Manhattan Clan
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The Manhattan Clan are the fictional protagonists of the animated Disney series Gargoyles. They are six gargoyles (mythical winged humanoid creatures that turn to stone by day), the last survivors of a Scottish Gargoyle clan who are frozen in stone in the year 994A.D only to be reawakened in 1994 in Manhattan.
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[edit] Clan history
Originally from the fictional Castle Wyvern in Dark Age Scotland, they were part of a larger Wyvern Clan of gargoyles, living alongside humans and protecting them. However, they were betrayed by the humans, and their castle was attacked by Vikings. Many of the gargoyles were destroyed - smashed into rubble while still in their stone sleep - and only six survived: Goliath, the leader, and his mentor, who had followed bad information and were away from the castle tracking the Vikings during the attack, and three younglings and their pet, dog-like creature that had been locked in the underground rookery as punishment. A seventh, Demona, also survived, though this was not known at the time.
The Vikings then captured many of the castle's human inhabitants, as the surviving gargoyles followed to exact vengeance. They successfully rescued most of the castle's inhabitants, however, Castle Wyvern's Magus cast a spell on five of the gargoyles that turned them permanently to stone, believing that the gargoyles had caused the death of the Princess during the counter-attack. However, when the Princess returned after being rescued by Goliath, the Magus realized that he had made a terrible mistake. Unfortunately, the necessary counterspell was destroyed earlier when the Viking leader Hakon burned a page from the Magus' spellbook to taunt him, thus precluding restoring the clan, except for the fact that the curse would end when the castle "rose above the clouds" which seemed impossible at the time. A grief stricken Goliath, feeling alone and wanting to join his brothers, asked the Magus to perform the spell on him while the Katharine and the Magus would care for the rookery eggs.
One thousand years later, billionaire industrialist David Xanatos acting on a tip from Demona and the Grimorum Arcanorum that he owned, purchased Castle Wyvern and had it moved, brick by brick, to the top of his skyscraper, the Eyrie Building on Manhattan in New York City, New York. As Xanatos anticipated, the building was high enough to satisfy the requirement for the spell to be broken. This liberated the gargoyles from their stone sleep, only to be stunned to find themselves 1000 years in the future in a place far away from their ancestral homeland. After the initial shock passed, the clan would eventually attempt to fit in to their new environment with the five unnamed gargoyles (apart from Goliath), taking names from New York boroughs and landmarks to allow the people of this world to better relate to them. For the most part however, the period of adjustment was relatively smooth, for the younger trio in particular who delighted in the vast varieties of goods and activities available.
Despite being grateful for their release from their slumber, the new Manhattan Clan was reluctant to put their trust in another human. This was fortunate, as their benefactor David Xanatos intended to use them for his own Machiavellian schemes. Instead, they befriended NYPD detective Elisa Maza, and were eventually forced out of their ancestral home of Castle Wyvern and into a clock tower above Eliza's precinct.
From their new home, they charged themselves with defending the island of Manhattan, as well from Xanatos and Demona, now their enemies who still wanted to dominate them. As they acclimated to the new home, the clan worked to reestablish their command structure, with Brooklyn appointed as Goliath's second after the elderly Hudson had stepped down from the role. Later on, Goliath, Elisa and Bronx were called away to help the grown children of the Wyvern clan on the mystical island of Avalon where they met Goliath's daughter, Angela and the surviving rookery eggs. After defeating the threat, they were sent on a quest by Avalon to battle evil and correct wrongs worldwide with Angela accompanying them. In the meantime, Brooklyn had some initial difficulty assuming leadership of the clan, but soon proved a capable leader on his own. The group returned to Manhattan with the new addition to the clan, but also with the hope that the gargoyle species is doing far better than they ever hoped with the discovery of numerous clans in existence worldwide.
Following the destruction of the clock tower at the end of the canonical season 2, they moved back into their ancestral home at Castle Wyvern courtesy of a grateful Xanatos, who was thankful to the gargoyles for defending his family against threats towards them. Thanks to the Hunters, the general public, now aware of their existence, fears and seeks to destroy them. These were largely the issues the clan had to face of the non-canonical season 3, The Goliath Chronicles. This series was poorly received and has been supplanted by the current comic book series, Gargoyles, written by Greg Weisman himself and published by Slave Labor Graphics as canonical.
[edit] Clan members
[edit] Goliath
Goliath is the primary protagonist of the show and leader of the Manhattan Clan. He was voiced by actor Keith David.
