were put to rest. A desicion was made that the Gargoyles show would end with The Goliath Chronicls. Thus ended the fine show that dared to go against the norm of afternoon telivision.

The Future, the Past, and Everything In-between

The adventures of the Gargoyles are far from over, however. A live action Gargoyles movie is still a big possibility, and like many fan movements before them, Gargoyles fans intend to support the show in hopes of it's reknewal. To this end fans have taken an unprecedented move. Inspired by the hints, allegations, and things barely said by Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman, this cooperative movement of fans from across the world continues the series in written form, posted on the Internet.

The Gargoyles Saga follows the main story arc set in motion by The Journey, from whence it picks up. The planned spin-offs Weisman had wanted to do also have found form and body. TimeDancer finds Brooklyn jumping throughout time with the familiar talisman, the Phoenix Gate. The Dark Ages explores life at Castle Wyvern before the fateful Viking attack. The Pendragon series follows the adventures of King Arthur and his noble gargoyle warrior, Griff, as they search for the Holy Grail and the wizard Merlin.

The television series broke new ground for its remarkable character development and plot design. That tradition will not end. Though the new series will be marked by the plot twists, character relations, and revelations we've come to expect from Gargoyles, only thing is certain.

The best has yet to come.

**Please note that the Gargoyles Saga is NOT supported or acknowledged by Disney or Greg Weisman. Weisman has no connection whatsoever to TGS. It is entirely fanbased. A proper classification of TGS would be very well organized and illustrated Gargoyles fanfiction, released in episode format. TGS will be released on Avalon Archives and Chris' Gargoyles Homepage, and will NOT be animated or show up on television in any form. TGS and Avalon are completely nonprofit for the commentary and entertainment of fans.

**This document written by Sven (sven@pclogiconline.com) with minor alterations by Angela. It is not to be redistributed without permission of the Guardians.