Appendix B: A Guide to the Gargoyles Universe

By Todd Jensen

“H”

HACKER, AGENT MARTIN

An FBI agent and Illuminatus. When Matt Bluestone was a member of the FBI and already searching for the Illuminati, Hacker was paired up with him, apparently at the Illuminati's bidding, to make certain that Matt never discovered that the Society really did exist. Hacker therefore saw to it that Matt would be guided down one false lead after another, both during his time in the FBI and even after he was discharged from it and entered the NYPD instead.

Hacker visited New York during the "Silver Falcon" adventure to meet Elisa at Cleopatra's Needle and tell her about Matt's suspicions that Mace Malone was tied to the Illuminati (he had been summoned there by Matt when the latter misinterpreted Malone's letter about the "silver falcon" as a clue to the Illuminati). Later on, visiting Matt in New York again, he helped him locate Malone's stepson Jack Danforth (not suspecting that Jack could indeed help Matt find Malone). After Matt helped Goliath escape from the Hotel Cabal, Hacker met him, revealed his true identity as a member of the Illuminati, and inducted Matt into the Society.

HAIDA

A Native American tribe living in the Pacific Northwest. One group of the Haida lives on Queen Florence Island, off the western coast of Canada. Because Raven the Trickster has a long history of attempting to take over the island, it has become tradition for the Haida chieftain to climb to the top of the volcano where Raven has his lair whenever such an attack takes place, and defeat him in single combat. To help ensure that the Haida will remember this tradition and so know what to do the next time that Raven returns for a fresh attempt, Grandmother has attached herself to the Haida, to remind them of their ancient ways whenever they are in danger of forgetting them.

In early 1996, Raven launched his most recent takeover attempt upon the island, laying it waste and driving many of the Haida to the mainland. Unfortunately, the then Haida chieftain, Natsilane, did not believe that Raven existed, and so refused to listen to Grandmother and battle the trickster, until Goliath, Elisa, Angela and Bronx arrived at Queen Florence Island and convinced him. After Natsilane drove Raven away, Grandmother restored the island to health and the Haida (presumably) returned there.

HAKON

The leader of the Vikings who attacked Castle Wyvern in 994, and also an ancestor of Wolf. He and his followers were initially defeated by the gargoyles, but Hakon vowed revenge. When the Captain of the Guard offered to betray the castle to him, Hakon eagerly accepted his offer, but after sacking the castle and taking Princess Katharine and her court prisoner, proceeded to smash almost the entire gargoyle clan in its stone sleep. When Goliath attacked the Vikings' camp to rescue the human prisoners and avenge his clan, Hakon and the Captain of the Guard fell off a cliff to their deaths.

Or so it appeared. But the ancient magics of the Archmage's cave nearby, alongside the sheer force of Hakon and the Captain's hatred of each other (alongside Hakon's hatred of Goliath and the Captain's self-hatred for having failed to save the clan), caused the ghosts of the two men to remain there, bound to the cave. They haunted the area for a thousand years, until Goliath and his companions came to Wyvern on their first stop on the Avalon World Tour. There, Hakon, seeing his opportunity for both revenge and freedom, joined with the Captain in an attack upon Goliath, first breaking him down with a series of illusions designed to destroy his sanity and fill him with guilt over the Wyvern Massacre, and then manipulating the magics of the cave (and particularly those contained in [the Megalith Dance]) to transfer Goliath's life-force from himself to Hakon and the Captain, making Goliath a ghost and Hakon and the Captain fully alive once more.

However, the Captain, in the end, proved unwilling to betray Goliath again, and foiled Hakon's scheme, saving Goliath's life and winning freedom for the Captain's ghost. Hakon was trapped in the cave once again, this time on his own, screaming in fury, "Don't leave me here! Not without anyone to hate!"

But he was not imprisoned in the cave for all time, after all. Reaching out to Wolf as his descendant, he drew the mutated former-Pack-member to Wyvern, and there arranged for himself to become linked to a Viking battle-axe in the cave, which Wolf then took to New York. The two of them attacked Goliath and Hudson there, hoping to destroy them at last in conjunction, but the two gargoyles won in the end, and destroyed Hakon's axe, banishing him from this world forever.

HARMONIC CONVERGENCE

A magical phenomenon, that links itself to unusual events such as the transportation of King Arthur and Griff from Westminster Abbey in London to New York. It manifests itself in powerful storm-winds springing up from seemingly out of nowhere.

