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I'm curious exactly how magic casting works. It seems to be established that humans and gargoyles need a magic object and/or a magic spell to do magic.
But Oberon's Children seem to not have to use spells. Although Puck seems to. How do you explain that?
How do you want me to explain it?
How about in writing?
Look, Fae magic and Mortal Sorcery are two different things. With Mortals, most of the magic comes from without. With Fae, most of it comes from within. Fae are made of magic.
After that clear distinction, the specifics depend on control, style, training, power, i.e. lots of factors. Anansi spins his spells. Puck rhymes his. Oberon is so powerful he just has to speak his will. But rhyming helps, so he does that too sometimes. Most Fae rhyme, but there are plenty of exceptions.
Mortals need something to gather and focus energy. A place, a talisman, a spell.
I'm not exactly sure if that answers your question. If you need more specifics, post again.
Hey Greg, I have some religious questions for you.
1. Since you are seemingly very well versed in religious doctrine, I'm curious as to how you feel about the Judeo/Christian scriptures that prohibit wizardry. Deuteronomy 18:9-18:12 (Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord) makes it quite clear that God brooks no wizards in his fold. Is there a conflict for you since so much of the myth Gargoyles is based on revolves around magic?
2. What about the uncanny resemblance between gargoyles and demons? Why do the two look so much alike? Did dybbuks manifest themselves in the form of gargoyles in order to sow discord with humanity, hence the current demonic stereotype and poor human/garg relations?
3. How do the Fae feel about the whole God business? They seem a rather worldly lot, though some might be old enough to remember biblical events.
4. Why is Percy still using the grail? The Holy Grail is a sacred artifact, not your run-of-the-mill magical maguffin. Why would it continue to grant its power to Duval, who has since proved unworthy? I know you said it was costing him a high physical price but I find it odd that it should be giving him any kind of benefits at all (Anybody see what happened to the bad guy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?).
5. Last one. Is the Judeo/Christian God the supreme ruler of the Gargoyle universe? Given the plethora of Gods and Goddess on the show, I'm just wondering what your views on this are (I prefer to think that He's the one in charge, but I had to ask).
Thanks for your time, as always. Now I must return to the Vole Wars…
1. I'm clearly less "versed" than you seem to think. I won't comment on your citation in a vacuum. And I don't have a bible here in the office to check the context.
When you ask if I'm conflicted, I'm not clear on your question. Are you looking for my opinion on the bible? Personally, I think the bible is an astounding piece of literature with much to teach us. But I see the hands of man all over that book. And although it might lose me some fans, I cannot believe that God authored it. Inspired it maybe, but authored it, no. At any rate, I think many things in the bible are subject to interpretation. Often multiple interpretations.
2. Where do you get the idea that there is ANY resemblance between gargoyles and demons? From Medieval painters? Look, we haven't seen any demons in the series. We haven't seen any demons in the gargoyles universe. No angels either. I'm not saying whether they exist or not. But you're question assumes facts not in evidence.
3. The whole God with a capital G business? Like humans, every Child of Oberon is different. I try not to make monolithic generalizations.
4. Assumes facts not in evidence. A. Who says he's still using the grail? I said he still had it. B. And in any case, your question asked "Why". Why wouldn't he if he could? C. Who said the grail can "grant" power? D. If it can, who said it is? E. Who said Duval has proven unworthy?
And I certainly refuse to use "Last Crusade" as an authority.
I will say that the Grail is part of the reason that Percival and Blanchefleur are still alive. And that a price for that has been paid. But don't oversimplify.
5. As you may know, I'm Jewish. Most of my fellow Jews would not consider me to be religious, though that's something I might argue with. Personally, I believe in God with a captial G. Whether that means he's the Judeo/Christian God seems like a parochial question to me. Almost an elitist question. I also believe that God is REAL BIG on free will. His miracles are many but subtle, and all come with a free scientific explanation -- because if he simply manifested like George Burns on trial, then where's the free will? So why should things be any easier in the Gargoyles Universe. The Gargs believe in a God that is the sum total of all things. They are monotheists and animists all at once. I don't think that's inconsistent with Judeo/Christian beliefs, but I also don't think you're going to see any purely objective evidence on the show, ever. Take to the Gargoyles Universe what you will. And it should, if I'm doing this right, give you something back -- whatever you do, or don't, believe in.
