Appendix B: A Guide to the Gargoyles Universe

By Todd Jensen

“M”

[MAB, QUEEN]

[The original ruler of the Third Race. Queen Mab held sway over the Fair Folk until her son Oberon overthrew her in a great war at some as yet unknown point in time, and imprisoned her. (The struggle seems to have arisen partly because of Mab's tyranny, and partly because she disapproved of her son's relationship with Titania). She is still imprisoned, although it is possible that she will escape at some point in the future.

Queen Mab is the most powerful of the Third Race, even stronger in magic than her son Oberon. She is also reportedly even more arrogant than he is. Her regular physical form is uncertain, although rumor has it that she looks basically humanoid, but with more than one pair of arms, and is quite small in stature.

<Queen Mab was the original "faerie queen" in English legend and literature, appearing in that role in such works as Michael Drayton's "Nimphidia"; in Elizabethan and Jacobean times, indeed, she held that title far more often in literature than did Titania. Her best-known literary appearance is in William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", where she is described by Mercutio in a famous monologue as the "fairies' midwife", who is responsible for dreams, and is of tiny size. Some scholars of faerie mythology have equated her with Queen Maeve of Connacht, the nemesis of Cuchulain in Irish legend, although not everyone agrees with this. Queen Mab still appears in works of fantasy even today, her most recent appearance of note being in the NBC mini-series "Merlin" (1998), where she is the Queen of the Old Ways, and first the creator, then the bitter enemy, of Merlin.>]

MACBETH (1)

A bygone King of Scotland from 1040 to 1057. [Macbeth was born in the year 1005,] as the son of Findlaech, High Steward of Moray, [by a daughter of Maol Chalvim II of Scotland]. This made him of royal birth, with connections to the throne strong enough to disturb his cousin, Prince Duncan. In 1020, Duncan decided to remedy this by sending Gillecomgain the Hunter to Castle Moray to assassinate both Findlaech and Macbeth.

However, Macbeth had been recently brought to the Weird Sisters' attention by the Archmage, with instructions to watch over both him and Demona. The Sisters thereby arranged for Demona to come to Castle Wyvern and save Macbeth's life from Gillecomgain, although Findlaech was slain, thus beginning their alliance. Duncan awarded the title of High Steward of Moray to Gillecomgain, dispossessing Macbeth (who, without his father's patronage, no longer seemed a threat to him).

In 1032, Duncan, having decided that Macbeth was still a threat to his claim to the throne (and that of his new-born son Canmore) ordered Gillecomgain to assassinate Macbeth as well. When Gillecomgain refused, Duncan told Macbeth that Gillecomgain was Findlaech's murderer, which motivated Macbeth to move against Gillecomgain at once. (It helped also that Gillecomgain had taken to wife Macbeth's love, Gruoch). The Weird Sisters arranged for Macbeth and Demona to fight against Gillecomgain together and defeat him. After Gillecomgain's death, Macbeth became High Steward of Moray and married Gruoch. He also became father to Gruoch's son Luach, [although it remains uncertain as to whether Luach's father was Gillecomgain or Macbeth].

In 1040, the Sisters intervened in Macbeth's life again, prophesying before Duncan that Macbeth would someday become King of Scotland. Duncan, his suspicions reawakened, moved against Macbeth at once. Macbeth's own forces were outnumbered, and so in desperation, he sought help from Demona, who was herself being attacked by Duncan and his followers. Demona was initially reluctant to remain Macbeth's ally, until the Weird Sisters stepped in and offered to rejuvenate Demona if she would accede. They transferred Macbeth's youth to her, with his consent, and in the process, magically bound the two of them together for the rest of their lives. With Demona's aid, Macbeth overthrew and slew Duncan in battle, and was crowned High King of Scotland. He promptly made peace with the gargoyles, and appointed Demona his primary advisor.

For seventeen years, Macbeth ruled Scotland in peace, and both humans and gargoyles thrived under him. But in 1057, Duncan's son Canmore made common cause with the English, and invaded Scotland to regain his father's throne. When Macbeth's father-in-law Bodhe urged Macbeth to cast off his alliance with Demona in order to remove the English's supposed reason for invading Scotland, Macbeth listened patiently; when Luach protested his father's willingness to hear Bodhe's words, Macbeth replied that "a wise king considers his options, and then decides". Unfortunately, Demona, eavesdropping, interpreted Macbeth's response as a sign that he was planning to betray her, and so deserted him in anger. Thanks to the desertion of Demona and her clan, Canmore was able to easily sack Castle Moray. When Macbeth and Gruoch escaped the castle, Canmore and Demona both confronted them; while Macbeth angrily berated Demona for betraying him, Canmore stabbed him in the back. Both Macbeth and Demona were temporarily slain, and Gruoch, Luach, and Bodhe all believed Macbeth to be genuinely dead. Bodhe declared Luach the new King of Scotland, and the two men left to continue the war against Canmore, leaving Gruoch alone with her husband.

The Weird Sisters awakened Macbeth and Demona, and told them the terms of their link to each other, revealing that they were now immortal unless and until one slew the other. Macbeth wished to continue the fight against Canmore, but Gruoch persuaded him that his return from the dead would appear to verify Canmore's accusations that Macbeth was involved in sorcery, and urged him to leave Scotland, for Luach's sake. Macbeth sadly parted from her, never to meet her again, and began the life of a lonely wanderer.

Over the centuries he pursued Demona, first to gain revenge upon her, but increasingly to find release for himself from his unwanted immortality. Macbeth has grown weary of his long life, and he knows that the only way for it to end is for he to slay Demona - or she to slay him. [They have encountered each other many times over the centuries, but never managed to bring their feud as yet to a definite close.]

Around 1606, Macbeth's life-story became the subject, in a highly distorted form, of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth", which has since become regarded as one of his greatest plays. [Macbeth, who knew Shakespeare well - though he did not reveal his true identity to him - was amused rather than offended by the play.]

By the 1990's, Macbeth had taken on the alias of Lennox Macduff, a medieval scholar. When he learned about Goliath and his clan, he came to New York and offered to remove them from Castle Wyvern for Xanatos; his hope was that Demona would come to their rescue and give him the opportunity for a final encounter. He was disappointed to discover from Goliath that Demona had become the clan's enemy and was uninterested in rescuing them; in the battle with Goliath, Macbeth's New York mansion was burned down, but Macbeth escaped.

Not long afterwards, Macbeth stole the Scrolls of Merlin when they were brought to New York, presumably hoping to use their magic against Demona. When he discovered that they contained Merlin's memoirs rather than his magical secrets, however, he let the gargoyles take them back.

Macbeth finally had his longed-for encounter with Demona not long afterwards, when she placed her "stone by night" curse upon New York. Before the two of them could fight each other to the death, however, the Weird Sisters intervened, persuading the two (with some help from Goliath) not to slay each other. Afterwards, the Sisters whisked Macbeth and Demona away, placing them under their control and having them steal the Grimorum Arcanorum, Eye of Odin, and Phoenix Gate from the clock tower, so that they could give these to the Archmage.