HARVEY

A stuntman who played the part of one of the Evil Ninjas in the Pack's television series and public appearances. Fox advised him to work on his backflips.

HELIOS

A New Olympian, and a member of the security force under Taurus that guards the island. He is very unfavorably disposed towards humans, and even took part in the riot outside Elisa's cell. [After the New Olympians make contact with the outside world, Helios will join Jove's faction, which believes that the New Olympians should hold sway over humans once more, as they did in ancient times.]

Helios looks like a man with fiery hair, and has the ability to produce fireballs and hurl them as weapons.

HIGH STEWARD OF MORAY

The traditional title of the head of Clan Moray. It was held by Findlaech until his death in 1020, and was then bestowed by Prince Duncan upon Gillecomgain. After Gillecomgain's death in 1032, Macbeth became the new High Steward of Moray.

HIMALAYAS

A great mountain range in Asia. Coldstone fled here after he came to Elisa's rescue from Demona and Macbeth in Belvedere Castle, [and later on Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Bronx met him here on an undocumented adventure during the Avalon World Tour]. It was also the site of Xanatos's encounter with Coldstone, when he tracked him down here and brought him back to New York.

[HIPPOLYTA]

[A biological daughter of Hudson and biological sister to Broadway. She is now dead, presumably slain during the Wyvern Massacre.

<Hippolyta - whose name obviously would not have been an official one in the 10th century - is evidently named after Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons in Greek mythology. One of the twelve labors of Heracles was to seize her girdle from her, which he did, although at the cost of Hippolyta's life. However, the most likely "immediate inspiration" for Hyppolyta's name, from Greg Weisman's standpoint, was that of a second Hippolyta, more accurately known as Antiope, who was Theseus's wife - and who appears alongside him in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Mr. Weisman has speculated that "Hippolyta" was a title for the Amazon Queen, rather than an actual name.>]

HIROSHI

The police constable at Ishimura. He helped Elisa rescue the gargoyles from Taro after the latter kidnapped them.

HOLLOW HILL

A hill upon Avalon, within which lay the cave where King Arthur was bound in his enchanted sleep. Arthur lay upon a bier in the center of the cave, surrounded by a great chasm, reachable only by a single narrow bridge. Niches filled the walls, depicting knights and crowned with heraldic emblems, perhaps representing the knights of the Round Table. Two animated suits of armor made from iron guarded Arthur, to ward off anyone who attempted to disturb them. (Who was responsible for them is unknown and their presence is something of a mystery; faerie magic cannot affect iron, and human magic is barred from Avalon.) As an additional safeguard, the bridge was enchanted to collapse should anyone attempt to cross it; in order to reach the other side, the visitor must make a "leap of faith" across the broken part of the bridge.

The Magus and Elisa came here to awaken King Arthur and bring him to the defense of Avalon against the Archmage. The Magus defeated the suits of armor with a spell, and Elisa crossed the bridge, making the necessary "leap of faith". There, she awoke King Arthur. Later on, the Magus battled the Weird Sisters here, and defeated them, though at the cost of his own life. He was laid to rest upon his death upon Arthur's bier.

HOLLYWOOD

The clone made of Broadway by Sevarius for Demona and Thailog. He now lives in the Labyrinth, like the other Clones. Hollywood was, of course, named after the famous motion picture headquarters in Los Angeles.

HOLY GRAIL

[A legendary chalice, said to have been the cup that Jesus Christ drank from at the Last Supper. During King Arthur's reign, it was the object of a great quest for the knights of the Round Table, and finally achieved by Sir Percival, who currently serves as its guardian as Fisher King at Castle Carbonek. The Grail has granted both him and his wife Blanchefleur immortality, although at some physical cost to Percival because of the various unscrupulous deeds that he has committed as the head of the Illuminati. King Arthur and Griff will go in quest of it after they find Merlin, and it is possible that Goliath and Elisa will at some point become involved in this quest as well,] particularly in light of the fact that when an amnesiac Elisa told Goliath on Easter Island that his account of her adventures with him contained everything except for King Arthur and the Holy Grail, he replied, "Well, we haven't encountered the Holy Grail yet."

