Gargoyles/Characters
The Manhattan Clan
Goliath (Keith David)
Leader of the clan, and the series' protagonist.
- Badass
- Badass Baritone: 'Cause it's Keith David, duh.
- Badass Long Hair
- Heartbroken Badass
- Beast and Beauty: With Elisa.
- Catch Phrase: "That is the gargoyle way."
- Not to mention: "What sorcery is this?!"
- The Fettered
- Genius Bruiser: He spends every spare moment in the library reading.
- Well, he does have a lot of history to catch up on.
- The Hero
- Hot Dad
- Hurting Hero
- If You Kill Xanatos, You Will Be Just Like Demona
- Interspecies Romance: With Elisa.
- Large Ham
- Love Hurts
- Luke, You Are My Father: To Angela. He knew; he just didn't think it was a huge deal.
- Named After Somebody Famous: After the biblical character Goliath.
- Papa Wolf: Do NOT EVER harm any member (human and gargoyle) of Goliath's clan. Believe me, you'll be wishing you hadn't.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Despite his noble personality, Goliath tends to forget that "death solves nothing" if it looks like one of his clan is dead.
- Tall, Dark and Handsome: From a gargoyle (and Elisa's) standpoint; his human form in "The Mirror" reflects this.
- Team Dad
- Warrior Poet
Elisa Maza (Salli Richardson)
A detective with the NYPD's 23rd precinct, Elisa is the first friend the gargoyles make after the curse is broken. As such, she takes it upon herself to introduce them to their new world. She becomes very close to them, particularly Goliath, and is later considered a part of the clan.
- Action Girl
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Is an honorary member of a gargoyle clan and has met wizards and spirits but doesn't believe the Illuminati or common urban legends.
- Badass Normal: With special emphasis on the Badass. In one episode, a feral, transformed Fox has Elisa cornered, is holding her up by the shoulder of her jacket, and seems to be about to sink her teeth into her. Elisa's response is to smack it in the face with a fucking sack of flour.
- Beast and Beauty: Lampshaded in the Halloween episode, where she cosplays as Belle.
- The Chick: Her role at first, until it evolves into that of Team Mom.
- The Commissioner Gordon: Of the "Heroes are obscure and/or feared and their police friend isn't at the top of the Police totem pole" variety.
- Cool Big Sis: Especially to Broadway.
- Cute Monster Girl: During her small stint as a Gargoyle in "The Mirror".
- Deadpan Snarker
- Fair Cop
- The Fettered
- Ink Suit Actor: Go look up a picture of Salli Richardson. We'll wait.
- Interspecies Romance: With Goliath.
- I Work Alone: Initially. She's very resentful at being assigned a partner in Matt Bluestone, but eventually warms up to him.
- Secret Keeper: Deconstructed; keeping the Gargoyles a secret puts a severe strain on her relationship with her partner Matt and her family, both of whom call her on it. Later she admits that her reasons for doing so were partly selfish, wanting to feel special as their only ally.
- Shiny Midnight Black: Though her hair color can look somewhat blue.
- Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
- Team Mom
- Twofer Token Minority: Native American and African-American.
- Ultimate Job Security: She remains a valued member of the police force, despite the unexplained loss of several guns and her six-month disappearance.
- What Could Have Been: Originally, she was going to be a Mulatta (half African-American, half Mexican-American) and her name was going to be Elisa Chavez.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
- You Have to Believe Me: Her efforts to convince Derek that Xanatos was not a good guy boiled down to this.
Brooklyn (Jeff Bennett)
Goliath's second-in-command. While once impetuous and a thrill seeker, Brooklyn soon grows into his reluctant role as the secondary leader and becomes more serious and a skilled tactician.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Maggie, Angela, Delilah...Season 2 just hasn't been kind to his love life.
- Badass
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: With his mate Katana. Word of God says that their relationship, especially early on, would be akin to Sam Malone and Diane Chambers. When no one understood what he was talking about, he mentioned Benadick and Beatrice. Everyone cracked up.
- Berserk Button: Mentioning Demona around him.
- The Chains of Commanding
- A Day in the Limelight: The TimeDancer arc.
- He gets a few in the series proper too, such as the episode where he's promoted to second-in-command, and the episode after Goliath and Elisa leave for Avalon where he finally shows some well-earned authority.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Knight in Sour Armor
- The Lancer
- Leeroy Jenkins: At first.
- Number Two
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to most of the other blue-tempered of his clan.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: Like Goliath, he can be considered this to other gargoyles, but his human form in "The Mirror" is what really makes him fit this trope.
Broadway (Bill Fagerbakke)
A Big Eater who develops a liking for detective movies.
- Badass
- Beware the Nice Ones: It's hard to piss him off, but when it does happen...
- Big Eater
- The Big Guy
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Occasionally wears this.
- Doesn't Like Guns: One of the few things that'll make him mad.
- Gentle Giant
- Guile Hero: After "Deadly Force," Broadway shifts his hero worship of police from action movies to detective stories, and his attitude follows suit. He's not the smartest of the clan, but he subtly becomes less violent than any of them, excepting perhaps Lexington.
- Improvised Weapon: He once used a turkey leg to knock out a soldier in a castle raid early in the series.
- Never Learned to Read: He even brags about it at some point. But later, he relishes on reading and becomes a Shakespeare fanboy who loves reading to his girlfriend.
- Stout Strength
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Broadway isn't exactly ugly, but Angela's hotness more than qualifies them for this trope.
Lexington (Thom Adcox-Hernandez)
A gargoyle with a gift for technology.
- Badass Bookworm
- Berserk Button: The Pack, due to a huge Broken Pedestal moment.
- Beware the Nice Ones
- Big Brother Instinct: Concerning baby Alex Xanatos.
- Gadgeteer Genius: This is a gargoyle who was born in the 10th century and yet learned how to re-assemble a motorcycle and use a computer (along with other gadgets) in the span of a few months.
- Shorter Means Smarter
- The Smart Guy
- Word of Gay: He seems like he hasn't figured it out, though.
