Fact: Demona is not trying to destroy humanity just because she wants to save her kind. That's the cover story and what she's convinced herself. But really, humanity is her scapegoat. She knows, deep inside, she fucked up. But she won't ever admit it.
"What have I... what have they done to you."
Myth: Demona isn't power hungry!
Fact: Actually, she is. We have seen this played out a few times. For one thing, even back in 984, she was encouraging Goliath to take control of the clan from Hudson (very Lady Macbeth). She also learned sorcery because it was a key to power.
And, of course, what she said to her younger self in "Vows" "Rule the gargoyles, rule the world." and in "Hunter's Moon:" "I will take my rightful place."
Make no mistake, when humanity is gone, she wants to be on top of the pecking order.
Myth: But what about Angela? That's proof Demona is a loving teddy bear!
Fact: Yes, she does love Angela. But does she respect Angela? I think the answer is definitely no. If anything, Angela's existence is going to be Demona's new justification for all her actions. Her new excuse. Remember, the next time they saw each other in "Hunter's Moon," she was going to commit mass genocide and she cited Angela as one of her motivations.
"The spell will protect me, my daughter and my kind from the plague."
Notice how she still put herself first.
Myth: She lives in a beautiful home called Destine Manor.
Fact: There is no Destine Manor. I don't know where that name came from, but it crops up a lot, and it's definitely not canon. And it's most definitely not a manor. It's a townhouse in Gramercy Park. Not an estate!
Myth: Demona's pissed off because she's horny.
Fact: This justification is beyond brain dead.
Myth: You're just locked into a two-dimensional view of things? Why can't a hug from Angela, or interacting with humans change her?
Fact: Re-read all of the above. She is a very three dimensional character, and that's why I love her. But her shade of gray is very, very dark.
Myth: But she is an anti-villain! Maybe even an anti-hero, not a true villain!
Fact: Demona is actually not an example of the anti-villain trope, but a big point is made about how she thinks she's a clear-cut well-intentioned extremist, when she isn't. It's like we've got this rather juvenile concept, that just because a character doesn't sit atop a throne of skulls or occasionally shows genuine human emotion now and then they can't be "really bad." The truth of the matter is that Hitler really did love kids.
As I've said before, Demona is not Magneto. Magneto is what Demona thinks she is.
ReplyDeleteShe is not Magneto with boobs. Hell, she's not even Mystique!
Delete"Fact: Demona is not trying to destroy humanity just because she wants to save her kind. That's the cover story and what she's convinced herself. But really, humanity is her scapegoat. She knows, deep inside, she fucked up. But she won't ever admit it."
ReplyDeleteTo back this up, she willingly endangered the entire gargoyle race, and her daughter to cover her escape in Hunter's Moon, Part 3.
Maybe she knew Goliath would catch the vial, but it was a big gamble nonetheless.
You can't ever "know" these things.
DeleteI think that on one level, Demona was fairly confident that Goliath (or one of the gargs) would catch it. But I also think on some level, Demona's action was nihilistic. If the vial broke, so be it.
http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=1766
Blast my soul...shouldn't her actions be excused since she lived a 1,000 years and saw every injustice? It's easy for Goliath to take the high moral ground. He didn't have to live through a 1,000 years of loneliness.
ReplyDeleteANON> I can sum up my counter-argument in one word: Macbeth. He suffered just as much as Demona, saw his family and friend's wiped out by another's treachery, endured a thousand years of loneliness and probably saw as much injustice and in humanity.
ReplyDeleteAnd while Macbeth has done some darn morally dubious things during the course of the series, he never sank the sheer depths of depravity Demona has. Contrast his refusal to attack the Gargoyles while they slept with Demona's gleefully slaughtering petrified humans in "City of Stone",
Algernon> At least Macbeth was able to engage humanity and have companionship. He hasn't had sexual frustration like Demona did.
ReplyDeleteANON> So it's okay for Catholic priests to molest kids? They're full of sexual frustration since they are not allowed to marry or engage in "sins of the flesh."
ReplyDeleteA horny teenager who isn't getting laid is allowed to shoot up his High School prom?
But have they (the priests)gone through it for 1,000 years? No. There's no one else in the show who has been subjected to what Demona has. Macbeth was at least able to engage with humanity. And the sexual frustration excuse came from Greg Weisman.
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't an "excuse," that was one of many reasons for her disposition. And it certainly wasn't a justification.
ReplyDeleteInteresting analysis. I have never seen something like this broken down in such a way.
ReplyDeleteWould Demona fit the definition of "criminally insane?"
ReplyDelete"Demona's pissed off because she's horny."
ReplyDeleteI think this is true. She does what she does for more than one reason, and the horniness surely isn't one of the bigger reasons. But I'm sure it still contributes. I doubt very many Demona apologists or Demona revisionists or whatever you want to call them chalk up ALL of her evil to sexual frustration, even if it is something that they mention as a contributing factor.
RICHARD> Not at all. Why? Because while she is messed up, deep inside she knows what she is doing is wrong.
ReplyDeleteANON> Yeah, it is true. But like you said, that's only one contributing factor. Even Weisman said so... but it's one factor of many. I was addressing the people who use it as a justification, not a factor.
You should do a blog post about how to talk to Griffith revisionists next, heh.
ReplyDeleteThere are Griffith revisionists? Oy, I think I'm going to be sick...
ReplyDeleteWhat is there to be revisionist about D.W. Griffith?
ReplyDeleteRICHARD> Who said we're talking about D.W. Griffith?
ReplyDeleteANON> I'll take a shot.
ReplyDelete.
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How To Talk To a Griffith Revisionist (If you must).
WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!
Oh, Griffith is an anime character. My bad.
ReplyDeleteANON> Demona's past makes her sympathetic to a degree, but doesn't/shouldn't absolve her of the actions committed by her.
ReplyDeleteEspecially since she suggested the plan that lead to the Wyvern Massacre, and her unwillingness to take responsibility was the beginning of a series of event that lead to her 1,000 years of suffering.
So yeah, at times a good portion of suffering was self inflicted.
I think isolation, more than "sexual frustration" specifically, is a significant factor as well. We've seen what isolation does to humans (it's a form of torture) and we can gather that gargoyles are possibly even more social creatures than humans - In the Bad Guy's comic, Robyn points out to Yama that aside from one exception - Demona - gargoyles never choose to live alone, and banishment is the worst form of punishment. But Demona, partly thru events she caused, and partly just because humans actually have been slaying gargoyles clans all on their own - has spent probably a huge chunk of her existence alone. No wonder she's so farked up. Even her desperate attempts to create new clans for herself are farked up, but the loneliness, IMO, is a huge contributing factor for her state.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt. Being lonely was is a huge contributing factor. Don't get me wrong, I understand Demona, I sympathize with Demona, I even empathize with her. But I cannot and will not justify her.
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