<The Holy Grail first appears in the 12th century poem "Perceval" by the French Arthurian romancer Chretien de Troyes. Here it is portrayed as a mysterious vessel in the Fisher King's castle, which provided sustenance to his court; it is not yet the "Holy Grail", however, or linked to Christianity. Later romancers, however, added onto its story, tying it in with Jesus Christ and expanding on its role, until by Malory's time it had become a major part of the Arthurian legend. Originally, Percival was the hero of the Grail legends, but although he remained in them until the end, he was eventually made subordinate to Galahad, who was specially created for the Grail legend by the authors of the Vulgate Cycle in 13th century France.

According to the familiar version of the legend, the Holy Grail was the cup from which Jesus Christ drank at the Last Supper, and which was later on used to catch his blood during the Crucifixion. Joseph of Arimathea brought it with him to Britain, and it eventually passed from his hands to those of a succession of Fisher Kings who lived at the castle of Carbonek, all the way down to King Arthur's reign.

The Grail had many miraculous properties: it could bestow whatever food and drink a person most liked, heal mortal wounds, and cure insanity. But as something strongly connected to God, it could only be achieved by the pure of heart; the impure could no more behold it than a blind man could see a bright sword. Even the Fisher Kings had to live by exacting moral standards in order to be fit to serve as its guardians, and when they strayed, terrible consequences generally befell them. It could only be borne by a pure maiden (generally one from the Fisher King's family), and was kept covered with a cloth of white samite.

According to Malory, the Holy Grail appeared briefly at Arthur's court while the knights of the Round Table were assembled there for Pentecost. The knights were suitably awed by its wonder, and all vowed to quest after it that they might fully behold it and drink from it, thus receiving spiritual enlightenment. However, only three of the knights, Galahad, Percival, and Bors, were able to achieve it at Carbonek. The other knights failed to achieve the Grail because of their sins, particularly Lancelot on account of his adultery with Queen Guinevere. (Some versions of the story, however, give Gawain a "qualified success"; he visits Carbonek and asks a question that heals the Wasteland that lies about it, for which he is honored, although not able to drink from the Grail himself).

After Galahad, Percival, and Bors achieved the Grail, Galahad, the purest of the three, died and his soul was immediately taken up to Heaven. Bors returned to Camelot to tell the story to King Arthur and his court. The fate of Percival and the Grail varies from account to account, however. Malory has the Grail taken up to Heaven forever, never to be seen again, and Percival quietly retire to a hermitage and die a year later. Other versions of the story, particularly the older ones, have the Grail remain on Earth, still kept at Carbonek, with Percival now as its guardian. The Gargoyles Masterplan clearly follows the latter version.>

HOTEL CABAL

A seemingly abandoned hotel in New York City, which actually serves as an Illuminati base of operations. Inside, it is filled with a maze of bizarre rooms and bewildering traps, all designed to drive anyone trapped inside to near madness. The Illuminati use it as a place to conduct interrogations, imprisoning their intended victim within the hotel and using its traps to weaken his or her resistance, until they are able to pluck all of that person's deepest secrets out of him or her. The only way to escape the Hotel Cabal is by possessing one of the special hotel-keys, which automatically deactivate the traps for anyone carrying them. Needless to say, the hotel-keys are reserved for the use of the Illuminati only.

Goliath has been, to date, the only Illuminati prisoner to escape from the Hotel Cabal, when Matt loaned him his Illuminati hotel-key. Mace Malone, who was conducting the interrogation at the time, was far less fortunate, losing his key in the course of the encounter and remaining trapped in the hotel for the rest of his life.

HOUKA

A tribe in Nigeria; its chieftain is known as the Oba. Under the Panther Queen, they built the city of Karadigi, and lived there briefly until Anansi drove them out.

HOUND OF ULSTER

A gargoyle beast in ancient Ireland who became a companion to Cuchulain, and fought alongside him against the Banshee. It was remembered in Ireland long after Cuchulain's death, and even by the 1990's, tales were still told about it; it was said that to hear it baying meant trouble, and to see it was even worse. The Banshee mistook Bronx for the Hound of Ulster when he arrived in Ireland on the Avalon World Tour.

<In the original Cuchulain legends, the Hound of Ulster was actually Cuchulain's title; it was ascribed to him because of his faithful defense of Ulster, the kingdom of his uncle King Conchobar, and as an echo of his name "Cuchulain", meaning "Hound of Culainn". In this sense, the Hound of Ulster is an invention of "Gargoyles".