Angela (Brigitte Bako)
Born and raised in Avalon, she joins Goliath in order to see what the world outside is like and to better know her father, Goliath.
- Action Girl
- Affirmative Action Girl: She was specifically introduced to address the lack of a positive female gargoyle in the main cast.
- Badass Adorable
- Berserk Button: "Stop calling me ANGIE!"
- The Chick
- Cute Little Fangs
- Cute Monster Girl
- Hello, Nurse!: Well, when you're the only female of their species within a few-thousand-mile radius...
- In the Blood: Goliath's fear for her due to the other half of Angela's parentage.
- Meaningful Name: Just happens to have a karmically opposite name to Demona...
- She's Got Legs
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She and Broadway. Aaaaawwwww.
- Sixth Ranger
- Strong Family Resemblance: To her mother Demona. Her hair and skin tones match daddy Goliath spot-on too.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: The exact opposite of her mother concerning views on humans.
Angela: I was raised by humans. There's no reason we can't all live together in harmony.
Hudson (Ed Asner)
Previous leader of the Wyvern clan. Now spends most of his days watching television and enjoying his well-earned rest.
- Badass Grandpa: He's the oldest of the clan and, while he's not as physically fit as he used to be, he still holds his own.
- Cool Old Guy
- Eye Scream: A blast from the Archmage blinded one of his eyes.
- Genius Bruiser: Though well past his prime, he easily outsmarts Xanatos and Demona when forced to face them alone.
- The Mentor
- Never Learned to Read: Like Broadway, but he is greatly embarassed by this instead. He eventually learns and seems to especially enjoy reading newspapers.
- The Obi-Wan: Slips into this because his great age also grants him great wisdom.
- Team Dad: And Broadway is his biological son, too.
- Warrior Therapist
- Weapon of Choice: His trademark sword.
Bronx (Frank Welker)
A gargoyle beast of the Manhattan Clan. Dislikes robots.
- All Animals Are Dogs: We never get a straight answer on what exactly Bronx is, a non-sentient subspecies of Gargoyles or what, but he certainly acts like a dog.
- Big Damn Heroes: Every once in a while.
- Big Friendly Dog: To friends.
- Angry Guard Dog: To enemies.
- Evil-Detecting Dog
- Gentle Giant
- Heroic Dog: At least, if we're prepared to relax the definition of 'dog.'
- Team Pet
- Wall Crawl: The only clan member who can't glide, so he claws his way up buildings instead.
Katana (comic continuation only)
Brooklyn's mate from Edo Period Ishimura.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Greg stated that, in their relationship, there would "be conflict," and then he mentioned Benedick and Beatrice.
- Hot Chick with a Sword: She's a Samurai, it's a given.
- Jidai Geki: From the Edo period actually.
- Mama Bear: Hard to tell from what little we saw of her, but when Angel asked to hold her egg, she seemed at least hesitant.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue, black-haired gargoyle to Brooklyn's red, white-haired coloration. Given the nature of their relationship, it would be logical to assume the metaphore extended to their personalities as well, with Katana being cool and patient to Brooklyn's more hot-headedness.
- Tsundere: Could be inferred from Word of God's description. Whether or not she could be described as a gargoyle Akane...less so.
- The Voiceless: Only appeared in four or so panels, and not a single line of dialogue.
Allies
The Captain of the Guard (Ed Gilbert)
The captain of the Wyvern Castle guard, at the start ofthe series he is sympathetic to the gargoyles and identifies with them more than with the human population of the catle. Trying to grant a better life to the clan, he betrays the castle to Hakon's band of vikings, expacting them to drive out the humans while leaving the catle to the gargoyles. The plan backfires when Hakon shatters all the gargoyles anyway and tries to put the blame on the captain. Both of them plummet to their deaths before Goliath can have revenge on either of them.
- All of the Other Reindeer
- Anti-Villain
- Badass Cape
- Badass Mustache
- Badass Normal
- Disney Villain Death
- The Captain
- Everybody Calls Him Barkeep: Word of God gives his actual name as Robert, but that name is never actually used in the series.
- Fat Bastard: When a bad guy
- Heel Face Revolving Door: Started out as a friend of the Gargoyles. Then he betrays the castle to the Vikings (albeit for sympathetic reasons) and then a thousand years later tries to get revenge on Goliath as a ghost. In the end though, he betrays Hakon
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Concerning their treatment of Gargoyles
- Redemption Equals Death: Played with. He was already dead, but continued on as a ghost. Not long after he redeems himself though, he finally gets to pass on
- Our Ghosts Are Different
Princess Katharine (Kath Soucie)
The ruler of Castle Wyvern. She initially fears the gargoyles and only begrudgingly allows them to stay and defend the castle. After Goliath saves her life from Hakon, she comes to see the error of her ways and does her best to defend the eggs from the gargoyle rookery, moving them to the magical island of Avalon and raising them as her own children.
- Arranged Marriage: She is nearly forced into one by Constantine.
- The Atoner: After Goliath saves her.
- Badass Grandma: In present day, on Avalon.
- Everything's Better with Princesses
- Fantastic Racism: Initially.
- Freudian Excuse: She hates gargoyles because her father used them as boogeymen to scare her into obedience.
- Mama Bear: To the gargoyle hatchlings on Avalon, as a brainwashed Demona finds out the hard way.
- May–December Romance: With Tom.
- Took a Level In Kindness
The Magus (Jeff Bennett)
The castle mage of Wyvern and Princess Katharine's advisor. He is responsible for the Manhattan Clan living to the present day, cursing them to remain as statues for a thousand years in a fit of rage when he believes them to have caused Katharine's death. He tries to atone by raising the eggs from the Wyvern rookery on Avalon, but is later killed by the Weird Sisters when the Archmge attacks the island.
- The Atoner
- Court Mage
- Did Not Get the Girl: He never ends up with Katharine.
- Killed Off for Real
- Red Herring: The pilot blatantly tries to make the viewer spuspect he will be a bad guy, going as far as to have the captain wear a white cloak and have Ed Gilbert do an impression of Jeff Bennet's voice when he is conspiring with Hakon.
