Goliath (Gargoyles)

Goliath, voiced by Keith David, is a fictional character and the primary protagonist of the Disney animated television series Gargoyles.

Character development
The Gargoyles concept began as a comedy series in the style of The Gummi Bears, although set in the modern day. When this proposal was rejected, a Disney producer Tad Stones suggested that the series be altered to include a tragic lead gargoyle, and the concept became an action-oriented series. This lead character developed into Goliath, and the rest of the series was reworked around this character.

The central character of the whole series, Goliath is the leader of the Gargoyle clan, a strong, intelligent character, with a firm sense of morality coupled with a short temper. Goliath had been named after the Biblical giant Goliath by his human protectors some time before the beginning of the series, making him the only gargoyle character to have a name before their 1000-year-long stone sleep (since Gargoyles themselves as a race never saw the point of having names). His relationship with other members of his clan, other Gargoyles such as his former life partner Demona and his evil clone Thailog as well as humans such as his current love, Elisa Maza and enemy, David Xanatos drove many stories in the series. Goliath appeared in more episodes of the series than any other character (except for the episodes "The Silver Falcon", "Kingdom" and "Pendragon"), and according to Greg Weisman was the "prism through which the universe was recreated". This is clearest during the first season, in which several episodes revolved only around Goliath and one other member of the clan ("Thrill of the Hunt" featured Goliath with Lexington, "Temptation" featured him with Brooklyn, "Deadly Force" with Broadway, and "Long Way To Morning" with Hudson).

Character biography
Goliath hatched in 938 and was the head of his clan at Scottish Castle Wyvern in 994. Like the rest of the clan he faced prejudice from the human residents of the castle; the Captain of the Guard regards Goliath as a mighty warrior, but Princess Katharine reminds him that the original Goliath was a "bully and a savage", even though the gargoyle was neither. Her father, Prince Malcolm had named him years before. In this time, he had mated with a female gargoyle that he called his "angel of the night" (later to be named Demona). During the Viking attack he was led away from the castle with his mentor (later called Hudson), on bad information that 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 the Captain and they fell to their deaths (though they were later encountered 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 using a spell from his ancient grimoire known as the Grimorum Arcanorum. The Magus mistakenly believed that Princess Katharine had been killed by the Wyvern Clan gargoyles led by Goliath, and that it was their fault. 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. The Magus could not reverse the spell himself since the Grimorum's page with the counterspell had been ripped out, and it would only break if "the castle [rose] above the clouds."

In 1994, the billionaire David Xanatos purchased the ruins of Castle Wyvern, moved the structure to Manhattan, and had it rebuilt on the roof of his skyscraper. With the castle now "above the clouds," the spell broke and the surviving gargoyles were reawakened. Initially distrustful of Xanatos's intentions, after an attack on the castle by enemies of Xanatos, Goliath agreed to work for him for a time. It was through the intervention of an NYPD detective, Elisa Maza, that he came to see Xanatos as a ruthless schemer who had manipulated him, and finally agreed to lead the clan away from their ancestral home. 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 had wiped out the clan. She was cruel and twisted, and spiteful of humans, but Goliath nevertheless held out hope for a long while that she could be redeemed. Eventually, he came to realize that this could not happen and turned his affections toward Elisa, though for longer still neither of them would acknowledge the fact. Partway through the second season, Goliath discovered that the rookery eggs from Castle Wyvern had been moved to the mythical island of Avalon, and were 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" (since Thailog was created from Goliath's DNA).

Elisa Maza
Elisa and Goliath's relationship did not start on the best terms. Elisa was unsure of whether or not to trust a mythological creature, and Goliath was still feeling betrayed by humanity. The first person who seems to notice the growing relationship between the two is Hudson after he chooses his name in "Awakening Part 3", though the two do not begin to openly trust each other until Elisa protects Goliath from being captured while he sleeps in "Awakening Part 4". The romantic aspect of their relationship is completely ignored by the two until Demona (Goliath's ex-mate) attempts to kill them for not helping her to annihilate humanity. After that, however, the two refused to acknowledge their feelings until Elisa was turned into a gargoyle by Puck's spell. Though Goliath and Elisa do have a series of moments sprinkled throughout the series, it isn't until "Hunter's Moon Part 3" that either one speaks of their feelings for one another. The relationship between Demona and Goliath, though kind in the beginning, quickly soured after Demona declared that she could not forgive humanity's transgression against their kind, though it is shown that, in truth, many of the pains she has suffered from others was due to her own cruelty and/or ignorance. She constantly finds herself jealous of his and Elisa's relationship, even going so far as to try to wish her out of existence in "The Mirror", though it backfires when, instead of killing her, Puck changes her into a gargoyle.

Other characters
As his mentor, Hudson probably knows more about Goliath than any other character and the two are constantly leaning on each other emotionally. While Hudson has some issues with admitting that he is growing old, he always finds comfort in his old pupil; the episode in which the two look into their relationship is "Long way to Morning", in which they both reminisce on the mission that led to Goliath taking over Hudson's command. Goliath, after being attacked in the episode "Upgrade", placed Brooklyn as his second in command following a mission where Brooklyn coordinated a plan to rescue Goliath and Hudson after they were captured by the upgraded Pack, creating a relationship between the two much like the one between Goliath and Hudson. Although Brooklyn, as the most temperamental of the younger trio, found it hardest to forgive humanity, this issue was tackled in "Temptation" when Demona used his remaining frustration to trick him into brainwashing Goliath, Goliath assuring Brooklyn after he was returned to normal that Demona's views was merely a half-truth that she had accepted as a whole one. As with the others in the trio, Broadway trusts Goliath completely, although Broadway generally seems to turn to Elisa for advice more than Goliath, particularly after the episode "Deadly Force" in which he shoots her in an accident. Lexington, as the most intelligent or the trio, has the same relationship as the others. While he believes he can usually take care of himself and can make proper decisions, he is proven wrong in "The Thrill of the Hunt", where Goliath explains to him that, though they do need to be careful with who they trust, they cannot hide from the world. Although Xanatos is the first human Goliath meets after awakening, the two quickly find themselves at odds with each other, Goliath furious at Xanatos's manipulation of him and the clan, and Xanatos at Goliath's refusal to help him. After Goliath and the rest of the clan help protect his son, Alexander, from his mother-in-law, Titania, in "The Gathering Part 2", they come to a slight understanding.

In other media and merchandise


Goliath is also the only player character in the 1995 video game Gargoyles.

Goliath is the one with the most variations (11) in the Kenner's line of Gargoyles of action figures. There are also PVC and vinyl figures by Applause, among many other various merchandise items. Notably, the show worked with the American Library Association and was part of a poster campaign urging youngsters to read (the Gargoyles poster had Goliath, educated leader of the clan, perched on a building ledge clutching a volume of Shakespeare). New figures were also released by Bowen Designs in 2009 and Electric Tiki / Sideshow Collectibles in 2011.