Demona

Demona is a fictional character in the animated television series Gargoyles, voiced by Marina Sirtis. One of the primary antagonists in the series, Demona was once Goliath's lover and part of the Gargoyle Clan. She is consumed by a hatred of humanity, and has attempted several times to destroy it.

10th century
Demona was a member of the Gargoyle clan at Castle Wyvern, Goliath's mate and second-in-command. Like the rest of the clan, Demona originally had no formal name (though Goliath frequently referred to her as his "Angel of the Night".) The two mated and eventually had a daughter, Angela, that would join the Manhattan Clan 1000 years into the future.

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. When Goliath returned with Hudson and was devastated by the murder of his clan - which believed included his lover - Demona abandoned the castle with the intent of coming back once he had calmed down, returning only to find the six survivors, including Goliath, under the stone sleep curse. This broke her heart, beginning the downward spiral in Demona's life of loneliness and pain.

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. Gathering together what Gargoyles she can find to form her own clan, 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. The two become fast friends, and it appears that Demona's life may turn around for the better.

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. According to Greg Weisman: In 1920, Demona would encounter a hunter, Fiona Canmore in Paris, France. This event would have been seen in the unfinished Team Atlantis series. 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, 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's 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 having Puck destroy them (which failed: He impishly "destroyed" the humans by turning them into gargoyles), and then used magic to turn them into stone during the night, allowing her to go on a vicious murder spree. 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 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 had wanted to be a gargoyle during the day, not a human- 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, leaving her for dead after a fight with the Manhattan Clan. She was later revealed to be alive.

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.

Demona was last seen on Halloween in St Damien's Cathedral recovering the crystal ruins of the Praying Gargoyle.

Characteristics
At present, Demona continues to bitterly hate humans, and wants the entire species destroyed. But she hates some humans more than others, and especially Elisa Maza. She is vaguely aware of the detective's feelings for Goliath and his for her, and is utterly jealous (deep down, she loves the Goliath of her imagination, but the real thing is a disappointment to her).

Besides, Elisa simply does not live up to Demona's beliefs about humans all being evil, traitorous, and hostile towards gargoyles, and that worries her even more. She also has strong hatreds for the Canmore Hunters, who have hounded her so often, and Macbeth, whom she still blames for the destruction of her clan in 1057. The one general exception to hatred in her heart at present is Angela, whom she has strong feelings for, but which as yet have not been enough to turn her from her path.

Demona's hatred of humanity is still fueled in part by her repressed guilt. She knows deep down inside that she is responsible in part for the Wyvern Massacre, but is unwilling to consciously admit it, and perforce makes the human race her scapegoat, to avoid facing the blood on her hands. She also continues to have a strong craving for power, hoping that when she destroys humanity and gargoyles subsequently rule the world, she will rule over them.

Demona is currently immortal and unaging thanks to the spell that the Weird Sisters placed upon her in 1040. This spell also ensures that she can only die if she kills Macbeth or he kills her. Demona can still be temporarily killed, or wounded, however. If Macbeth is close enough at the time that such an event happens, he will feel her pain - and vice versa, thanks to the magical link between them. The same may also apply to feelings of pleasure.

At present, Demona turns into a human during the daytime thanks to a magical gift that Puck bestowed upon her, taking on human form at dawn and reverting back to a gargoyle at sunset. The process is very painful, and Demona's one consolation for this is that if Macbeth is close enough, he can share her pain. Her human alias, at present, is Dominique Destine, the CEO of Nightstone Unlimited. Demona will still have this feature by 2198, although her human alias by that period is unknown to us as yet.

Demona is a cunning and resourceful opponent, and a good fighter. However, her anger and hatred have a tendency to interfere with her plans; she will in the heat of battle make the mistake of using her laser cannon as a club rather than firing it, for example, and she will often alienate her allies or betray them, thus losing their assistance permanently. This has, fortunately, resulted in Demona's efforts to destroy humanity all failing.

Physically, Demona is an attractive female gargoyle with a shock of red hair and pale blue skin. She is usually armed with a mace or a laser cannon. Her human form is that of an attractive red-haired woman, with a striking resemblance to her gargoyle form (close enough, in fact, that the muscular structure of her human head and her gargoyle head, according to a computer program of Robyn Canmore's, are virtually identical).

Demona currently resides alone in a mansion in Gramercy Park, with appropriate decorations such as a door-knocker shaped like a demon's head.

Powers and abilities
Demona had secretly studied with the Archmage and had developed an aptitude in sorcery. She also possesses excellent combat skills with a variety of weapons, most notably a laser cannon.