Demoness writes...

1a. Do the Fae tap into Earth's Magic?

1b. If yes, lets say a Fae somehow finds himself on Mars, would he be weaker then normal or completely powerless, or not effected at all?

2. How come Oberon could throw Xanatos magically when his magic is powerless against iron? (The Gathering pt 2)

3. In your opinion, who would win in a fair battle, Q or Oberon?

4. When did the Mab/Oberon war happen? Could you please give me an estimated date like c. 1000 BC-500 BC.

Todd Jensen writes...

Sorry for asking another "Roswell Conspiracies"-related question, but:

You've indicated in past responses that your original plans for the series included its female lead being a banshee whom you were going to name Siobhan. When you came up with Siobhan, were you planning to use her as an at least partial "cannibalization" of the plans that you'd had for the Banshee/Molly in "Gargoyles"?

Anonymous writes...

You said that the Olympian/Titan conflict and the Frost giants/Aesir existed, but what about the conflict between Tiamat and Marduk did it exist in some form?

Todd Jensen writes...

You mentioned once that you somewhat regretted calling the fay in "Gargoyles" "Oberon's Children", because that led some of the audience to get the wrong impression, and believe that the fay were Oberon's biological offspring. Actually, I was recently watching my tape of "Heritage", and noted a strong piece of evidence for Oberon not being the biological father of them (or at least not all of them). In the episode, Raven describes Grandmother as his cousin. That would certainly indicate that they are not biological siblings and therefore do not share a common father in that sense. So the series does have something to make it clear (for the observant) that the faeries aren't Oberon's children in that sense. I just thought that you'd like to know.

Anonymous writes...

Who were the giants, centaur and winged horse that we saw in Gathering? Would they be featured in future stories?

Oberon writes...

Are any of the races stronger than any others?
It seems the Children of Oberon are much more powerful than humans or gargoyles. But, for some reason, i always thought that with all strengths and weaknesses added up, the races were pretty much equal.
Is this at all true?

Oberon writes...

*I meant traits not trip in my last question

Oberon writes...

1) Do any of the three races hace any personality trip that they lean towards?
2) If so, what are they?

Anonymous writes...

Is the god of Judaism, Christianity and Islam a fay in the gargoyles universe?

Anonymous writes...

Were there any matings between Gargoyles and fay? If there was did they inspire any monster legends?

Rob Irwin writes...

Man, they just keep coming!
The new Olimpiens, I get the felling that they are not a group of Oberon's children, yet they all seem to differn't to be of one race. Are they a group of many differn't races living together to help ech other, there seemed to be only one of each kind (ie. centaur, winged guy, fire dude).

OK, that will be the last one for awhile I think, at least till my others get answered

Laura 'ad astra' Ackerman writes...

Another try at sending this out-

I just typed up a particularly long question that didn't post and got lost, and I was foolish not to copy it somewhere before hitting submit. I apologize if it turns up later and this becomes a double post, and also if I can't get rid of the autoformating in Word and it looks a little screwy. After losing that long a question I am not taking a chance working directly into the web page.

It has been a long time since I posted a question... of course it has been a long time since I have been caught up with your answers. After reading all of the new responses, particularly those dealing with Oberon and Titania, a question has come to mind. [Actually two, but how many new ways can you ask, "What did Titania whisper to Fox?"? That question should almost have its own section.] The short form of the question is this: Just how different are Oberon's hildren from humans? I am not referring to physical or magical characteristics, but rather do they think in a quantifiably different way than do humans?

The long version of the questions comes after the long digression:

A while back a friend practically shoved an anthology into my hands and insisted I read a particular article. I believe it was called, "Hamlet in the Bush". The gist of it was that a young anthropologist found herself with an indigenous culture for a long boring stretch. [She had thought the off season would be a wonderful time to get to observe their culture. Had she asked them they would have told her the off season is the off season because the weather is so miserable that they cannot even visit the next village. They spend the time drink the local equivalent to bear waiting for it to pass.]

Before leaving she had had an argument with a friend. She argued that at base all humans are the same and once you do some explaining to take care of cultural differences, a great work of literature would be recognized as such by all people. The example that was bandied about was Hamlet, so he gave her a copy as a going away present.

With nothing else to do she sat in her tent and read it over and over until the locals asked her what on Earth she was doing. They were a non-literate culture and to them reading papers meant reading boring legal documents. Even a white person could not be so daft as to spend weeks doing so. She seized upon it an opportunity to test her theory and they, being a story telling culture, were happy to oblige.

She immediately ran into two problems:
-1-They didn't have a concept of "ghost". Zombie, yes. Evil spirit in false guise, yes. But the idea of a dead person's spirit hanging around this world was simply ludicrous to them.
-2-They thought Claudius was a great guy. He acted as an exemplary uncle and brother-in-law, although he waited a bit long in taking care of his brother's household. [Three whole months! And with only one wife to tend the fields!]

In the end they loved the story (with their corrections) and thought she was on her way being a great storyteller, (being female aside). They also told her to be sure to tell her elders that they had been good hosts and had corrected her misremembering lest she continue in error.

I think her premise held, but she hadn't realized how far cultural difference went. The more complex the story, the more it was tied to its own cultural assumptions and the harder it is to explain to another culture.

Back to Gargoyles-

In Gargoyles the basic emotions seem pretty much universal. Gargoyles, humans, New Olympians, and even Nokar and Matrix as far as we have seen them, display them. Love, hate, curiosity and fear, as well as slightly more complex emotions of protection and loneliness are clearly expressed and are more easily understood than some lost cultures of our own ancestors. Are Oberon's Children fundamentally different, or if we can imagine long enough the effects of great power and incredibly long lives we can empathize without too much brain-sprain?