[edit] Hudson
The gargoyle that would later be known as Hudson was a former leader of the Wyvern Clan and friend to both Prince Malcolm, Wyvern's original human governor and Katherine's father, and the Captain of the Guard. He was voiced by Ed Asner. Having retired after being blinded in the left eye battling the Archmage, the elder gargoyle (who was around 100 years old at the time) gave the leadership of the clan to his current second-in-command, Goliath. He nevertheless remained a fierce warrior, cunning strategist, and unparalleled tracker. Goliath often relied on his counsel and his experience. They were the only two gargoyles that left the castle to track the Vikings, and were thus absent during the raid that destroyed much of the rest of the clan.
Having been awoken in the present day, Hudson was the first of the then-nameless clan members to pick a name for himself, after the Hudson River. He befriended the blind author Jeffrey Robbins, who could accept him as a person without being aware by his being non-human (though he later revealed to Hudson he had figured out he was a gargoyle "by his Scottish accent, visits only during the night, and his smell of old leather and concrete"), and who taught him how to read.
Hudson often feels his age, and many times is relegated to watching television and guarding the clan's homestead while others are on patrols. Nevertheless he remains a proud warrior, ready to answer any challenge. Hudson is also the only gargoyle of the clan who regularly uses a weapon (a short sword), which he began using sometime after losing an eye. He was also the clan's second in command until he insisted Goliath pass it down to a younger member of the clan.
In an episode of the non-canonical The Goliath Chronicles, the series' third season, Hudson developed glaucoma in his remaining eye and reluctantly underwent surgery to regain his vision on the advice of Robbins who had revealed he was aware of Hudson's true nature. In future stories, it would have been said he was the biological father of Broadway, though during the show's run neither of them was explicitly aware of this fact.
- According to series' creator Greg Weisman, the role of Hudson was all but made for Asner. Part of the description of Hudson's character was that he "hates spunk", taken from a famous line spoken by Asner's character Lou Grant in the first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
[edit] Brooklyn
Brooklyn, Goliath's second-in-command, is one of the younger gargoyles of the clan. He survived the Wyvern Massacre along with his two Rookery-Brothers by being locked in the castle's rookery as a punishment for misbehaving. He is voiced by Jeff Bennett. In the modern day, he displays an occasionally reckless attitude, but is also a skilled tactician and leader, as evidenced by his promotion to Goliath's second in the second season episode Upgrade. He took his name from the New York City borough, Brooklyn. Brooklyn harbours a deep hatred for Demona, who tricked him in an early episode into betraying Goliath and allowing Demona to gain control of the lead Gargoyle via a spell. As such, he is prone to attack her on sight, much to the impatience of the clan who value his calculating nature.
During an extended absence by Goliath, Elisa Maza and Bronx, Brooklyn took control of the clan and led them with all the masterful skill Goliath knew he had.
Brooklyn is known for having bad luck with romances. His first apparent crush, on a human-turned-Mutate named Maggie Reed, ended badly, with her blaming him for her condition. Though they later became friends, she entered into a relationship with Talon, another Mutant. Brooklyn also pursued Goliath's daughter Angela as a mate, and was heartbroken when she chose Broadway instead.
A future, unrealised plan by Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman, known as the TimeDancer saga, would have had Brooklyn whisked away through time by the Phoenix Gate, where he would have met a female named Katana that was right for him. They would have had two children together, and been joined by a companion gargoyle beast called Fu-Dog. They would arrive back in the Manhattan Clan home after forty years of adventures, but only five minutes would have passed between Brooklyn's disappearance and subsequent reappearance to the rest of the Manhattan Clan.
He and Fu-Dog would also be main characters in Gargoyles 2198. They would arrive in that era in the second episode, with Brooklyn being the POV type character. He would make efforts not to learn too much about his clan's future as he hopes to make it back to his time someday.
In the spanish language adaptation, Brooklyn was given a catchphrase, "Shooby Dooby!"
[edit] Lexington
Lexington (called 'Lex' for short) is the smallest gargoyle in the Manhattan Clan, and can be recognised by his olive skin, and the fact that his wings are not the classic "bat" configuration of the other gargoyles in the clan, but are more like a webbed membrane between his arms and legs, akin to a flying squirrel. He is voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez. Interested in science, Lexington adapted quickly to the technology of the modern age, as he demonstrates by figuring out how to control a motorcycle and a helicopter. He became the clan's unofficial techie, taking leadership whenever technical obstacles needed to be overcome.
In an early episode, Lexington attempted to reach out to what he considered to be like-minded individuals: a group of television superheroes called The Pack. However, not only did he find that they were fake, but that they were mercenaries working for David Xanatos. Feeling betrayed, he often behaved irrationally where it concerned The Pack, especially their leader, Fox, though at the end of the series, he reconciled with Fox and vowed to specifically protect her son Alexander.
