Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "The Green" today.

I might be reading too much into this, but I noted that the ones responsible for the theft of the Mayan Sun Amulet and the deaths of most of the Mayan clan were called "poachers" - a term for illegal hunters. Given the recurrent theme about gargoyles being hunted and facing danger from hunters that I've been paying close attention to in the 25th anniversary reviewing, I thought that an apt word choice.

This episode featured five "clawmark" transitions, the most I've noted to date in any individual episode of "Gargoyles". (I've been keeping track of those during the silver anniversary reviewing, and counted fifteen up to this point, of which five were in this episode - one-third, in other words.)

brandon writes...

Hi big fan of the series gargoyles thank you so much for your part in creating the show. My question is during the creation of the gargoyles were did the ideas of there look come form for instance London clans animal features wyvern clans beaks horns human faces and so on also Hm which were your favorite clan artwork my personal favorite wyven/avalon clan

JC writes...

Hey Greg,

One of my favorite clans in the Garg universe is the Mayan clan, especially because of the magic pendants. Now I've always been one of those "magic comes with a price" believers, and I loved it when you said the consequence of wearing the pendant was that they age at a Human rate.
But then I was perusing through the archives recently and discovered that you have since changed your mind on that, because doing the math was just too hard to calculate.
But don't Gargs only age at twice the rate of Humans? Wouldn't you only have to divide everything by two?

And as far as I can see it would inly be the breeding cycle that would get a little confusing, but it could still work. Assuming that they pendants arent given to a successor untill they reach maturity...a female pendant wearer would lay her first egg alongside her peers, then lay her second egg the same year the first one hatches, and finally lay her third egg when her peers are laying their second.

Now the second egg would hatch in the "off season"...but only if they even laid that egg. I would think that since a Gargoyle's fertility is attuned with the Earth's cycle, that only the two cycles that match up with the others could even result in an egg.

Anyway, it's past 3 am so my math could be off, but I think it's solid.

Phil writes...

Hi Greg,
I'm in a Mayan/Mesoamerican Civilization class right now, and I couldn't help but thinking about the Mayan Clan in Gargoyles.
What would you consider the relationship between the Classic Mayans and the Mayan clan; did they believe that the Gargoyles came from the same origins as they did (such as Maize)? 2. Did the Mayan clan do anything to fend off the Spanish Conquest or was there a massacre/population decrease similar to that at Castle Wyvern? 2b. Did the Spanish Conquistadores encounter the Guatemalan clan? 3. Are the Guatemalan Clan literate in Mayan writing? 4. Were there other Gargoyle clans in Mesoamerica in the distant past protecting other civilizations, such as Teotihuacan and the Aztecs?

Derek writes...

When you were creating the other clans how did you decide which locations would have still have Gargoyle Clans over the others?

Anthrokid writes...

For the Mayan Clan, those who wear the magical prevention-turn-to-stone pendants, how does sleep work for them, or is it no longer needed? Also, to follow this how do they contain their gargoyle strength with out stone sleep?

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

I have a question about the Mayan Clan and their pendants, I was looking at some recent This Day entries and found myself wondering about something.

From This Day in Gargoyles Universe History:
<<After sundown, the travelers depart. But they bring Jade and Turquesa along to transplant samples of the rain forest flora in Avalon. They arrive on the mystic island at dawn and Goliath, Angela and Bronx sleep through the Avalonian day. Elisa introduces Jade and Turquesa to Princess Katharine and the Guardian, and all spend the day scouting Avalon for a good location for the rain forest transplants.>>

I'm a little unclear on what is described here. Does it mean that Jade and Turquesa also spent the day awake? That they brought the pendants onto the island?

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

This is just a comment to K9...

I think you are thinking of some Amazonian Native Americans. The Mayans and other people in Mesoamerica certainly wore clothes pre-contact.

Kerry writes...

Hi Greg. ^_^ First off, I want to thank you for your incredible patience and willingness to deal with us and get Gargoyles in some form back into circulation. I think you're doing a great job.

If you could clarify something for me, I'd very much appreciate it. I'm not trying to catch you out or nitpick, I'm just kind of confused about one aspect of the Mayan clan's pendants: how they affect the wearers' aging process.

