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Jen writes...

In the episode Vows, why does Demona bother trying to change what her younger self did to prevent the massacre? You cannot change history, so I don't understand her motivation. You could say she didn't know that rule but I would expect that a soceress that has lived for over a thousand years would know that.

Also she would have remembered everything that happened to her when she was younger (though maybe her memory would be rusty after a 1000 years but she does tell Goliath that she remembers her speech) so what would be the logic and motivation for her to go into the past if she knows she failed and act exactly how she remembered and FAIL like she remembered. Did she only go because she had to go because she remembered it happening? The whole time being fixed says she had to go to remember failing, but that still doesn't explain her motivation for doing something she knew wouldn't work out. Or perhaps her motivation was to see herself as innocent again? To remember why she did what she did at the last wedding she attended with Goliath? Agh...this turns into a big wouldn't one cancel out the other and get all confusing thing...

Also considering that Demona is a thousand years old, what did she do for all that time? The some of it is shown in the episodes, but nothing really after the whole hunter thing and macbeth, and that was a long time ago. Wouldn't a thousand years be enough time for her to travel around the world and find other clans so she would not have ended up so alone?

Also really old characters always bother me. I know you cannot assume that wisdom comes with great age, but I wonder how someone could live that long and not really mature at all? I guess that adds to the insanity, that everything else changes and you don't so that would add to her whole "alone" complex and anger.

Heh sorry for the long question/ramble...

Greg responds...

Demona was hoping that you COULD change history. Since the Gate was broken, there wasn't any time travel in her long past to know for sure how the system worked. She was hoping she could avoid Goliath's appearance. She knew he showed up, but she didn't know how that happened, so she was hoping... hoping...

It's interesting that Demona is so full of hope. Hmmmmm.... Maybe it's just denial.

I won't pretend I've mapped out ALL of Demona's 1000 years, but I have a few key events in mind. As to her stunted growth... well, I know a lot of wise old people myself. And I know a lot of wise old idiots too. So I based her on REAL LIFE. ;)

Response recorded on January 08, 2007

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Raye writes...

Hi, my question concerns Demona and Gruoch, two of my favourite characters (One of my favourite moments in "Gargoyles" is when Demona goes completely against her prejudices and saves Macbeth and Gruoch when they're slipping from the parapet, and Gruoch's nervous little "thank you" to her afterwards). But anyway:

1. During the "Golden Age" of Macbeth's rule, how well did Gruoch and Demona get on? Or to make the question a bit more generalised, what was their relationship?

Obviously they wouldn't have been best friends, but I also can assume that as such close companions to Macbeth they would have spent a reasonable amount of time in each other's company.

2a. Would they have considered each other as a "friend"?

2b. Or was there a little bit of resentment/jealously/competition going on in terms of their separate relationships with Macbeth?

2c. Or did they just stay out of each other's way?

Thank you very much in advance for any reply you give me, I think the time and effort you put into communicating with fans is amazing! My fingers are crossed that the second half of season two will make it to DVD.

Greg responds...

1. I'd like to explore this someday. But generally, I think they got along on the surface, but that each had a healthy suspicion of the other.

2a. Try "ally".

2b. I'm not sure I'd characterize it that way. Demona distrusts humans. Gruoch distrusted Demona.

2c. Largely.

Response recorded on January 03, 2007

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If they try to kill ya u gotta kill them first writes...

