Robert writes...

Hello Greg. I find the reproductive system for gargoyles fascinating. Something I am wondering though is how magical forces, like Avalon, affect the reproductive process.

Is it possible for mature gargoyles who live in Avalon to leave Avalon, say 6 months before September 21 on a year for which eggs are to be conceived 2007, 2027, 2047, etc, lay their egg in 2008, 2028, 2048, etc, return to Avalon for the period of more or less one Avalon Year only to return to the natural world and par-take in the process all over again, thereby essentially having 3 eggs in under the normal 20 year cycle?

If so, would it be possible to have more than 3 eggs (I know you have said that a gargoyle who has more than three eggs is rare but possible in some circumstances.) What about 10 eggs? Technically a gargoyle would be in physical prime for 40+ years. Could a gargoyle who lived on Avalon produce 40 eggs (regardless of whether or not she would want to).

Also what sort of nutrients go into an egg? When humans give birth, many of the mother's nutrients go into the child, occasionally to the determent to the mother. Would a gargoyle in this situation only be able to have three, maybe four or five tops because of the amount of strain taking place to the mother's body?

On this topic, how many eggs could Demona produce? As an immortal, can she continue to make eggs for the rest of her life? Or is she limited to three (two more)?

Thank you for you time.

Random Fan writes...

I know you hate biology questions, but I think this ones realatively painless, so you might not bite my head off. Of course you reserve the right to bite peoples heads as you see fit so I may be a little a head of my self hear. Any way I should stop rambleing and get to the question. From what you've revealed so far on gargoyle geneologies a pattern seems to emerge. it seems like you have a 1st gender 2nd gender 1st gender pattern on couples eggs, of course I'm probably just reading to much into what little you've reaveled on the subject but it bugs me now and I'm hopeing you ,oh master of the garg universe,could confirm or denie, or at least have some comment that would put my thought to rest. thanks for the consideration and sorry for misspellings

Drew Middlemas writes...

Hullo, just wanted to say first of all that I enjoyed Clan Building and Bad Guys immensely, and I hope that someday we get to see more Gargoyles stories being told.

Anyway, I have a question that I suppose loosely connects to the 2198 spin-off (I'm not sure if this has already been asked; I couldn't find it on the archives). What would happen to a gargoyle if they were ever up in space? Since technically there's no day or night in space, how would that affect them?

Thanks in advance, and wishing you all the best with your future projects.

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Do Gargates nurse? I think that egg laying mammals nurse, so it isn't inconceivable. Why else evolve to have breats? (Though I vaguely remember something about Duck Billed Platapai sweating milk.)

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

I was sure this was in the archive, but when I checked I couldn't find it. The clones coloring is different because of the forced maturation process. Is that also why Thailog's eyes glow red instead of white.

(I could've sworn I remembered you answering it, but when I looked to confirm the answer, even going into the Thailog section and manually searching for 'red' turned up nothing.)

TK writes...

Dear Mr. Weisman,

After Goliath falls in love with Elisa, would her menstrual cycles have any biological effect on him? Yes, I know...that's a very ODD question, to say the least. Thank you, regardless.

Rebel writes...

Hi Greg, I have some questions for you about the functions of gargoyle stone sleep. I checked the archives and saw lots of questions about stone sleep, but as far as I could tell, no one asked these questions specifically.

We know that stone sleep serves the following functions:
-rest and rejuvenation
-healing of injuries
-storing of energy (as hypothesized by Sevarius)

However, based on what we've seen in the series and comics, it seems like it probably serves other functions as well. So I have some questions for you about other possible functions of stone sleep.

1. Does it cleanse the gargoyle? We've never heard any mentions of gargoyles bathing and there probably wasn't a shower in the clock tower. So does dirt, grime, and body emollients turn to stone with the gargoyle, or does it sit on top of their stone skin and get sloughed off when the gargoyle awakens?

2. Does it cleanse the gargoyle's clothes? If stone sleep cleanses a gargoyle, it seems logical to me that it would clean the gargoyles' clothes as well. After all, the Humility Spell would turn a gargoyle's clothes to stone because he considers those clothes to belong to him. But, presumably, he would not consider any dirt that is on those clothes to be his, so it seems like any dirt on his clothes might get shed when he wakes up. This could explain why the gargoyles in the show are always wearing the same clothes and we've heard no mentions of doing laundry.

3. Does stone sleep serve as a way to expel wastes? When gargoyles wake up, they end up shedding a bunch of skin. Where does all that mass come from? That's probably at least a pound or two of stone skin being shed per gargoyle, and they do it everyday. If gargoyles are shedding all that stone skin AND pooping, it seems like they would constantly be losing mass or having to eat more to put on mass. Yet if the mass from their food goes towards the outer-most layer of stone skin everyday, that makes sense to me from a conservation of mass perspective. That's why I'm wondering if the stone skin that gets shed every night is mostly gargoyle solid waste.

Not a question about stone sleep functions, but a question about it in general

4. Did Lexington and Hudson get to watch the sun rise (or at least part of it) when they were in London? It seems logical that if their awakening got delayed due to jet lag, maybe their falling asleep got delayed too.

Anonymous writes...

Okay, so the London Clan has a strict limit of two eggs per breeding couple to avoid a Clan population that could not be supported at Knight's Spur. This I understand. What I'm curious about is Coco's comment about how the limitation is enforced by isolating Gargoyles from their mates “during the FEMALE'S final heat”. Does this mean that the mating seasons only affect the fertility of female Gargoyles and that male Gargoyles might possibly be fertile throughout most of their life and not just during the mating seasons? I mean, if male Gargoyles can only become fertile at the same ages as the females (50, 70, and 90 years old), then how could Yama and Sora have a third child (not that they necesarily WILL have a third child, or any children for that matter, I'm just saying COULD they have a third child?) Sora's third potential egg would be laid when she's 90, at which point Yama would be 110 years old (he's from an older rookery). Females cannot become pregnant at the age of 110 and if males are the same way, Yama would not be able to impregnate Sora with a third egg at the ag of 110. So, do male Gargoyles follow the same fertility pattern as females or could Yama and Sora potentially have a third child?

RandomStan writes...

If a gargoyle got a permanent tattoo (as opposed to henna), would it stay on their skin or would teh stone sleep break it down the next sunset?

Kozispoon writes...

"Do gargoyles suffer from gargoyle-specific illnesses or handicaps?"