Appendix B: A Guide to the Gargoyles Universe

By Todd Jensen

“W”

WEIRD SISTERS

Three powerful Children of Avalon, who are always found together. Their individual names are Luna, Phoebe, and Selene, but they act as a group.

When Oberon expelled his Children from Avalon in 1995, he had the Weird Sisters remain behind on a barge just off the shore of Avalon, to prevent anyone from entering the island in his absence. When Princess Katharine and her companions fled here later that year, the Sisters denied them entry and even tried to turn them into owls; the Magus responded by turning their spell back upon them, transforming them into owls themselves. Katharine, the Magus, Tom, and the eggs were thus free to enter Avalon unopposed.

The "enhanced Archmage" appeared at that point to turn the Weird Sisters back and offered to help them wrest Avalon back from the human intruders and gain their revenge upon them. Since the Sisters were unable to return to Avalon on their own before Oberon's decree of banishment was lifted, they agreed to the alliance with him. In 1020, the Archmage met with them, and told them to watch over Macbeth and Demona, to make them into his future servants.

The Sisters could not directly affect the lives of Macbeth and Demona, because of Oberon's Law, so they acted more subtly. In 1020 and 1032, they twice manipulated Macbeth and Demona into fighting side by side against Gillecomgain the Hunter, luring Demona to Castle Moray in the guise of three elderly gargoyles. In 1040, they appeared to Macbeth and Duncan on a lonely heath, and before them foretold that Macbeth would someday become King of Scotland. As they had hoped, Duncan promptly decided to move against Macbeth to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. The Sisters then persuaded Macbeth and Demona to ally against their common foe, and obtained their permission to magically bind them together, in the guise of rejuvenating Demona by transfering Macbeth's youth to her; in the process, they made them both immortal, only able to die if one slew the other.

After the fall of Macbeth's kingdom to Canmore in 1057 and the beginning of the long years of wandering for both he and Demona, the Weird Sisters watched over the two through the centuries, [even intervening twice in Demona's life, under circumstances as yet unknown]. At last, in 1995, they stepped in to prevent the two of them from killing each other at the Eyrie Building, and also persuaded Demona to give Xanatos the access code that he needed to regain control of his computer and thus break her "stone by night" curse upon New York. Afterwards, the Sisters used Demona and Macbeth, now placed under a spell of mental control by them, to steal the Grimorum Arcanorum, Eye of Odin, and Phoenix Gate from the clock tower, for them to turn over to the Archmage. (They also, for reasons as yet unknown, used Desdemona's soul to persuade Othello to regain control of Coldstone during Demona and Elisa's battle at Belvedere Castle.)

The Weird Sisters fought for the Archmage in the battle on Avalon, attacking the Magus in particular in the hopes of gaining revenge. He finally defeated them by binding them with iron chains made from the two suits of armor that had guarded King Arthur's sleeping place, although at the cost of his own life. Afterwards, Goliath made them release Demona and Macbeth from their spell of mind control, and then released them.

The Sisters sought out Oberon and Titania afterwards, and reported to them how the Avalon clan was "trespassing" on the magical island, giving a rather distorted account of events that (presumably) omitted the Archmage and his attempted war of conquest. As they had hoped, Oberon returned with the intent of expelling the "mortal intruders", but was finally persuaded to let them remain in Avalon instead, even making the gargoyles his honor guard. The Sisters were foiled again in their quest for revenge, but apparently have not given up hope as yet of achieving it, even if they have to move much more cautiously now that the Avalon clan is under Oberon's protection.

More recently, the Weird Sisters were sent into the outside world, by Oberon's orders, to forcibly bring the Banshee back to Avalon for the Gathering.

The Weird Sisters can assume various forms, although no matter what shape they are in, their coloring remains the same; Luna is silver-haired, Phoebe is golden-haired, and Selene black-haired. They can appear various ages, sometimes hags (whether human or gargoyle), and sometimes small girls, but their "regular form" is that of three tall, stately, and beautiful young women in flowing gowns.

[Each one of the Sisters represents a different force, and when that Sister is most prominent in the trio, the three of them are guided by that force. Selene represents vengeance and retribution; when she is ascendant, the Weird Sisters become like the Furies. Phoebe represents compassion; when she is ascendant, the Weird Sisters become like the Graces. Luna represents destiny; when she is ascendant, the Weird Sisters become like the Fates or Norns.]