The show's creator, Greg Weisman, has stated that he believed that Lexington was gay, saying "I believe, in my opinion Lex is gay -- though he may not yet realize it. And that we would be consistent with that knowledge... as I believe we have been up to this point. But that in the current world climate we would not be addressing it on the show at all. Not explicitly or implicitly. It's a damn shame, and since we're talking about episodes that don't exist it would be easy for me to be brave now and pretend that we'd be open about it, but that would be a lie of expectation, and I try to be more honest than that with the fans. All I promised was consistency. It may sound like a subtle distinction, but believe me it is not. It may also sound like a cop-out, and believe me, IT IS. But it's a cop-out that comes out of the fact that if I even attempted an implicit portrayal, it flat out would not get on the air. And I could stand my ground. And I would get fired. And then there'd be no consistency either. Someday, I hope to live in a braver more understanding world... but we ain't there yet. And I think what we're doing is at least a step in the right direction."[1]
However, Weisman apparently has been granted some freedom to develop this character trait to some degree in the Slave Labor Graphics comic book continuation. For instance, the current storyline "Clan Building" has Lexington meet the handsome stag gargoyle, Staghart of the London Clan, who is vaguely suggested for now to be homosexual himself and is attracting Lexington's interest.
[edit] Broadway
The large, round and bluish green-skinned gargoyle called Broadway is a jolly and occasionally naive clan member with a fondness for food (even using food as a weapon on some occasions), as well as Westerns and detective movies. He has the largest wings of all the group and has small bat wing-like structures as his ears. He is loyal, reliable, friendly and quite intelligent despite his appearance, and was the main focus of several of the show's more thought-provoking episodes. He is voiced by Bill Fagerbakke. Like the other gargoyles, he survived the 994 slaughter and was cursed to sleep as a statue for a thousand years. In the modern world, Broadway developed fast likings for Western and detective movies and cooking. He also made fast friends with the NYPD detective, Elisa Maza, possibly to a greater extent than any of the other gargoyles except Goliath.
Broadway was the star of the episode "Deadly Force", a somewhat controversial episode that was not aired on television for a long period. In it, Broadway finds Elisa's gun and imitates gunslingers that he had seen in a movie. In the process, he accidentally shoots and seriously wounds Elisa. Though she survives, and bears him no ill will for his actions, they both learn a valuable lesson about gun safety. Broadway takes it upon himself to destroy any firearm he finds, and Elisa learns to keep her weapon properly secured. In fact, the episode seemed to only bring the two closer together, and later Broadway was often seen aiding Elisa in her police cases serving as her unofficial "partner" using skills he picked up watching detective movies. Broadway seems to have been the gargoyle of choice for writers who intended to ground their stories in the real world, because of his down-to-Earth nature. Several stories featuring human criminals had only Broadway (and leader Goliath) in pivotal roles.
Broadway also appeared in a main role during the pro-literacy episode "Lighthouse in a Sea of Time", in which both he and Hudson (both previously illiterate) come to realise the value of the written word. After this, he discovers a taste for poetry and the dramatic arts, particularly Shakespeare, as he is seen reading from Romeo and Juliet in a late episode of the series.
Following Goliath's return at the end of the Avalon World Tour, Broadway began courting Angela, Goliath's newly discovered daughter, as did Brooklyn and Lexington. After she expressed her frustration with them, Angela ultimately chose Broadway, as he saw her as the person she was, rather than simply an object to be won. Likely this was helped by the episode "Possession", in which they were briefly possessed by two of the personalities that made up the gargoyle Coldstone, two lovers that are called Othello and Desdemona.
According to Greg Weisman, Broadway is Hudson's biological son, though neither of them are aware of this (In Gargoyle culture, all elders are viewed as parents). Also according to Greg Weisman, Broadway had an elder sister, referred to as Hyppolyta. Both she and their mother died prior to the Wyvern Massacre. In the future, he and Angela would have two sons and a daughter (named Artus, Gwenyvere and Lancelot), and a grandson (or great grandson) Samson, the hero of the proposed spin-off Gargoyles 2198.
[edit] Bronx
Bronx, though a member of the Manhattan Clan, is not technically a gargoyle. Rather, he is a gargoyle beast (or, unofficially, a gargbeast) - resembling a dog more than a human. He could not talk, but was nevertheless depicted as intelligent and a fully-fledged member of the clan. He mostly sticks with Hudson and sits beside him watching TV. He was "voiced" by Frank Welker, and named after The Bronx. He accompanied Elisa and Goliath to Avalon and the quests that Avalon sent them on. On Avalon, he met his future mate Boudicca, another gargbeast that is part of the Avalon clan. In the episode Hound of Ulster, Bronx was mistaken for - or could have been the reincarnation of - the eponymous hound by the reincarnation of the Irish hero Cúchulainn and his nemesis the Banshee. Cúchulainn comments that he once had a dog like Bronx, suggesting that within the Gargoyles universe, a gargbeast served as partial inspiration for the legend.
