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matt writes...

we know that gargoyles were once widespread around the world and much more common than today. we also know that gargoyles are extremely territorial and protective, so my questions are:

1. was there ever a time, in early gargoyle history, that wars between Gargoyle Clans were fought?

2. if so, were wars fought over territory? differing beliefs? something else?

3. if there were not any wars were there any minor battles between Clans or have Gargoyle Clans always had peace between them?

4. was there ever a time when two or more Clans shared strict borders between their protectorates or were the Clans pretty well spaced out even thousands of years ago?

5. how many Clans existed at the peak of the Gargoyle Species? closer to 1000? 10,000? 1,000,000?

Greg responds...

1. I think it would be ridiculous to issue a blanket "no". I think this would be a rare and isolated phenomena in a world which at the time would have had almost unlimited territory to expand into and no predators truly able to hurt the species. But to say it NEVER happened... no. It must have.

2. I don't currently have anything specific in mind.

3. See above.

4. Largely the latter, but again, I don't want to issue an absolute.

5. I'm not good with numbers.

Response recorded on July 07, 2005

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James Sconawah writes...

Is Gabriel Coldstones son? If so then does that make his love his mother?

Greg responds...

Yes, Gabriel is the biological son of Coldstone and Coldfire. But from a gargoyle's point of view, Goliath is as much Gabriel's father as Coldstone is.

Response recorded on October 26, 2004

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Anonymous writes...

Prior to the rise of humanity, did gargoyles ever develop agriculture or animal husbandry on their own?

Greg responds...

Gargoyle Beasts were domesticated.

Response recorded on October 08, 2004

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Babs writes...

Since I can't get any sleep and was watching re-runs of Gargoyles. I remember someone asking how do Gargoyles show love do they kiss ?, and I believe the answer was that they pet eachother, (please correct me if I'm wrong) but I do recall Goliath kissing Demonas hand, and Angela and Broadway giving a kiss to eachother. Can you explain the differences for me, or just tell me if they do kiss ?
Danke for answering

Greg responds...

Culturally, the gargoyle equivalent of the kiss is to stroke hair or ridges, etc.

But Gargoyles have been living around humans for a long time. So the fact that they've acquired the habit (pleasant habit as it is) doesn't surprise or trouble me, continuity-wise or otherwise.

Response recorded on September 13, 2004

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some REAL rambling...

Okay, this is not GREG SPEAKING FROM THE MOUNT...

This is just me thinking aloud. (Well, not really aloud. I'm sitting here typing.) I don't even know if I like these ideas. They're definitely not canon.

But the following notions occured to me today...

Gargoyles don't seem to have a native language. They acquire human language ... perhaps much the same way that they acquire names. Naming is clearly addictive. And language, in many ways, is just sophisticated naming.

Clearly gargoyles are just as intelligent as humans. Before humans developed tools, Gargoyles were at the top of the food chain. They may not have created/invented as much "stuff" as humans have, but they also had way fewer needs. Necessity being the mother of invention, they had less motivation for inventing sophisticated shelter, clothes, tools, etc. But that in and of itself isn't a comment on their brain-power.

So why no need for language and names?

When it comes to naming, gargoyles clearly felt that names were superfluous if not somewhat limiting, if not downright harmful to the spirit. Humans must define things. Gargoyles know that things just are.

We are friends. What other name do we require, etc.

It fits in with their animistic/monotheistic view of a higher power. A higher power that requires no name.

Does beg a question, though if you go back far enough.

Does the sky need a name? Does the river?

Elisa responds: "The river's called the Hudson."

But she could have responded: "The river's called a river."

Did the gargoyles have a language that they ABANDONED in favor of human words -- even if those human words were Atlantean (like the term "Gorlois", the true Atlantean etimology for "GARGOYLE")?

Or perhaps...

Gargoyles are so attuned to the earth. They have biological clocks that match the seasons. They have relationships that require no names, until those names have been imposed.

Is it possible, that gargoyles once... long ago... had mild psychic abilities that left them with no need to create language? It wasn't words that they intuited (or transmitted or read or whatever) but emotions, maybe images or sensations.

Maybe it was tied to magic. Not that Gargoyles are magical creatures, but if magic was free-flowing before the Will-O-The-Whisps evolved into the Children of Mab (or whomever) and somewhat confiscated that power for their own, perhaps that magic was just part of the Earth that gargoyles were so attuned to, and allowed for some psychic congress.

Or perhaps, it is a biological ability -- based on biio-elecricity and brainwaves -- that has faded with disuse. Perhaps the very language skills that Gargoyles learned from the human race dampened their psychic intuitiveness, much as Fox's natural magical abilities were stunted by her human upbringing.

Either way, it suggests that this ability could be latent.