However, it also echoes the actual legends about "black dogs" found in the British Isles, who were said to serve as portents of doom. (Indeed, in the original plans for "The Hound of Ulster", this beast would have also been called a "Barghest", an actual "black dog"-like creature in the folklore of northern England.) Their howling was said to serve as a death-omen, and sometimes the sight of them was horrible enough to kill whoever saw one. (The Hound of the Baskervilles, whom Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created for his Sherlock Holmes stories, is a reflection of such legends). However, at times the "black dogs" would serve as protectors, walking alongside travellers late at night and keeping them safe from harm.

Obviously, in the Gargoyles Universe, such tales about "black dogs" must have originated from gargoyle beasts. Both traditions about them fit the nature of gargates; the stories about them as menacing beings reflect the fear and suspicion that humans have towards gargoyles and gargoyle beasts, while the "guardian black dog" stories reflect the true nature of gargates as protectors.>

HUDSON

The original leader of the Wyvern clan, and now its oldest member and mentor-figure.

[Hudson was hatched in the year 878, and by 967 - presumably long before then - had risen to become the Wyvern clan's leader. At some point prior to 967, he met Robbie for the first time, and made friends with him. In 971, Robbie introduced Hudson to Prince Malcolm, and they formed an alliance that led to the building of Castle Wyvern.

Between 971 and 984, Hudson continued to lead the Wyvern gargoyles as steadfast allies to Prince Malcolm and his people.] In many ways, he was much more intelligent than Prince Malcolm was. He correctly saw the danger in Malcolm using gargoyles as threats to scare the young Princess Katharine into good behavior (the danger that was fulfilled by her attitude towards gargoyles up to the Wyvern Massacre, which even helped lead to it), and also recognized the treasonous schemings of the Archmage long before Malcolm saw them - sensing them as early as 975, in fact. By 984, he had already recognized Goliath's worth, and appointed the young gargoyle warrior his second-in-command.

In 984, Hudson was blinded in one eye during a battle with the Archmage (the same battle that resulted in the evil sorcerer falling into a chasm to - so everyone thought at the time - his demise). Convinced that this condition made him no longer able to lead, he abdicated as leader in favor of Goliath. Goliath insisted on keeping Hudson on, however, as an advisor, recognizing the older gargoyle's experience and wisdom.

Hudson survived the Wyvern Massacre in 994 because Goliath took him on his pursuit of the Vikings, but was afterwards turned to stone by the Magus for the next thousand years. Like the other gargoyles, he was awakened from his stone sleep when Xanatos moved Castle Wyvern to the top of the Eyrie Building.

Hudson is semi-retired now, thanks to his age and partial blindness. He feels that he's past his prime, and prefers to stay home (whether Castle Wyvern or the clock tower) while the rest of the clan is out on patrol, for the purpose of guarding it. (Bronx, whom Hudson has a strong rapport for, usually stays with him). However, he can still be a formidable warrior when the occasion demands it, and once defended a wounded Goliath very effectively against Demona, holding her off long enough for the sun to rise and heal his leader. He also demonstrated his resourcefulness in rescuing himself from Xanatos when the latter captured him to use as a guinea pig for the Cauldron of Life.

Unlike the trio, Hudson is not particularly enthusiastic about the modern world. He feels lost and confused in it, all too aware of the dramatic changes that have taken place in the last thousand years, particularly in the realm of technology, and knows in his heart that he's too old and set in his ways to be able to adjust well to it as the other clan members have. However, he does enjoy one modern-day invention: television. He likes to settle down in an easy chair and watch it while the rest of the clan is out on patrol.

Like Broadway, Hudson was originally illiterate - and, unlike Broadway, ashamed of it; he covered it up, in fact, because of this. He finally revealed this secret to Jeffrey Robbins, however, who assured him that it was not a disgrace to be illiterate, but only to stay that way, and offered to teach him how to read. After this, Hudson undertook reading lessons with Broadway, practicing with the newspaper. He and Robbins also became good friends.

[Hudson is Broadway's biological father, although neither of them know this - and it wouldn't matter to either of them even if they did know. Hudson's mate died in 971, under currently unknown circumstances. They also had a daughter named Hippolyta, who is now dead, probably as a casualty of the Wyvern Massacre.]

Hudson is a portly old gargoyle, with tan-colored skin and white hair and beard. His most distinguishing feature, beyond these, is his blind right eye. He wears a tough leather jerkin in addition to his gargoyle loincloth, and carries a sword about that he won during his attack on the Vikings' camp in 994. (Hudson uses the sword because he feels that, with his strength failing as he ages, he needs some sort of human weapon to help even things out for him). Alone of the Wyvern clan, he speaks with a Scottish accent, [because he had the most contact of all the gargoyles with Scottish humans].