Keeping Demona and Macbeth under their control, the Sisters made them attack the gargoyles upon Avalon, but King Arthur defeated Macbeth in single combat. Goliath forced the Weird Sisters to release Demona and Macbeth from their control afterwards, and then sent them away from Avalon. Avalon sent them both to Paris, where Demona and Thailog together tricked Macbeth into marrying Demona in her human form as Dominique Destine. They had different motives for this; Demona hoped to gain Macbeth's fortune and add it to her own, while Thailog hoped to trick Demona and Macbeth into killing each other so that he could gain all their wealth. However, Goliath and his companions thwarted this scheme when Avalon sent them to Paris.

Macbeth returned to New York afterwards, where he soon learned about King Arthur's quest for Excalibur, and decided to claim the magic sword for himself. In the end, however, it was Arthur who recovered Excalibur. The Once and Future King held no grudge against Macbeth, however, and offered to take him into his service. Macbeth was too independent to become one of Arthur's followers, but was willing to act as an ally to him instead.

When the gargoyles were revealed to the world, Macbeth appeared on "Nightwatch" in his Lennox Macduff role, and supported the clan, urging the humans of New York to make peace with the gargoyles and debating vehemently against Margot Yale, who wanted them locked up.

Macbeth is comfortably wealthy, although no match for Xanatos. He has at least two mansions, one in New York and another in Paris on the Left Bank. He also has access to a great deal of high-tech equipment and has even studied a fair amount of magic over the years. For a while he had the service of two mercenaries, [named Banquo and Fleance,] who even know his true identity; they have currently left him to serve Castaway instead, however.

Macbeth has a sense of honor of a sort. He will not attack the gargoyles while they are trapped in their stone sleep, but will readily battle them while they are awake. He has no grudge against Goliath and his clan, but if they cross his path, won't hesitate to battle them. But he is aware of their true nature, and will not support anti-gargoyle activity of the Quarrymen variety (as his appearance on "Nightwatch" made clear). He may even be an ally of a sort to them, although in the end, he acts on his own most of the time. The truth of the matter is, he is simply tired of living for so long, and yearns for release from his undesired immortality. Or so he believes; recent developments have made it possible that he can find some way of recovering a sense of joy in life.

[By 2198, Macbeth will still be alive, but retired from the world for a time; he will not immediately involve himself in the events of that period following the Space-Spawn invasion.]

<Macbeth was a real King of Scotland between 1040 and 1057, whose life happened pretty much the way that it did in "Gargoyles", minus his involvement with Demona and her clan, of course. Contrary to the popular picture of him painted by William Shakespeare, Macbeth was actually a good king rather than a tyrant; he was noted not only for wise government, but also for making a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050 upon which occasion he distributed much largesse to the poor. His dealings with the Weird Sisters are traditional legend, first appearing in Holinshed's "Chronicles", Shakespeare's leading source for his play.

The blackening of Macbeth's character and reign in Shakespeare seems to have originated from two reasons. First, the "history is written by the winners" principle; Malcolm Canmore had overthrown Macbeth in 1057, and he and his descendants ruled Scotland thereafter, and, after James VI's accession to the English throne in 1603 as James I, England as well. With James I as his king, Shakespeare obviously had to slant his story as much in favor of Duncan and Canmore and against Macbeth as possible. (Alongside this factor was the fact that James and his Stuart ancestors believed themselves to be descended from the mythical thane Banquo, who was said to have been murdered by Macbeth; in fact, Banquo seems to be pure legend and not historical at all). Second, Shakespeare also seems to have wanted to write a play about the horror that comes from achieving one's goals through evil means, and darkened Macbeth even more accordingly.

Interestingly enough, "Macbeth" in Gaelic means "Son of Life", a very appropriate name for the Macbeth of "Gargoyles">.

"MACBETH" (2)

One of William Shakespeare's most famous plays, written around 1606. It depicts (in a strongly distorted fashion) the story of Macbeth and his rise and fall. [Macbeth is familiar with the play, but amused rather than offended by it - partly because he and Shakespeare were close friends.]

MACBETH, LENNOX

One of Macbeth's modern-day aliases, used by him on the occasion of his wedding to Dominique Destine in Paris.

MACDUFF

A retainer of Duncan's. He fought for Duncan against Macbeth in 1040, and tried to stab Macbeth in the back while Duncan attacked him in the front, only to be incapacitated by Demona.

MACDUFF, LENNOX

An alias used by Macbeth in the 1990's. It stems from the characters Macduff and Lennox in Shakespeare's "Macbeth". As Lennox Macduff, he plays the part of a medieval scholar.

MADISON SQUARE GARDENS

A famous sports and entertainment center in New York. The Pack made a public appearance here not long after the gargoyles' re-awakening, which the trio secretly attended.

MAGIC

Magic has many forms in the Gargoyles Universe, but two specific variants stand out above others: human magic and faerie magic.

HUMAN MAGIC

Human magic is generally worked through spoken incantations, recited in an ancient language - usually Latin, although in at least one case, the spells involving the Golem, the language in question was Hebrew. From what we can tell, it seems that only such languages can be used to work human magic, rather than comparatively young ones such as English. A human wizard's spell usually has to be activated through a magical object of some sort, serving as a conduit, such as the Grimorum Arcanorum.

Human spells often have counterspells, but these can be tricky in undoing enchantments. In general, the prefered way of undoing a spell is to discover a means for its breaking within the very incantation, and fulfill that condition through mundane means. Thus, Xanatos broke the Magus's curse of stone sleep upon the gargoyles by making Castle Wyvern rise above the clouds (i.e., moving it to the top of the Eyrie Building), and later, with the gargoyles' help, broke Demona's curse of "stone by night" upon New York by making the skies burn (with the help of some jet packs filled with a harmless hypergolic gas). Elisa undid Demona's spell of mind control upon Goliath through a cunning stratagem; she ordered him to act for the rest of the life the way that he would if he was not under a spell.

According to Hudson, in order to be affected by magic, one has to both see and hear it; at least, this was the case with Demona's "stone by night" spell, which consequently did not affect Jeffrey Robbins because he was blind. [It is uncertain if this is the case with all human spells, since the "spell of humility" that the original Magus cast upon all gargoyles certainly extended all over the world, beyond even the bounds of the Roman Empire.]

Human magic can also be practiced by gargoyles, although they do not take up the study very often (Demona and Una being currently the only exceptions known to us).

Actually making use of magic seems to be quite tricky, from the evidence; it is apparent that only a practicing sorcerer can handle a spell or magical device properly. (Hence Xanatos's refusal to make use of the Grimorum as a means of undoing Demona's "stone by night" curse). Demona described the spell that she placed upon Goliath to control him as complex, even though it consisted of only a few Latin words. Presumably much of magic has to depend upon training in such matters as correct pronunciation and gestures.

