John Castaway

John Castaway

John Castaway is the chairman of the anti-gargoyle organization called the Quarrymen. He is an intelligent and charismatic hatemonger.

John Castaway was originally Jon Canmore, a Hunter and the youngest of the three Canmore siblings. He has since forsaken the mask of the Hunter for a Quarryman hood, although his Quarryman uniform does bear a unique insignia on its chest that combines the Quarryman 'Q' symbol with the three diagonal slashes representing the Hunters.

Other aliases that Castaway has assumed include Jon Carter, a reporter for WVRN.

History

Jon (age 7), with his siblings.

Jon Carter

Jon Canmore was born on November 26th, 1972. [1]

When he was a small boy, Jon Canmore accompanied his older siblings, Jason and Robyn, and father, Charles Canmore, to Paris in 1980. On the night of September 28th, he saw his father's death at Demona's hands at Notre Dame Cathedral. He and Robyn followed Jason as he pursued Demona into the Parisian catacombs, where Jon begged his sister to forget about their feud with the gargoyles. Despite his initial wishes, he nevertheless accompanied his siblings on the Hunters' self-appointed quest to destroy Demona and any other remaining gargoyles. ("Hunter's Moon" Part Three, "Estranged")

When the Hunters came to New York in October 1996, Jon took on the alias of "Jon Carter", a reporter for WVRN. In that role, he visited Castle Wyvern, ostensibly to interview Xanatos about the castle for a segment on New York's "unique skyline", but actually to search for traces of the gargoyles; he found a piece of stone skin in the courtyard during his visit. He afterwards accompanied his siblings during their battles with Goliath and his clan, although hesitantly; he felt that while Demona was indeed an enemy, the other gargoyles might not be, and that perhaps he and his family were doing the wrong thing by hunting them. However, he was a weak man at heart, and was never able to muster up enough courage to break with the Hunters' tradition, he allowed Jason to talk him down, and continued the hunt even though he knew in his heart that it was wrong. ("Hunter's Moon" Part One)

Jon Canmore masked

Jon Canmore

After the Canmores destroyed the Clock Tower, Jon was sent out on his sky-sled to shoot down any survivors before they could escape. However, when he saw the clan struggling away from the ruins, and how they were caring for their wounded (Hudson and Lexington), he could not bring himself to attack them, and let them flee. But his habit of weakness returned; when Jason and Robyn instructed him to publicly frame the gargoyles for the destruction of the clock tower in his "Jon Carter" persona, thus exposing them to the public and ensuring a city-wide gargoyle hunt, he yielded to their demands without an argument, and did it. ("Hunter's Moon" Part Two, "Hunter's Moon" Part Three)

When Goliath attacked the Hunters at the dam, Jon stayed out of the fighting, feeling uncomfortable with it but, unlike Elisa, making no effort to stop it. When Goliath sent Jason over the dam, however, Jon was horrified. Overcome with grief and guilt, he felt convinced that his sparing the gargoyles at the clock tower had brought about Jason's death, and became consumed with an almost-insane hatred for the clan, which became all the more intensified after he saw the videotape of Demona's plans to destroy humanity in "Operation Clean Slate". He pursued her to Saint Damien's Cathedral, but when Goliath's clan arrived there as well, turned on them. He and Robyn were defeated by them, however, and Goliath was about to kill him when Elisa and Jason arrived at the cathedral. Jason urged Jon to give up his hatred for the gargoyles, but Jon refused, and tried to shoot Goliath. Jason threw himself in the way and took the shot for Goliath, severing his spine. Jon, horrified at what he had done, tried to face his guilt, but was unable to do so. Crying out "What have I – what have they done?" in an echo of Demona at Castle Wyvern a thousand years before, he vowed revenge, and left the cathedral in anger. ("Hunter's Moon" Part Three)

No longer having access to the full resources of the Canmore family, Jon made contact with the Illuminati, receiving their help in his war against the gargoyles. ("Invitation Only", "Estranged") He changed his name to "John Castaway", and took command of the Quarrymen. ("Nightwatch")

Castaway in his Quarryman uniform in 1996

Castaway in his Quarryman helmet in 1997

Castaway first employed Banquo and Fleance to provide him with experienced muscle, and then recruited a number of frightened New York citizens to join him in battling the gargoyles, including Vinnie. In his first attack upon the gargoyles, he cornered Goliath and Elisa at the ruins of the Clock Tower, and came close to killing them both, but was prevented from doing so by Vinnie. Castaway escaped, however, vowing to continue the hunt. ("Nightwatch", "The Journey")

Days later, worried that the Quarrymen's reputation could be damaged for attacking a human bystander in a gargoyle costume, John Castaway ordered caution and restraint, insisting his people to be on the streets on Halloween without their hammers. ("Invitation Only")

In December 1996, Jason and Robyn discovered that Castaway was really their brother upon viewing a television commercial he appeared in advertising the Quarrymen. Robyn confronted him at the Quarryman Brownstone and attempted to talk him out of his mad course, or at least encourage him to lay low to avoid arrest. Castaway dismissed her, saying "If the Hunter's not hunting demons, I've got no time for her." ("Estranged")

In May 1997, Goliath was captured by the Gargoyle Taskforce in Central Park. The following morning, Castaway went on the news announcing how he approved of the GTF finally doing something to protect New York from what he called "invading monsters". He later sat in the gallery at the New York City Criminal Courthouse, briefly being disruptive before Judge Ian Roebling ruled to hold a hearing to not only determine Goliath's sentience, but whether or not the gargoyle was entitled to the same legal protections as any human. ("Render Unto Caesar", "Underwater")

On the first night of Goliath's Hearing, Assistant District Attorney Margot Yale called Castaway as a witness to challenge Goliath's account of how humans had nearly driven gargoyles to extinction. Before live television, he presented himself as a historical scholar, referencing the works of his ancestor, Angus Canmore. During cross-examination, Goliath's attorney, Tobe Crest, did his part to discredit Castaway as merely the leader of a hate group trying to present themselves as a reasonable organization. ("Your Witness")

Meanwhile, Dino Dracon learned about John Castaway and told Glasses how the Quaryrman chairman might be the solution to his own problem with the Manhattan Clan. What interactions the two may have had before Dino's apparent death have yet to be revealed. ("Cold Comfort")

Castaway wasted no time using the results of Goliath's hearing to spread his anti-gargoyle message. When the Gathering of the Gargoyles Guild held their first convention at the Park Manor Hotel, Castaway led a protest outside the hotel while standing on top of a police car screaming into a bullhorn. One man in the crowd, Solomon Hawke, listened to Castaway's speech and, inspired by the hateful rhetoric, he entered the hotel and attempted a mass shooting of the attendees. Hawke was subdued by Goliath and Elisa Maza. ("Questions")

On the night of Halloween 1997, Castaway changed tactic from the previous year, ordering the Quarrymen to bring their hammers during their patrols, hoping to provoke the Manhattan Clan into, according to him, "showing their true colors". He focused his forces by hosting a rally at Greenwich Village where Goliath and the rest of the clan were scheduled to appear. There, he ordered the Quarrymen to attack not only the gargoyles, but any human that chose to wear a gargoyle-themed costume, as well as any known "gargoyle-sympathizers", singling out Elisa Maza. ("Trick-Or-Treat")

Rationalizing the pending intentional onslaught as a means to recruit additional "like-minded" humans to his organization, Castaway soon caught the attention of Gnash. The young gargoyle quickly confronted the Quarrymen, after instructing his human friend Terry Chung to alert the GTF. While most of the Quarrymen ran away at the mere sight of Gnash, Bronx, and Fu-Dog, Castaway, Banquo, Fleance, Chaz, and Lou charged forward. The two gargoyle beasts overwhelmed Castaway's underlings while Gnash not only exchanged blows with Castaway, but shared with the human how "history isn't kind to the Quarrymen". Castaway soon lost all inhibition as Terry arrived with the authorities, shoving Gnash to the ground and determined to harm the young gargoyle. Before he could land the decisive blow, his arm was caught by Katana, who single-handedly brought the human to his knees. He was soon arrested by Elisa. ("Trick-Or-Treat")

