Demona

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Demona

Publisher	Disney
First appearance	Gargoyles 1x01
Created by	Greg Weisman

Characteristics
Species	Gargoyle
Affiliations	Wyvern Clan, Archmage, Macbeth, David Xanatos, Thailog
Notable aliases	Dominique Destine
Abilities	standard powers of a gargoyle sorcery immortality transformation into human during the day (as opposed to stone)

Demona is one of the primary antagonists of the animated television series Gargoyles. She is voiced by Marina Sirtis.

Demona was once Goliath's lover and second-in-command of the Wyvern Clan. She is consumed by a hatred of humanity, and has attempted several times to destroy it.

1 Biography
2 Trivia
3 External links

[edit] Biography

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] 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 will 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 lazer cannon. Like the rest of the clan, Demona originally had no formal name.

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, her end of the bargain, and the clan was slaughtered during daylight. Demona abandoned the castle, returning only to find the six survivors, including Goliath, under the stone sleep curse.

[edit] Thousand-year interim

Alone for several years, Demona had an encounter with a child named Gillecomgain, (based loosely on Gilla Coemgáin of Moray), scarring his face during a petty theft. Gillecomgain becomes The Hunter, a mercenary and assassin seeking revenge against her. Demona allies 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 happens 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 comes to admire Demona's combat prowess, and eventually becomes 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.

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.

[edit] 20th century

Some time before 1994, Demona allied herself with David Xanatos, gets him the Grimorum Arcanorum, and tells 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 when failing that, she tried turning them to stone at night. When magic and sorcery failed, she turned to science by hiring geneticist and villain Anton Sevarius, to help create a virus that would destroy all human life on Earth.

Demona in human form, after receiving a parting "gift" from the Puck. She gave her human self a separate alias, Dominique Destine that she uses to further her goals.

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 arranges that Demona transforms into a human during the day ("The Mirror"). The transformation is incredibly painful and it hurts Macbeth when he is 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 when she can't as a Gargoyle. She allied herself with Goliath's evil clone Thailog to first, steal Macbeth's fortune, and when failing that, creating their own version of the Manhattan Clan through cloning. Though, the ever treacherous Thailog had other plans and betrayed her.

At the end of the show's run, she was still trying to successfully execute her ultimate plan of the destruction of the human race while trying to reach out to her daughter Angela, and win her over to her cause. Her attempts to win over Angela were highlighted in a non-canonical season 3 episode as part of an elaborate plan with a character called The Assassin. When this plan backfired, she lost the complete trust of Angela, much to her regret.

Had the show continued, she would've continued on with her goals and would've eventually had an epiphany sometime before 2198.