- Squishy Wizard
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Matt Bluestone (Thomas F. Wilson)
Elisa's partner on the force. Convinced of the existence of the Illuminati.
- Agent Mulder
- Badass Normal
- Badass Longcoat
- Conspiracy Theorist
- Early-Bird Cameo: Is briefly shown driving with Chavez in "Deadly Force" before being introduced in "The Edge." (Chavez even notes his previous involvement in the preceding case.)
- Fair Cop
- Friend on the Force: He uses much more of his power as a policeman to help the Manhattan clan than Elisa does, such as pestering Xanatos to ensure their well-being once they move back into the castle. Once he becomes the head of the Gargoyle Taskforce, he actively uses his position as someone who is supposed to be hunting them to protect them, and he's none too shy about it.
- Properly Paranoid: As noted above, the Illuminati do exist and eventually induct Matt into their ranks, impressed at his perseverance in trying to prove it.
- Redheaded Hero
- Secret Keeper
- What the Hell, Hero?: He gives one of these to Elisa after she reveals the gargoyles' existence to him (he already kind of knew, anyway).
Derek Maza / Talon (Rocky Carroll)
Elisa's younger brother, who eventually starts working for Xanatos, only to be mutated into a panther/bat/electric eel hybrid, re-naming himself "Talon."
Coldstone -- Coldstone (Michael Dorn), Coldsteel (Xander Berkeley) and Coldfire (CCH Pounder)
A gargoyle cyborg created by Xanatos and Demona from the remains of three of the lost in the Wyvern massacre, and animated by a combination of science and sorcery. Collectively known as just "Coldstone" until near the end of the series, when Xanatos created two additional robot bodies so each of the three had their own.
- All There in the Script: Before being separated and given their "Cold_____" names, the scripts referred to the individual gargoyles as Othello, Desdemona, and Iago.
- Arm Cannon
- Enemy Within
- Enemy Without: Coldsteel becomes this after gaining his own body.
- Living Statue
- Love Triangle: Coldstone and Coldfire are mates, but Coldsteel wants Coldfire for himself.
- Hollywood Cyborg: To the point where one leg has a length of cybernetics connecting his calf to his ankle.
- Phlebotinum Rebel
Halcyon Renard (Robert Culp)
The founder and head of Cyberbiotics, a successful technology firm. Turned cynical by a series of perceived betrayals, he begins to re-consider his view after meeting Goliath.
- Badass Grandpa
- Cool Old Guy
- Genius Cripple
- Honest Corporate Executive: Xanatos paints him as the other kind to manipulate the Manhatan clan but he's actually this.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: He thinks. He hates it when people don't take responsibility for their own actions.
- What Have I Become?: He wanted to escape his old and crippled body by possessing a magic golem, then Goliath told him how stupid this was.
Macbeth Mac Findlaech (John Rhys-Davies)
The historical king of Scotland. After losing his kingdom and family, he seeks to find and kill the one responsible: Demona.
- Affably Evil
- Ambiguously Evil
- Anti-Villain: Both Type I and II.
- Anti-Hero: in the post series comics
- Badass
- Beard of Evil
- Death Seeker: Initially. Even some of his later schemes seem suicidal.
- Honor Before Reason
- I Cannot Self-Terminate
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In his Backstory.
- Magic Knight: He's primarily a straight-forward fighter, but has been shown to be a capable sorcerer on several occasions.
- Really Seven Hundred Years Old
- Who Wants to Live Forever?
- Younger Than He Looks / Older Than He Looks: He's legitimately been both -- when he was 35, he traded his youth to Demona in exchange for an alliance, and aged to 52, thus looking older than he really was. However, said trade wound up making them both immortal at that age, so he has continued to look 52 even on reaching his present-day age of roughly one thousand.
Villains
Hakon (Clancy Brown)
The leader of the vikings who destroyed the Wyvern clan. He is Wolf's ancestor.
- Complete Monster: He's a man who practically lives for hatred.
- Fate Worse Than Death: After his Disney Death, he was stuck in the castle he raided for over a thousand years with nothing to do but wallow in his own hate.
- Horny Viking: Mercifully, he and the other vikings don't wear horned helmets, but they still fit the trope.
- Never Learned to Read: And proud of it!
- Starter Villain
- Token Motivational Nemesis
Demona (Marina Sirtis)
Goliath's former love and one of the co-conspirators in what became the Wyvern massacre. Blaming humans for her misfortunes, she has spent the last thousand years seeking to exterminate them.
- The Aloner: Seeing nearly all of the Wyvern Clan slaughtered by the vikings, followed by decades of watching the remnants of her species being slaughtered by the Hunter and his human allies (often through her own fault, though she remains in denial about that), have left her completely, helplessly, maddeningly alone. Centuries of endless pursuit by the Canmore dynasty have made her even more bitter.
- Anti-Villain: Demona is actually not an example of this trope, but a big point is made about how she thinks she's a clear-cut Type III, when she isn't.
- Ax Crazy: On occasion.
- Bare Your Midriff
- Big Bad: She's the second most recurring villain after Xanatos, and her plans tend to be the most dangerous and destructive, since she's out for Revenge on the whole human race. She's also the main villain of "Hunter's Moon," which is effectively the Grand Finale for the canon show.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Xanatos, until "City of Stone."
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: She has ultimately betrayed just about every group she has ever worked with.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: As Dominique Destine.
- Cursed with Awesome: Twice. First when she's linked to Macbeth so neither can die except at the hand of the other. There is a fairly hefty downside, but still. Then, Puck gives her a parting "gift" of human form during the day. She's angry at first, but it's a big help for her nefarious plans.
- Cute Little Fangs
- The Cynic
- Dark Action Girl
- Deadpan Snarker
- Even Bad Women Love Their Daughters
- Evil Matriarch: She loves Angela so much, she's willing to kill humanity to protect her.
- Well, she's willing to kill humanity anyway, but she really loves Angela.
- Evil Redhead
- Face Heel Turn: In her Backstory.
- Fantastic Racism
- Fiery Redhead
- Future Me Scares Me: Which, unfortunately, sets up the Stable Time Loop that turned her into "future me" in the first place.