Hudson was the first member of the Wyvern clan to take on a name in the 20th century, although he considered the concept of names nothing more than a peculiar human custom. He named himself after the Hudson River, after Elisa cited it to him as an example of how even geographical features have names.

HUNTERS

A series of gargoyle-hunters, beginning with Gillecomgain in 994 and culminating in Jason, Robyn, and Jon Canmore in 1996. Gillecomgain first assumed the Hunter's role and mask after he was attacked by Demona as a boy and his face horribly scarred; the mask that he donned bore three red slash-marks across it to match his facial scars, a feature which the Hunters' masks bore ever since, even after they had forgotten Gillecomgain's disfiguring. Gillecomgain hunted Demona ruthlessly as the Hunter throughout all Scotland, and also presumably destroyed any other gargoyle that he came across.

Gillecomgain also became a hired assassin, and as the Hunter murdered Findlaech in 1020 on behalf of Prince Duncan. He continued to serve as the Hunter until his death in 1032, when Duncan took up the role, and as the Hunter in 1040, attacked Demona's clan in its stone sleep, forcing the survivors to join forces with Macbeth. Duncan was slain in battle not long afterwards, but his son Canmore recovered the Hunter's mask and assumed it in 1057, when he invaded Scotland in concert with the English and overthrew Macbeth and Demona both.

After some unspecified event, either Canmore resumed the role of the Hunter or else one of his immediate descendants, the forebear of the Canmore family, did so. The Canmore Hunters pursued Demona throughout first Europe and then the world over the centuries, ruthlessly hunting her and seeking her death. The details about them between 1057 and 1980 are as yet unknown, except for one who attacked her in Renaissance Florence in 1495, when she stole the Medici Tablet. However, they seem to have been a constant menace to her.

[By 1980, the Canmores had long since forgotten how the Hunters had begun,] but continued to play the role out of force of habit and the weight of family tradition, not to mention the fact that it is much easier to keep a feud going than it is to end one. In that year, the current Hunter, Charles Canmore, attacked Demona at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and was slain by her, on the night of September 28. His three children, Jason, Robyn, and Jon, took up the mission, culminating in their climactic encounter with both Demona and Goliath's clan in New York in 1996. The battles that they fought there finally brought the Hunters to an end, or, more accurately, moved them into a new phase, [after Jon Canmore, the only one of the three still desiring to continue the feud, changed his name to Castaway and set up the Quarrymen].

Macbeth also temporarily assumed the Hunter's mask in 1995 when he fought Demona during the time that she had placed her "stone by night" curse upon the human inhabitants of New York.

The Hunters always wore a hooded mask with three red slashes upon it as a badge, to conceal their true identity. They carefully upgraded their equipment over the centuries; the Renaissance Hunter pursued Demona mounted in a flying machine that looked like something out of one of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, and Jason, Robyn, and Jon armed themselves in New York with an enormous airship, insulated suits, and even a robotic falcon.

HUNTER'S MOON

A traditional name for the full moon when it falls in October. One of the requirements for the Fulfillment Spell was that it could only be cast on the night of the Hunter's Moon; hence Demona made the night of the Hunter's Moon in 1996 the night that she would unleash "Operation Clean Slate" upon the world. It was also the night that Goliath and his clan had their final battle with the Hunters.

HYENA

A member of the Pack. She and her twin brother, Jackal, were mercenaries who joined that organization, and became noted for their deadly swiftness and accuracy.

Most of Hyena's career is covered in the entry on Jackal, for they are seldom far apart and have shared their various adventures and battles with the gargoyles. When they were employed by Preston Vogel to destroy the Mayan gargoyles, their latest recorded adventure to date, Jackal sent Hyena to the American Museum of Natural History in New York to steal and destroy the Mayan Sun Amulet, rendering the Mayan gargoyles helpless during the daytime. Fortunately, before she could destroy it, Lexington and Broadway arrived to defeat her, and afterwards arranged for her to be captured by the police.

[Hyena will presumably get out of prison at some point in the future, and with Jackal, join the Ultra-Pack, possibly after another (undetailed at present) upgrading.]

Hyena shares Jackal's bloodlust and twisted sense of humor; she is particularly notorious for her cackling laugh. She also has a constant crush on the various Coyote robots that have worked alongside the Pack, something which disturbs even Jackal.

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