[edit] Angela
Angela, voiced by Brigitte Bako, was a late addition to the cast. Hatched from one of the clan's eggs while they were being safeguarded by Princess Katharine, the Magus, and Tom the Guardian on Avalon, she was originally a member of the Avalon Clan of gargoyles. However, after Goliath, Elisa Maza and Bronx visited Avalon for the first time, she left with them as part of the worldwide quest that Avalon had sent them on known by fans as "the world tour".
On the journey, Anton Sevarius revealed to Angela that she was Goliath's biological daughter. Despite pressure from Angela and others, he was unwilling to treat her as such for a long while (claiming that to a gargoyle the whole clan is its parents), until Diane Maza, Elisa's mother convinced him. Beyond this, Angela also learned that her mother was Demona (now an enemy of the Manhattan Clan) and attempted to bond with her. Elisa early on commented that there was something about Angela that reminded her of Demona; indeed, Angela resembles Demona in build, but has her father's (Goliath's) coloring.
Despite her sheltered, peaceful upbringing on Avalon, Angela is an extremely perceptive and cunning warrior with a temper reminiscent of both of her parents. Her natural curiosity and thirst for adventure is what inspired her to leave the safety of Avalon - as she told her rookery brother Gabriel, she wanted to "see the world, find [her] place in it". Having been raised by loving humans, she has difficulty understanding the prejudices that the majority of the human race displays towards her kind. She is also an extremely moral individual unaccustomed to deception, as evidenced by her shocked reaction to Goliath's lie about his hallucinations in "Shadows of the Past".
Upon returning to Manhattan, she was readily accepted by the other clan members. The three males close to her own age - Brooklyn, Lexington and Broadway - all attempted to woo her as a potential mate; their aggressive courtship tactics frustrated her so much that she was forced to angrily put them in their place in the midst of a battle, against Czech gangster Thomas Brod, when he was in Manhattan. Later on, she more gently asked them to slow down so that any romantic feelings she might feel one day could develop naturally. Furthermore, to encourage them to be patient, she tells the boys the delightful fact that she has 15 rookery sisters back at Avalon. She eventually chose Broadway (much to Brooklyn's disappointment), though the two had not consummated their relationship as of the end of the show's initial run. Writer Greg Weisman planned for Angela and Broadway to eventually have three biological children named Artus, Gwenyvere, and Lancelot. Samson, the main character of the Gargoyles 2198 spinoff, would have either been a grandson of Artus or Gwenyvere or would have been the son of Lancelot.
[edit] Future Clan members
Fu Dog is a gargoyle beast and one of Brooklyn's companions during his Timedancer adventure. He is from ancient China possibly the ancestors of the modern-day Xanadu clan.
Katana is Brooklyn's mate. She is originally from ancient Feudal Japan possibly from the ancestors of the modern Ishimura Clan. Brooklyn would meet her during his Timedancer adventure. She is named after the Samurai weapon, the Katana blade.
Nashville is Brooklyn and Katana's first child. He will be hatched during Brooklyn's Timedancer adventures. The origin of his name is known, but Greg Weisman said it has to do with where he is hatched.
Tachi is Brooklyn and Katana's second child. Katana will lay her egg during the Timedancer adventures, but Tachi will not hatch until after Brooklyn and company return to the present. It is unclear what effect the Timedancing will have on Tachi's egg. Theoretically she should hatch in 1998 along with other gargoyle eggs around the world.
Artus is Broadway and Angela's first child and first son. Called Artie for short. Angela would lay this egg in the fall of 2008 and Artus would hatch in the spring of 2018. Artus would most closely resemble his father, Broadway, and his paternal grandfather, Hudson. Artus is named after King Arthur Pendragon.
Gwenyvere is Broadway and Angela's second child and only daughter. Called Gwen for short. Angela would lay this egg in the fall of 2028 and Gwen would hatch in the spring of 2038. Gwen would most closely resemble her mother, Angela, and her maternal grandmother, Demona. She is named after Guinevere, King Arthur's wife from Arthurian legend.
Lancelot is Broadway and Angela's third child and second son. Called Lance for short. Angela would lay this egg in the fall of 2048 and Lance would hatch in the spring of 2058. Lance would most closely resemble his maternal grandfather, Goliath. He is named after Sir Lancelot, the knight from Arthurian legend.
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