- Green Eyed Red Head: In her human form.
- She Who Fights Monsters
- Heroes Want Redheads: She was Goliath's mate, after all. Averted when her true personality showed.
- Hot Amazon
- Hot Mom
- Hot Witch: She does have magical abilities after all.
- Hypocrite: Demona sees herself as the self-proclaimed savior of her race, and that Goliath and those who stand with him will be the death of the race. Never mind the fact that she herself caused the birth of the Hunter, their generations, and indirectly the Quarrymen, whose sole purpose is to destroy they Gargoyles with extreme prejudice. And she had the gall to say Goliath with be the death of all of them? If anything, SHE was the one who nearly caused Gargoyle extinction.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Her strongest belief.
- Ignored Epiphany: Writ large.
- Kill All Humans
- Knight Templar: Subverted; she's convinced herself her cause is noble, but it's really just her lashing out at the world due to all the pain she's brought upon herself.
- Lady Macbeth: Shades of this in her relationships with Goliath, Macbeth and even Xanatos. Inverted with her relationship with Thailog, as he's far more straightforwardly evil and is really using her to advance his own ends.
- Magic Knight: She uses her powerful magic (she's probably the strongest mortal mage in the show, not counting the Archmage's enhanced form) and formidable combat skills about evenly.
- Mama Bear: Would rather pull an Enemy Mine than letting Angela be hurt.
- Manipulative Bitch: She even pulled this on Angela, her own daughter. It failed BADLY.
- Meaningful Name: Her alias "Dominique Destine" literally means "Divine Destiny."
- Ms. Fanservice
- My God, What Have I... What Have THEY Done?
- Never My Fault: Employed in a very serious fashion. If there is one defining character flaw for Demona, this is it. Most of her troubles and emotional agonies are entirely her fault, and her refusal to admit any responsibility on her part is the basis for her bitterness AND her racism, all of which she formed mostly to avoid the overwhelming guilt she would feel.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend
- Revenge by Proxy: "Their descendants shall pay. I will have blood for blood!"
- Secret Identity
- She's Got Legs
- The Unfettered
- The Vamp
- With Us or Against Us: "If you are not my ally, then you are my enemy."
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: By the end of City of Stone, it's hard not to feel sorry for her, even though she's long since passed the Moral Event Horizon.
David Xanatos (Jonathan Frakes)
Billionaire responsible for breaking the Magus' spell over the Gargoyles. Determined, practical and brilliant, he searches for eternal life and comfort, and finds something altogether different.
- Affably Evil: Impeccably polite to his enemies.
- Anti-Hero: Type V, post Heel Face Turn.
- Anti-Villain: Type I, while he was developing toward his Heel Face Turn.
- Arch Enemy: To Goliath initially, and others.
- Badass Normal: He can hold his own with Goliath and even Oberon with his own gadgets and know-how.
- Big Bad: Especially in the first half of the series, when he's the most recurring, most intelligent, and arguably most dangerous villain. By the end, while he doesn't quite make a Heel Face Turn, he is edging more into dark Anti-Hero territory.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Demona, until "City of Stone."
- Beard of Evil
- The Chessmaster: The original movie especially. He moves the heroes like they were pieces until the end.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: "A man's gotta make a living." We seldom see what that actually means though. Usually it has to do with high-tech weaponry and medicine.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Determinator: "Nothing terrifies me, because nothing is beyond my ability to change."
- Implied to ultimately be averted when his wife and child are threatened, and by Thailog's existence.
- Enemy Mine: Xanatos had a habit of working with the Manhattan Clan, "City of Stone" being the first and arguably most notable example.
- Evil Genius: He personally built the technology his billion dollar company sells.
- Evil Virtues: Ambition, Hard Work, Love, Patience, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Determination, Loyalty, Honor. (Yea, for being a Big Bad, he has a lot of these.)
- Fascinating Eyebrow
- Fiction 500
- Friendly Enemy: He rather likes the Manhattan Clan, although the feeling isn't mutual (although they eventually stop thinking of him as a Complete Monster, so that's worth something).
- Genre Savvy
- Graceful Loser: Xanatos always takes losses well and considers revenge beneath him.
- Happily Married: To Fox.
- Heel Face Turn: Kind of. It's less that his personality changes and more that his priorities shift.
- Hot Dad
- Honesty Is the Best Policy: In "The Edge."
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: He admits this outright during his chess game with his new bride Fox.
- Immortality Seeker: "What good are all the riches in the world if Fox and I can't can't enjoy them forever?"
- Ink Suit Actor: A strange aversion by weird coincidence. Although Xanatos looks almost exactly like Jonathan Frakes, he was designed before Frakes was cast in the role.
- It's Personal: Explicitly averted. Xanatos spent enough money to build a skyscraper expressly to free the gargoyles, funds advanced robotics, cloning and bio-engineering facilities without showing any concern for the costs involved, and spends not a cent on revenge, ever.
- Love Is a Weakness: When Fox is turned into a beast, he maintains a clinical view on the situation, expressing only that his inability to get her back was an unforeseen circumstance and his desire to get the jewel that turned her in the first place. He attempts several plans, all of which fail to get her back—it is only towards the end when she is nearing death that he reveals his desperation and gives up the jewel to have her back. Afterwards, he tells Goliath coolly that he now knows Xanatos' weakness.
Goliath: Only you would regard love as a weakness.
- Magnificent Bastard: The Ur-example!
- The Man Behind the Man: Mastermind behind the Pack.
- Marry for Love
- Missing Mom: According to Greg Weisman, Xanatos' mother is deceased, and his father Petros is unfortunately a widower.
- Nothing Personal: "You really are taking this much too personally you know."
- Nerd in Evil's Helmet: "It's alive! ALIVE!!! I Always Wanted to Say That."
- Noble Demon: As noted above, he's the same guy after his Heel Face Turn, but his evilness drops a notch or two.
- Non-Action Big Bad: First few episodes only; while a more-than-competent fighter by human standards, he just doesn't have what it takes to compete with the likes of Goliath. Being the consummate Magnificent Bastard, though, before the season is over, he's found a solution.