Castaway will continue to pose a threat to the gargoyles in the future. By 2198, Castaway's descendants will presumably still be anti-gargoyle and connected to the Quarrymen, and also on poor terms with the Monmouths, descended from Dingo and Robyn Canmore, as a result. [2][3][4]

Characteristics

Stochastic terrorism in 1997

As John Castaway, Jon has grown a mustache and changed his hairstyle, along with altering his traditional Scottish brogue to an English accent. However, he is prone to slipping into the Scottish when he loses his temper. At heart, Jon Canmore is a weak man. While his brother, Jason, was strong in his prejudices and strong enough to change once he was proven to be wrong, Jon was a follower without the conviction to stand up, take responsibility for his life and say this was wrong. [5] When he accidentally shot and crippled his brother, he lacked the inner strength to take responsibility for his actions and instead fled, vowing vengeance after saying the familiar words "what have I... what have they done?!" just like Demona before him. Indeed, Greg Weisman has intended to build John Castaway into the anti-Demona. [6]

While a Hunter, Jon briefly used a robotic falcon.

He is clever and shrewd, taking care to order his Quarrymen to patrol unarmed when need be so as not prevent bad press for his organization. But he is also more than capable of engaging in stochastic terrorism such as when he inspired an attempted mass shooting at the Gathering of the Gargoyles Guild through nothing more than his own rhetoric reaching the right ears. But he is also capable of donning a hood or a helmet and leading his Quarrymen personally against both gargoyles and humans they consider to be species traitors.

His Quarryman uniform is similar to the rest of the Quarrymen's, but with one noticeable difference. The scars of the Hunter are emblazoned behind his Quarryman 'Q.'

Appearances

• "Hunter's Moon" Part One (First Appearance)
• "Hunter's Moon" Part Two
• "Hunter's Moon" Part Three
• "Nightwatch"
• "The Journey"
• "Invitation Only"
• "Estranged"
• "Render Unto Caesar"
• "Underwater"
• "Your Witness"
• "Cold Comfort" (Mentioned Only)
• "Questions"
• "Trick-Or-Treat"

Apocrypha

The Goliath Chronicles

John Castaway in "Angels In the Night"

At the end of "The Journey", John Castaway slips back into his natural Scottish accent as he taunted Goliath. [7] Following this last episode of The Goliath Chronicles that Greg Weisman was involved in, no connection was ever made between Castaway and Jon Canmore or the Hunters, save for an oblique reference by Goliath to "an ancient hatred". ("Angels in the Night") Apart from those two scenes, The Goliath Chronicles treated Castaway as a separate character, an industrialist who ran the Castaway Corporation.

Following the formation of the Quarrymen and the skirmish at the Clock Tower, John Castaway continued to hunt the clan and was arrested for usage of cannons in the city. ("...For it May Come True")

After making one final attempt on their lives during early 1997, Castaway was exposed for the criminal he was and arrested again. ("Angels in the Night")

In contrast to his behavior in "Invitation Only" and "Estranged", this version of the character didn't show restraint in his pursuit of the gargoyles and would risk endangering bystanders to achieve his goal.

Production Background

The royal family's family tree

Voice Actors: Scott Cleverdon, Alan Cumming, J.D. Daniels (young Jon Canmore in "Hunter's Moon" Part Three)

Jon Canmore was named after Greg Weisman's own younger brother, Jon Weisman.

The name Jon Carter may have been in reference to John Carter of Mars, the main character from the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

See Also

• Jon Weisman at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia