Owen Burnett

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Owen Burnett
Owen Burnett
Publisher Disney First appearance Gargoyles 1x02 Awakening Part 2 Created by Greg Weisman
Characteristics Species Human Affiliations Xanatos Corporation, Abilities Martial arts skills, Sharp intellect

Owen Burnett is a fictional character from the Disney animated television series Gargoyles. He is one of several characters in the series to be voiced by voice acting veteran Jeff Bennett (others including Brooklyn and The Magus).

Owen is the aide-de-camp and majordomo of the Machiavellian billionaire David Xanatos, devoted and quietly efficient. Though Xanatos occasionally treats Owen abruptly, he is nevertheless one of the few people that Xanatos respects and even cares for. Owen is his confidante, even in schemes of questionable morality or legality. Owen is the only person from whom Xanatos will accept questioning his methods or motives, but this is likely because Owen rarely does so. On several occasions, Xanatos has left Owen in charge of his home and business entirely (for example while he was incarcerated during the first season, and during trips away from New York in the second).

Owen is straight-laced, calm and can sometimes come across as somewhat cold. He is always prepared for every eventuality, and everything is taken in stride. During the second season episode The Price, he placed his fist in a magic potion in order to determine whether it was safe enough for Xanatos, and it was turned to stone. His reaction was one of quiet acceptance, and he soon put the stone fist to good use by learning to use it as a weapon. He is shown as an expert in judo, on one occasion even besting Xanatos himself during a match, although this was the first time he had managed to do so. When he asked if Xanatos would prefer it if he pretended to lose, Xanatos told him candidly "I'd fire you if you did".

Owen also bears a resemblance to the character of Preston Vogel, both physically and in personality. They are both "wooden" men, aides to rich businessmen (Owen to Xanatos and Vogel to Halcyon Renard, owner of Cyberbiotics). They dress similarly, both wear glasses, and look similar, though Owen is blond whereas Vogel has dark hair, and Owen wears a necktie instead of Vogel's bow tie. This similarity remained unexplained until late in the second season, during the episode The Gathering.

[edit] Background

As revealed during The Gathering, Owen Burnett is in fact an aspect of Puck, one of the Children of Oberon. Puck once witnessed Queen Titania in a relationship with Halcyon Renard, and in an attempt to better understand the relationship he decided to infiltrate Cyberbiotics as an employee. To this end, he created Owen Burnett, basing his character and appearance around Preston Vogel, the "stiffest and most wooden man alive." Although Puck enjoyed being Owen, he hated working for Anastasia (Titania) and Renard, and instead went to work for Xanatos, who was far more entertaining for the undercover trickster. In fact, he became so delighted with Xanatos's ambition and schemes that he revealed his true identity and offered Xanatos a choice: the immortality Xanatos sought, or a lifetime's loyal service from Owen. Xanatos chose Owen, confident that he could obtain immortality in some other way and thus be served by the resourceful Owen for eternity. The choice impressed Puck greatly, and ever since he has been Xanatos's right-hand man. As Owen, he has none of Puck's vast magical powers (save that he can transform back into Puck). This is a part of Puck's immersion in the role - he plays the part of a mortal honestly, and though he could take liberties such as restoring Owen's stone hand back to normal, he has decided not to on the grounds that it would be cheating. He does however reset Owen's age back to the moment he made the deal with Xanatos whenever he changes to Puck and back again.

When Puck revealed his guise as Owen and his assistance in David Xanatos's efforts to prevent Oberon from confiscating David's newborn Alexander in the episode "The Gathering", Oberon responded by banning Puck from ever returning to Avalon (an ironic punishment, since Puck had been trying to prevent his forced return in the first place). Oberon also removed Puck's magic, except in cases of training or protecting Alexander, and confined him to his human guise except in those circumstances. Puck was devastated by the ruling; nonetheless, upon reverting to Owen, he assumed his alter ego's stoic personality and accepted the punishment in stride.

As revealed on the Ask Greg forums, the creators long knew that Owen had a secret, though they did not know what it was for a long time. During production of the episode The Mirror, in which Puck was introduced for the first time, it suddenly became clear that Owen was Puck even though the two of them shared no screentime in that episode. Passing comments and clues were given throughout the series, for example lines from Demona in The Mirror itself, "You serve the human, now you can serve me", and in City of Stone, in which Demona identifies Owen as "the tricky one". The Ask Greg forums reveal that Demona knew of Owen's identity as Puck largely because Owen/Puck was responsible for brokering the alliance between Demona and Xanatos that lasted through the first season and much of the second. This would have been revealed in later episodes but the cancellation of the series prevented it. It may yet be made clear in the ongoing comic book continuation.