Gargoyle (monster)

The gargoyle is a fantasy and horror monster inspired by the appearance of bestial grotesque statues in architecture – particularly those sculpted to decorate the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris during its 19th-century reconstruction, rather than actual medieval statuary.

[1] While they were believed in mythology to frighten away evil spirits, the idea of such statues physically coming to life is a more recent notion.

[1] In the novelette Conjure Wife (1943) by Fritz Leiber, a dragon sculpture is animated by a witch and sent to kill an archaeology professor.

[1] Gargoyles appear as horned canine statues in the movie Ghostbusters (1984), where they are possessed by the demonic spirits of Zuul and Vinz Klortho.

[1] The 1908 children's book Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz featured a Land of the Gargoyles, wooden creatures with hinged wings.

[1] Friendly gargoyles also appear in the Discworld universe, such as Constable Downspout in Feet of Clay (1996), and in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), as Hugo, Victor and Laverne, who embody Quasimodo's subconscious.

[8] The first season of the TV series Huntik: Secrets & Seekers features a titan known as "Gar-Ghoul" who appearance and backstory draw on the lore of gargoyles.

The first Gargoyle, Yuri Topolov, appears in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

The first Gargoyle received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #17, where his real name was revealed.

"[11] In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, a gargoyle is a grotesque winged monstrous humanoid creature, with a horned head and a stony hide.

The gargoyle was one of the first monsters introduced in the earliest edition of the game, in the Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974), where they were described as a reptilian bipedal beast, Chaotic in alignment.

[12] The kopoacinth, an aquatic version of the gargoyle, first appeared in the 1975 Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Blackmoor by Dave Arneson.

[13] The gargoyle appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977),[14] where it is described as a ferocious predator of a magical nature, found among ruins; it attacks anything it can detect.

[26] Ordinarily, gargoyles are stone statues carved into a demonic shape and imbued with life by magical means, akin to a golem.

In some D&D-related works, gargoyles and their kin (see Variants, below) are even erroneously depicted as biological creatures capable of natural reproduction.

[30] Gargoyle's Quest was warmly received by contemporary and later critics alike, and sold well enough to warrant a prequel on the NES only two years later.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dawnguard features gargoyles as monsters, summonable by the player character, or encountered in certain dungeons.