Look, I know it seems like I'm blowing off your questions. I'm not. But try reading them with a fresh eye. They're almost impossible TO answer in a straightforward manner, because they are extremely complex, and yet they take for granted so many things as fact that have not been established either in the cannon or here at ASK GREG. These are all interesting topics and I encourage you to pursue them. But break your questions down. It'll help you avoid making assumptions.
By the way, what's a Vole?
Fae/Oberati have complete control over their appearance, but do they have this as newborns?
If not what would a newborn fae look like?
Not wishing to give any ideas or anything, but I've heard legends, ya know...
A cross between whatever his or her parents truly look like.
Hello again Greg:)
You know how in Cloud Fathers we see Coyote? ,the 3rd Race dude I mean. Well I know for that perticular episode he assumed the form of Peter Maza. He needed to for motivational purposes. But then later on we see him again in The Gathering Part 1 and he _still_ looks like that. I guess you could just say, "Hey, so the guy likes the look. Problem with that?", and that does work. But I was just wondering ..
1) What does his real form look like?
IE: Puck when hes NOT playing the role of Owen.
2) Has he taken a liking to that form and uses it more often then not?
3) In the episode you just kinda take it for granted that our trickster is appearing as young Peter. I mean..it had to be so for the episode. But behind all that had Coyote actually been watching and or aware of the Maza's before hand? Peter's mom and dad and such? Or did he just need that painting to be intact and quickly just assumed Peters' old form? Was he trying to remind Peter of his heritage?? Or was it just cuz??
Thanks!
1. Kinda coyote-esque.
2. He's currently fond of Peter Maza's "Native American James Dean" look.
3. It's all in there.
Couple of question's about the fairfolk:
1)Are they supposed to be spirits?
2)If the answerer to number 1 is yes, how can they die? Spirits can't be killed even with cold iron.
3)Was Annibus actually Death incarnate or was he just playing the part, like most of the pagen "gods"?
1. How are you defining spirits? As another word for fae or as ghosts? They aren't ghosts.
2. Refer to question 1.
3. Again, you're not defining your terms well, or at any rate, your questions make assumptions not in evidence. The answer is both. Or neither. Or either. Or something else again, depending on how you define these things.
Are there other sentient races living on the Earth besides fay,halflings,humans and gargoyles?
If so could you name them.?
Well, Nokkar.
And the New Olympians (though they're a spin-off race of the fae).
Otherwise, no.
A question here about Owen/Puck. In the original legends about Puck, under his "Robin Goodfellow" alias, he's portrayed as a sort of household spirit, helping to look after the home in which he dwells and assisting the humans who live there in the upkeep of their home. Now, it's recently occurred to me that Owen's duties to the Xanatos household could indeed be viewed as almost a mundane equivalent to those of Robin Goodfellow, the way that he similarly looks after Xanatos's home and keeps it running well. Which consequently makes the fact that Owen and Puck are really the same all the more appropriate.
Is this something that you've noticed before, that Owen serves as almost the "mundane equivalent" to a household spirit for Xanatos?
GREG SAYS:
No. Not really, because, obviously, I'm more familiar with Shakespeare's Robin "Puck" Goodfellow, then the one you refer to.
BENNY SAYS:
I want to say that Mama likes Bigtime and Iggy and I like them, but I shoo them. And I'm sorry about that.
Hmm... more of a comment here. In 'City of Stone' we saw the Weird Sisters take different attires depending on the date - in modern times they wore modern clothes, in medieval times they wore medieval ones...
I rather liked that. A bit like Gaiman's Endless I'd like to see the outside appearance of supernatural entities move with the times. (one of the reasons I especially liked Coyote's modernity - Coyote's quite possibly my favourite fay with Odin coming in second...)
But from the very next episode where the Sisters appeared, their clothing went medieval throughout, whether in Avalon or in the outside world... And well, even though it was such a small detail I found that rather disappointing...
Comments on why this was done?
Basically, we paid more attention to it in CITY OF STONE, because it was more of a plot point, plus we were trying to define them and their abilities a bit. After that, we figured they had a preferred appearance, which they would alter as needed. (Thus they appear as three Desdemona's in "High Noon".) We didn't see them "in public" after that, so they maintained their preferred appearance. But had we seen them wandering the streets, you would have seen them in modern dress. And their age and species would have again depended on who was looking at them.
Still, I understand your disappointment. For starters, shouldn't Goliath have still seen them as little girls? Either that just got by me, or else I took so much crap for how quote-unquote-confusing the Sisters were in "City" that I just gave in out of exhaustion. I honestly don't remember which was the case.