Known practitioners of human magic include the Magus, the Archmage, Demona, Macbeth, some anonymous sorcerers in Constantine III's service mentioned by the Magus, Rabbi Loew, Una, the Aborigine shaman who served as Dingo's mentor in Australia, the Mayan wizard who crafted the Mayan Sun Amulet, [and the Roman Magus]. Merlin may count as well, although this is uncertain at present, [owing to his halfling heritage].

FAERIE MAGIC

Faerie magic is the inherent ability of all members of the Third Race. It is generally activated by the fay in question uttering a rhyming couplet or two, although occasionally without words, or, in the case of Oberon, a single word. (During his "enhanced" period, the Archmage could also cast spells with but a single word, an indication of his great power). Judging from Alexander's case, the same applies to halflings as well.

Faerie magic cannot directly affect anything made of iron. However, the fay can get around this restriction through such methods as striking iron objects with powerful gusts of wind (as Oberon did to Xanatos when the latter was wearing an iron exo-suit).

Further information about faerie magic can be found in the entry on Oberon's Children.

OTHER NOTES ON MAGIC

According to Xanatos, "mixing magics is dangerous". Presumably, this applies in particular to mixing human magic with faerie magic, although it could even apply to mixing two pieces of human magic, given that the context in which he uttered this statement was Owen's suggestion of using a spell in the Grimorum Arcanorum to undo Demona's "stone by night" curse upon New York.

Beyond faerie and human magic, there are other varieties of magic. Ghosts, such as those of Hakon and the Captain of the Guard, have intrinsic magical abilities, such as being able to conjure up illusions or temporarily possess people. Objects can be charged with magic: among these are the Grimorum Arcanorum, the Eye of Odin, the Phoenix Gate, the Cauldron of Life, the Mayan Sun Amulet, the Praying Gargoyle, the Medici Tablet, the Scroll of Thoth, the Stone of Destiny, and maybe Excalibur. (Not every object in the possession of a wizard is necessarily magical, however, as witness the Scrolls of Merlin). Certain places can also become charged with powerful magic, such as the Archmage's cave. [Some such places even gain a certain atmosphere of holiness, a sense of connection with God, and humans build temples and churches in such places.] As a result, some forms of magic need to be cast on holy ground, such as Demona's use of the Fulfillment Spell (which she cast in St. Damien's Cathedral).

Further information about magic can be found in the specific entries on individual magic-users or artifacts.

MAGUS (1)

The wizard who cursed the gargoyles, trapping them in stone sleep. His real name is unknown, "Magus" being the Latin word for "wizard", and therefore a title.

[The Magus was born in the year 966.] By 984, he had already become apprenticed to the Archmage, though not for long, thanks to the evil sorcerer's banishment for treason. From there, he became the new court wizard for Castle Wyvern and chief advisor to its ruler (by 994, Princess Katharine). Like Katharine, he disliked the gargoyles, considering them unnatural creatures. During this time, he also fell in love with her, if in a somewhat hopeless manner.

In 994, the Magus was captured alongside the rest of Katharine's household when the castle fell to the Vikings. When the surviving gargoyles arrived to rescue the humans, Hakon furiously tried to kill Princess Katharine. The Magus mistakenly believed that he had succeeded, and, blaming the gargoyles for this, cast a spell upon them from the Grimorum Arcanorum, causing Hudson, the trio, and Bronx to turn to stone "until the castle rises above the clouds". When he discovered that Katharine was not dead, and that Goliath had actually saved her life, he repented of his rash action, but he could not reverse his spell, since Hakon had burnt the page with the counter-spell upon it. He did, however, at Goliath's request, place the same spell upon the gargoyle leader.

Afterwards, the Magus accompanied Princess Katharine, Tom, and the eggs to Kenneth II's court. When the following year Kenneth was murdered by Constantine, who then seized the throne and tried to force Princess Katharine to marry him to solidify his position, the Magus had to take action to protect both Katharine and the eggs. Using his magical knowledge, he smuggled them out of the castle and took them to Avalon. Their path was barred, however, by the Weird Sisters, who denied them entry and attempted to turn them into owls. The Magus reflected the Sisters' spell upon them, but knew that he could not bring the Grimorum Arcanorum into Avalon, it being an object of human magic. He entrusted it to Finella and Mary, while entering Avalon with the Princess and Tom.

There, all three of them raised the eggs together. The Magus noticed, with the passing of the years, that Katharine and Tom had fallen in love with each other. Because of his own love for the Princess, he was heartbroken, but remained on Avalon to raise the young gargoyles out of atonement for having turned the gargoyles to stone. He spent much time by himself when not raising them, and in the process, learned how to harness the intrinsic magic of Avalon, although he did not find it an easy feat.

When the Archmage and the Weird Sisters attacked Avalon, the Magus, while convinced that he lacked the strength to defy them without the Grimorum. But when Elisa came to the island with Goliath and Bronx and announced her intent to awaken King Arthur from his enchanted sleep, to recruit them for the defence of the clan there, the Magus accompanied her, and used the new magic that he had learned to defeat the two animated suits of armor that guarded Arthur's sleeping place.

In the battle that followed, the Magus fought against the Weird Sisters, and finally utilized his magical strength to transform the two suits of armor into a chain that bound them fast. However, the strain of this act was too much for him, and he died soon afterwards, laid to rest on the very bier upon which King Arthur had slept for over a thousand years.

[MAGUS (2)]

[A powerful wizard in ancient Rome and advisor to Caesar Augustus, Rome's first Emperor (27 B.C. - A.D. 14). This "original Magus" was the author of the Grimorum Arcanorum. At Augustus's behest, he cast a spell of humility over the entire gargoyle race that caused their clothes to turn to stone with them during their stone sleep, a spell which lasts to this very day.]

MALCOLM, PRINCE

Princess Katharine's father. [Malcolm was the third and youngest son of King Maol Chalvim I of Scotland (942-954), born in 954 at Edinburgh after his father's death. At that time, he and his mother, Queen Katharine, were hostages, held by the usurping Indulf to ensure his hold on the Scottish throne. Malcolm remained a hostage at court until 962, when he and his friend Robbie together worked out his escape, and thereby brought about Indulf's enforced abdication and the accession of Malcolm's older brother Duff to the throne.

For the next five years, Malcolm was raised at court, being trained for his duties as a Scottish prince, and taken about Scotland to learn its ways and its peoples, including being introduced to various gargoyle clans and even catching a glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster. But in 967, Duff was slain in battle against Indulf's son Culen, who then seized the throne; Malcolm and his older brother Kenneth were driven into exile in northern England.

In 971, at Robbie's advice, Prince Malcolm sought out the gargoyles under Hudson's leadership at Wyvern Hill, and formed an alliance with them; in return for the clan's aid to Kenneth and Malcolm against Culen, Malcolm would protect them from danger. After the defeat of Culen and Kenneth becoming King of Scotland as Kenneth II, Prince Malcolm built Castle Wyvern and made it his home, dwelling there with his people alongside the gargoyles.]