- Papa Wolf: He truly loves his wife and kid.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money: How he originally freed the gargoyles. Money is never an object to him.
- Self-Made Man: Via Stable Time Loop. His dad doesn't buy it, though.
- Tranquil Fury: Even against Oberon, he stays calm, despite this being one of his most action-packed scenes.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Thailog in "Double Jeopardy."
- Villains Out Shopping: Instrumental to his gambit in "Her Brother's Keeper."
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: He thought he could impress his dad by being a Self-Made Man, but it's not until he shows himself as a Papa Wolf that he finally gets his dad's praise.
- Wicked Cultured: As a billionaire, he enjoys the finer things in life, such as living in an authentic Scottish castle. As for how he became a billionaire....
- Xanatos Gambit: Namesake of this and its spinoff trope, Xanatos Speed Chess.
Owen Burnett (Jeff Bennett)
Xanatos' right-hand man and confidant. Smart, capable and loyal—the perfect employee. he's actually Puck, a trickster spirit that became Owen for kicks, and because Xanatos is "many things, but never boring."
- Affably Evil: So polite he borders on The Stoic.
- Badass Abnormal: He has solid rock hand for punching. Then theres' the fact that he's Puck.
- Battle Butler: To Xanatos. Be it fighting, carrying out plans, Owen does it quickly and efficiently.
- Creepy Monotone
- Deadpan Snarker: Surprising given the rest of his persona. Or not so surprising.
- Disability Superpower: A first made of stone hurts more than one made of flesh and bone. Xanatos remarks that he makes "Good use of his handicap".
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul
- It Amused Me: Owen continues to exist because Puck finds Xanatos' life too much fun to miss.
- Magnificent Bastard: Considering he works for Xanatos...and is Puck.
- Punch Clock Villain: He's not really evil; he just works for Xanatos.
- Secret Identity: Actually a persona of Puck.
- The Stoic
- Straight Man
- Taken for Granite: Has a stone arm after dipping it in the Cauldron of Life.
Fox (Laura San Giacomo)
Xanatos' true love and equal. Formerly Janine Renard, she legally changed her name to Fox.
- Action Mom
- Bilingual Bonus: Anyone who knows French instantly makes the connection between father and daughter well before the official reveal.
- The Chessmaster
- Cunning Like a Fox: Duh, even if Xanatos overshadows her.
- Dark Action Girl
- Deadpan Snarker
- Evil Redhead
- Eyepatch of Power: Not exactly an eyepatch, but that blue tattoo covering her right eye comes close.
- Fiery Redhead
- Half-Human Hybrid: Though she didn't know it herself until "The Gathering."
- Happily Married
- Hot Mom
- Lady Macbeth
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Inverted; her dad is a good scientist, but she betrayed him by falling for his villainous rival.
- Magnificent Bastard: Even Xanatos calls her an equal.
- Mama Bear
- Marry for Love
- Meaningful Name: As pointed out in Cunning Like a Fox, it's a given, but her given name is also meaningful. "Renard" is the name given to the fox character in old French animal tales. There has been talk about the coincidence of Goliath having a nemesis named "David." When you consider that "Janine" is a feminine version of "Jonathon"...
- Ubermensch
The Pack
A group of mercenaries-turned-TV stars organized and funded by Xanatos, though after their first encounter with the Manhattan Clan they were arrested and turned to crime for good when Xanatos broke them out of prison. The members are:
- Fox (Laura San Giacomo): See above. Original team leader, but when the Pack broke out of prison she stayed behind to serve out her sentence. She ultimately got an early release for good behavior - just as Xanatos planned, of course.
- Wolf (Clancy Brown): The biggest guy on the team and most likely to go straight to brute force.
- Dingo (Jim Cummings): The tactical expert. He eventually got fed up with the Pack being reduced to common criminals, and found he missed being considered a hero like he was on TV; prompting him to leave the group as well. He eventually got picked up by the Redemption Squad (see below).
- Jackal (Matt Frewer) and Hyena (Cree Summer): A brother/sister pair of twins, and probably the team's most depraved members - Word of God is that he's a sociopath, she's a psychopath.
- Coyote (Jonathan Frakes): A new member who engineered the prison breakout, replacing Fox as team leader. At first thought to be Xanatos, but was soon revealed to be a robot in his likeness. Tends to get thrashed and rebuilt by Xanatos every time it appears, with the successive versions obviously not human.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Not in the series itself, but Word of God is that by 2198 Coyote will have become autonomous and turned to conquest.
- Animal Theme Naming
- Awesome Aussie: Dingo, natch.
- Ax Crazy: Jackal and Hyene.
- Badass Abnormal: All of them get upgraded one way or another (except Fox, who was gone by then).
- Complete Monster: Jackal.
- Cyborg: Jackal and Hyena.
- Half-Human Hybrid/Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Wolf.
- Powered Armor: Dingo. He eventually upgrades it again after his Heel Face Turn, this time merging with an AI-controlled nanobot swarm.
- Badass Grandpa: Wolf
- Brother-Sister Team: Jackal and Hyena. Even when the Pack split up to work solo, these two stayed as a team. Which leads to...
- Incest Subtext: Hyena and Jackal seem really close to each other.
- When Jackal kills Coyote Hyena complains that he always kills the guys she likes, meaning it's not the first he does it. This can be easily taken as jealousy.
- Incest Subtext: Hyena and Jackal seem really close to each other.
- Combat Pragmatist: Dingo is the go-to guy for long-range weapons and explosives. The rest of the team are all hand-to-hand combat junkies.
- Crush! Kill! Destroy!: Though normally rather calm and competent, Coyote tends to do this.
- Dark Action Girl: Hyena
- Five-Bad Band:
- Big Bad: Fox, later Coyote
- The Dragon: Wolf, the most powerful after Fox/Coyote and the most likely to try and take over.
- Evil Genius: Dingo, the team's weapons and tactics expert (and also the one with the most common sense).
- The Brute: Jackal
- Dark Chick: Hyena
- The Man Behind the Man: Xanatos, who is (usually) the ultimate string-puller, but never actually works with the team in the field.