A couple of questions
1)How powerful could Alexander become with Puck training him? Could he become as powerful as Puck?
2)Would Alex be a bit of a trickster himself since Puck is the person training him?
Thanks, and once again congrats on such a great cartoon!
1. Probably not if we're talking pure power. Alexander's only a quarter fae. But Puck isn't Alex's only teacher. Take a quarter of Titania's power, and give it the kind of focus that comes with being a Xanatos or a Renard. What da ya think ya get?
2. Sure. But again, not just because of Puck. Don't forget that Alex's parents are a fox and a coyote at heart.
Do any fae have a higher resistance to iron than others? Because when thinking of all the smith-gods of mythology like Hephaistos, it seems odd that they could be harmed by iron..
I think some do. For example, Oberon was able to recover from being hit with Petros' iron harpoon. (That, I believe, was a flaw that we barely get away with because, well, Oberon is Oberon.) I think a lesser fae would have died. And I think Oberon came closer than he'd ever admit.
Greg,
In a recent response you said "It was one of the reasons that I made Oberon & Titania's skin Blue and Green. I didn't want to imply that white "godlings" ruled the others."
I think that is very cool. But did you consider making the human guises that Oberon and Titania chose more ethnically ambiguous instead of "white"?
Not with Titania, since she was Fox's mother.
With Oberon, I could have. Probably should have. Didn't. The decisions were months apart, and I guess I lost track.
I did try to make the human Goliath in "The Mirror" appear with more ethnically African. I'm not sure if that was clear, since his hair looked more European (to match Goliath's hair). But I did this to increase the connection between human Goliath and Elisa. And between human Goliath and Keith David.
And that might be why Oberon wound up Caucasian. Not a great excuse. But subconsciously, we may all have been influence by the fact that Terrance Mann, the voice of Oberon was/is Caucasian.
You've said many times that you plan to introduce every myth and legend into Gargoyles, or least as many as possible. If and when the show returns (in the same format and present-day time period as the original show), would it take another story arc such as the World Tour to come closer to accomplishing this? I mean, traveling around the world does make it a little more convenient to introduce new characters and situations than hanging around in Manhatten. If the answer to that question is yes, then can you describe what this story arc would be like? Thanks.
Everything in its time. TIMEDANCER would have been a great outlet for exploring more myths. But we'd have covered more in the main series eventually. Starting, probably, with Mab.
Ok, I'll ask this again: Can a fae change a human or a gargoyle into an actual in-reality fae with all fae powers and weaknesses and so on, as big a species change as gargoyle-to-human?
Erin says: I think you got a point there. I think you are right.
Benny says: I love this candy. [He's eating PEZ.]
Greg says: No. Where would the energy come from unless the fae were permanently relinquishing all his powers.
Is there any connection between the Coyote Diamond and Coyote the Kachina Trickster?
Greg says: <heh, heh, heh>
Erin says: I think they are connected. And you've got a very good point there.
Heya Greg, here is another question for you. We know there are the 3 races: Gargoyles, Humans, and Fae. We know Gargoyles and Humans can't mate without help and we know Humans and Fae can mate pretty easily. So the obvious question is, can Gargoyles mate with Fae and has that happened in your opinion? I can't even imagine the possibilities of such offspring that would create. At least from a human perspective, Fae/Human offspring is relatively easy to imagine: Normal Humans with a little something different (flaming hair, magic ability, whatever). But a Gargoyle and a Fae... would it work the same way? Mostly Gargoyle with a little something extra? Just wondering, thanks!
Erin says: I like your question. And it's a good one too. Faes could connect to Gargoyles. And I think you have got something.
Benny, my three year old son, just came home. He says: I want to say that I love you, Daddy.
Greg says: I have great kids. I love them both. Meanwhile, I see no reason why gargs and Fae couldn't have babies together. For that matter, if a Fae was so inclined I see no reason why fae and termites couldn't have babies together.
Was the inclusion of the Scroll of Thoth in "Grief" a references to the Conan stories/Cthulhu Mythos?
Not that I know of. Thoth is an Egyptian diety. We were doing an ep set in Egypt.
In the Gargoyles Universe, the fay are vulnerable to cold iron. Now, the obvious reasons for this are: a) they needed some sort of "kryptonite" to keep them from unbalancing things, and b) it's a traditional part of faerie mythology (and I'd read about that problem of theirs with cold iron long before "Gargoyles" came out, and even used it in an Arthurian fantasy novel that I'm still writing). But, did you ever develop a "within-the-story" rationale for why iron has such a drastic effect upon Oberon's Children?Odin got swallowed by the fenrir wolf in Ragnarvak. Can you tell us how he survived?
dial-72.max1.ken.cyberlynk.netNot right now.
You've indicated that many of the Greek gods (though not all of them) were "New Olympians" - well, before they became *New* Olympians. Now, the Greek gods were particularly noted for their humanlike appearance, especially in contrast with such cases as the animal-headed gods of ancient Egypt (such as Anubis) or the multi-armed gods of India. They all looked like normal humans (if better-looking, with the exception of Hephaestus), and were depicted thus in classical art.
The New Olympians, on the other hand, nearly all seem to have a not-fully-human appearance, fitting more into the category of the animal/human hybrids such as minotaurs, centaurs, sphinxes, echidnae, and other such beings of the Greek myths. The only one of them that looked human all the way was Proteus in his regular form. So, were the Greek gods of Olympus less anthropomorphic in the Gargoyles Universe than the artistic depictions of them by Phidias and the rest claim? Or are there more "human-appearing" New Olympians out there that we didn't get to see during the episode? (Given that the New Olympians only showed up in one episode of the series, that does seem quite possible, I'll admit; there wouldn't have been that much time to introduce them).
Jove is very humanesque. And aside from the flaming 'do, so is Helios. And except for the wings, so is Boreas. It's a pretty big mix.
But also, I never said ALL of the Greek gods were pre-New New Olympians. Some of them were Children of Mab.
You'd said that Oberon does have siblings... A brother, a sister or both? And would he/she/they be characters from mythology or original characters?
Btw, do you plan to add any member of the third race which hasn't be seen in Mythology/Shakespeare/literature, but who is fully your own creation?
I'm certainly not beyond creating original characters. But that would be a second choice. If the goal is to include all that's out there, I've still got a lot of "characters" to cover before I need to start adding my own.
You recently said that you believed that most of the events in Norse mythology took place before Oberon passed his non-intervention edict. Actually, I can't help wondering myself, as something of a Norse mythology buff, how much difference that the edict would have made where the traditional events in the Aesir's lives were concerned, since most of the stories about them don't portray them as interacting with mortals, but rather with their traditional frost giant enemies (especially in the case of Thor) and the frost giants' monster-allies such as the Fenris-wolf and the Midgard Serpent. Odin's the only one of the Norse gods who really struck me as much of a "meddler" in mortal affairs (as in his deciding which side would win a battle, and often having the better warriors lose so that they would go to Valhalla and he could have them in his army come Ragnarok). So would Oberon's Law have really put that much of a cramp in the Aesir's legendary deeds?
Maybe not. As usual, I'd have to take things case-by-case.
Greg, did Oberon erase every obvious trace of his presence in New York during the Gathering. I imagine he would show up on a few video surviellance cameras or in real time photos from overhead satellites.
No. I doubt he bothered.
In "Ill Met By Moonlight" Oberon mentioned that he too spent the millennium with the mortals. Since I'm sure a question about what he did would be one of those "novel length responses", was anything he did significant with regard to the master plan (i.e. something we would have seen eventually)?
Yes.
Whats the deal with the aging thingy for children of oberon, like gargoyles, it takes them twice as long than a human or something like that. so like how many years would it take for oberons children to grow up to be like a teanager maybe?
Since they have complete control over their appearance, discussing their "age" is rather moot.
Is there 'prophecy' in the Gargoyles universe? So far all the pieces of prophecy we've seen are either related to time-travel (Archmage, etc), or are ambiguous in nature (Weird Sisters in 'City of Stone', Puck in 'Future Tense').
Were the Weird Sisters (for example) making a true prophecy concerning Macbeth and Duncan, or simply saying something and then manipulating events so that it took place?
And was Puck aware that parts of his 'dream' would indeed take place (other than Alex's name ofcourse which he could have been informed of as Owen)?
Uh...
Paragraph one, I don't understand.
Paragraph two, both.
Paragraph three, both.
If you had enough episodes, would you have eventually have written in The Jewish-Christian God? If so, how would you have explained how Annibus was lord of the dead. (He would be a false god, according to Christians and Jews)
I honestly don't know. But keep in mind, Anubis never claimed to be a god.
And I'd tend to leave the big G above the fray. He works in mysterious ways after all.
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