Hi, Greg. I know you open these for the gathering thing but i got these questions and comments...ya know, it is a nice oportunity. I would love LOVE going to the Gathering but as i am on the other point of the continent (:P) like, i cannot go... Gargoyles is geting very popular here, in Argentina, but i would want to know if the dvd or the comics are going to be able here? :) so the south people can enjoy gargolyes more?:) Jo, anyway, great show, great story, great characters, great drawings and...great me! hahaha.
Fine, now comments and questinos, if u wanna escape, these is the rigth moment:
Demona is one of the best characters i have ever seen before, and i love the contrast that she has with Magnetto, althougt she is, well, crazy.
I get what feelings the poor Goliath still had for Demona, and what feelings Demona had for Goliath, but the others members of the clan once had a close relaitionship with her as well, like "sister-brothers" "daugther-father". So ( i know about Brooklyn, very expresive the guy) what did feel Broadway and Lexingston about that? I mean, if my sister would get mad and because, let´s say, a dog kill someone she loves, now she would be trying to destroy all the dogs of the world:S i would be really...sad?.
It´s the same with Hudson, he ´d seen Demona since her most tender infance, looking her grown up from that little hatchling to that powerfull and nobel warrior she once was. Actually, he was her father. So same question, what did cross his mind every time he see her then in the new millenium? It must be very frustrating.And as we are with him, if Demona was part of the clan no more, they would still be like a daugther and a father, by teorical terms?
And Elisa, she is such a nice person! But althougth all the times Demona has tried to hurt her, Elisa seems to get more anger whenever Xanatos or Tony Dracon tryes something than when Demona does. Why is that she react so "professional" when is Demona who "pops-up" ?
Tempation: Jo, great episode however not the best.
Nice detail: i LOVE that posture of Demona after Brooklyn tryed to take the book away from her for the first time: leaning against the wall, huging the arcanorum as it would be Goliath him-self (XD)looking lunatically from the shadows. It was then when i thougth: something happened to these girl!.
To think: Gargoyles can really keep a groudge for a long time, and not just Demona but then Lexingston and now Brook, c´mon people, let it go!.
I think Demona wasn´t really lieng to Brooklyn...yes she screw it up, but i think she really has a point. Always she has that nasty point of view that makes you think " fuck, she is no so wrong".
Long way to morning: It´s great if you want to see scared things but, i really didn´t like the Demona of the past in these one, she acts very similar to the present, not exactly but...she was nasty.
Reawaking: I love these one, how the clan learns that the people is important and no the place where the people is, how they got more "civilizated". very nice lesson.
The mirror: It´s the first time someone subdue demona in how much time? These episode, i think, it´s the only one ( after high noon) in wich Demona appears that i laugh. Awesome, but why did Demona hesitate when Puck asked her what did she want? It´s not the destruction of human race always on her mind?
City of stone: And everything got sense!! I cried at the end :( poor demon. And that make me ask was the humans hate what drive her on the way she was or it was the lonlyness what twist her brain?
High noon: hahahahahahahahahahahaha...GREAT END!! "Why are we working together!?""grrrr"
Avalon: Macbeth and Demona working together...Woaho.
Well that´s all for now. I really REALLY hope you understan all that crap, i did my best to write in pure english(:P)and if you did not... i am really sorry. A last think!! In ascending list: Whoose of these characters she hates most?: Macbeth, the hunters, Goliath, the rest of the clan, Elisa, the rest of human race, Puck, Thailog. Thanks for your time, bye :)

Greg responds...

In the future, numbering your questions would really help me out. Also please avoid using curse-words in this forum. We try to keep it PG.

1. I'm afraid I don't know where the DVDs are available internationally. Have you tried Amazon.com?

2. Broadway and Lex may not have been THAT close to Demona in the Tenth Century. She was too young to be a maternal figure to old to be a Rookery Sister, and perhaps too imposing and/or prickly to be a friend. So her betrayal of the clan, is just that: a betrayal of the clan, not a personal betrayal. Which is not to say that they don't take it personally, cuz I'm sure they do. But they don't feel personally betrayed. Does that make sense?

3. As for Hudson, he is Demona's father. So I think it's much tougher on him. The only saving grace, such as it is, is that I think by the time of the massacre, Hudson had a clearer sense of Demona's true nature. I think deep down the betrayal was less of a shock to him then it was to Goliath. Not that he wasn't surprised. You can see how warmly he greets her in "Awakening, Part Four" when she first resurfaces. But in the end and darkly, I think her role in things saddens but doesn't shock him. I also think he CHOSE to focus his real hatred on Hakon Clan-Slaughterer.

