Gargoyle (mythical creature)
A gargoyle is a fantasy creature that appears in numerous works of fantasy and modern popular culture . Models for these creatures are the grotesquely figured gargoyles , as they can be found above all on Gothic buildings . The name is derived from the French gargouille ( German literally "the gurgling"; symbolically "gargoyle" or "rain gutter"), was adopted into English as gargoyle ( British : [ˈɡɑːɡɔɪl] , American : [ˈɡɑɹˌɡɔɪl] ) and is in many Languages received.
In literature , films and games of the fantasy and horror genres , gargoyles usually represent statues in animal or chimeric form that are brought to life through magic or diabolical energy. But there are also fictions in which gargoyles play a friendly role. Depending on the work, gargoyles appear as individuals or as a whole species or race of monsters .
origin
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In 8th century France it was said that a dragon called Le Gargouille lived in a cave near the Seine , who instead of fire often spewed water and caused floods in the area. So people were sacrificed to him until Saint Romanus of Rouen allegedly caught the dragon, had him beheaded and the dragon's head pinned to the city wall. This legend gave rise to the custom of chiseling dragon heads in stone walls and thereby commemorating the symbolic victory of Christians over the devil in the form of the dragon. According to popular belief, the gargoyles should keep evil out of the churches (and other buildings) with their grimaces .
Gargoyles as figurative, stone gargoyles can be found on old, urban fountains and as facade decorations on Gothic churches, cathedrals and particularly neat town halls . There they have the task of directing rainwater away from the masonry so that the facades do not get dirty and the mortar is not washed out. Originally, most gargoyles were animal-shaped, but the trend soon caught on to portray them as grotesque, devil- like beings. At first they were most reminiscent of satyrs and fauns , and later bat-like wings were added to them . In fact, the first “classic” gargoyle figures come from France around 1150 AD. With the growing popularity of the Gothic architectural style, the gargoyles also established themselves as a decorative element in the rest of Europe.
Representation in modern fiction
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The creepy nature of the gargoyles found its way into the film early on. The epic film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) by Wallace Worsley from 1923 begins with a cleverly twisted up of stone gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris , between them is Quasimodo to see the faces of the Gargoyles imitates. However, these do not yet come to life there themselves.
Gargoyles as creatures or monsters brought to life have appeared in various media of the horror and fantasy genre since the 1930s. Various role constellations can be distinguished that gargoyles assume in the respective texts, films or games.
Malicious construct
One of the first literary adaptations of gargoyle figure is Clark Ashton Smith's horror story The mason and the gargoyles (The Maker of Gargoyles) 1932: A medieval stonemason fulfills two he created gargoyles unconsciously with his hate and his desire, making them come to life and haunt the city. When he tries to destroy them, the creatures also turn against their creator. In Fritz Leiber's short novel Spielball der Hexen ( Conjure Wife ; 1943, extended version 1952) the gargoyle is brought to life through conscious magic: a witch animates a dragon statue on the roof of a university building and incites it on the main character, an anthropology professor . Sidney Hayer's film Hypno ( Night of the Eagle ) from 1962 is based on this novel material , in which the statue brought to life, however, has the shape of an eagle and ultimately kills its author.
In the episode The Dæmons of the eighth season of the BBC television series Doctor Who (1971), an extraterrestrial " demon " animates a stone gargoyle using telekinesis . In Ayton Davis ' television film Gargoyles - Reign of the Gargoyles from 2007, a sculpture of the pagan god Vorthon is brought to life in the Middle Ages , but this turns against its creators and creates an army of further gargoyles itself. Centuries later, Nazi magicians awaken the petrified gargoyles to new life.
Physical shell of a demon or spirit
While the gargoyles in the aforementioned works are created as malicious entities or brought to life, in other fictions they serve as a vessel or embodiment of a spirit or a demonic force. An early example of this variant of the gargoyle material is the short story The Horn of Vapula (1932) by Lewis Spence , in which a bishop makes a pact with the devil but does not keep it and captures his family spirit in a horned, goat-like gargoyle, who afterwards roamed the surrounding countryside at night for centuries.
In the Marvel Comics (first in issue 94: The Defenders from 1981) Gargoyle is a superhero figure : A man named Isaac Christians makes a pact with demons, his spirit is transplanted into an animated gargoyle that is supposed to kidnap a superhero. However, he turns against the demon, becomes a superhero himself and joins the Defenders . In Ivan Reitman's 1984 film Ghostbusters , the demons Zuul and Vinz Clortho take the form of horned, dog-like statues that come to life, attack and take possession of people before they end up taking on their canine form again.
In other works, the boundaries between Gargoyle and man: In The Oath of lovers (Lover's Vow) , an episode of the film anthology Stories from the shadows (Tales from the Darkside) by John Harrison (1990), kills an awakened to life gargoyles to The main character's best friend, an artist, spares him on the condition that he is not allowed to talk to anyone about the existence of the monster. Shortly afterwards he meets a beautiful woman, with whom he falls in love and whom he marries. When one day he shows her a sculpture of the monster, thereby breaking his oath , it turns out that his wife is the monster herself, who has assumed human form, is now transformed back and finally kills him.
As a result, the grotesque (Grotesque) of the third season of The X-Files (1996) claims an artist, the more murders are alleged to have been possessed by a gargoyle. It is implied that the Gargoyle ghost owned not only the murdering artist, but also an FBI investigator and briefly the hero of the series, Fox Mulder .
Species of monsters
In Bill L. Norton's 1972 television film Gargoyles , gargoyles first appear as a species (rather than just an individual). They are portrayed as a race of reptilian monsters that Satan created to devastate humanity every century. In the pen and paper role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons , gargoyles have appeared as a species since the first edition in 1974. There they represent cunning, reptilian monsters with horns and claws that can only be hit with magical weapons.
Friendly gargoyles
In 1993 the animation industry first decided to make gargoyles the main characters in a series themselves. In the cartoon series Gargoyles , produced by the Walt Disney Company and broadcast from 1993 to 1997, a group of Scottish gargoyles come to life after 1000 years of sleep and have to find their way around the modern world of New York where her castle was moved. During the day they are rigid stone statues, at night they come to life and fly through the air. While the main characters of the series are more popular characters who fight against criminals, they also have a vicious opponent in Demona who is also a gargoyle.
In 1996, Disney released its well-known animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame , in which three - friendly - winged gargoyles come to life, sing, speak and stand by the title character.
The 1995 novel Wasser-Speier (Geis of the Gargoyle) from Piers Anthonys Xanth series traces the gargoyle figure back to its original connection to the element water: Gargoyle Gary acts there as the guardian spirit of a river, which he wants to clean from its pollution . Also in the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett Gargoyles have a protective task in Hollow heads (Feet of Clay) by 1996, an animated gargoyle named used, for example downpipe (downspout) as a lance corporal in the City Watch. In Katherine Kurtz 's short story The Gargoyle's Shadow (1998) and the novel Saint Patrick's Gargoyle (2001) based on it, gargoyles in the Irish capital Dublin play the role of guardian spirits of their respective churches.
In the fantasy novel trilogy Love Goes Through All Times (also the Edelstein trilogy ) by the German author Kerstin Gier , published from 2009 to 2010, the gargoyle demon Xemerius sometimes acts as an annoying, but always friendly and helpful protector of the heroine Gwendolyn Shepherd.
Board and computer games
Gargoyles have found their way into the world of board and computer games both as opposing monsters and as protectors that can be summoned . They mainly appear in role-playing games . Either they are then part of the decor or even certain traps (such as in the Diablo game series ), or they are active beings themselves. In the Heroes of Might and Magic game series , gargoyles made of obsidian or stone can be formally recruited and then controlled as the main character. The series Ultima tells of two races of Gargoyles who have to leave their world due to a catastrophe and relocate to the human world of Britannia . In the RPG game BatMUD , gargoyles are portrayed as slaves of sorcerers. Some of the gargoyles were possessed by demons and now have a will of their own. Finally, in the Dungeons & Dragons series of games , they are once again opposing monsters who, disguised as stone statues, stalk unsuspecting adventures.
Others
The fascination for gargoyles as mystical beings is also reflected in specially created websites such as Gargoyles: The Series, The Fans, And The Fan Impact . On these websites fans collect fan fiction , drawings and self-written comics . On video portals such as YouTube and TikTok , videos of alleged eyewitnesses “real gargoyle encounters” enjoy some popularity. Modern ghost trains use gargoyle figures in monstrous form as frightening figures, for example the “ ghost castle ” on the Wiener Wurstelprater .
literature
- Pamela Allardice: Myths, Gods and Fantasy: A Sourcebook . Prism Press, Bridport 1991, ISBN 9781853270529 .
- Michael Camille: The Gargoyles of Notre-Dame: Medievalism and the Monsters of Modernity . Chicago Press, Chicago 2008, ISBN 9780226092461 .
- Kenneth Hite: Gargoyle. In: Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock: The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Routledge, London 2016, ISBN 9781317044253 .
- Gary R. Varner: Gargoyles, Grotesques & Green Men: Ancient Symbolism in European and American Architecture . Lulu Press, Morrisville 2008, ISBN 9781435711426 .
Web links
- The Rise of the Gargoyles (Youtube; 90 minutes), American television film with Eric Balfour
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Pamela Allardice: Myths, Gods and Fantasy . Pp. 91-93.
- ^ A b Gary R. Varner: Gargoyles, Grotesques & Green Men. Pp. 19-22.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Kenneth Hite: Gargoyle. In: Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock: The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Pp. 248-251.
- ^ Anna Fox: Gargoyles in Gaming . In: Susan Pesznecker: Gargoyles: From the Archives of the Gray School of Wizardry . Red Wheel / Weiser, Franklin Lakes 2007, ISBN 9781601639783 , p. 104.
- ↑ Michael Camille: The Gargoyles of Notre-Dame . P. 328ff.
- ^ Sacha Szabo: Rausch und Rummel: Attractions at fairs and amusement parks. A sociological cultural history. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015, ISBN 978-3-8394-0566-6 , p. 92.