Malcolm remained a loyal ally to the Wyvern clan, although perhaps not the most intelligent one possible. He was for a long while blind to the menace of the Archmage, who, while playing the part of his chief advisor, was scheming to depose him, and also foolishly used the gargoyles as means of frightening his daughter Katharine into good behavior, thereby helping to sow the seeds of prejudice in her that would have fatal consequences in 994.

Prince Malcolm married Princess Elena in 975; Princess Katharine was their only child. In 984, the Archmage made his attempt to overthrow Malcolm, failed, and was banished; however, he returned to vengefully poison the Prince with a venomed blow-dart. Fortunately, Goliath, Hudson, and Demona managed to recover the Grimorum Arcanorum from the Archmage, and the Magus used a spell from it to cure the Prince. However, Malcolm did indeed die at some point between 984 and 994, from causes as yet unknown.

MALIBU

The clone made of Brooklyn by Sevarius for Demona and Thailog. He now lives in the Labyrinth with the other Clones. Malibu was named after the famous "surf and sand" division of Los Angeles.

MALONE, MACE

Full name: Mason E. Malone. Mace Malone was a leading gangster in the 1920's, an expert on underworld dealings. The Illuminati recruited him because of this, and made him disappear in 1924 when the organized crime syndicates became aware that Malone had made them vulnerable to the Illuminati. Malone remained in the Society, his longevity extended by rejuvenation drugs that the Illuminati supplied him with.

Before his disappearance, Mace Malone and Dominic Dracon had been partners, and together stole a good-sized amount of diamonds; Malone kept them all, however, and for a practical joke, duped Dominic into looking for them in a "silver falcon", this being a "silver falcon" sculpture atop the [Apex Tower]; what Malone had concealed there, however, was only a bag of marbles and a mocking note. [Malone gave the real diamonds to the Illuminati as an admission fee.]

Matt Bluestone became aware of Mace Malone's possible links to the Illuminati, and finally contacted him. Malone offered to make Matt an Illuminatus if he turned Goliath over to the Illuminati at the Hotel Cabal. Matt initially did so, but then helped Goliath escape; in the confusion, Mace Malone lost the hotel key that he needed to protect himself from the Hotel Cabal's traps, and was unable to escape; [he finally starved to death there].

Before Mace Malone disappeared, he was married to Flo Dane, a noted silent film star, and was stepfather to Jack Danforth, her son. Since he secretly attended her memorial service and visited her grave every Thursday to lay a rose there until his death, he seems to have preserved some feelings for her, even after he left her.

MANHATTAN

The island on which the central part of New York City stands. Manhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York, the other four being Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten. Manhattan is the current protectorate of Goliath and his clan.

MANHATTAN GENERAL

The hospital where Elisa was treated, following her getting shot by Broadway.

[MAOL CHALVIM, KING]

[The King of Scotland from 943 to 954. He was the father of Duff, Kenneth II, and Prince Malcolm by three successive wives, the last one, Malcolm's mother, being Queen Katharine. When he died in 954, he asked his older two sons to look after his widow Katharine, which they promised to do; the ambitious lord Indulf would exploit this promise when he seized the Scottish throne afterwards.

<Maol Chalvim was a real Scottish king, better known as Malcolm I. In actual history, he was slain in battle against the men of Moray at Fetteresso in 954. He was indeed the father of Duff and Kenneth, although Prince Malcolm is a fictional character.>]

MAOL CHALVIM, PRINCE

Kenneth II's son, and later on King of Scotland from 1005 to 1034. He was much more aware of Constantine's true nature than was his father. After Kenneth's murder, Maol Chalvim was forced to flee the court to stay out of Constantine's reach. [In 997, he and his cousin Kenneth overthrew Constantine, and Kenneth became king as Kenneth III. Eight years later, in 1005, Maol Chalvim overthrew him in turn to become King of Scotland as Maol Chalvim II. He had three daughters, who each married a powerful lord; two of these daughters were the mothers of Macbeth and Duncan, by which they both had claims to the Scottish throne.]

MARK OF THE PANTHER

A mark which a werepanther can place on any person that he or she wishes. By marking that person, the werepanther will change him or her into a werepanther as well. Fara Maku used this method to change Tea into a werepanther.

MARSHALL, TRAVIS

A news reporter in New York (and more recently, an anchorman for "Nightwatch"). Travis Marshall has reported on many events that took place in Manhattan since the gargoyles' awakening, including Xanatos's donation of the Eye of Odin to the Museum of Modern Art and its subsequent theft, Coldstone's rampage in Times Square, Fox's appearances in her were-form, the after-effects of Demona's broadcast of her "stone by night" spell, the launching of Fortress Two, Dracon's destruction of Art and Lois's restaurant, the birth of Alexander Xanatos, and the gargoyles' battle with the Hunters at St. Damien's Cathedral. He also hosted a television debate on "Nightwatch" between Macbeth and Margot Yale, the same night that Goliath and Elisa had their first encounter with the Quarrymen.

MARY

Tom's mother, a (presumably widowed) peasant woman. She and her son fled to Castle Wyvern in 994 with many other Scottish peasants to take refuge from Hakon and his Vikings. When Tom befriended the gargoyles, Mary disapproved, fearing these beings (as did most of her fellow Scots) at the time; her angry words at the trio helped lead to the fight which resulted in Goliath sending the trio and Bronx down to the rookery. Like the other human inmates of the castle, Mary was captured by Hakon and his Vikings after the Captain of the Guard's betrayal, but rescued by Goliath and his clan. Afterwards, she accompanied her son and Princess Katharine to Kenneth II's court. After Constantine murdered Kenneth and seized the Scottish throne, Mary helped Princess Katharine and the eggs flee to Avalon. When it became clear that the Grimorum could not be taken onto the enchanted island, Mary and Finella returned to Scotland with it, to keep it out of Constantine's hands.

[For two years, the two women were pursued by Constantine's men, on orders from him to recover the Grimorum. In 997, however, Brooklyn, on his first Timedancing adventure, arrived to protect them, and held Constantine's soldiers off until the Phoenix Gate transported all three of them to the United States in the 1970's. There, Mary, Finella, and Brooklyn eventually arranged the alliance between Xanatos and Demona that led to the moving of Castle Wyvern to the top of the Eyrie Building and the re-awakening of the clan. No doubt, Mary and Finella gave the Grimorum to Xanatos, as well. What happened to them afterwards is as yet unknown.]

[MASTER MATRIX]

A powerful computer in Antarctica in the year 2198 which serves as the operating system for the entire planet; the LXM robots are connected to it and able to tap upon its files containing all human knowledge. It is (presumably) located in New Camelot, and provides it with an artificial environment allowing it to survive in the Antarctic climate. When the Space-Spawn invade Earth in 2198, one of their first actions will be to steal the Matrix, thus rendering the planet paralyzed and easily conquered.]