4. I don't know if I agree with your assessment of Elisa vis-a-vis Demona. Certainly Dracon is able to get under Elisa's skin, but I think the thing to keep in mind is that Dracon is HER nemesis. Not Goliath's. Hers. Not that Goliath hasn't been of use there, but Dracon isn't super-human. He's a crook. She's a cop. Dealing with Dracon is HER job. As for Elisa and Demona, I think there are plenty examples of Elisa revealing her true feelings for Demona (in "The Mirror", in "Vows", in "High Noon", etc.) And they aren't without ire. But Elisa didn't lose her clan to Demona. So it's not the same thing.

5. In "The Mirror", Puck had already made the point that he didn't have the power to giver her absolutely anything she wanted, i.e the destruction of the entire human race. So she had to pick a more specific wish. That put her at a brief loss.

6. Loneliness, I believe, was a huge factor in creating the present day Demona. Not the only factor. But a big one.

7. Well, this is a little pointless, but if I have to rank your list, at this time, i.e. as of issue #1 of the comic book, I'd put 'em in this order of hate:
Elisa
Hunters
Thailog
Goliath
Macbeth
human race
rest of clan
Puck

Response recorded on November 29, 2006

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Anonymous writes...

What are those gold arm braces that are on Demonas arms?

Greg responds...

Jewelry.

Response recorded on November 28, 2006

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Zel writes...

Maybe you've answered this before, but I can't find the answer in the archives. Why did both Goliath AND Demona abandon the Wyvern eggs? Wouldn't the leader of the clan consider that the living eggs are of high priority? At least try to find a foster clan? Leaving them with humans seems too risky no matter how much the individual humans are trusted. The greater masses of humans aren't nearly so trustworthy. Then there's Demona. She watched them pull the eggs out of Castle Wyvern on a waggon. She knew her own egg was in there, she was ok with humans raising her hatchling? I realize that Goliath and Demona were each in a bad head space durring these events, but we're talking about babies here! People don't treat that stuff lightly.

Greg responds...

"Bad head space." That's a good phrase, and I don't have a better explanation, frankly. If the psychology didn't work for you, then ... well... mea culpa.

But Goliath was suicidal. It is a sad fact that occasionally parents kill themselves, leaving children in horrible situations. That's what happened here.

Demona is too self-preservationist to kill herself, but she's also too self-preservationist to attempt to raise 36 kids on her own while loaded with enough guilt to choke a mastodon.

Response recorded on November 21, 2006

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Doop writes...

Hi. First of all, I want to say that I really enjoyed the Gargoyles series and Demona was, imo, the best character in the show, and one of the best in television. She was a very interesting and complex character.

1) Were you ever planning on having Demona redeem herself, or at least becoming an anti-hero type character?
2) What would it take for her and Macbeth to forgive eachother? Could they ever?
3) In "City of Stone", did the people she smash stay dead? No one noticed anything odd when they woke up (ala 'Where's so-and-so?" or "What are these piles of of stones?") and the couple she smashed appeared in later episodes.
4) Would Marina Syrtis be willing to play her again if/when Gargoyles was renewed?
5) What did Demona think of stuff like the Holocaust or slavery? I know it probably confirmed her beliefs on the evil of humanity, but did she feel sorry for the victims involved?
6) If mutants existed in the Gargoyles universe (ala like the X-Men) would she consider them human or another type of species?
7) When Demona said her virus would 'wipe out all intelligent life', does that mean the other animals would be left unscathed?
8) Why would Xanatos work with Demona if he knew she was anti-human?
9) Why did Macbeth consider betraying her? He wouldnt have considered betraying his son or wife. What would he have said if Demona confronted him about it?
10) Was she entirely at fault for creating the hunter, or did scratching his face merely unleash the evil from within?
11) If she still loved Goliath, why did she always push him away when he tried reaching her (i.e 'Vows')?
12) Did you ever plan on giving her a 'happy ending?'

