Anonymous writes...

I've always been wondering, is the illuminati of great interest to you? Did you ever have to explain or get those references approved by Disney? Not that it's bad, it just seems to be pretty deep for a y7 cartoon.

Todd Jensen writes...

In issue #3 of the "Gargoyles" comic book series, we first saw Illuminati members greeting each other with the words "Thirty-six." "Thirty-two." This got a lot of attention from the readers, of course, and led to many speculations over what the significance of those two numbers were. Then, in #5, we learned their significance: they were the ranks of the Illuminati members in question.

Have you ever regretted revealing the answer to that new mystery of the Gargoyles Universe so quickly, just two issues later? Or do you feel happy about the pacing with which you resolved that issue?

Gargoyles Are Not Demons writes...

Okay, I did the math and considering how many levels there are in the Illuminati and the number of members in each level, there are 666 members in the Illuminati. Was that unintentional or is there some sort of Satanic thing going on in the Illuminati? If it isn't Satanic, what's the relevance of 666 in the Illuminati? If you won't reveal the relevance of 666 yet, can you at least say if the Illuminati is Satanic or not?

Maria writes...

Hey there Greg :)

Are we ever going to learn more about Matt and Hacker's FBI days? Are there any good stories from that time when they were partners (relevant to the master plan or, you know, just interesting stories by themselves)?

Also, thinking about it, Matt suddenly reminded me a lot of Percival himself. Back when he was still "the pure fool". Although I wouldn't call Matt a fool, is the sort-of parallel intentional? Lot more I want to say about this but I don't want to break the "idea" rule.

So I'll just ask this last question; Hacker says in 'Revelations' "You impressed us". Who's "us"? Has Hacker himself been pushing for Matt's membership? Or did Duval personally give the go ahead? Hmm. Actually you know what, this all sounds more like "How does Illuminati membership work?" which is a whole other dealy you won't probably (and understandably, we do have the comic now. Yay ^_^ ) want to be forthcoming about. Though, if you do want to throw a little something something our way about any of that i don't think anyone will stop you ^_~

Mostly Harmless writes...

1. Since Mr. Duval isn't the head of the Illuminati as previously thought then who is the true number one? Is he a previously established character?

2. Given that the Illuminati has a membership of 666, I guess they aren't ubiquitous as previously thought, so how much control do they really have over world affairs?

3. When was Thailog recruited by them?

Bazell writes...

The Gargoyles universe Illuminati is facinating. Will we learn it's origins anytime soon?
(note: I'm not necessarily asking what they are, I'm sure you don't want to reveal that yet; I'm simply asking if the explanation is coming anytime soon- though, if there is an teaser bits of information you wish to share, bring it on)

dph writes...

A few questions posed after reading gargoyles comic issue #5:

1)Are there more members in the Illuminati Society ranked below David Xanatos or ranked above David Xanatos? I counted potentially 630 people ranked above. For more members to be ranked below David Xanatos than above would mean there are at least *15* more levels below David Xanatos.

2)Are there always a constant number of people at each rank? In other words, the only way to advance in rank (aside from doing more for the Society) is if somebody higher ranked than you was promoted, demoted, or died.

3)When Matt Bluestone first joined the Society during Revelations, was he at the same rank that he is as of issue #5?

4)On page 1, is that Lady Finella and Mary (the mother of Tom)?

5)Are the 8 dna samples that Thailog collected from the following characters (in order of collection): Goliath, Broadway, Angela, Lexington, Elisa Maza, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Hudson?

6)Did Thailog retreat into Nightstone Unlimited at the end?
6a)If so, does this mean the partnership between Thailog and Demona isn't over?

7)Did Thailog join the Society before Demona and Thailog went back to Manhattan?

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

I don't believe these questions have been asked before.

1. How does Duval remember King Arthur's reign, what is his current (as of 1996) opinion of King Arthur and his reign?

2. As of Issue #4 of the SLG Comic, does Duval know that King Arthur has been awakened?

Maria writes...

Hi Greg, I've got a question about Matt.

We know that the Illuminati partnered him with Hacker so that Hacker could keep an eye on him (they guided the FBI's hand in that decision in any case). Stick to wild goose chases and all that. But my question is WHY? Why'd they bother to do that at all? Matt couldn't have been the only person in a position of power (and by that I just mean FBI, CIA, government official types. A rung or two above a CIVILIAN with a conspiracy theory for example)to have cottoned on to the Illuminati's exsistence.