<On the immediate level, the Weird Sisters are "Gargoyles"'s adaptation of the Three Witches from Shakespeare's "Macbeth", who foretold his becoming King of Scotland and later on delivered to him the misleading prophecies that he could not be slain by anyone born of woman (leaving out the fact that someone born by Caesarian section, such as Macduff, could perform the deed) and that he could not be overthrown until Birnam Wood came to Dunsinane (again, saying nothing about Malcolm's achievement of this through bearing branches from Birnam Wood as camouflage). These three figures first appear in Holinshed's Chronicles, where they are identified as the goddesses of destiny or Fates, an interpretation that "Gargoyles" followed in its use of the Weird Sisters. Shakespeare, on the other hand, seems to have interpreted them as being human witches, although indeed naming them the "Weird Sisters"; it is possible that "weird" here is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "wyrd", which means "fate" or "destiny".

Moving beyond Shakespeare, however, the Weird Sisters are also echoes of various triads of goddesses in mythology. Four triads stand out in particular for their originals: the Fates, the Furies, and the Graces in Greek mythology, and the Norns in Norse mythology.

As "goddesses of destiny", the Weird Sisters serve as the counterparts in "Gargoyles" to both the Fates and the Norns. The Fates were three sisters who determined the fates of humans: Clotho spun their threads of life upon her spindle, Lachesis measured how long each human's life was to be, and Atropos cut the thread with her shears when it was time for that human to die. Even Zeus could not avert their pronouncements. The Norns were also three sisters, Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, who spun the lives of mortals; they lived by the World Ash-Tree Yggdrasil, and daily sprinkled it with water from an enchanted spring nearby, healing it of the damage done it by the deer and serpents who constantly gnawed at it.

The Weird Sisters' vengeful nature makes them an echo of the Furies or Erinyes. These were three underworld goddesses, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megara, fearsome beings who would pursue and chastise notorious criminals mercilessly. Their most celebrated victim was Orestes, whom they hounded for the murder of his mother Clytemnestra, until Athena and Apollo intervened to purify him.

When the Weird Sisters are guided by compassion (which does not happen as often in the series as when they are guided by destiny or vengeance), they become an echo of the Graces. These three goddesses in Greek mythology, Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, attendants upon Aphrodite, represented courtesy and kindness.

The Weird Sisters' names also link them to the moon, since Selene, Phoebe, and Luna were all moon-goddesses in classical mythology (see the individual entries for each name for further information), which has been traditionally associated with women in myth. (It was also associated with Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft in classical mythology, who was herself supposedly three-headed or three-faced, and whom Shakespeare links to the Weird Sisters in "Macbeth" - although most Shakespearean scholars believe that the Hecate scenes in that play are later interpolations by another hand). And their three different apparent ages in "City of Stone", as children, young women, and hags, echo the traditional Three Ages of Women in legend: the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. (Greg Weisman has indicated that that was indeed deliberate.)>

WERES

Humans who can magically transform into animals. There are three known examples at present in the Gargoyles Universe: Fox, during the time that she had been transformed into a werefox by the Eye of Odin, and Fara Maku and Tea, who were turned into werepanthers by Anansi. (Wolf does not count as a were, having achieved his present condition through genetic engineering rather than through magic.)

The nature and origins of weres vary on an individual basis, although magic always plays a part in their creation. The only known common factor for weres, beyond their being "wereanimals", is that they are vulnerable to silver, in much the same way that Oberon's Children are vulnerable to cold iron. The exact details are as yet unknown, though.

WEREPANTHERS

Humans who can become panthers through magic. Fara Maku and Tea were both transformed into werepanthers by Anansi, Fara Maku directly and Tea through Fara Maku. In order to turn a person into a werepanther, one must place the Mark of the Panther upon that person; this usually has to be done by a werepanther, although a magical being such as Anansi can also accomplish it.

The transformation of a werepanther from human to panther form is generally activated by a state of anger. When the werepanther takes on panther-shape, he or she takes on the form of a normal panther, his or her garments blending into the fur of the panther's body.

The two known werepanthers at present are Fara Maku and Tea, who now serve as protector-figures in Nigeria.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

One of the most famous churches of London. Westminster Abbey was originally built by Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), who was King of England during Canmore's overthrow of Macbeth; it was later on rebuilt by Henry III (1216-1272), producing the present-day building. Westminster Abbey serves as the traditional place of coronation for the King or Queen of England or Great Britain, having served this role ever since 1066. It is also the place of burial for many noteworthy English figures, including a number of past monarchs. Between 1296 and 1996, the Stone of Destiny was kept here, beneath the Coronation Chair.

King Arthur came to Westminster Abbey upon his arrival in London, originally for the purpose of standing vigil there. However, Griff saw him enter and went to investigate, leading to their meeting. Arthur then encountered the Stone of Destiny, who told him that he must prove himself worthy once again to wield Excalibur, and transported him and Griff to New York, to quest for the magic sword there.

WILL-O-THE-WISP

A variety of magical creature, that takes on the form of a ball of light. [Will-o-the-wisps are the evolutionary ancestors of the Third Race.] Macbeth conjured up one of their kind, to spy upon King Arthur and the gargoyles during their quest for Excalibur; it conveyed back to him whatever it saw, including Arthur's conversation with the Lady of the Lake concerning his sword.