Thanks.

Greg responds...

1. Yes (assuming she isn't already an anti-hero of sorts), in 2198.

2. Not getting into this now.

3a. Yes. 3b. NO THEY DIDN'T. I've answered this many times. That woman was a brunette, and that man was wearing a toupee.

4. I'd like to think so.

5. Generally, I think your first statement is correct. Whether or not she felt individual pity has a lot to do with how close she got to the action, which I'm not commenting on at this time.

6. Not big on hypotheticals, but I'd guess she'd consider them human.

7. That was her theory... assuming she thought it out at all.

8. They were using each other until City of Stone.

9. He never considered it. He chose an inopportune time to teach his son a lesson about HEARING people out. To be fair, he didn't know Demona was listening.

10. Yes.

11. She hates Goliath. Deep down, she loves the Goliath of her imagination. But the real thing is a disappointment to her.

12. No comment.

Response recorded on November 16, 2006

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Anonymous writes...

What did Demona Do during world war two?

Greg responds...

She studied when to and when not to capitalize letters in a sentence.

(Haven't had a smartass response in a while.)

Response recorded on November 08, 2006

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Insane gargoyle writes...

HELLO HUNNY XD XD XD puajajajajajajaaaaaaaaaaaa. I am Astrid
Yeahhh i am in mood today. I am happy so i will write to you before i fell suicide again and i think that anything have sense. I am from argentina so please please forgive me if you do not understand something or a fuck of this. :)
I have read many times that you said "gargoyles are natural protectores". Now, if Demona HATES humans, tried to killed them and even hurt other gargoyles when they live together is she insane????.
My sister (:P googoogoo) is studing pshicology and she told me that the people is insane when: hurt others ( demona does it all the time), distroy things (item)and hurt himself (generations, the reckoning,vows (""))and deny the truth (mmm...about what she did, that Thailog had betrayed her). I think she is REALLY mad. And even if she knows what is wrong, i think that for her destroy humanity is a GOOD think, because "humans are evils, humans are danger, etc....
Generation is a prove of that: she saids to Angela: "to saved you from your father". For her it was a good think. A way to saved her daugther.
Even the clan think she is mad, Goliath and Brooklyn tell it many times.
If Goliath think it, he does not think taht she needs help???.
Why he just looked her? Looked an inmortal have no much sense, have it??.

Let go to Elisa. Everyone ask what Demona feels about Elisa? But what about her? What she feels about Demona?. Does she hate her? Or what??
Demona enjoy her loneliness??
does demona feared humans??si les tiene miedo, por si sabes español :(:(:(
Angela think her mother is evil? Or she is just twisted??
well, thank a lot and i am very very sorry if i wrote to to wrong and you get crazy reading these...

Greg responds...

Demona is clearly... troubled. Getting her "help" however is much easier said than done.

Elisa isn't too fond of Demona. The reasons don't have to be complex. Demona keeps trying to kill her and Goliath.

Angela is still hopeful that her mother can be redeemed.

Response recorded on October 20, 2006

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SDOHT writes...

Rambling on Demona

Hello,
I just finish watching awakening part one to five, from the DVD, witch I love by the way, and it reminded me of the first time I saw Demona. She is my all-time favourite TV Character. I actually feel sorry for her. The talk between her and Goliath at the end when she revels for the first time that she made a plan with the Captain of the guards moved me. I love the way she is written. She sounds alone and I feel and hear her pain.

