Goliath (Gargoyles)
Goliath (938 - ?) was the leader of the Manhattan Clan of gargoyles. Goliath was born in AD 938 in Wyvern, Scotland. By the time he was 37 human years old (18 1/2 gargoyle years old), he had already become the mate of the female gargoyle who would become known as Demona. The two exchanged tokens- the halves of the Phoenix Gate- to seal their vows of love, pledging to be together "now and forever." Goliath found a name for his love, calling her his "Angel of the Night."
Goliath eventually became the second-in-command of the gargoyle later known as Hudson. In 984, Hudson passed leadership to Goliath following a battle with the Archmage that blinded him in one eye. Goliath made Demona his second-in-command. It was around this time that Goliath got his name, after the Philistine giant from the Bible. Between 984 and 994, Demona and Goliath had at least one egg, which was put with the other eggs in the Rookery.
He remained leader until the tragic events of 994, when he and Hudson were lured into chasing Vikings, led by Hakon, that had recently attacked Castle Wyvern. Demona and Castle Wyvern's Captain of the Guard wanted Goliath to take the entire clan to capture them, but Goliath figured he could scare them away without any help. When he and Hudson finally caught up to the Vikings, they discovered that they had only sent their horses away to lure them away from the castle. They could not get back to Castle Wyvern before sunrise... and when they got there the next night, the entire clan had been shattered while they slept in stone sleep, including (he thought) his Angel of the Night.
Goliath gathered the four other survivors (later known as Brooklyn, Broadway, Lexington and Bronx), and the six gargoyles went after the Vikings with a vengeance. Goliath confronted Hakon and the traitorous Captain of the Guard (who fell to their deaths, denying Goliath his revenge), and saved Princess Katharine. Unfortunately, when Goliath returned to the Viking camp, he discovered that the Magus, in mistaken grief, had turned his fellow gargoyles to stone, to remain so until the castle (Wyvern) rose above the clouds. After securing from the humans an oath to protect his clan's eggs, Goliath joined his fellows in what appeared to be permanent sleep.
1000 years later, industrialist David Xanatos fulfilled the terms of the spell, and moved Castle Wyvern- with all six stone gargoyles- to the top of his skyscraper, the Eyrie Building, in Manhattan, New York City. The Castle was now above the clouds, and when night fell, Goliath and his clan awoke. Meeting Xanatos, they learned 1000 years had passed, and soon battled a mercenary force raiding Castle Wyvern that supposedly stole three computer disks. The gargoyles helped Xanatos repel the invaders, and Xanatos gave his thanks- but Goliath simply stated that he would never trust humans again.
It was soon after this that NYPD detective Elisa Maza, investigating the falling rubble and weapons fire she saw and heard, came to Castle Wyvern and accidentally met with Goliath. The two became fast friends over the next few nights. Elisa even saved Goliath from a second attack by the mercenaries in Central Park (who found him thanks to a mysterious tracking device).
After awakening and returning to Castle Wyvern, and was surprised to be reunited with Demona. She insisted that they should help Xanatos retrieve the "stolen" disks from Cyberbiotics in gratitude. He agreed, and they split into three groups to do so. Goliath and Demona managed to sneak onto Cyberbiotics' Fortress 1, but Goliath soon discovered that his mate had changed, becoming cruel and destructive. Most shocking to him, she caused Fortress 1 to plummet into New York Harbor. After this, Goliath started to leave to meet Elisa again, to which Demona reacted with hostility. He realized that his Angel was not as he remembered her, and left.
When he met with Elisa, she revealed that the disks were really Cyberbiotics property, and that the tracking device was designed by one of Xanatos' robotics firms. Given the choice of trusting Elisa or Xanatos, he chose to trust Elisa. The two headed separately to Wyvern, and Elisa was proved correct- having found Goliath and the rest of the clan uncontrollable, Xanatos brought their replacements, the Steel Clan online using the stolen Cyberbiotics data. The Steel Clan attacked their flesh-and-blood counterparts, but were defeated by Goliath and the rest.
It was then that Demona revealed her true colors, and attacked Goliath when his guard was down. She revealed her role in the betrayal at Wyvern, and offered Goliath one last chance to join her in a crusade against humanity. He refused, and Demona decided that if Goliath was not her ally then he was her enemy. She would have killed Goliath had Elisa not come in at that moment and tackled her, knocking her aim off. The missile she fired hit the castle tower nearest to them, causing it to collapse and knock both Elisa and Demona off the castle walls. Goliath managed to save Elisa, but not Demona, who was rendered unable to glide by falling debris. Goliath then turned on Xanatos, but was persuaded by Elisa to turn him over to human authorities. Xanatos was arrested on charges of receiving stolen property, and Goliath and his clan were safe- for the time being.
Even with Xanatos in prison, the gargoyles still had many crises to overcome. They fought the Pack, had to deal with Elisa's shooting, stopped Tony Dracon's gun-dealing, and defeated a mind-controlling spell cast by Demona upon Goliath. During this time, Elisa tried to convince Goliath to take the clan and leave Castle Wyvern, since it was no longer a safe place for the clan to stay, but Goliath stubbornly refused. Goliath finally, grudgingly, agreed to leave following Macbeth's attack, and the clan moved to the clock tower above the [23rd Precinct] NYPD building.
The clan continued to battle evil in Manhattan, facing a freed Xanatos and his Steel Clan, Demona, and the Pack. Even during this, they still were not sure exactly what it was that they protected. The first confrontation with Coldstone, one of Goliath's rookery brothers from Castle Wyvern brought back to life as a cyborg, allowed them to determine what it was. They protected the entire island of Manhattan from all that threatened it.
Over the next several months, Goliath led the clan against returns from old foes and new threats, such as the mistakenly vengeful Talon and the mutates, the Child of Oberon Puck and the evil clone Thailog. It was during the incident with Puck that Goliath began to realize he was falling in love with Elisa. Goliath later chose Brooklyn as his second-in-command.
In 1995, Goliath, Elisa and Bronx travelled to Avalon to protect the descendants of the Wyvern Clan from the Archmage. With that battle done, they found themselves sent to various locales by Avalon itself to deal with threats across the world. With Goliath's daughter Angela along (whom he gradually began to accept as his true daughter, and not a daughter of the clan), they fought many threats, from magical creatures to rogue technology, and helped insure the rise of many new heroes. In the meantime, Goliath and Elisa grew ever closer.
In 1996, Avalon finally returned the travellers to Manhattan, and they helped save Xanatos' son from Oberon, helping end their feud. Goliath resumed leadership of the clan, and faced one of his greatest trials during the crisis around the Hunter's Moon. During it, Elisa got a new partner named Jason Conover, who had many of the traits that had attracted Elisa to Goliath. After Angela was nearly killed by the Hunters in an attack by them, Goliath swore that he would kill them for what they did. This, and the fact that it seemed he might lose Elisa to Jason Conover, made him furious. In a retaliatory attack on the Hunters' airship, he and Demona (a temporary ally), tried to kill two of the three Hunters. Unfortunately, one of the Hunters, Robyn Canmore, had planted a tracking device on them that the Hunters used to find their home- and destroy it.
To gain revenge for this, Goliath forced Lexington to help him track down the Hunters' airship, which was concealed near a dam. Broadway and Elisa came to help, but during the battle with the Hunters, both Jason Canmore/Conover and Elisa fell to their seeming deaths. Both Goliath and Jon Canmore became consumed with anger and hatred, and, in a climactic battle in St. Damien's Cathedral, Jon Canmore and Goliath faced off, and Goliath was stopped just short of killing Jon when Elisa came in, and told him that Jason Canmore, the Hunter, had saved her. He was amazed that she was alive. No longer focused on battling the Hunters, Goliath stopped Demona's genocidal plan, which involved using CV-1000 and DI-7 to create a plague that would wipe the Earth of all intelligent life save gargoyles, who were protected by a mystical statue called the Praying Gargoyle. Goliath smashed the statue, forcing Demona to abandon her 500-year-old plan. However, earlier, Jon Carter/Canmore had broadcast that the gargoyles were responsible for the clock tower's destruction, and Xanatos came and just barely saved them from the police and a bloodthirsty anti-gargoyle mob.
The clan moved back into their ancestral home, and Xanatos finally called off their feud, as part of his debt to the clan for saving his son from Oberon. On the highest tower of Wyvern, just before sunrise, Goliath and Elisa finally admitted their love for one another, and Elisa kissed him for the first time.
A little while later, Goliath and Elisa made an attempt to go on a sort of date, but their night was interrupted by a new anti-gargoyle group named the Quarrymen. They were saved by Vinnie Gregarino.
Greg Weisman's Master Plan
Goliath and Elisa would have discussed their relationship and decided to keep it platonic. In an effort to "see other people", Goliath would have gone on a double date (with Delilah as his date and Elisa dating either Jason Canmore or Morgan). The outcome would have been Goliath and Elisa realizing that they belonged together. At some point the two of them would have had a Commitment Ceremony. By 2198, Goliath is dead and his descendant Samson is leading the resistance against the Space-Spawn.
The Goliath Chronicles
Goliath and Elisa's relationship seemed to quiet down for a while, but Goliath still had many adventures, many of which involved the Quarrymen. Finally, Goliath and the rest of the clan were lured into a Quarryman trap and thought dead by the entire city, with the exception of Angela and Bronx. They were being taken to face trial on charges of terrorism committed by the clan, but the Quarrymen attacked the train that was transporting them in an attempt to destroy them. Xanatos had saved the clan, and they rescued Angela and Bronx as well as the humans on the train, much to the humans' surprise. Goliath faced down John Castaway, and defeated him for the last time. The gargoyles saved the train, and the Quarrymen were sent to jail while the gargoyles were finally accepted.
Video Game
Goliath was the defender of Castle Wyvern, who was frozen in stone for 1000 years after defeating a group of Vikings attacking with the Eye of Odin. Awakening in the present day, Goliath stopped the unleashed Eye of Odin a second time.
