- “If you are not my ally, then you are my enemy.”
- ―Demona
Demona is the primary antagonist of Disney's Gargoyles. The former mate of Goliath who distrusted humans, she ended up turning her frustrations into an outright hatred and she now desires to kill them all in response to the way humankind has mistreated their kind over the ages.
Background
Personality
Demona was originally very kind and caring for her clan, much like her daughter though she did hold disdain against humans for their mistreatment of her kind. However, after her plan to free her clan from human servitude backfired, she became bitter and hateful, misplacing her own guilt onto humans in general, blaming them for her sins rather than admitting what her own actions had caused. She forged an unlikely pact with Macbeth to become his advisor in exchange for his youth. However, she turned on him after getting suspicious that he might betray her, only for her actions to again cost her a clan and worse yet her own mortality as she was irrevocably bound to him, making them both immortal unless one of them kills the other. She is not above using ancient sorcery to assist Xanatos in mutual goals. However, she does retain a soft spot for her daughter, Angela, and tries unsuccessfully to win her over to her side.
Physical appearance
Demona has blue skin, her wings sporting a darker blue exterior and purple interior, and spiky, red hair. As a gargoyle, she wears a golden tiara and armband on her left upper arm and a leg band on her lower leg. For clothing, she wears a white loincloth with a matching single strap top.
Demona was granted a "gift" by Puck that allowed her to walk around in daylight without turning to stone, but at a price. While a gargoyle at night, she'd transform into a human by day, and the transformation is very painful. Though initially furious at Puck's trick, she realized the advantages of her human form, as she later took up the alias of Dominique Destine.
As a human, she retains her red hair, has green eyes and is quite beautiful. While running Nightstone Unlimited, she wears a red business suit designed for a woman: a jacket, matching skirt, and pumps and a white shirt under her suit. Due to transforming into her gargoyle form while still wearing her human clothing, Demona has to repeatedly replace them, as they get shredded in the process.
Powers and abilities
Gargoyle Physiology: Demona holds the inherit physical abilities of a gargoyle: super-strength, durability, gliding, prolonged youth, etc. But that pales in comparison to her true strengths.
Sorcery: Demona was secretly tutored by the Archmage, becoming a capable and dangerous sorceress, which enabled her to utilize almost any magical artifact she could get her claws on, such as the Grimorum Arcanorum or Titania's Mirror.
Technology Adept: Demona would also develop a fine understanding and use of science and technology in the 20th century, using high-tech equipment and weaponry where sorcery failed, one of her favorite weapons being a laser cannon. She was also able to combine Sorcery and Science to produce more powerful means of reaching her goals, such as Coldstone and a virus that would kill all of humanity while the Gargoyles survived thanks to an artifact called the "praying gargoyle".
Human Form: After Puck "thanked" Demona for an interesting pasttime, she gained the power to become a Human during daylight, although the transformation is quick, it is also very painful. Being the ever-deceitful demon she is, Demona used her human form to create an alias, Dominque Destine, to become the CEO of her own company, Nightstone Unlimited, providing Demona with several advantages her gargoyle form could not give her.
Immortality: As part of the pact she entered with MacBeth when meeting the Weird Sisters, Demona not only gained her prime body but became immortal and eternal; she also doesn't age and will soon revive if she is killed. The only way for Demona to die permanently is if Macbeth kills her or if she kills him. Since the spell linked them both together, both feel each others pain when close, and both of them will die if one kills the other.
Manipulation: Probably Demona's most dangerous weapon is her mind, as she can fabricate ingenious plans, back-up plans, all deceitful and self-serving, and she is also a skilled manipulator, having fooled and used Xanatos, Macbeth, Brooklyn, her own daughter Angela, Goliath, and more.
History
10th century
Demona was a member of the Gargoyle clan at Castle Wyvern, Goliath's mate and second-in-command. The two mated and would eventually have a daughter, Angela, that would join the Manhattan Clan 1000 years into the future. Prior to that, she had secretly studied with the Archmage and had developed an aptitude in sorcery. Demona also possesses excellent combat skills with a variety of weapons, most notably a laser cannon. Like the rest of the clan, Demona originally had no formal name, though Goliath frequently referred to her as his "Angel of the Night".