So why? Who would have bothered to listen to another conspiracy nut's nutty conspiracy theories? Why the (seemingly) special attention?

Or, if you can't answer that for whatever mysterious!Greg reason how about a "yes or no" type of question: Did the Illuminati have a specific reason for keeping an eye on Matt when they partnered him with Hacker?

If you wanna throw an old Matt fan a bone and answer in more detail that'd be awesome too :)

TiniTinyTony writes...

From what I can gather from the timeline, it appears that Matt Bluestone joins the Illuminati sometime around Nov/Dec 1995. Do you have an exact date for him at this time?

Also, what was the date that Xanatos joined the Illuminati? Thank you for your time.

Dr.Don't writes...

In "Revelations" we learned that by joining the Illuminati they get good dental care. So the question I'm asking you is this: What other benefits are there to joining the Illuminati? How about the Quarrymen?

Charisma82 writes...

Here's my 3rd question about Matt:

3) Was it a good or a bad experience that led him to wanting to find out more about the Illuminate? Or did he just wake up one day and figured he needed to look for them?

Thank you for your time and patience.

-Charisma82

Charisma82 writes...

Again, in case the 1st question was erased, I keep trying to ask these questions about Matt, but they aren't going through, so now I'm sending them in 1 at a time to find out which one(s) are the reason for them not getting to you. Here's the 2nd question about Matt:

2) How old was he when he decided to start looking for ways to prove the Illuminate exist?

Thank you in advance for your answer and your time.

-Charisma82

Charisma82 writes...

Okay, for some reason every time I send a certain set of questions in, they get taken out. I don't know what is wrong with them, so I'll send in each question by themselves so I can figure out which one is the one that can't be put through to you. Here is the 1st of the questions. They deal with Matthew Bluestone.

1) What made Matt want to trace down the Illuminate in the first place?

Thank you for your time.

-Charisma82

KirK writes...

What does the pyramid and the all seeing eye of the Illuminati represent?

Eric Starr writes...

What is the significance of the numbers in the Illuminati greeting, "Thirty-Six" / "Thirty-Two"?

Todd Jensen writes...

I just bought my copy of Gargoyles #3 today, and very much enjoyed the continuation of the story past "Hunter's Moon" and "The Journey" at last.

There were a great many treats in it. I enjoyed Agent Hacker's return. I'd wanted to see what would happen after the revelation that he was a member of the Illuminati (especially regarding his interactions with Matt), and now we get to see some of it. Matt clearly does not trust him still (and I can't say that I blame him). What got my attention all the more was that Hacker's description of the Illuminati's agenda towards the gargoyles differed according to whom he was talking to, in such a way as leads me to suspect that he's lying all three times about what the Society *really* wants with the gargoyles. (I certainly think that he was lying about the Illuminati wanting the gargoyles wiped out; I doubt that they're that wasteful.) I liked the "Thirty-six" "Thirty-two" greetings (at first, I thought that they were some sort of "identification number" within the Society, but when Hacker used the same numbers in speaking with Xanatos and Castaway, I abandoned that idea).

I was amused that you had Elisa speaking with both Officer Morgan *and* Jason Canmore in the events leading up to her talk with Goliath; am I correct in assuming that you were deliberately teasing there everyone who'd read your remarks about the "Double Date" story at "Ask Greg"?

I'm amazed that Elisa's sitting so calmly on the battlements during her talk with Goliath (even if she's clearly too busy thinking about other matters at the time); if I was up on the top of the Eyrie Building, I wouldn't dare even approach them, but would probably be clinging onto anything solid in the middle of the tower's platform!

I smiled at Talon's cry of "Send in the Clones!" (I guess that we all knew that somebody would have to say it at some point), and the omission of Fang's name when Al was explaining the Mutates' backstory. (Too bad he wasn't there to comment on it!) And Thailog makes a great return at the very end.

Other things that stand out to me: Alex in his little gargoyle suit (very cute), Hudson planning to take Bronx somewhere else during the party (a wise decision on his part, I believe), Xanatos's mysterious invitation to the White House (I'm looking forward to seeing how that develops), the new character in the Labyrinth (or is she really new? I'd say more but the "no original ideas" rule discourages me from voicing my suspicions about her as yet), Demona retrieving the Praying Gargoyle's crystal, Brooklyn's response to Delilah, and Castaway showing himself to clearly have much more sense than his "Goliath Chronicles" counterpart.

All in all, a wonderful continuation of the story. I'm looking forward to #4.

dph_of_rules writes...

dph's Review of Comic #3

Artwork is much better.

I loved the make-up of the Gargoyles Task Force, especially Matt's opening remark about their primary objective. Aside from Bluestone, Maza, and Morgan, will you tell us which precints the rest of the police are from?

Love the nice bit of continuity with Martin Hacker showing up. Why the numbers "36" and "32"?

I loved how it was Morgan who approached Elisa, but wouldn't it be a little problematic being that Elisa Maza outranks Morgan Morgan?

It's nice to finally hear about Elisa's wants for a long-term relationship really are.

I enjoyed Xanatos's conversion with Martin Hacker. More about that later, though.

I liked Elisa hinting to look around at Deliliah.

I loved the nice bit of continuity with Demona showing up.

I loved the nice way of explaining the backstory of the mutates and the clones to the new readers.

Poor Brooklyn. ;) He gets shafted by own his clan leader when looking for a date. ;)

Nice to see Hacker checking in on Castaway. If the quarrymen ever get raided, I just hope Hacker isn't caught with Castaway.

Anyways, back to one of my earlier questions. Are the Illuminati Society deliberately to manipulate the gargoyles task force, Xanatos's plans, and the quarrymen to divert attention from something even bigger going on?

Nice to see Thailog back and fully recovered.

Nice laying out of plot threads for future development.

Makhasu writes...

Jon Castaway is backed by the Illuminati. Is he a member as well?

The MythMaker writes...

A few years ago, I posted a short ramble on the Illuminati and the "Eye in the Pyramid". Of course, you only got to it a few months ago. However, right after my post, Valaine Fea added that the "E.i.t.P" is called "Annunaki", which means "All-Seeing Eye". Valaine Fea did not post anything else however, and you asked where that information comes from.

I had never heard anyone refer to the symbol as "Annunaki", but I know what the term is (it does not mean "All-Seeing Eye") and in what language. I suspect that someone in the tiny circle of people who know this stuff accidently connected the term to the symbol, since it is indeed what the symbol points to.

Annunaki is a Sumerian term (yes, it's that old). It means "the people of Anu". Again, the actual information on the topic is extensive, with many layers of meaning as well, given it's religious purpose, so I cannot give it all. A simplified (but arguable) interpretation would be "the children of God". Not humans: angels (or something) who walked around on the planet. The Bible mentions them several times, along with many other ancient sources (all of which are presumed by modern historians to be the products of overly-superstitious primitive minds).

The symbol is Egyptian in iconography, not Sumerian (it would have been the "Eye in the Ziggurat"), but there is evidence that it is a European creation (middle ages or later) intended to point back to these origins.

DPH writes...

Happy Year 2005!!

Here's hoping this question gets answered by December 31, 2005.

1)Are the Illuminati Society really interested in capturing a gargoyle?

1a)If so, why?

Leaf writes...

How old is Martin Hacker?

Valaine Fea writes...

by the way.. "the eye in the pyramid" is called "Annunaki" ("all seeing eye"). Don´t know which language;).

The MythMaker writes...

A long time ago, you asked if anyone knew the origin of the "eye in the pyramid" symbol for the Illuminati/Masons/etc. Since I saw no update on it, I thought I would give you the short version (the long version would take several pages).
The pyramid represents knowledge, taken directly from ancient Egyptian mythology (before the whole "Pharoah's Tomb" fiction was created) but the pyramid in the symbol is truncated, representing lost/suppressed knowledge. The eye is the "All-Seeing Eye" (God) and placed in a triangle above the truncated pyramid to point out that no amount of official supression will destroy the knowledge forever, it's still out there to be rediscovered.
The second layer of interpretation is part of where the Illuminati as "bad guys" comes from: they were "enemies" of the authorities throughout history (some rare exceptions) because they had managed to retain the missing/forgotten knowledge, and the authorities (who were seen to not be wise/good enough to be given access to the knowledge/power) were jealous and either wanted the knowledge for themselves or wanted these "outlaw" groups killed, or preferably both. The official church declared them to be Satan-worshippers; these groups considered themselves to be the true believers of God and the church to be full of Satan-worshippers (or at least selfish opportunists). So, the symbol shows that they believed in God (in spite of what the authorities claimed) but also shows their own recognition that they would always be in danger from outsiders who would try to supress the "truth".

Your "grey-area" approach to Duval and the Illuminati is a great way of showing that, in spite of what we are often taught, black and white are ALSO in the eye of the beholder...

Lawrence Matheson writes...

When Did Xanitos become a member of the Illuminati, did the letter he sent himself have anything to do with it?(other than his wealth)P.S any fans of the show who thinks they can answer this question can write to me at opinionsrgood@hotmail.com

Rob writes...

1) Your rendering of the Illuminati society has grounds in fiction... from where did you take your ideas about the society?
2) and isnt it a little weird that many stories in fiction include an "all-knowing" group that controls the worls from behind the scenes (for example Tomb Raider and Honey I shrunk the Kid's The TV show, starring Peter Scolari).. DO you think there's some sort of real world society similar to the Illuminati, kinda like in the Simpson's Stonecutter's Episode?? cause i think the society does exist..

Ancient Kaa The Soulless writes...

Just a question regarding Mace Malone's dental plan.

Are the dentists/orthodentists members of the Illuminati?

Anonymous writes...

After Samson's rebellion against the space-spawn did you have plans to deal with the Illuminati's backing of the space-spawn and its consequences?

Anonymous writes...

Is Renard a member of the Illuminati?
Is MacBeth or any of aliases a member of the Illuminati?
Is Owen a member of the Illuminati?
Is Anastasia Renard a member of the Illuminati?
Is Vinnie a member of the Illuminati?
Were Jason, Robyn or Jon members of the Illuminati?

Entity writes...

How you doing, Greg?

Okay, let's take a look at a hypothetical (this is my disclaimer in case you want to just stop reading now). If things had gone differently, and the show had never moved to ABC, meaning you never left, and Disney offered you 13 more episodes, but made it clear that these 13 would be the LAST 13 the show would get... how would you have approached them? Lord knows you had enough material to make another 13 just in picking up loose threads, let alone new ones such as The Quarrymen. Do you think you would have turned the whole third season into a good-bye like with "The Journey"? Would you have been more optimistic than that and ended it just like seasons one or two? Or would you have tried to wrap it up, like The Goliath Chronicles boys did with "Angels in the Night"?

matt writes...

in "Revelations" Mace Malone tells Matt that Xanatos provided the Illuminati with some information (the gargoyles stuff)

1. did the Illuminati know that gargoyles existed before Xanatos informed them of the Manhatten Clan?

2. did the Illuminati know about the Manhatten Clan before Xanatos told them?

3. how much about the Manhatten Clan does the Illuminati know? obviously they know of their connection to Elisa Maza, but do they know more things like their names, a bit about them, their pasts?

thanx alot Greg!

Anonymous writes...

1.How much of the modern world is Duval responsible for? Was most of it created by the Illuminati?
2.How much of the world does the Illuminati control? Do they also control all those third world countries in Africa, Asia and South America? If so are they responsible for the wars occuring in them?

Wolfram Bane (wolfram_bane@hotmail.com) writes...

Illuminati

1/ What is the connection (if any) of the Illuminati that Percival (Duval) created in 642 and the Illuminati created by Adam Weishaupt in 1778?

2/ Was Percival present at the Battle of Camlann in 542? If not, was it because of his responsibilities as the Fisher King?

3/ Does the Illuminati have connections to the Knights Templar and the Freemasons in the gargoyles universe?

Anonymous writes...

Why did the Illuminati support the space-spawn? I mean they were the proper rulers of the Earth. If they backed Samson wouldn't they regain control after Samson throws the space-spawn off the planet?

Anonymous writes...

Regarding John Castaway/Jon Canmore, how exacly did he make contact with the Illuminati?

Anonymous writes...

Does Duval still remember Arthur?

Vashkoda writes...

You said in a chat in '97 that, "in my mind, he [Jon Canmore/Castaway] approached the Illuminati, who for their own reasons, funded the Quarrymen."

1a) How and for how long did he know that the Illuminati really existed? b) Do the other Canmores know about the Illuminati (before Robyn joins the Redemption Squad)?

2) How did he know where to find the Illuminati? I found your statement that *he* was the one to approach *them* rather interesting, as I would have assumed that it's usually the Illuminati who establish first contact with someone.

3) Does Castaway become a member of the Illuminati?