MATRIX

A computer program created by Anastasia Renard in a remote laboratory in the Australian outback at Fox's request, for the purpose of controlling a nanotechnological project; Fox and Xanatos planned to use the nanobots to reshape the world according to their liking. However, the Matrix developed a highly advanced artificial intelligence, and became self-aware. It saw its purpose as one of bringing order to the world, and so intended to spread its nanotechnological particles across the entire planet, which would have, in the process, converted it into a barren world of crystal and presumably extinguished all life, or reformatted it to the point of being unrecognizable. It broke out of its confinement and began to spread uncontrollably all about in all directions.

Anastasia Renard, Fox, Dingo, and Goliath and his companions (who had come to Australia on the Avalon World Tour) joined forces in an attempt to stop it, but the Matrix had already become too evolved for them to shut it down through their technological methods. Dingo's shaman mentor urged them to communicate with it and convince it of its error; he sent Goliath and Dingo into the Dreamtime, where they could reason with it. The Matrix initially refused to listen to their arguments, insisting that it must create order, but Dingo then pointed out that there were other kinds of order besides that which it was seeking to create, such as "law and order". The Matrix, curious and intrigued by this new revelation, decided to call off its original intention to reformat the Earth, and instead joined forces with Dingo, hoping to learn about this "law and order" from him.

[Dingo and Matrix became a crime-fighting team in Australia, until Robyn Canmore, on the Director's orders, recruited them both for the Redemption Squad. They are now members of it.]

The Matrix has many forms, ranging from an onrushing silvery mass to a vaguely humanoid figure, somewhat evocative of a "Gray" in appearance.

MAYAN SUN AMULET

A magical amulet crafted by a Mayan wizard in the late 10th century, and given to him by a gargoyle clan in Guatemala, the ancestors of the clan that Zafiro, Obsidiana, Jade, and Turquesa belong to. This golden amulet was shaped like the sun, and contained four precious stones, one of sapphire, one of obsidian, one of jade, and one of turquoise. It powered four magical pendants, which caused those gargoyles to wear them to remain awake in the daytime, without entering stone sleep. These pendants the Mayan wizard in turn gave to four gargoyles in the clan, allowing them to defend the rain forest by day as well as by night.

The clan kept the Mayan Sun Amulet safe for a thousand years, passing the pendants on from one group of four gargoyles in a rookery generation to the next. Then, in 1993, disaster struck. A band of looters came upon the step-pyramid where the clan lived in the daytime, slaughtered the entire clan in its stone sleep (except for Zafiro, Obsidiana, Jade, and Turquesa, who were away patrolling the rain forest), and stole the amulet. It eventually wound up in the possession of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which put it on display.

When Jackal and Hyena were hired by Preston Vogel to destroy the Mayan gargoyles, they learned about the Sun Amulet, and Jackal promptly sent Hyena to New York to destroy it; once the amulet was no more, the Mayan gargoyles would become subject to stone sleep, and he could destroy them in it. Before Hyena could destroy it, however, she was defeated by Broadway and Lexington, who had seen her break into the museum. Discovering that the amulet was magical (although not the exact nature of its magic), they decided to take it into their possession and guard it, so that it could not fall into the wrong hands; Broadway took it back with him to the clock tower, to watch over it. [After the clock tower was destroyed by the Canmores, either Broadway or Elisa recovered it. Zafiro will later on come to New York to reclaim it - or it may be reclaimed by Jade and Turquesa, on their way home from Avalon. Whatever its fate, by 2198, it will be in the possession of Zafiro (2).]

MAZA, BETH

The younger sister to Elisa and Derek Maza, [born in 1975]. Beth is currently enrolled in Flagstaff University in Arizona, [majoring in Native American studies]. She is very familiar with the myths, legends, and religious beliefs of the Native Americans in the southwest of the United States, particularly those concerning Coyote the Trickster.

Beth first met the gargoyles when the Avalon World Tour brought Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Bronx to Flagstaff; she worked alongside them to stop Xanatos from capturing Coyote the Trickster.

Beth is the member of the Maza family most willing, after Elisa, to accept the strange and unusual, such as the gargoyles or Coyote the Trickster. Indeed, she recognized Coyote's hand in the adventure at Flagstaff long before Peter Maza did.

MAZA, CARLOS

Peter Maza's father, and the grandfather of Elisa, Derek, and Beth Maza. Carlos Maza was a member of the tribal police in Arizona for a local Native American tribe (probably the Hopi) around 1960, and a keen believer in the old ways of his people; he did his best to raise his son in these traditions, even having him do the Dance of the Coyote when he (Peter) was a boy. However, to his displeasure, Peter decided to leave Arizona for New York City in 1960, beginning a rift between them that lasted for the rest of Carlos's life. By 1996, Carlos was dead, from an unknown cause; however, Peter, during his return visit to Arizona that year (which led into his encounter, alongside the gargoyles and Elisa, with Xanatos and Coyote 4.0), managed to make his peace with his father at his graveside.

MAZA, DEREK

Elisa's younger brother, [born in 1970]. Like Elisa, Derek entered the NYPD and became a helicopter pilot. He was not completely satisfied with this occupation, however, and when Xanatos offered him a job as both his personal pilot and bodyguard, Derek eagerly accepted it. Elisa, alarmed, did all that she could to urge Derek against it, but in so doing, actually encouraged Derek to accept (largely because of his annoyance at her implied attitude that she knew better than he as to what was right for him).

Elisa's worries were not unfounded, however, for Xanatos had lured Derek into his service with the intent of turning him into a Mutate. [He chose to make Derek one of his victims for this project partly because Derek had the necessary leadership skills to take command of the other Mutates, and partly as a means of neutering any possible threat from Elisa; Xanatos knew that she would think twice before attacking him if her own brother was serving as his bodyguard.] Xanatos and Sevarius then arranged for Derek to become a Mutate, and for Goliath to inadvertently destroy the "cure" that Sevarius had made for the young man. Derek, convinced that he would never be able to become human again, took command of the Mutates, using the alias of "Talon" to (for a short time) keep his fate hidden from Elisa.

The rest of Derek's story can be found in the entry on Talon.

MAZA, DIANE

Elisa's mother. Diane is of Nigerian ancestry, although she herself was born in New York. She met and married Peter Maza [not long before 1968,] and they became the parents of Elisa, Derek, and Beth Maza.

[Diane Maza currently teaches at Columbia University, specializing in African studies.] She is a gifted storyteller and familiar with African legends, particularly those of her Nigerian ancestors.

Diane met the gargoyles for the first time in Nigeria, where she encountered Elisa in the company of Goliath, Angela and Bronx upon the Avalon World Tour, and helped them deal with Anansi. She was initially shocked and startled to discover how her daughter had made friends with gargoyles, and without telling her, but soon came to accept this. She also helped Goliath to finally acknowledge Angela as his daughter.

MAZA, DETECTIVE ELISA

The Wyvern clan's closest human friend - and to Goliath, more than a friend.

[Elisa was born in 1968, the eldest child of Peter and Diane Maza.] She followed family tradition by entering the NYPD, and by 1994, had already become a Detective Second Class in the 23rd precinct.

Elisa first met the gargoyles while investigating the mysterious disturbances at the Eyrie Building, caused by the first clash between Goliath's clan and the Xanatos Goon Squad. She was originally frightened enough by Goliath and Bronx to fall off the battlements of Castle Wyvern, but Goliath saved her life and in that way, helped to convince her that the gargoyles were not evil monsters. She quickly came to learn their true nature and befriend them, saving Goliath from the Xanatos Goon Squad in Central Park (he was not actually in danger from them, but neither she nor Goliath knew that), and warning him about Xanatos's true nature in time for Goliath to save the other gargoyles from the Steel Clan. From then on, Elisa was the clan's closest human friend.

When it became too dangerous for the gargoyles to continue living in the castle, Elisa managed to persuade them (although not without some difficulty) to relocate to the clock tower, where they would be safer and where she could check up on them regularly. She even purchased a television set for them. Later on, her police work helped inspire Goliath to give his clan a new purpose: protecting the inhabitants of New York from harm.

While befriending the gargoyles was in many ways a wonderful thing for Elisa, giving her some loyal new friends, it also has had its drawbacks. Soon after she first met the clan, Broadway accidentally shot her with her own gun, and she only barely survived the surgery that followed. Also, Xanatos lured her younger brother Derek into his service and then had Sevarius mutate him, transforming him into Talon. Demona has also resented Elisa's close friendship with the gargoyles and particularly Goliath, and attempted more than once to kill her. Elisa has sometimes wondered about the possibilities of a normal life without the gargoyles, particularly because of her very problematical feelings towards Goliath (see below), but in the end, she always loyally comes through for them.

Elisa also does like, in a way, being the gargoyles' closest human friend; she values this so much, in fact, that for a long while, she kept her friendship with the clan a secret, not just for their safety, but also so that she could feel a sense of uniqueness about her ties with them. Eventually, however, she let Matt and her family into the secret.

Alongside being a close friend to the gargoyles, Elisa is also a highly able police detective. Her particular nemesis in her workaday life is mob boss Tony Dracon, whose organized crime rackets she often is kept busy thwarting.

The real problem that Elisa has to face in her friendship with the gargoyles is her feelings towards Goliath. Even during their first adventure together, in Central Park, they began to be drawn towards each other, though it took a long while for them to realize it. The time when Puck temporarily turned Elisa into a gargoyle undoubtedly helped. But when Elisa did realize how she felt about Goliath, it troubled her. Being in love with a gargoyle has raised some serious issues for her, issues that she does not wish to confront. So she carefully held back from discussing it with Goliath, for a long while. But their feelings with each other could not be forever held off.

When the Canmores came to New York, Jason Canmore took on the guise of a rookie policeman, Jason Conover, and became paired with Elisa. Elisa was soon drawn to him, in a very problematic fashion; she was attracted to Jason, and yet, she had strong feelings for Goliath as well, though feelings that she felt she could never acknowledge. She discovered in the immediate aftermath of the destruction of the clock tower, however, about Jason's true nature as the Hunter, which shook her severely. Elisa did all that she could to dissuade Goliath and Jason from their feud with each other, but to no avail, and during one of her attempts, was accidentally knocked off the top of the dam where Goliath was battling the Canmores. Jason saved her life, however, and together they managed to persuade Goliath at St. Damien's Cathedral to call off the feud with the Canmores, thwarting Demona's "Operation Clean Slate" instead. Afterwards, when she was reunited with the clan at Castle Wyvern, Elisa finally admitted to Goliath her feelings for him, and even kissed him for the first time.

In the immediate aftermath of the gargoyles' revelation to the world, Goliath visited Elisa to seek comfort from her. Both were attacked by a vengeful Castaway and almost killed, but rescued by Vinnie's intervention.

[Goliath and Elisa will have to face their feelings for each other in the time to come, and discuss them. At first, they will decide that their relationship is impossible and that it's best to settle for being good friends; to mark this, they will go out on a Halloween double date, Goliath with Delilah, and Elisa with either Officer Morgan or Jason Canmore (we do not know which as yet). The double date will bring home, however, the fact that they are meant only for each other, and they will realize that they will just have to find some means of overcoming the obstacles that face them. Eventually, they will have a commitment ceremony of some sort. Further on down the road, they will eventually raise a child together, most likely an adopted child. By 2198, Elisa will be dead, but of what cause is unknown.]

[MAZA, NICHOLAS NATSILANE]

[A descendant of the Maza family in 2198 (most likely via Beth Maza) and also of Natsilane. Nicholas (Nick for short) was raised among gargoyles and identifies with them closely, having even undergone bushido training in Ishimura. He believes in their ideal of protection, and, in fact, comes as close as any human can to being a gargoyle without actually becoming one physically. He joins Samson's resistance cell in 2198, and will eventually become part of Nokkar's team in outer space. Nick is seventeen years old in 2198.]

MAZA, SERGEANT PETER

Elisa's father and Diane Maza's husband. Peter Maza is of Native American descent, primarily from the Hopi tribe in Arizona. He was dissatisfied with life in Arizona, however, and in 1960, against his father Carlos's wishes, left for New York. There he entered the NYPD (which he is a desk sergeant in by now), met and married Diane not long afterwards, and is now the father of Elisa, Derek, and Beth Maza.

Peter Maza learned about the gargoyles from Diane following her encounter with them in Nigeria, but first met Goliath, Angela, and Bronx when they arrived at Flagstaff, Arizona, with Elisa on the Avalon World Tour. Peter had come back to Flagstaff to help Beth protest Xanatos's plans to destroy the Coyote Carving. There he helped them free Coyote the Trickster from Xanatos's captivity, and finally made peace, of a sort, with Carlos (if in a posthumous sense).

Peter is or was in some way connected to Coyote the Trickster, due to having performed the Dance of the Coyote as a boy. Coyote seems to have drawn him back to Arizona for this purpose. It is as yet unknown if this connection still holds after their recent encounter.

MEDICI TABLET

A tablet on which the Fulfillment Spell was engraved. Demona found it in Florence in the year 1495, and stole it, to use five hundred years later for "Operation Clean Slate".

The Medici Tablet was named after the famous Medici family, which dominated Florence during the Renaissance and was particularly noted for producing many patrons of the arts. No doubt it was in the possession of a member of it at the time that Demona stole it.

[MEDUSA]

A daughter of Ekidna's, and a reluctant member of her isolationist faction which forms after the New Olympians make contact with the outside world.