<Will-o-the-wisps are an element of British folklore, a sort of magical interpretation of the eerie lights found in marshes and caused by marsh gas. Other terms for the will-o-the-wisp include "ignis fatuus" (foolish fire), "corpse candle", and "Jack-o-lantern". These lights were believed to be spirits who would lead humans into quagmires and other treacherous parts of the marshes, and leave them there. The exact origin of will-o-the-wisps vary from legend to legend. Some make them the souls of infants who died unbaptized, while others portray them as the ghosts of people who were too sinful for Heaven, but who for one reason or another were unwelcome in Hell, and therefore were condemned to roam the earth forever, exiled from both places.>

[WIND CEREMONY]

[The traditional funeral ceremony held for a dead gargoyle. If the gargoyle died as flesh and blood, he or she is cremated; if he or she died in the course of stone sleep, his or her remains are pulverized (a disturbing concept, but gargoyles very seldom die in their sleep - except when shattered in it by humans). The mourners then take the ashes or dust to the highest point in the area, and hold a memorial service on the departed; by gargoyle custom, everyone is permitted a voice, even the enemies of the deceased. At the end, the gargoyles spread the mortal remains upon the wind, with the words "Ashes to ashes OR dust to dust. All is one with the wind." (Which ritual speech came to be the original for the similar sentiments expressed in human funerals.) The gargoyles then glide out amid the wind-borne ashes or dust, so that part of the deceased will remain with them forever.

(It has been suggested that part of the reason why Xanatos and Demona were able to revive the ColdTrio through their creation of Coldstone was that the Wind Ceremony was never performed for them after the sack of Castle Wyvern - a concept somewhat reminiscent of how, in Greek mythology, the souls of the dead who were denied funeral rites were unable to gain complete access to the afterlife in the Underworld - cf. Homer's "Iliad" and Sophocles's "Antigone").]

WOLF

A member of the Pack, and also a descendant of Hakon. Wolf was a mercenary who joined the Pack when Xanatos set it up. He was the strongest of its members, and also one of the most savage. Like the rest of the Pack, he eagerly hunted the gargoyles after they appeared in New York, but was defeated by Goliath and Lexington, and afterwards captured by the police and sent to prison on Riker's Island.

Wolf was broken out by Dingo and Coyote 1.0 some time later, however, and joined the rest of the Pack (except for Fox) in battling the gargoyles again. After a couple of unsuccessful encounters with them, he accepted an offer from Xanatos to be "upgraded", and was mutated into a sort of wolf-man with increased strength. Even in this new form, however, he still failed to defeat the clan permanently. Xanatos helped him flee New York to Egypt with Jackal and Hyena, where the three remaining Pack members and Coyote 3.0 assisted the Emir in the summoning of Anubis. Wolf was temporarily turned into a puppy by Jackal, when the latter served as the avatar of Anubis, but later on restored by the Emir.

Wolf went his separate way from the rest of the Pack afterwards, and was eventually drawn to the Archmage's cave by the ghost of Hakon, thanks to their shared bloodline. Hakon persuaded Wolf to help him escape the cave, by taking out of it a Viking battle-axe that he (Hakon) had become bonded with. The two of them went to New York to exact fresh vengeance upon Goliath, but were defeated once again.

[Wolf will eventually join the Ultra-Pack, and may be upgraded for it again, but we do not know the details.]

WORLD TRADE CENTER -

The international headquarters of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, famous for its 110-story twin towers <until they were destroyed on September 11, 2001, an event outside the purview of the series at present>. Under Demona's orders, Puck used the top of the World Trade Center as the place from which to temporarily transform all the humans in New York into gargoyles, using the satellite dishes mounted on its roof as a means of amplifying his power. He also turned everyone back to normal from here, afterwards.

WVRN

A television station in New York [owned by Xanatos], which Jon Canmore worked for in his guise as "Jon Carter".

[WYVERN HILL]

[The hill upon whch Castle Wyvern once stood, on the western coast of Scotland. It was a home for gargoyles since time immemorial, and also had a series of human strongholds built upon it, whose builders and occupants formed a series of (temporary) alliances with the local gargoyle clan. The present-day Castle Wyvern was the last such stronghold, built in 971 and sacked in 994. At some point between now and 2198, gargoyles (apparently descended from the original Wyvern clan - most likely via the Avalon clan) will resettle here and found a new clan at this place.

The hill may have been named because of the resident gargoyles; in medieval legend, a wyvern is a two-legged dragon, and it is quite possible that superstitious Scotsmen may have found it easy to confound gargoyles with dragons or wyverns.]

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