There are great works of speculative fiction that try to understand the mind of The Other. Zelazny had a whole series of stories of robots worshiping and trying to understand the long last human race. I recently read a great book called "Exogesis" (a post-modern Prometheius) by Astro Teller dealing with how a newly emerged AI might think and how humanity might respond. If I would list every book I could think of on the topic I will never stop typing and will eventually have feel the urge to start listing plays and movies as well, (and probably have to deal with Frankenstein, and I am not fond of the book. It is hard to like a book when you hate the main character. Perhaps the movies were right to make the monster the lead character. :).

It all boils down to this: Are the Children of Oberon "the Other", or something very much like ourselves?

Boy this is long! sorry.

puck<40> writes...

A question I asked earlier dealing with Oberon's Law of non interferance...
"3. If they are magically restricted, how much of a strain does that put on Oberon himself?

3. None, anymore. It's a done deal. "

so.......
1. Does this mean something is in place that could be taken down to remove the law?
2. Is Oberon bound to it just as strictly as his "children"?
3. Trying to understand this in full. I *think* I have it now. hee hee. So..... A fae cannot physically or magically *break* the law in any circumstances. Even Oberon himself. If they tried, nothing would happen since its a restriction on themselves. But if they can justify it in there minds, it provides a back door, hence the possibility. Meaning it might come easier to *some* fae than others... hence like ones who can twist meanings of ones words like no tomorrow. But the restriction is a more of a physically mental one (oxymoron 9.9;) to if they can't justify it, they can't do it. That about right?
4) Do some things take priorty over others? A for instance, Puck changes *all* the humans into gargoyles and vice versa. I can only come up with two reasons, being bound by iron and commanded to do it takes priority. Or since the humans and gargoyles never noticed the changes themselves, it didn't interefere with there lives. o.O Kinda curious. ^.^
5. a)Mab. would she be considering among the "first generation" of fae? b)Would Oberon be of second generation? c) Would Puck be Third?
6. And just a comment. ^.^ I like how you don't quantify power, because it comes in so many different forms. For instance, Oberon was magically weaker than Mab, but in terms of "power", he defeated her. anyways, just a comment.

Anonymous writes...

What is the birthrate for Oberon's children?
What is the birthrate for Nokkar's race?
What is the birthrate for the Space-spawn?
What is the birthrate for the third race involved in the galactic war?
What was the birthrate for the lost race?

LSZ writes...

since you weren't sure the last time I asked this question, was there any ruler of the Third Race before Mab?

Vashkoda writes...

Fey magic and metals: I've noticed that most of the magical items forged by fey magic (the Eye, the Gate, and Puck's flute) are made of gold. Iron, of course, seems to have a disruptive effect on fey magic. Is there a particular reason why the fey chose to forge their talismans out of gold and not some other metal (except iron, obviously).

Duncan Devlin writes...

WQhen Oberon's children spent the millenium among the humans, how did those who took human form avoid the "...cannot directly interfere in human affairs" ruling.
By marrying Halcyon Renard, Titania severely altered his life, and anyone who gets married will need records, which will cause some form of interference.
In fact, what constitutes inteterferance, since Banshee had been screwing around with the locals for years (if I remember correctly).

Anonymous writes...

Why are the fay the youngest race? In almost all mythologies the gods/fay are the first to appear?

Anonymous writes...

How big of a story arc would Queen Mab get?
Would it be bigger than that of the archmage story?
How many episodes did you plan for it?
What others characters were to appear besides our regulars
and Oberon and Titania?

Jim R. writes...

(Laughing at Sapphire's comment to matt.) Well, buddy, it looks like you and I both get ourselves in deep water sometimes...Let the Almighty and Honorable Greg Weisman be the judge, for this is his courtroom. (Laughs)

Anyways...(turning to Greg)

Do members of the Third Race exist outside of Earth? Because, we all know that from what Broadway said, there are three Earth races: Humans, Gargoyles, and Oberon's children. But....
Should your Space Spawn series go through...there would undoubtedly be a fourth race, maybe not Earth-originated, but yet another race. So eventually that leads me to believe that could there be be other races in the universe that exist like Oberon's children?

I've always sort thought of Oberon's children like the "Q" on Star Trek...And the Space Spawn spinoff sort of clashes two worlds together, as if Babylon 5 and Hercules got together, if you know what I mean...

Anonymous writes...

You said that the ancestors of the New Olympians were the Olympians. Are these Olympians the gods who sat on Mount Olympus or are these Olympians something else entirely?

Anonymous writes...

Why did you go for the more villainous portrayal of Raven and the more heroic portrayal of Coyote? In most legends Raven is seen as benevolent and brings humans food while Coyote is seen as more an Anasi type trickster.

Anonymous writes...

Who are Morgana"s biological parents?
Who are the Green Knight's biological parents?

matt writes...

its funny that Oberon says the children must live among mortals, but not interfere with them because that really isn't possible, you can't observe or live among any people without changing them, its a scientific law. there are many examples of this in the real world, and many other examples in the Gargoyles Universe... obviously Oberon has to expect some Fae/Mortal interaction, and hence interference... Xanatos/Puck, Renaud/Titania, Wierd Sisters/D and M, etc. etc.

Anonymous writes...

Was the resemblance between Nought and Ghede of voodoo mythology intentional? I mean both of these guys have virtually the same costume top hat and all.