In September 2000, you stated that the cost of wearing a pendant was that the gargoyle aged at the human rate. A year later, you said that the pendant compensated, but I'm not quite sure what that means. The only other reference I can find states that the pendants partially compensate the wearers for their lack of sleep. Would you be willing to shed a little more light on this?

If the gargoyles do age faster, does that speed up their breeding cycles too, or is that something else the pendants compensate for? I know that in the current situation it's not as much of an issue, but I also know that the four wearers aren't always each other's mates.

Anything you can tell me would be fantastic, but if you'd rather clear it up in the comics, that's fine too. I can wait. ;P

Derek writes...

How could Zafiro and Obsidiana mate, anatomically there completely different?

Michael writes...

How is it that the Manhatten, Guatamalen, and London clans have flourished by 2198? 5 individuals (with only one female) is hardly enough for a proper breeding pool... let alone 2 males and one female.

dph writes...

I searched through archives and didn't seem to find this question answered anywhere. A world-wide vote was recently held for nominations for a new set of 7 Wonders of the World. Chichén Itzá happenned to win. I am wondering if Chichén Itzá in Mexico was an inspiration for the pyramid shown in "The Green".

Dusk Rider Q writes...

This is less serious than my last post.

It had occured to me the other day while watching the Green that the Guatamalan clan and all the other clans take names. Some of them such as the Griff's clan have had contact for some time with humans, but what's Zafiro excuse. Is it only a Wyvern Clan tradition, not a gargoyle tradition across cultures, to remain nameless?

catrina writes...

Did
the mayan's really deal with gay marriges?

Sonny writes...

Where is ChacIxChel in Guatemala? Is it a real place? The reason I ask is because I cannot find any info on the place.

Anonymous writes...

Are the pendanat wearers in The Green a cross section of gargoyles in the guatemala clan or were there other weird looking gargoyles there before the massacre?
Were there gargoyle beasts in the Guatemala clan?

Galax writes...

What happened to Turkesa and Jade? Do they still live on Avalon?

Anonymous writes...

Almost every gargoyle clan we've meet in the show or that you've us about protects something. The Guatemalan clan protects the rain forest. The Loch Ness clan protects the Loch Ness Monster, the Manhattan, London and Ishimura clan naturally protects New York City, London and Ishimura respectively. And the Avalon clan protects Avalon while the Labyrinth clan presently protect the homeless of New York.

1. So what does the New Olympus clan protect? Mount Thanatos? The whole of New Olympus? Or have they abandoned their duty much like the London clan when they lost Griff(since you did say they were isolationists)?

2.What does the Pukhan and Xanadu clans protect?

3.What exactly do New Camelot and New Wyvern clans protect?

4.What abou the Queen Florence Island Clan(after they've been freed from their stasis)?

5.What about the Notre Dame Clan?

DPH writes...

If you don't have your notes about the Guatamela clan handy, you might want to pull them out.

1)You listed the location of Guatamela clan as Chacixchel, Guatamela, but I can't find that location on a map. So can you specify the coordinates (so many degrees west by so many degrees north) of that location?

2)Was there a theme to the places where Jade and Turquesa visited on their world tour which lead to their return to Guatamela? If so, can you tell us what it is?

DPH writes...

Here's a quote:

Pamber writes...

have jade and turquesa returned to guatemala from avalon yet? did they go on adventures wherever avalon sent them?

Greg responds...

Yes. Yes.

So here's my follow-up questions:

1)when did Jade and Turquesa make it back to Guatamela?

2)how hard was it to get those transplanted plants from Guatamela to grow on Avalon?

matt writes...

have we seen the person or persons responsible for massacreing the Mayan Clan and stealing the Sun Amulet in any of the episodes of Gargoyles?

i must say Greg that for some reason that i'm not entirely aware of i really really like the Mayan Clan. they are my favirote clan. so, my birthday is coming up, care to give me any tidbit of unknown information about them? hehee

matt writes...

1. do the Mayan Pendant Wearers ever get sunburns?

2. why did you decide not to give/make all the Mayan Clan with the lower snake-like bodies?

3. is it just coicidence that Zafiro (1996) looks so different from the other Mayan gargs? (reptile facial features, feathered wings, snake body) are those features more common in the Mayan Clan or more rare?

4. did you ever figure out where you would have Jade and Turquesa journey to on their trip home from Avalon? where would they go?

Justin writes...

Dear Greg,

You said that, and Goliath has also said that, "Long ago there were clans all over the world." Well that is a pretty vague statement. I do understand it was intentional but the idea has bothered be for close to six years now, where were these clans? Were there any in the americas? Africa? Italy? Moscow? I really would like to know how far the species migrated.

Thanks

matt writes...

1. is the leader of the Mayan Clan always or usually one of the Pendant Wearers?

2. does the name of the Pendant Wearer change in relation to sex? like the Sapphire Pendent on a male would be Zafiro, on a female Zafira for instance...

3. have gargoyles been in Guatemala longer than humans?

4. did Oberon ever find out about those tropical plants transplanted to Avalon? if so, what was his reaction?

5. how are those plants doing in 2001 anyway?

Adam Carlson writes...

How many gargoyle clans were there when the show was ended?
Do any of the other Avalon gargoyles join Angelia in the real world?

Gipdac writes...

1) What is the name of the Mayan wizard that made the Sun Amulet?
2) Was s/he male or female?
3a) Did s/he have a 'title'? (Like Magus was The Magus, and Archmage was The Archmage) b) What was it?
4) In the show they said that the wizard made the Sun Amulet in the tenth century. What year was it?
5a) Did the wizard have some kind of conduit? (Like the Grimorum?) b) If so, what was it?

Gipdac writes...

1) Are there always two female pendant wearers and two male pendant wearers?
2) You said before that the gargoyles that have the name of the color aren't always necessarily that particular color. But do the gargoyles named Zafiro and Jade have two be male and the gargoyles named Obsidiana and Turquesa have to be female?
3) Is one of the pendant wearers always the leader of the clan?

Gipdac writes...

1) You said that Zafiro had not had the pendant for very long. How long did he have it before march, 2198.
2) Will we ever meeting the new Obsidiana, Jade and/or Turquesa in G2198?
3) After the events of march 2198 is Zaphiro the leader of the Mayan Clan?
4) Who was the leader of the Mayan clan before march 2198?

Anonymous writes...

Are there still four mayan pendants in 2198?

Anonymous writes...

Care to explain why the gargoyles in the British isles are so different since in London we have animal headed ways, in Loch Ness aquatic gargoyles and in wyvern the generic ishimura/guatemala kind?

zakhur writes...

Hi Greg, I just read that Zaphiro from 2198 is the same age as Samson and Delilah, do you mean cronologic or biologic the same age, I'm just asking because you said before that because of the pendant that zaphiro, obsidiniana, turquessa and jade wear, they age faster than other gargoyles? thanks for answering

Lord Sloth writes...

1) Given that most gargoyles have a desire to feel the warmth of the sun, wasn't Goliath or Angela tempted to ask for a chance at wearing a Guatimalan sun amulet, if only for a short time? If so, did their politeness outweigh their desire?

One more for the Guatimalan Gargs. 2) I Don't know if it's true, but I heard somewhere that the clan had a lot of eggs. I don't see how it could be more than 2 eggs, for 2 pairs of Gargs, unless the bigger clan was massacered pretty recently. So is that the case?

Jim R. writes...

Do the other clans existing throughout the world all speak English so well? Are they fluent in a more native tongue? I didn't expect Golaith, etc. to be able to communicate so easily with foreign clans or did this just have to do with the simple fact that the TV show was being watched by a majority of Americans? (Basically the same as asking why all the aliens in Star Trek English fluently)

zakhur writes...

Hi, I was wondering, when the mayan clan was destroyed, Did the polchers know that those were gargoyles, or did the just destroy everything that wasn't what they considered a treasure? Thanks

matt writes...

1. maybe it was hard to see on the show, but in "The Green" are the magic pendants themselves made out of the different stones (Sapphire, Obsidian, etc.) or are they all made out of something else? if they are made of something else, what is it?

2. you've said that the pendants will be passed down along with the name of the garg who wears it, but does the actual color of the garg matter? for instance, can only a red gargoyle wear and use Zafiro's pendant? i know it sounds stupid that the magic would only work with skin color, but i don't see any evidence why it wouldn't... afterall, Bronx is blue like Obsidiana and he was ok using the her pendant, but if he had picked up a pendant of a different color than he, would it have still worked?

