Goliath (Gargoyles)

**Goliath** was the leader of the original Wyvern Clan, and is currently the leader of the Manhattan Clan. He is a strong and intelligent warrior, with a firm sense of morality coupled with a short temper. Goliath had been named after the Biblical giant Goliath by his human protectors, making him the only gargoyle to have a name before their 1000-year-long stone sleep (since Gargoyles themselves as a race never saw the point of having names).

## Biography

In 984, Goliath was second in command to his mentor (later called Hudson). When Prince Malcolm was poisoned by the Archmage, Goliath, his mentor and his mate (later called Demona) went after the Archmage to get the Grimorum back for the cure to the Prince's poison. Goliath was able to get the Grimorum back from the Archmage, who then attacked him with a stalagmite, but the gargoyle was able to dodge and let him fall to his apparent death. After Goliath, his mentor and his mate returned and the prince was cured, his mentor, having lost the use of an eye during the altercation, decided to step down as leader of the clan and name Goliath his successor.[1]

Goliath held the position as leader of his clan at Castle Wyvern, until 994. Like the rest of the clan he faced prejudice from the human residents of the castle, and members of Wyvern's court often compared him to his biblical namesake Goliath, especially the head of the castle herself, Princess Katharine.[2] Her father, Prince Malcolm had named him years before. [3]

In this time, he had mated with a female gargoyle that he called his "angel of the night" (later known as Demona).[4] During the Viking attack he was led away from the castle with his mentor (later called Hudson), on bad information by Demona and the Castle Captain of the Guard. This information was part of a greater plot conceived by Demona and the Captain of the Guard to evict the humans and leave the castle to him and the Gargoyles. When he returned, he believed that his love had been killed with the rest of his clan, and desired vengeance. He led the five surviving clan members in a raid on the Vikings, and personally chased the Viking leader Hakon when he fled with Princess Katharine as hostage. He rescued Katharine, but Hakon himself was tackled by Wyvern's Captain of the Guard and fell to their deaths (though they later returned as ghosts).

Things were only compounded when he returned to the main group of Wyvern's refugees to discover that the five remaining members of his clan had already been turned to stone by a grief stricken Magus, who believed that they had been responsible for killing Princess Katharine. Upon realizing his mistake, he followed through with Goliath's request that he join them in stone sleep, and, along with Princess Katherine, vowed to protect the rookery eggs. Goliath and his clan was to remain in stone forever until, as the spell stipulated, "the castle rose above the clouds".

In 1994, Goliath and his clan were reawakened by billionaire David Xanatos who moved Castle Wyvern and the clan to the top of his Manhattan skyscraper, effectively breaking the spell. Initially distrustful of Xanatos's intentions, after an attack on the castle by enemies of Xanatos, he agreed to work for Xanatos for a time. It was through the intervention of an NYPD detective, Elisa Maza, that he came to see Xanatos for the ruthless individual who had manipulated him,[2] and finally agreed to lead the clan away from their ancestral home.[5]

He also encountered his former love, his "angel of the night". Now called Demona, she had also survived through to modern times, and had been partially responsible for the Viking attack that wiped out the clan. Cruel and twisted, and spiteful of humans, Goliath nevertheless held out hope that she could be redeemed for a long while. Eventually, he came to realize that this could not happen, and his affections turned instead to the human, Elisa Maza, though for longer still neither of them would acknowledge the fact.

Later, Goliath discovered that the rookery eggs from Castle Wyvern had escaped to the mythical island of Avalonand was cared for by Princess Katherine and the Magus who had vowed to protect the eggs as atonement for freezing the clan in stone. On Avalon they formed a new clan, and among them was his own daughter, Angela. He was reluctant to accept parenting responsibilities, partly because of the Gargoyle tradition that the entire clan acts as a parent rather than one particular Gargoyle acting as a parent to his/her biological offspring and partly because he knew that Angela's mother was Demona, but was eventually convinced to treat her as a daughter. She became a part of the Manhattan Clan when they finally returned from Avalon. He also has an evil clone, Thailog, whom he has grudgingly accepted as a "son".

Eventually, Goliath and Elisa would hold some sort of Commitment Ceremony (probably before 1999), and further down the road, even raise a child together, presumably by adoption. Greg Weisman confirmed at the 2004 Gathering that it is from this adopted child that Nicholas Natsilane Maza will be descended.

At some point between 2004 and 2188, Goliath would sacrifice his life for some unknown purpose. However, it is known that shortly after his death, and in no small part due to his great sacrifice, the United Nations would adopt the Gargoyle Minority Protection Act which granted gargoyles full "sentient rights", established the Gargoyle Nation and made hunting gargoyles a crime.

## Abilities

* **Strength**
* **Flight**
* **Speed**
* **Agility**

## Trivia

* According to the Bible, Goliath's name is derived from the giant named Goliath, who was the leader of the Philistines and was defeated by David's slingshot.
* He is revealed to be the maternal grandfather of Ashlyn Pitstop, revealing her gargoyle heritage on her mother's side of the family in *Awakening of the Gargoyles*.