I'm NOT saying that the gargs we know are psychic. They've all been fooled enough, even by the INTENSELY emotional Demona (who would theoretically be broadcasting as well as receiving) to bely that notion.

But I wonder if this isn't an interesting area of speculation.

If you see me at the Gathering THIS WEEKEND, it's a topic I'd be interested in discussing.


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Ruth Lang writes...

OK, this page is a great idea, and I'm glad I finally found it.
I've been trying to work out how GOliath's loincloth is tied. All the others (except Hudson,who has trousers) have their loincloths just over front & back, nothing going underneath to keep things secure. ANd I just can't make a single piece of cloth fold around the way Goliath's seems to be. I'm sure it has be only one piece, because that's the way Scots did most of their clothes.
I'm going to have to spend a lot more time on this place and see if anyone else has come up with my theory on gargoyle sex etc, based largely on what they wear, or rather how. ANd figure out who all those characters are in the age list, I've seen all the episodes now but half of them I can't recall hearing of. What Othello & whatshername in Legion? COldstone's mate doesn't have a name, they're characters in something of Shakespeare.

Greg responds...

There is, of course, a part of the loincloth that goes "underneath". Trust me, Goliath et al are not just out there blowing in the wind. It is still one piece, it just folds over the belt with space cut out for the tail in back.

Othello is the name we use to refer to Coldstone before he became Coldstone. The actual character doesn't have a name. It's just a reference.

Desdemona is the name we use to refer to Coldfire before she became Coldfire. The actual character doesn't have a name. It's just a reference, though we did use the Desdemona name in the credits for actress C.C.H. Pounder.

Iago is the name we use to refer to Coldsteel before he became Coldsteel. The actual character doesn't have a name. It's just a reference, though we did use the Iago name in the credits for actor Xander Berkeley.

Response recorded on July 22, 2004

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Starrynight writes...

Hello Mr. Weisman,
I am writing in relation to a thought I had about Gargoyle culture and society after taking a Anthropolgy class this summer. The earliest human civilzations such as the Maya and the Egyptians built large buildings and monuments out of stone.
1. Did gargoyles ever built any kind of stone buildings or sheltors besides their rookeries by excavating caves?

2.If gargoyles did in some form hue stone to make a monument. Would it have possibly have been for there unique god which you have alluded to before?

2. Early weapon making among humans began with one of man's earlies ancestors Australopithecus. Like chimpanzes today they used tools to get food. They used stones to break open roots. The techinques of more advanced tools like arrow heads and flint knives did not begin until the next human ancestor arrived called Homo erectus. Did gargoyles ever develope any kind of weapon making or use of objects such as rocks to better inable themselves with technology in order to survive in harsh enviornmental conditions?

Greg responds...

1. Rarely. They required less protection from the elements, which is one of the major motivators to inventing "shelter".

2. No. There animistic/monotheistic faith required no monuments, as the gods/God was everywhere in everything.

Second 2. Again, generally not necessary. Gargoyles were, until humans invented tools, at the top of the food chain.

Response recorded on July 15, 2004

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matt and others in the Comment Room writes...

we were wondering if a gargoyles urge to protect is a natural urge or something they are taught by older generations to do, or a combination of both?

Greg responds...

I'd guess both.

Response recorded on June 16, 2004

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Jacob writes...

Hi Greg,
did Gargoyles ever play music or are they uninterested in it?

Greg responds...

Sure.

Response recorded on March 15, 2004

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Siren writes...

I was wondering with Gargoyles' names. Now, according to the show to date, in 994 A.D., it was still the habit, at least of the Wyvern Clan, not to name gargoyles. Save Goliath. And even after then, to my knowledge, Demona's small clan of gargoyles did not have names.
Come present day, the Manhattan Clan all adopt names, even more traditionalists like Hudson. When the Avalon Tour came around, we come to find all the clans give names to the gaargoyles. (Of course, the Avalon Clan has names because they were raised by humans.) So through the centuries, has all the gargoyles changed their minds about naming eachother? Did the gargoyles name themselves or do the humans normally name them?

Greg responds...

Naming is, as I believe I've said before, addictive.

Once the custom is introduced it takes hold rather firmly. I honestly haven't decided for sure whether all of the existing clans use names, but most do.

Sometimes these names come from humans. Sometimes they evolve within gargoyle communitities over time.

I feel that in Guatemala, only four gargoyles traditionally had names, i.e. the four gargs who wore the pendants: Zafiro, Turquesa, Jade and Obsidiana (though at other points in history they might have been Zafira, Turqueso, Jada and Obsidiano). But now that all but those four are dead, now that all the surviving Mayan gargs have names, it will be interesting to see whether or not the hatchlings that hatched there in 1998 were given names or not.

Response recorded on December 02, 2003


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