See I'm a 22 year old gay guy, so when I first saw this I was 12. I didn't really know that I was gay but I knew their was something different about me. Seeing that scene helped me in a weird way. Hearing Demona's pain and loneliness about what the humans "did" to her kind sort of mad me feel like I wasn't alone. Demona's way of blaming others for her mistakes is something that most people do in one way or an other. I can truly say that I felt like she did allot of the time( I didn't want to kill all straight guys) but I felt like they didn't except me and that I couldn't trust anyone. Demona's actions were also mostly responsible for her pain, as the sisters pointed out in COS part 4, just like my fear of being different mad me feel alone.

Later in life I realized that people fear what they don't understand. The whole show is about creatures being different and misunderstood by "normal" people. It help me better understand the other's way of looking at things, that to them I was like a monster( not really a monster but I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.) As the show when on, it helped me realize that different wasn't always a bad thing. The Goliath and Elisa relationship gave me hope that maybe someone could love me for who I was and except my differences.

I understand Demona's pain, Marina Sirtis is so amazing in this role. Demona is written so fantastic and realistically that its like she was a voice for me( in a good way, again not the killing part) like she mirrored what I felt. Now I'm fully comfortable with my self and in a way I have Gargoyles to thanks for that. I herd in the commentaries that ( I'm typing from memory, so please forgive me if I'm misquoting you) you indented the show, among other thing, to have or be a voice for the little people. I just wanted to say that at least for me it help me a lot when I was younger. I felt like the were other people in the world that were different. Thank you for that.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. I been wanting to thank you for a long time. I truly hope that Disney bring this show back, because people like me need more shows like this, with real characters that are normal.

Greg responds...

SDOHT,

Your post here is very gratifying. I am quite proud of our series and of how evocative and strong and complex a character Demona is in particular, but hearing that it helped you and taught you something truly makes my day. Thanks for sharing this ramble with me.

Response recorded on October 09, 2006

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Greg Bishansky writes...

Some thoughts on our favorite characters and love.

So far in the "Gargoyles" Universe, the characters that all in real true love all have a deep understanding for one another. David and Fox understand each other better than anyone else on the planet does, and David acknowledges her as his equal. Maybe both of them didn't understand themselves well enough to think they were not that capable of such emotions, but they knew each other.

Goliath and Elisa are similar, it was clear even early on that they had something there, they grew to trust each other with their lives. There was always respect, and they understand one another, even when they disagree.

Likewise with Broadway and Angela, he saw her for who she was, unlike Brooklyn. All these characters seem to in a way share the same soul.

Now in regards to Demona, she's failed in love twice because that deep, emotional, soul sharing understanding faded as in the case with Goliath, but even before then she went behind his back, tried to push him to seize leadership of the clan, which he would not do, and could never understand why he put up with the humans. Not that she didn't understand him, in some cases she knew him only too well, since she saw the sparks between Goliath and Elisa long before they realized they were there. As far as Thailog goes, she thought that he was the Goliath she always wanted, and turned out to be flat out wrong, since he just planned to use her (in more ways than one) and finally discard her when he was done.

You've said in the past that Demona will have two more great loves, what will be interesting to see is by standards set by other characters where there is a similar "sharing of the soul" as it were. This deep, emotional understanding and knowing of one another. Problem is, it would be very hard for anyone to truly know her without having experienced similar tragedies. Everyone has their tragedies, but how many people have been alive for centuries, being hunted, bearing strong grudges and longer hatreds. Demona is her own worst enemy, and is likely to sabotage such things, and that's on the big assumption that she even opens herself up to anyone again.

One or both of those next great loves had better truly be someone special, if she's going to come out of her shell and really learn to care for someone intimately again.

Greg responds...

Well... having nothing to do with my plans, I'm not sure I agree with your final premise. Whether a character -- any character -- truly loves somebody can in fact be independent of that somebody's worth.

Love can be selfless. Love can be unrequited. Love can be lavished on someone unworthy.

I'm not talking about my plans for Demona here. Just cautioning you not to get ahead of yourself in making predictions based on facts not in evidence.

But I do agree that true and lasting love works best when it's between individuals who understand and respect each other first.

Response recorded on October 05, 2006


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