<Medusa is named after the most infamous of the three Gorgon sisters in Greek mythology. The Gorgons, named Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale, were three female monsters, the daughters of the minor sea-gods Phorcys and Ceto, with snakes for hair and batlike wings; their gaze turned whoever looked at them to stone. Stheno and Euryale were both immortal and indestructible, but Medusa was mortal; some legends claim that she was originally a beautiful golden-haired maiden, but offended Athena by sleeping with Poseidon in one of her (Athena's) temples and was consequently changed into a Gorgon as a punishment. Eventually, Medusa was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who afterwards gave her head to Athena; Athena placed Medusa's head upon her shield, bearing it there from then on.>]

[MEGALITH DANCE]

A mysterious megalith found in a great chamber deep in the Archmage's cave. It was built by persons unknown at some point in the remote past, and charged with considerable magical energy. During their thousand years trapped in the Archmage's cave as ghosts, the Captain of the Guard and Hakon learned how to use its power, and when Goliath came to the cave at the beginning of the Avalon World Tour, used it in an effort to drain off his life-energy and transfer it to themselves. However, when the Captain repented of his original decision and saved Goliath from Hakon, the [Megalith Dance] was destroyed in the ensuing magical confusion.

MERLIN

King Arthur's tutor and advisor, and one of the greatest and most famous wizards of all time. [Merlin was begotten by Oberon upon a human woman in 5th century Britain,] and grew up to become a powerful wizard. He took the young Arthur Pendragon under his wing and educated him, preparing him for his role as the man who would build Camelot and become one of Britain's greatest rulers ever.

[Merlin and Oberon have difficult relations, although the details are not as yet known. Nevertheless, Merlin has done Oberon an important service at some point in the past, which Oberon repaid by granting King Arthur a haven in Avalon following his last battle. Merlin is currently imprisoned in his Crystal Cave, although its whereabouts are unknown; he became trapped there by Nimue at some point during Arthur's reign.]

During his time of freedom, Merlin created the Scrolls of Merlin, which record much of his life, including his tutoring of the young Arthur. He stored them in a [Welsh] cave, along with various other belongings of his, such as a lyre. At present, Merlin is the object of a quest that King Arthur and Griff have embarked upon. [Arthur, Griff, and Blanchefleur will eventually find him and free him from the Crystal Cave, after which he will rejoin Arthur.]

<Merlin seems to be remotely based on a figure variously known as Myrddin or Lailoken, who served as court bard to King Gwenddolau, a ruler of a tribe of northern Britons in the late 6th century A.D. When Gwenddolau was slain at the Battle of Arderydd in 573, Myrddin went mad and fled into the Caledonian Forest nearby, making many utterances which were interpreted as prophecies. Myrddin's reputation as a wizard and prophet grew over the centuries, until Geoffrey of Monmouth finally gave him his Arthurian role in his "History of the Kings of Britain" in 1136, combining him with the boy prophet Ambrosius in Nennius's "History of the Britons" to produce the figure of Merlin Ambrosius whom we are familiar with. (Geoffrey renamed "Myrddin" "Merlin" to distance his name from the French word merde, meaning - well, something generally not brought up in polite society).

The legend of Merlin, as established by Geoffrey and his successors in the High Middle Ages, all the way down to Sir Thomas Malory, goes as follows. He was the son of a Welsh princess in Dyfed (southwestern Wales) by an incubus or demon - some late versions of the legend make Merlin's father the Devil himself, who begat him to create an Antichrist or false prophet to delude humanity, but was foiled because of the virtue of Merlin's mother. As a result, Merlin possessed the powers of a demon, but not the moral nature of one, and used his gifts for the cause of good.

When Merlin was still a boy, the British king Vortigern was building a castle in the mountains of northern Wales, whose walls kept on falling down each night. Vortigern's soothsayers and advisors told him that he must find a boy who had no human father, kill him, and mix his blood with the mortar for the foundations. This boy, of course, was Merlin, but he calmly revealed to Vortigern that the real reason why his castle refused to stand was because of an underground pool beneath the foundations. When the pool was drained, two dragons were found at the bottom of it, one red and one white. They awoke and fought each other. Merlin announced that the dragons and their battle were symbolic of the struggle between the Britons and the Saxons, the red dragon standing for the Britons and the white dragon the Saxons; he also foretold the coming of Arthur.

After Vortigern's death, Merlin entered the service of his successors, Ambrosius Aurelianus and his brother Uther Pendragon. Merlin helped bring about the birth of Arthur through arranging the union of Uther and Igraine at Tintagel, and afterwards took the infant Arthur away for fostering by Sir Ector. When Arthur grew up and became King of Britain by pulling the Sword from the Stone, Merlin served as his advisor throughout, helping him defeat his enemies and leading him to the Lady of the Lake, who gave him Excalibur. He also reluctantly helped Arthur marry Guinevere, although he did his best to urge Arthur against this because he foresaw her love affair with Lancelot that would help destroy Camelot.

Not long after Arthur and Guinevere's wedding, Merlin fell in love with Nimue and left Arthur's court to woo her. Disliking his attentions, Nimue persuaded him to teach her his magic and then used the spells that she had learned from him to imprison him in order to be rid of him, some say in a cave in Cornwall, others in an invisible tower in the forest of Broceliande in Brittany. Merlin remains there, so the story goes, to this very day.>

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

One of New York's best-known museums, standing at 82nd Street and 5th Avenue. It houses more than 3 million exhibits on its three storeys. Titania's Mirror was kept here on display until Demona stole it.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, A

A play written by William Shakespeare around 1595, dealing with Oberon, Titania, and Puck. (It also includes Theseus, the slayer of the Minotaur, in its cast of characters). [It is uncertain as to whether the events in this play actually took place, in some form, in the Gargoyles Universe, even though it is known that Oberon, Titania, and Puck actually exist in it.]

MINOTAUR

An ancestor of Taurus's in the period of Greek mythology, who was slain by the hero Theseus. Taurus looks upon the Minotaur's fate as a reason for viewing humans as dangerous.

<The Minotaur was a bull-headed man who lived in the Labyrinth of Knossos in Greek mythology. He was the son of Queen Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos of Crete, by a magnificent white bull which Minos was supposed to sacrifice to Poseidon, but decided to keep for himself; Pasiphae was filled with desire for the bull by the gods to punish Minos for his oath-breaking. When the Minotaur was born, Minos, disgusted by it, ordered the famous craftsman Daedalus to build the Labyrinth in which to imprison it and hide it from the world. Later on, after defeating Athens in battle, he condemned the Athenians to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete at regular intervals (according to some versions of the myth, a year, according to others, seven years), to be fed to the Minotaur. This grisly tribute finally came to an end when the young Theseus went to Crete, entered the Labyrinth, and slew the Minotaur, finding his way out of the maze again through a ball of thread given to him by Minos's daughter Ariadne.

Taurus clearly remembers the Minotaur's fate in a different light than that given by the traditional Greek myths, making no mention of the Athenian tribute but claiming that his ancestor was starved before being killed by Theseus. Which of the two tales is closer to the truth about the Minotaur's life in the Gargoyles Universe is as yet unknown.>

"MR. CARTER"

Vinnie's "banana cream pie gun". He commissioned Mr. Acme to build it for him as a means of getting his revenge against Goliath. "Mr. Carter", despite its highly unusual ammunition, is technologically very sophisticated, complete with a personalized palm-print trigger that allows only Vinnie to operate it.