- For the Evulz: Jackal, Hyena, and sometimes Wolf really fall into this one.
- Heel Face Turn: Dingo, eventually. Fox's is more of a Hazy Feel Turn (she left the team to be with Xanatos - they're a lot better than they used to be, but not quite full "Faces" yet).
- Name's the Same: Xanatos pits Coyote 4.0 against Coyote the mythical Native American trickster. The latter threatens to sue for copyright infringement. (Xanatos: "Think of it as a homage.")
- Won't Work On Me: Coyote 4.0 was built with iron from the Cauldron of Life, making it immune to magic.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Wolf, Jackal, and Hyena. Of the others, Coyote doesn't have any other name, Fox had hers legally changed, and Dingo started using his real name more after he left (it's Harry Monmouth, by the way).
- Only Sane Man: Fox and Dingo, which is why the latter eventually quit (Fox basically just got a better offer).
- Punch Clock Villain: Dingo, definitely; he's just there for the paycheck, and gets increasingly disgusted with his teammates' craziness. Coyote might also count, since he's just following his programming.
- Psycho for Hire: The core Pack covers the whole spectrum; Jackal and Hyena are clearly this; Dingo is a perfectly sane mercenary and Coyote is just doing what Xanatos programmed him to; Wolf is a vicious brute who falls somewhere in between.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad
- Ridiculously Human Robot: Coyote 1.0 looks exactly like Xanatos, but later versions are rebuilt as an obviously robotic being.
- Robosexual: Hyena has the hots for Coyote. Even Jackal considers this "sicker than usual".
- Robotic Reveal: Coyote 1.0
- Sixth Ranger: Coyote
- The Sociopath: Jackal is this, per Word of God. His sister Hyena is a psychopath.
- The Starscream: Wolf seems to work fine with Fox, but he clearly doesn't like Coyote and tries several times to take leadership of the Pack from him. It never works.
- They Killed Kenny: Coyote
- Transhuman Treachery: Sort of, as the treacherous ones were the ones who chose transhumanism when offered; Dingo was uneasy with it and was the one to eventually have a Heel Face Turn.
- Two-Faced: After half of Coyote 1.0's face was torn off in the Robotic Reveal, further versions always included the split face somehow.
Tony Dracon (Richard Grieco)
A crime boss constantly harassed by the gargoyles.
- Arch Enemy: To Elisa, though he's not a serious threat to the gargoyles themselves.
- Arms Dealer
- Big Bad Wannabe: In a lot of superhero stories, a mob boss as powerful as Dracon would be bad news, but here he's thoroughly outclassed by both the gargoyles themselves and most of the other villains.
- Locked Into Strangeness / Skunk Stripe: After his initial encounter with the gargoyles.
- Smug Snake
The Archmage (David Warner)
An evil wizard seeking ultimate power, defeated by Hudson and Goliath a thousand years ago, but later comes back with a vengeance.
- A God Am I
- Ascended Extra: The Archmage was originally as just a one-shot villain for "Long Way to Morning." Greg Weisman didn't think there was that much to the character...until David Warner recorded his lines. Based on Warner's performance, Weisman saw potential to bring the Archmage back and as a greater threat.
- Card-Carrying Villain: His defining personality.
- Complete Monster
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
- Evil Mentor: To Demona in her youth. Word of God is that it was he who first gave her a taste for power, though she'd never admit it. His cruelty towards her can't have improved her attitude about humans, etiher...
- Evil Sorcerer
- The Archmage: DUH!
- Future Me Scares Me: Humorously, technically it's literally also Twenty Minutes Into the Future, too.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: He becomes a much more intimidating villain when you realize that he's Jon Irenicus.
- And Ra's al Ghul. In fact, David Warner's incredibly sinister voice acting was what got the character promoted from a minor one-shot flashback villain to Big Bad of an epic three-parter.
- Physical God: Graduates to one after absorbing the magic of the Grimorum and wielding the Eye of Odin. When he loses the Eye, on the other hand...
- Smug Snake
- Stable Time Loop: How he cheats death.
- Take Over the World: Initially, he didn't even know what to do with his newfound powers and set his sights on Scotland, until his future-self told him of the big picture.
- Took a Level in Badass: He goes from being a one-shot villain appearing in a flashback who is easily defeated by Goliath to a much more powerful force to be reckoned with.
- Unwitting Pawn: Word of God states that the Weird Sisters pretended to be The Dragon for him, when he was in fact theirs.
- Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: This occurs in "Avalon" during his big fight with Goliath, who is very outclassed:
Archmage: I could destroy you with a word.
Goliath: Then why don't you?
Archmage: Because I'm having too much fun!
- Even more glaring: he could have killed the gargoyles during daytime in their own lair in NY. He could have travel in time and learn all of his enemies' secrets and weaknesses. Instead, he give our heroes some time to prepare themselves and then got his ass kicked.
- Justified in that he was wearing the Eye of Odin, which, in addition to granting tremendous power, also makes the wearer "more like him/herself." The Archmage was already a petty, egomaniacal wizard obsessed with vengeance against all who slighted him...
- Even more glaring: he could have killed the gargoyles during daytime in their own lair in NY. He could have travel in time and learn all of his enemies' secrets and weaknesses. Instead, he give our heroes some time to prepare themselves and then got his ass kicked.
The Weird Sisters (Kath Soucie)
Three powerful Children of Oberon who interfere in the series from time to time, particularly where Demona and Macbeth are concerned, loosely adapted from the Three Witches of Macbeth as well as various Three Goddess myths. Their goals and motives are their own.
- Absolute Cleavage
- The Chessmaster
- Creepy Triplets
- Deadpan Snarker
- Dragon with an Agenda: To the Archmage during "Avalon."
- The Fair Folk
- Gambit Roulette: Their plan to use Demona, Macbeth and the Archmage to regain control of Avalon would be one, except that the Sisters seem to have some ability to see the future and therefore could predict where their pawns would end up.
- Hair Colors: The only way to tell them apart. Phoebe has Hair of Gold, Luna is a White-Haired Pretty Girl, and Seline a Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette.
- Hijacked by Ganon: The Archmage takes over their plan to re-gain Avalon and uses it for his own purpoes. Also subverted, in that by doing so he was still helping them achieve their goals anyway.
- Hive Mind: They're less three separate beings and more one being with three distinct aspects.
- Hot Witches
- Magnificent Bitches
- Physical Goddesses
- They've Got Legs
- Talking to Herself
- The Three Faces of Eve: Phoebe is Maiden, Luna is Mother, Seline is Crone—or, as Word of God describes them, Grace, Fate and Vengeance.
- Wild Card: Any time the Sisters appear, all bets are off as to whether they'll be good guys, bad guys, or observers.
Dr. Anton Sevarius (Tim Curry)
A freelance geneticist specializing in creating mutates and clones - for evil!
- Bad Bad Acting: Averted in his first appearance, but every other time he tries to fake something, it's almost painful how bad he is. And hilarious.
- Complete Monster
- Evilutionary Biologist
- For Science!: "Plus there's the money...and I do love the drama!"
- For the Evulz
- Karma Houdini
- Large Ham: Did you expect anything less from Tim Curry? In his first appearance, he intentionally played a stereotypical (and older) mad scientist as part of a ruse.
- Mad Scientist
- Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate
- Playing with Syringes
- Smug Snake
The Hunters
A family of masked vigilantes who have hunted Demona over a millennium, attacking any other gargoyle that enters their sights as well.
- Affably Evil
- Avenging the Villain: Canmore took up the Hunter's Mask to avenge Duncan.
- But for Me It Was Tuesday: For Demona, her attack on the young Gillecomgain was an entirely unremarkable incident that she doesn't remember.
- Clark Kenting: Gillecomgain's face was slashed by Demona, leaving obvious scars. Those same kind of scars are on his mask, yet no one knew he was the Hunter until his death.
- Possibly justified by the fact that Constantine invented the symbol of the Hunter, so people may have associated the red-striped black mask (or face paint) with Constantine rather than Gillecomgain.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The original Hunter, Gillecomgain, devoted his life to kill Demona because she slashed his face. The next ones just did it because she didn't get along with Duncan and Canmore. After that, it pretty much became a cycle of You Killed My Father.
- In fairness, the kind of wound the original received would have been horribly painful to recover from in that time period, especially given that Demona clawed his face downwind of stables.
- The Family That Slays Together: The Canmores became this with whole generations training for nothing but Demona's death. According to the Bad Guys comic Spin-Off, some still are.
- Fantastic Racism
- Heel Face Turn: Robyn and Jason.
- Knight Templar: To the point that they threaten to kill their own allies for simply questioning their mission. Not actively denouncing it, questioning it.
- Legacy Character
- The Real Remington Steele: The first time the Hunter was seen in modern day, it was Macbeth in disguise.
- Secret Identity
- Unknown Rival
- Van Helsing Hate Crime: Jason leads them to this when they learn of the existence of the Manhattan Clan, even going so far as to say "The only good gargoyle is a dead gargoyle."
Thailog (Keith David)
Goliath's clone, designed to combine his physical attributes with Xanatos' intelligence and ruthlessness.
- Big Bad: Word of God is that he would have likely evolved into this had the series continued. Shades of it can be seen in the comic continuation.
- The Chessmaster
- Color Coded for Your Convenience
- Complete Monster
- Did You Just Scam Xanatos?
- Evil Counterpart: To both Goliath and Xanatos.
- Evil Twin
- Genius Bruiser: As smart as Xanatos and as strong as Goliath.
- Gone Horribly Right: Xanatos wanted someone who was as powerful as Goliath but shared his own, profit-oriented, worldview. Because that couldn't possibly backfire.
- Has Three Daddies: He refers to Goliath, Sevarius and Xanatos as his "three fathers." Guess which ones he takes after the most.
- Karma Houdini: According to the comic continuation, he survived the fire in "The Reckoning" and regained control of Nightstone Unlimited.
- Word of God: "He survived. The Thailogs of the world always survive."
- Large Ham: He probably gets it from Sevarius.
- Laughably Evil: Unlike Xanatos, Thailog has no redeeming qualities, and yet still manages to be highly entertaining.
- Manipulative Bastard: With shades of Magnificence.
- Oedipus Complex
- Phlebotinum Rebel
- Sdrawkcab Name: Almost
- That Thing Is Not My Child: Inverted. Goliath is disgusted at Xanatos' use of his DNA, but admits that Thailog isn't to blame and deserves freedom. In the same amount of time, however, Thailog decides that Goliath is too soft to admire.
John Castaway
Formerly a reluctant Hunter named Jon Canmore, John Castaway later becomes convinced that the gargoyles must be destroyed and forms a new gargoyle-hunting organization called the Quarrymen.
- Affably Evil: He's quite a gentleman.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Before witnessing his older brother's apparent death at Goliath's hands, he really was the nicest of the three Canmore siblings.
- Big Bad: In The Goliath Chronicles.
- Evil Counterpart: To be precise, an evil human counterpart to the already evil Demona.
- Fantastic Racism
- General Ripper
- Ignored Epiphany
- Magnificent Bastard
- My God What Have I... What Have THEY Done?
- Token Good Teammate: He was until his total role reversal with Jason.
The Quarrymen
A KKK-esque group of gargoyle hunters formed by John Castaway.
- Card-Carrying Villain: In The Goliath Chronicles, the Quarrymen couldn't care less about public safety and were also apparently aware that the gargoyles were trying to protect people, which is odd given that when Castaway recruits them in the first episode, they are just normal, concerned citizens who genuinely believe the gargoyles are a menace to society.
- Drop the Hammer
- Faceless Goons
- Fantastic Racism
- Mooks
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Very much so in The Goliath Chronicles.
Shari
Introduced in the comic continuation, Shari is a mysterious girl with a high standing in the Illuminati. She currently aids Thailog as his assistant.
- Ambiguously Brown: By looking at her, though Word of God defines her as Arabic.
- Catch Phrase: "The story is told -- though who can say if it be true..."
- Perky Goth
- Shadow Archetype: She and Thailog are one of the Elisa/Goliath relationship, as well as of Owen and Xanatos.
- The Storyteller
- Unreliable Narrator: By her own admission; after all, "who can say if it be true"?
Others
Margot Yale & Brendan Quarters
The very cynical Assistant District Attorney and her husband.
- Fantastic Racism
- Henpecked Husband: Brendan
- Rich Bitch: Margot
- Ungrateful Bastard: Both of them to an extent, but especially Margot.
- To be fair, this was initially out of fear. However, after the gargoyles' existence is revealed, Margot embodies this trope in a far nastier way.
- Yuppie Couple: THE Yuppie Couple.
Vinnie Grigori (Jeff Bennett)
A strange man who, throughout the series, suffers various unnoticed misfortune because of the gargoyles, and eventually gets fed up.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Via retcon.
- The Chew Toy
- Cloudcuckoolander
- I Call It Vera: Mr. Carter.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: A very obvious and good imitation of John Travolta.
- Shout-Out: An imitation of Travolta with a weapon named Mr. Carter? Hmm...
- Unknown Rival
- Weapon of Choice: A large and heavy bazooka called "Mr. Carter," eventually revealed to only fire banana cream pies.
Puck (Brent Spiner)
One of the Children of Oberon described in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night's Dream," a prankster who relishes his independence.
- Becoming the Mask: He loved being Owen so much he risked defying Oberon just so he could hang out with Xanatos and Fox for a few more centuries, or at least long enough for his employers to live out their lives. Later it gets Decontructed when Oberon forces him to be Owen forever.
- Cloudcuckoolander
- The Fair Folk
- For the Lulz
Goliath: Puck! I should've known. But why this subterfuge?
Puck: Hey, I live for subterfuge!
- Great Gazoo
- Literal Genie: For fun.
- Jackass Genie: If you piss him off (ex. Demona).
- Benevolent Genie If you manage to impress him (ex. Xanatos).
- Magnificent Bastard
- Mind Screw: His Bad Future plot during the Avalon arc. Also counts as a Batman Gambit to get the Phoenix Gate. Golitah figures him out at the crucial moment. Leading to a Big No followed by "I was soooooooo close!"
- Trickster Archetype
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Preston Vogel (Peter Scolari)
Halcyon Renard's right-hand man and confidant. Smart, capable, but not all that loyal—the near-perfect employee. No blood relation to Owen Burnett.
- Expy: At first glance, he's just a Palette Swap of Owen Burnett and, indeed, when he first appeared, he was negatively received by audiences who thought the writers only knew how to write one kind of executive. Subverted in that, in-universe, it's Owen who's an Expy of Vogel.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul
- The Starscream: Unlike Owen to Xanatos, Vogel has no problem with turning on Renard when offered enough money. However, when Fox's plan to sabotage Fortress-2 threatens to kill Renard and the staff in Cyberbiotics tower, he's quick to turn back to Renard's side.
- The Stoic
- Yes-Man: Shows some signs of this. "You're a genius, sir," indeed.
Lord Oberon (Terrence Mann)
The all-powerful and rather arrogant Lord of the Third Race, likewise taken from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night's Dream."
- Deadpan Snarker
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu??: Played somewhat straight in "Ill Met by Moolight," averted in "The Gathering."
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: They do manage to do some pretty serious damage in "The Gathering" at one point by hitting him with an iron harpoon. It clearly hurts, but it also makes him really mad...
- The Fair Folk
- Graceful Loser: Surprisingly so. While he will do anything to win, if you manage to actually defeat him he will prove himself quite cordial and respectful
- Hair-Trigger Temper
- Happily Married
- Jedi Mind Trick: Oberon pulls this off, and pulls David's pistol out of his hands in almost the exact same manner in which Vader did to Han.
- Jerkass Gods
- Immortal Immaturity: Word of God has stated that he was actually the kindest and most humble of his people before banishing them from Avalon. Of course, by the time of the series, many of them learned humility. He didn't.
- Large Ham
- Physical God
- Smug Snake
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
- You Gotta Have Blue Skin
Queen Titania (Kate Mulgrew)
The wife of Oberon that divorced him and reconciled their relationship 1000 years later.
- Bare Your Midriff
- The Chessmaster
- Evil Redhead: Well, "evil" is debatable, but Antagonistic Redhead, at least.
- The Fair Folk
- Fiery Redhead
- Green Skinned Fairy Babe
- Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: To Alex.
- Happily Married
- Hartman Hips
- The High Queen
- Hot Mom: To Fox.
- Hot Witch
- Lady in Red
- Ms. Fanservice: Word of God classifies her as this, and proud enough to flaunt it off.
- She's Got Legs
- The Woman Behind the Man
- Women Are Wiser: Though, bizarrely, Oberon claims she used to be a Royal Brat, which is why he divorced her. Word of God says that she underwent a lot of Character Development in their 1,001 separation, while Oberon stayed more or less the same.
The Redemption Squad
A team made out of people who previously fought the Manhattan Clan, organized by persons unknown and led by Robyn Canmore. The stars of comic-book Spin-Off Bad Guys. The members are the Hunter (Robyn), ex-Pack member Dingo, artificial intelligence Matrix, Japanese gargoyle Yama, and the mutate Fang.
- Anti-Hero: The whole squad.
- Anti-Villain: The whole squad, with the exception of Fang.
- The Atoner: Again, all except Fang.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Robyn and Dingo. Fang lampshades it.
- Boxed Crook: Again, the whole squad.
- Dark Action Girl: Robyn
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Eventually Dingo for Robyn.
- Five-Man Band
- The Hero: Robyn
- The Lancer: Dingo
- The Smart Guy: Matrix
- The Big Guy: Yama
- The Chick: Fang (much to his chagrin)
- Heel Face Turn
- Multinational Team
- Nanomachines: Matrix
- Power Armor: Matrix
- Redemption Demotion: Matrix, who was powerful enough to almost destroy the world in its first appearance, gets this.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork