Charisma82 writes...

Okay, for some reason every time I send a certain set of questions in, they get taken out. I don't know what is wrong with them, so I'll send in each question by themselves so I can figure out which one is the one that can't be put through to you. Here is the 1st of the questions. They deal with Matthew Bluestone.

1) What made Matt want to trace down the Illuminate in the first place?

Thank you for your time.

-Charisma82

KirK writes...

What does the pyramid and the all seeing eye of the Illuminati represent?

Eric Starr writes...

What is the significance of the numbers in the Illuminati greeting, "Thirty-Six" / "Thirty-Two"?

Todd Jensen writes...

I just bought my copy of Gargoyles #3 today, and very much enjoyed the continuation of the story past "Hunter's Moon" and "The Journey" at last.

There were a great many treats in it. I enjoyed Agent Hacker's return. I'd wanted to see what would happen after the revelation that he was a member of the Illuminati (especially regarding his interactions with Matt), and now we get to see some of it. Matt clearly does not trust him still (and I can't say that I blame him). What got my attention all the more was that Hacker's description of the Illuminati's agenda towards the gargoyles differed according to whom he was talking to, in such a way as leads me to suspect that he's lying all three times about what the Society *really* wants with the gargoyles. (I certainly think that he was lying about the Illuminati wanting the gargoyles wiped out; I doubt that they're that wasteful.) I liked the "Thirty-six" "Thirty-two" greetings (at first, I thought that they were some sort of "identification number" within the Society, but when Hacker used the same numbers in speaking with Xanatos and Castaway, I abandoned that idea).

I was amused that you had Elisa speaking with both Officer Morgan *and* Jason Canmore in the events leading up to her talk with Goliath; am I correct in assuming that you were deliberately teasing there everyone who'd read your remarks about the "Double Date" story at "Ask Greg"?

I'm amazed that Elisa's sitting so calmly on the battlements during her talk with Goliath (even if she's clearly too busy thinking about other matters at the time); if I was up on the top of the Eyrie Building, I wouldn't dare even approach them, but would probably be clinging onto anything solid in the middle of the tower's platform!

I smiled at Talon's cry of "Send in the Clones!" (I guess that we all knew that somebody would have to say it at some point), and the omission of Fang's name when Al was explaining the Mutates' backstory. (Too bad he wasn't there to comment on it!) And Thailog makes a great return at the very end.

Other things that stand out to me: Alex in his little gargoyle suit (very cute), Hudson planning to take Bronx somewhere else during the party (a wise decision on his part, I believe), Xanatos's mysterious invitation to the White House (I'm looking forward to seeing how that develops), the new character in the Labyrinth (or is she really new? I'd say more but the "no original ideas" rule discourages me from voicing my suspicions about her as yet), Demona retrieving the Praying Gargoyle's crystal, Brooklyn's response to Delilah, and Castaway showing himself to clearly have much more sense than his "Goliath Chronicles" counterpart.

All in all, a wonderful continuation of the story. I'm looking forward to #4.

dph_of_rules writes...

dph's Review of Comic #3

Artwork is much better.

I loved the make-up of the Gargoyles Task Force, especially Matt's opening remark about their primary objective. Aside from Bluestone, Maza, and Morgan, will you tell us which precints the rest of the police are from?

Love the nice bit of continuity with Martin Hacker showing up. Why the numbers "36" and "32"?

I loved how it was Morgan who approached Elisa, but wouldn't it be a little problematic being that Elisa Maza outranks Morgan Morgan?

It's nice to finally hear about Elisa's wants for a long-term relationship really are.

I enjoyed Xanatos's conversion with Martin Hacker. More about that later, though.

I liked Elisa hinting to look around at Deliliah.

I loved the nice bit of continuity with Demona showing up.

I loved the nice way of explaining the backstory of the mutates and the clones to the new readers.

Poor Brooklyn. ;) He gets shafted by own his clan leader when looking for a date. ;)

Nice to see Hacker checking in on Castaway. If the quarrymen ever get raided, I just hope Hacker isn't caught with Castaway.

Anyways, back to one of my earlier questions. Are the Illuminati Society deliberately to manipulate the gargoyles task force, Xanatos's plans, and the quarrymen to divert attention from something even bigger going on?

Nice to see Thailog back and fully recovered.

Nice laying out of plot threads for future development.

Makhasu writes...

Jon Castaway is backed by the Illuminati. Is he a member as well?

The MythMaker writes...

A few years ago, I posted a short ramble on the Illuminati and the "Eye in the Pyramid". Of course, you only got to it a few months ago. However, right after my post, Valaine Fea added that the "E.i.t.P" is called "Annunaki", which means "All-Seeing Eye". Valaine Fea did not post anything else however, and you asked where that information comes from.