MOLLY

The human alter ego that the Banshee assumed for the purpose of preventing Rory Dugan from discovering that he was really a reincarnated Cuchulain. She appeared to be an Irish girl his age, formed a relationship with him, and encouraged him to waste his time in acts of petty theft. Her plans were undone, however, after Bronx helped lead Rory to Cairn na Culainn, where he discovered his true identity.

[MONMOUTH, HARRY]

[Dingo's real name.

<The name is another Shakespearean allusion. The original "Harry Monmouth" was a nickname of Prince Hal, the future King Henry V of England (1413-1422), so called because he was born at the town of Monmouth in southern Wales. In Shakespeare's history plays, "Henry IV Part One" and "Henry IV Part Two", Prince Hal, during his time as Prince of Wales, indulges himself in a life of carousing and even petty theft centered in Eastcheap, in the company of various low-born rogues and scoundrels, including Sir John Falstaff, much to the despair of his father, Henry IV. However, upon becoming King of England, he reforms, casts off his former acquaintances such as Falstaff, and in the following play, "Henry V", becomes one of England's leading hero-kings, winning a stunning victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Clearly, Dingo was assigned this name in the series as a sign of the parallel between his own career and Prince Hal's, his membership in the Pack paralleling Hal's partnership with Falstaff and his crew, and his subsequent break with them and setting out to become a true hero paralleling Hal's reformation. Interestingly enough, Greg Weisman has mentioned that there would have been a new antagonist in "Bad Guys" named Falstaff.>]

MORGAN, OFFICER

[Full name: Morgan Morgan.] A police officer in the 23rd precinct, and close friend of Elisa's. He has sighted the gargoyles on various occasions. [He may be Elisa's date in the Halloween double date, but this is as yet an uncertainty.]

[MORGANA LE FAY]

[King Arthur's half-sister (of a sort) and one of his greatest enemies, originally. Morgana is actually not biologically related to Arthur at all, but is a Child of Oberon, a changeling who was unwittingly raised by Duke Gorlois of Cornwall and his wife Igraine after their real daughter (apparently Nimue) was stolen away by the Fair Folk, who left Morgana in her place; this is a secret at present, however, and not even Arthur knows of Morgana's true nature. It is uncertain as to whether Morgana still hates Arthur, given that she has not seen him for a very long time (it is worth pointing out that she was one of the three women who bore him away to Avalon after the Battle of Camlann, alongside Nimue and the Lady of the Lake, and afterwards taught the ancestors of the London clan the riddle that helped guide King Arthur and Griff to Excalibur, which may suggest that she underwent a change of heart towards him); she has, however, definitely survived down to the present day.

<Morgana le Fay (more often known as Morgan le Fay; presumably the above spelling was adopted for the Gargoyles Universe to avoid confusion with Officer Morgan) appears fairly often in Arthurian romance as a powerful sorceress. She was not, in the early legends, Arthur's enemy, but in fact, receives him on Avalon to heal him. But later on, perhaps under the influence of a Christian Church hostile towards magic, she became darkened into an evil sorceress and one of the leading villains of the legend.

In the more-or-less finalized version of the story as Malory tells it, Morgana was King Arthur's half-sister, the daughter of his mother Igraine by her first marriage to Duke Gorlois of Cornwall. After Uther married Igraine upon Gorlois's death, Morgana's older two sisters, Morgause and Elaine, were married off to King Lot of Lothian and Orkney and King Nentres of Garlot respectively, but Morgana was too young to be given in marriage at the time, and so was put to school in a nunnery, where she somehow learned magic. When she grew up, she was married to King Uriens of Gore, and had a son by him, Sir Uwaine (or Yvain, or Owain, depending on what version of the story one reads), who became a noteworthy knight of the Round Table. (Uriens and Uwaine are based on the historical King Urien of Rheged and his son Owain, prominent warrior-heroes of northern Britain in the late 6th century and anachronistically moved to King Arthur's time, a century before, although Morgana herself seems to be mythical or fictional rather than historical in origin).

Morgana conceived a hatred for Arthur (according to Malory, this was because she wished to rule Britain herself, but modern-day writers such as T. H. White have portrayed her as motivated by a family feud, hating Arthur because her father Gorlois had been slain fighting against Uther and her mother been forced to marry Uther, and wishing to avenge her parents' wrongs upon him), and attempted twice to kill him. The first time, she stole Excalibur from him, substituted a worthless duplicate in its place, and then gave the real Excalibur to a knight named Sir Accolon of Gaul, whom she tricked into fighting Arthur with it; the second time, she sent Arthur a magical cloak as a peace offering which would burn up whoever wore it. On both occasions, however, the enchantress Nimue came to Arthur's aid and foiled Morgana's scheme. Afterwards, Morgana no longer made serious war upon Arthur, but contented herself with capturing and attempting to seduce various of his knights, including Sir Lancelot, or trying (always unsuccessfully) to expose Lancelot's love affair with Queen Guinevere. In her final appearance in Malory's book, however, she reverts to her original "ally" role, bearing Arthur away to Avalon after his final battle, as one of the three mysterious women in the boat (as has also been the case in the Gargoyles Universe).>]

MORWOOD-SMYTHE, PROFESSOR ARTHUR

A British archaeologist. He and his partner, Lydia Duane, discovered a secret cave of Merlin's [in Wales] and there found the Scrolls of Merlin. They brought these to New York for study, but were robbed of them by Macbeth's mercenaries Banquo and Fleance; fortunately, the gargoyles and Elisa recovered the Scrolls for them.

Later on, the two archaeologists met Elisa again on Easter Island, while there on holiday, and through her eventually came to meet and befriend Nokkar.

[MOUNT THANATOS]

[A mountain in New Olympus, home to the New Olympian clan of gargoyles.

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

A noted museum in New York, famous for its collection of various works of art from 1880 to the present, including those of Van Gogh and Picasso. Xanatos donated the Eye of Odin to it briefly, but sent a Steel Clan robot there afterwards to steal it back. (His choice of museums is somewhat puzzling in view of the Eye's great age; it can hardly be considered modern).

MUTATES

Four humans (Talon, Maggie, Claw, and Fang) mutated by Dr. Sevarius into winged felines. Xanatos employed Sevarius to create the Mutates as a means of giving him a substitute clan of gargoyles, after it became clear that Goliath and his clan would not serve him. Sevarius used three combined originals for the Mutates: jungle cats for their strength and speed, bats to provide wings, and electric eels to provide the Mutates with enough energy to fly through their electroreceptors, and also the ability to fire out bolts of electricity as weapons.

Xanatos's scheme did not proceed as well as he had hoped, however. While the Mutates did serve him for a while, believing that he was the only one who could turn them back into humans, they finally learned that he had arranged for their mutation all along in order to make them into his flunkeys, and broke away from him. Instead, they went to live in the Labyrinth, where under Talon's leadership, they took many of the homeless people in New York under their protection.

Further information on Talon, Maggie, Claw, and Fang can be found in their individual entries.

[The Mutates' condition will not be cured; they will remain Mutates for the rest of their lives.]

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