Resentful of human prejudice toward her clan, Demona conspired with the Captain of the Guard to betray the humans inhabiting Castle Wyvern to the Vikings; Demona failed to get the gargoyles away from the castle, however, as it was her end of the bargain, and the clan was slaughtered during the daylight hours. Demona abandoned the castle, returning only to find the six survivors, including Goliath, under the stone sleep curse.
Thousand-year interim
Alone for several years, Demona had an encounter with a child named Gillecomgain, scarring his face during a petty theft. Gillecomgain became the Hunter, a mercenary and assassin seeking revenge against her. Demona allied herself with a young Macbeth to kill Gillecomgain.
Later, an elderly Demona enters into a bargain with Macbeth; Macbeth entered it to protect his kingdom from his cousin Duncan I of Scotland, while Demona wanted her youth back so she can lead the last of her kind. The pact is facilitated by the Weird Sisters, with several side effects: pain felt by one is shared with the other when in close proximity, and both are immortal until one kills the other. Little did they realize that they were becoming pawns as part of a greater plot by the Weird Sisters and the evil Archmage from Castle Wyvern to take over the mystical island of Avalon. When this actually happened 1000 years into the future, they were put into a trance by the sisters and used as extra reinforcements as part of their Avalon takeover bid. When the Archmage and the Sisters were defeated, they were sent back to Earth with no recollection of this event.
Macbeth himself soon came to admire Demona's combat prowess, and eventually became heavily dependent on Demona's clan for support in the war with Duncan's forces. In the final battle with Duncan, Demona's devastating attacks so impress Macbeth, he exclaimed "You fight like a demon!" After becoming king, Macbeth calls her "Demona" (She-Demon) for the first time, a name she finds very pleasing, and simultaneously declares her as his primary adviser. The two became fast friends.
Eventually, Demona's trust in Macbeth evaporates after overhearing Macbeth considering on betraying her to win the support of the English. Fearing that this would come to pass, she abandons his forces to Duncan's son Canmore and the English armies. Canmore, in turn, betrays her, killing the last of her clan.
Demona would not enter into another alliance with a human for almost a thousand years. During the intervening time, she amasses a substantial fortune, while plotting her revenge on humanity; all the while being hunted by Canmore's descendants, who take up the mask of the Hunter. One hunter attacked her in Florence in 1495. She encounters, and kills another hunter named Charles Canmore in Paris in 1980.
20th century
Some time before 1994, Demona allied herself with David Xanatos, got him the Grimorum Arcanorum, and told him about the spell put upon the Gargoyles at Castle Wyvern. This leads Xanatos to bringing the castle to Manhattan and waking up Goliath and the rest of the clan. Despite her and Xanatos' efforts to manipulate them, the clan refused to join her vendetta and actively opposes her. She later assisted Xanatos in resurrecting one of the dead Gargoyles from Wyvern, Coldstone, attempted to murder Elisa Maza, and also tried to exterminate humanity on numerous occasions; first by turning New York City's human population into Gargoyles, and then try to turn them to stone at night. When magic and sorcery failed, she turned to science by hiring the villainous geneticist Dr. Anton Sevarius, to help create a virus that would destroy all human life on Earth. Demona is also granted a "gift" by the magical being, Puck: after requesting that he make her able to walk in daylight without turning to stone, he grants her wish, but at a price. While a gargoyle at night, during the day, Demona would become the very thing she despised: a human. The transformation is incredibly painful and it hurt Macbeth when he was in proximity as part of their binding spell. Though initially furious at Puck's trick, she realized the positive uses of her human form as she later took up the alias of Dominique Destine. Using the immense fortune and resources that she acquired over the years, she formed a company called Nightstone Unlimited and became its CEO. She uses the company to further her goals where she couldn't as a Gargoyle. She allied herself with Goliath's evil clone Thailog to first steal Macbeth's fortune and, when failing that, create their own version of the Manhattan Clan through cloning. The ever-treacherous Thailog had other plans, however, and betrayed her.
Trivia
- Demona is one of several characters played by a Star Trek cast member. In this case, Marina Sirtis, who portrayed Deanna Troi.
- She was originally going to be the leader of a gargoyle clan.
- Demona's DNA was used by Thailog to create the clone/hybrid, Delilah.
Gallery
External links
- Demonaat GargWiki
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