I had never heard anyone refer to the symbol as "Annunaki", but I know what the term is (it does not mean "All-Seeing Eye") and in what language. I suspect that someone in the tiny circle of people who know this stuff accidently connected the term to the symbol, since it is indeed what the symbol points to.

Annunaki is a Sumerian term (yes, it's that old). It means "the people of Anu". Again, the actual information on the topic is extensive, with many layers of meaning as well, given it's religious purpose, so I cannot give it all. A simplified (but arguable) interpretation would be "the children of God". Not humans: angels (or something) who walked around on the planet. The Bible mentions them several times, along with many other ancient sources (all of which are presumed by modern historians to be the products of overly-superstitious primitive minds).

The symbol is Egyptian in iconography, not Sumerian (it would have been the "Eye in the Ziggurat"), but there is evidence that it is a European creation (middle ages or later) intended to point back to these origins.

DPH writes...

Happy Year 2005!!

Here's hoping this question gets answered by December 31, 2005.

1)Are the Illuminati Society really interested in capturing a gargoyle?

1a)If so, why?

Leaf writes...

How old is Martin Hacker?

Valaine Fea writes...

by the way.. "the eye in the pyramid" is called "Annunaki" ("all seeing eye"). Don´t know which language;).

The MythMaker writes...

A long time ago, you asked if anyone knew the origin of the "eye in the pyramid" symbol for the Illuminati/Masons/etc. Since I saw no update on it, I thought I would give you the short version (the long version would take several pages).
The pyramid represents knowledge, taken directly from ancient Egyptian mythology (before the whole "Pharoah's Tomb" fiction was created) but the pyramid in the symbol is truncated, representing lost/suppressed knowledge. The eye is the "All-Seeing Eye" (God) and placed in a triangle above the truncated pyramid to point out that no amount of official supression will destroy the knowledge forever, it's still out there to be rediscovered.
The second layer of interpretation is part of where the Illuminati as "bad guys" comes from: they were "enemies" of the authorities throughout history (some rare exceptions) because they had managed to retain the missing/forgotten knowledge, and the authorities (who were seen to not be wise/good enough to be given access to the knowledge/power) were jealous and either wanted the knowledge for themselves or wanted these "outlaw" groups killed, or preferably both. The official church declared them to be Satan-worshippers; these groups considered themselves to be the true believers of God and the church to be full of Satan-worshippers (or at least selfish opportunists). So, the symbol shows that they believed in God (in spite of what the authorities claimed) but also shows their own recognition that they would always be in danger from outsiders who would try to supress the "truth".

Your "grey-area" approach to Duval and the Illuminati is a great way of showing that, in spite of what we are often taught, black and white are ALSO in the eye of the beholder...

Lawrence Matheson writes...

When Did Xanitos become a member of the Illuminati, did the letter he sent himself have anything to do with it?(other than his wealth)P.S any fans of the show who thinks they can answer this question can write to me at opinionsrgood@hotmail.com

Rob writes...

1) Your rendering of the Illuminati society has grounds in fiction... from where did you take your ideas about the society?
2) and isnt it a little weird that many stories in fiction include an "all-knowing" group that controls the worls from behind the scenes (for example Tomb Raider and Honey I shrunk the Kid's The TV show, starring Peter Scolari).. DO you think there's some sort of real world society similar to the Illuminati, kinda like in the Simpson's Stonecutter's Episode?? cause i think the society does exist..

Ancient Kaa The Soulless writes...

Just a question regarding Mace Malone's dental plan.

Are the dentists/orthodentists members of the Illuminati?

Anonymous writes...

After Samson's rebellion against the space-spawn did you have plans to deal with the Illuminati's backing of the space-spawn and its consequences?

Anonymous writes...

Is Renard a member of the Illuminati?
Is MacBeth or any of aliases a member of the Illuminati?
Is Owen a member of the Illuminati?
Is Anastasia Renard a member of the Illuminati?
Is Vinnie a member of the Illuminati?
Were Jason, Robyn or Jon members of the Illuminati?

Entity writes...

How you doing, Greg?

Okay, let's take a look at a hypothetical (this is my disclaimer in case you want to just stop reading now). If things had gone differently, and the show had never moved to ABC, meaning you never left, and Disney offered you 13 more episodes, but made it clear that these 13 would be the LAST 13 the show would get... how would you have approached them? Lord knows you had enough material to make another 13 just in picking up loose threads, let alone new ones such as The Quarrymen. Do you think you would have turned the whole third season into a good-bye like with "The Journey"? Would you have been more optimistic than that and ended it just like seasons one or two? Or would you have tried to wrap it up, like The Goliath Chronicles boys did with "Angels in the Night"?

matt writes...

in "Revelations" Mace Malone tells Matt that Xanatos provided the Illuminati with some information (the gargoyles stuff)

1. did the Illuminati know that gargoyles existed before Xanatos informed them of the Manhatten Clan?

2. did the Illuminati know about the Manhatten Clan before Xanatos told them?

3. how much about the Manhatten Clan does the Illuminati know? obviously they know of their connection to Elisa Maza, but do they know more things like their names, a bit about them, their pasts?

thanx alot Greg!

Anonymous writes...

1.How much of the modern world is Duval responsible for? Was most of it created by the Illuminati?
2.How much of the world does the Illuminati control? Do they also control all those third world countries in Africa, Asia and South America? If so are they responsible for the wars occuring in them?

Wolfram Bane (wolfram_bane@hotmail.com) writes...

Illuminati

1/ What is the connection (if any) of the Illuminati that Percival (Duval) created in 642 and the Illuminati created by Adam Weishaupt in 1778?

2/ Was Percival present at the Battle of Camlann in 542? If not, was it because of his responsibilities as the Fisher King?

3/ Does the Illuminati have connections to the Knights Templar and the Freemasons in the gargoyles universe?

Anonymous writes...

Why did the Illuminati support the space-spawn? I mean they were the proper rulers of the Earth. If they backed Samson wouldn't they regain control after Samson throws the space-spawn off the planet?

Anonymous writes...

Regarding John Castaway/Jon Canmore, how exacly did he make contact with the Illuminati?

Anonymous writes...

Does Duval still remember Arthur?

Vashkoda writes...

You said in a chat in '97 that, "in my mind, he [Jon Canmore/Castaway] approached the Illuminati, who for their own reasons, funded the Quarrymen."

1a) How and for how long did he know that the Illuminati really existed? b) Do the other Canmores know about the Illuminati (before Robyn joins the Redemption Squad)?

2) How did he know where to find the Illuminati? I found your statement that *he* was the one to approach *them* rather interesting, as I would have assumed that it's usually the Illuminati who establish first contact with someone.

3) Does Castaway become a member of the Illuminati?

Anonymous writes...

What does Merlin, Blanchefleur and Duval look like in 1997?

Anonymous writes...

Do the Illuminati know of all immortals(excluding oberon's children) on the Earth? If not do they know over fifty percent of them?

Anonymous writes...

How advanced is the Illuminati¡¯s tech? Beyond Xanatos¡¯s tech? Anywhere close to New Olympian tech?

Anonymous writes...

1.How many clans do the Illuminati know of in 1996? All ten? If not which ones do they not know about? Do they know more clans than Demona? How did they find out?
Are there any gargoyle members of the Illuminati?
2.How many of the ten gargoyle clans does Demona know of? Which ones does she not know?

Anonymous writes...

1.Does Xanatos know of Mr.Duval's immortality?
2.What about his identity as Sir Percival?
3.In 1996 of the eight arthurian survivors who among them know Percival is Duval?
4.Who else knows Duval's identity as Percival?

Anonymous writes...

When did the Illuminati learn of the existence of the Americas?

Anonymous writes...

Does Duval or the Illuminati know where Merlin is?

Lord Sloth writes...

Did the FBI boot Matt from the burough, or was it the Illuminati, wanting to limit Matts resources into finding out about them.

Punchinello writes...

I just noticed a question you answered concerning Duval/Percival. If I had not seen the two names adjacent to one another I would never have seen any potential connection. I know that the name Percival is derived from parsi - fal or "pure fool."

I have no idea what Duval means, although I now see the structural similarity in the name.

I also have absolutely no recollection of these characters from your story. I only know the names from the context of Arthurian legend.

I like fools. It bothers me that I did not see the meaning to be decoded in the name Duval before now. I shall need to go investigate it.

Perhaps you will save me from the effort? Or at least acknowledge if you intended a connection?

Punchinello

Anonymous writes...

Did you draw any inspiration for the Illuminati from Vandal Savage and his Illuminati?

Anonymous writes...

Is the Illuminati still the dominant force in the future?

Anonymous writes...

How did Alex get elected to the position of Secretary General? Why would the Illuminati which controls almost everything on Earth before the Space-Spawn invasion allow the election/installation of someone who they don't approve of considering they didn't vouch for his release?

Lord Sloth writes...

2198 questions:
1a) how many heads do the space spawn have? Does it varry? b) Do the Space spawn's general appearance varry from one another? By alot?

2a) Is New Camelot still around in 2198? b) Are Arther's decendands running it or anything(I'll be really surprised if you answer THAT) c) Is it connected to Master Matrix?

3) Do the Illuminati still fund the Quarry men in 2198?

DougJoe writes...

You once said that Duval formed the Illuminati to "make things right". As of "The Journey", does Duval feel he's achieved any degree of success? Or does he feel things have gotten worse? Or maybe a little of each?

Sloth writes...

How is Matt Bluestone's relationship with the illuminati now that he joined? Did he lose of his all desire to expose them to the puplic now that he is one of them, or is he just bidding his time?

Anonymous writes...

Did Ra's al Ghul of Batman fame influence the character of Duval/Percival?

Sloth writes...

I don't know if this is true, or a part of TGC, or what, but I herd somewhere that the Quarrymen were funded by the Illuminati. Reckless gargoyle smashing dosn't seem like the kind of thing Illuminati would invest in to me. Could you tell me:
1)is this true
and
2)if it is, what are their motives in it?

Anonymous writes...

1.Why does the Director hate the Illuminati?
2.How does he know of it?
3.What nationality is the Director?
4.What kind of a civil servant is he?
5.Does he know of Mr.Duval?

Anonymous writes...

Why would the Illuminati be the antagonists in Dark Ages? What is their interest in the civil war?

Vashkoda writes...

Just in case you haven't revealed who she is yet:

1) Is Fiona a blood relative to one or more "known" characters in the Gargoyles universe? ["known" being defined as a character(s) who was/were either shown in the show or who you have previously identified and discussed having plans for]

2) In which spinoffs do you have plans for her to appear in?

3) To which of the three surviving Earth races does she belong?

Sapphire writes...

Does the illuminati know every single detail of a person's life on earth? For example does the Illuminati know when Matt (not the cartoon Matt but the Matt on this question server) take a shower, eat, sleep, etc?

matt writes...

Blaise's ramble reminded me of a question i've been meaning to ask...
how does Martin Hacker rank in the Illuminati? obviously hes higher up than Matt, but probably lower than Mace was... he was partnered with Matt years ago, meaning that hes been an Illuminatus for years, is he higher up than Xanatos? how long has Xanatos been an Illuminati member?

Anonymous writes...

1.Who made Castle Carbonek? Are they the same guys that made the Grail? If not who are they?

2.How does time pass there? Is it like Avalon where a hour there is a day in our world?

3.Who controls the travelling? The fisher king? If no one controls it then does it work like Avalon where it takes you to where you're needed?

Revel writes...

"Your Revelations ramble"

This is probably more a compliment than anything else. Revelations was actually the first episode of the show I ever saw. I happend to flip through as the opening theme was playing and i stopped and started to watch. As you can guess I was in front of the television again the following Friday. (man that was a while ago)
What I did want to ask was did Mace get his tattoo by choice or was it sort of like branding by the society? (ouch)
Thanks

Todd Jensen writes...

A ramble-review on "Revelations".

I quite liked this episode. I'd been curious for some time about Matt's interest in the Illuminati (as I mentioned before, when I first saw Xanatos donning an Illuminati badge in "Vows", my immediate thought was "What would Matt say if he knew about this?") and in the gargoyles. So now we got an episode in which these two pursuits of his intersected.

And I did initially believe that Matt had sold Goliath out to the Illuminati, which shocked me, since I hadn't thought that he'd actually do something like that. I was glad when the truth came out at the end. I very much liked Matt's narration, as well.

(One thing that did occur to me about Elisa's "uniqueness" in being the only human whom the gargoyles considered a friend; actually, she had lost her "unique" status by this point, in light of the gargoyles also making friends with Jeffrey Robbins and Halcyon Renard - but Elisa wasn't there at either of those meetings, so I don't feel bothered by that inconsistency. And I could understand her reluctance in introducing Matt to the gargs for that reason).

Mace Malone and the Hotel Cabal worked for me (I hadn't even known about the Tower of Terror part before now, or suspected it, for that matter). So did the surprise revelation at the end of the episode that Hacker had been "one of them" all along. I was very curious about what would happen now that Matt knew that his former FBI partner was really an Illuminatus who had been hindering his search.

Actually, that brings me to one of the very few regrets that I have about the series as a whole: the fact that we didn't see anything further with the Illuminati for the rest of the season, and the only element involving it for the remainder of your run on "Gargoyles" was Owen's mention of Duval in "The Journey". (The Goliath Chronicles did do an Illuminati episode after you left, but I definitely didn't like the way that they handled the Illuminati there - they reduced them too much to the level of cliched villains as "evil munitions manufacturers who start up wars just to make a profit" - the Illuminati of your run felt much more "greyish" to me, rather than out-and-out villains like, say, the Archmage or Thailog). I hope that if you get to do the series again, we'll get to see the Illuminati thread (and particularly the Matt-and-the-Illuminati thread) developed some more.

Alex "Cyclonus" Bishansky writes...

Did the Illuminati ever realize that Xanatos set up his wealth and power through them via time-travel when he sent that coin?