3. when Jackal knocked that tree on Obsidiana and her wing was all twisted and wounded looking until she turned to stone, had he actually broken the bone in her wing? i'm aking this cuz i think its one of the only times that stone sleep cures a major physical injury in the series...

zakhur writes...

Hey Greg, thanks for a terrific show and still having hope for a return, Since first watching Gargoyles when it began, I really loved the show, but I was kind of "worried" that the show wasn't very uplifting, because the main characters (the manhattan clan) were the last of their kind, and with only one female gargoyle, that didn't really look like she wanted to start being the Eve of her kind, It almost looked kind of bleak, and after I learned how slowly it takes for a gargoyle to have children,, well it didn't look very good for the species.
So when you started introducing new gargoyles to the picture in the World Tour (wich were great by the way, it expanded so much the horizons for the show) It started to make more sense, as to why the gargoyles work so hard to protect, ant to make a better world, because even though they're trying to have a better and more tolerent world, now it made more sense, because all that hard work was to leave a better world for the next generation.
and even more hopeful was the fact that we know now that in the future, there would not only be thriving colonies, but there would be new clans of gargoyles.
Well all this talk does bring me to a question.
We know that some clans needed the help of other individuals of other clans so there would be a diverse enough genetic pool for a viable clan, as you stated in the 2198 contest so:
1) Wich clans will need that other clans member join them? (my guess would be guatemalen and Goliath's)
2) How would this process come about, will the individuals choose to go to other clans, or there will be a election process?
3) If for example the guatemalan clan wich oly consists of 4 adult gargoyles and from 20 to 40 eggs, is that enough to make a viable clan?
Thanks for your time and pacience
PS. Sorry if I made to many errors, but I haven't writen in English in a long time

matt writes...

how will the Gargoyle Minority Protection Act affect the Mayan clan and the protection of the rainforest? they've been conflicting with humans over ownership (or rather lack of ownership) of the land for years, will the clan continue this conflict or will the Guatemalan government be forced to adapt to the Gargoyle Minority Protection Act (GMPA) and pull out all operations in the Mayan clans territory?

matt writes...

what would happen at dawn if Demona put on a Mayan sun amulet? would she turn to a human or remain a gargoyle?

matt writes...

been a while since i posted, but have no fear, i'm back!
more clan questions too:

1. does the Mayan clan have any remaining relationship with the remnants of the Mayan people still living in central America?

2. about what percentage of the pre-massacre Mayan clan had Zafiro's snake-like body structure? 10%? 25%? 75%?

3. do YOU know who exactly destroyed the Mayan clan and stole the Sun Amulet? it seems to me that it happened sometime in the last fifty or so years and it would of had to been by someone who knows about gargoyles... why else would they bother to destroy them? so if you do know who is responsible, can and will you tell us?

4. are any of the four surviving clan members knowledgeable in astronomy as the ancient Mayan people were?

5. what was the purpose of the pyramid that the Mayan people built that the gargoyles now inhabit? was it ceremonial or used for astonomy or sacrifices or built specifically for the gargs?

6. before the Goliath and co. showed up in Guatemala in "The Green" did the Mayan clan know of any other garg clans? did they think they were the last and only gargoyles?

Anonymous writes...

You said that you had plans for an episode where Zafiro was to come to New York to retrieve the Sun Amulet. My questions are how does he know that it is in New York and how does he get there?

Anonymous writes...

Is Zafiro related ot an alligator?

Siren writes...

1.)The South American Clan, their stones they wear around their neck...Is that stone fae magic, or something different?
2.)Whom gave them this power?
3.) And why only them? I understand to protect their forest, but other clans could benifit from it. Wyvern would have.

matt writes...

you've said that the Guatemalan, Ishimura, and London all had rookeries with eggs when Goliath and co. visited, why didn't you decide to show that any of these clans had eggs on screen? i think it would've been great to see that gargoyles do have a future and their not slowly dying out. was the problem time constraints? how hard is it to show some eggs in the background of certain scenes?

matt writes...

i just want to make sure i'm correct on this:

among the Guatemalan clan, only the pendant wearing gargoyles have names, correct? if so, those names are always the ones that the four gargs have now, right? so when Jade passes his pendant down that garg will become Jade and Jade will become unnamed again, right?