Macbeth

Macbeth

Macbeth - A bygone King of Scotland from 1040 to 1057.

History

Macbeth was born in the year 1005, as the son of Findlaech, High Steward of Moray, by a daughter of Maol Chalvim II of Scotland. This made him of royal birth, with connections to the throne strong enough to disturb his cousin, Prince Duncan. In 1020, Duncan decided to remedy this by sending Gillecomgain the Hunter to Castle Moray to assassinate both Findlaech and Macbeth.

However, Macbeth had been recently brought to the Weird Sisters’ attention by the Archmage, with instructions to watch over both him and Demona. The Sisters thereby arranged for Demona to come to Castle Moray and save Macbeth’s life from Gillecomgain, although Findlaech was slain, thus beginning their alliance. Duncan awarded the title of High Steward of Moray to Gillecomgain, dispossessing Macbeth (who, without his father’s patronage, no longer seemed a threat to him).

In 1032, Duncan, having decided that Macbeth was still a threat to his claim to the throne (and that of his new-born son Canmore) ordered Gillecomgain to assassinate Macbeth as well. When Gillecomgain refused, Duncan told Macbeth that Gillecomgain was Findlaech’s murderer, which motivated Macbeth to move against Gillecomgain at once. (It helped also that Gillecomgain had taken to wife Macbeth’s love, Gruoch). The Weird Sisters arranged for Macbeth and Demona to fight against Gillecomgain together and defeat him. After Gillecomgain’s death, Macbeth became High Steward of Moray and married Gruoch. He also became father to Gruoch’s son Luach, although it remains uncertain as to whether Luach’s father was Gillecomgain or Macbeth.

35 year old Macbeth

In 1040, the Sisters intervened in Macbeth’s life again, prophesying before Duncan that Macbeth would someday become King of Scotland. Duncan, his suspicions reawakened, moved against Macbeth at once. Macbeth’s own forces were outnumbered, and so in desperation, he sought help from Demona, who was herself being attacked by Duncan and his followers. Demona was initially reluctant to remain Macbeth’s ally, until the Weird Sisters stepped in and offered to rejuvenate Demona if she would accede. They transferred Macbeth’s youth to her, with his consent, and in the process, magically bound the two of them together for the rest of their lives. With the aid of Demona's Clan, Macbeth overthrew and slew Duncan in battle, and was crowned High King of Scotland. He promptly made peace with the gargoyles, and appointed Demona his primary advisor.

King Macbeth declares a golden age between humans and gargoyles

For seventeen years, Macbeth ruled Scotland in peace, and both humans and gargoyles thrived under him. But in 1057, Duncan’s son Canmore made common cause with the English, and invaded Scotland to regain his father’s throne. When Macbeth’s father-in-law Bodhe urged Macbeth to cast off his alliance with Demona in order to remove the English’s supposed reason for invading Scotland, Macbeth listened patiently; when Luach protested his father’s willingness to hear Bodhe’s words, Macbeth replied that "a wise king considers his options, and then decides". Unfortunately, Demona, eavesdropping, interpreted Macbeth’s response as a sign that he was planning to betray her, and so deserted him in anger. Thanks to the desertion of Demona and her clan, Canmore was able to easily sack Castle Moray. When Macbeth and Gruoch escaped the castle, Canmore and Demona both confronted them; while Macbeth angrily berated Demona for betraying him, Canmore stabbed him in the back. Both Macbeth and Demona were temporarily slain, and Gruoch, Luach, and Bodhe all believed Macbeth to be genuinely dead. Bodhe declared Luach the new King of Scotland, and the two men left to continue the war against Canmore, leaving Gruoch alone with her husband.

The Weird Sisters awakened Macbeth and Demona, and told them the terms of their link to each other, revealing that they were now immortal unless and until one slew the other. Macbeth wished to continue the fight against Canmore, but Gruoch persuaded him that his return from the dead would appear to verify Canmore’s accusations that Macbeth was involved in sorcery, and urged him to leave Scotland, for Luach’s sake. Macbeth sadly parted from her, never to meet her again, and began the life of a lonely wanderer.

Over the centuries he pursued Demona, first to gain revenge upon her, but increasingly to find release for himself from his unwanted immortality. Macbeth has grown weary of his long life, and he knows that the only way for it to end is for he to slay Demona - or she to slay him. They have encountered each other many times over the centuries, but never managed to bring their feud as yet to a definite close.

Around 1606, Macbeth’s life-story became the subject, in a highly distorted form, of William Shakespeare’s tragedy "Macbeth", which has since become regarded as one of his greatest plays. Macbeth, who knew Shakespeare well - though did not reveal his true identity to him - was amused rather than offended by the play.

By the 1990’s, Macbeth had taken on the alias of Lennox Macduff, a medieval scholar. When he learned about Goliath and his clan, he came to New York and offered to remove them from Castle Wyvern for Xanatos; his hope was that Demona would come to their rescue and give him the opportunity for a final encounter. He was disappointed to discover from Goliath that Demona had become the clan’s enemy and was uninterested in rescuing them; in the battle with Goliath, Macbeth’s New York mansion was burned down, but Macbeth escaped.

Not long afterwards, Macbeth stole the Scrolls of Merlin when they were brought to New York, presumably hoping to use their magic against Demona. When he discovered that they contained Merlin’s memoirs rather than his magical secrets, however, he let the gargoyles take them back.

Macbeth finally had his longed-for encounter with Demona not long afterwards, when she placed her "stone by night" curse upon New York. Before the two of them could fight each other to the death, however, the Weird Sisters intervened, persuading the two (with some help from Goliath) not to slay each other.

Afterwards, the Sisters whisked Macbeth and Demona away, placing them under their control and having them steal the Grimorum Arcanorum, Eye of Odin, and Phoenix Gate from the clock tower, so that they could give these to the Archmage.

File:MacbethParis.JPG

Macbeth in Paris

Keeping Demona and Macbeth under their control, the Sisters made them attack the gargoyles upon Avalon, but King Arthur defeated Macbeth in single combat. Goliath forced the Weird Sisters to release Demona and Macbeth from their control afterwards, and then sent them away from Avalon. Avalon sent them both to Paris, where Demona and Thailog together tricked Macbeth, under the alias Lennox Macbeth into marrying Demona in her human form as Dominique Destine. They had different motives for this; Demona hoped to gain Macbeth’s fortune and add it to her own, while Thailog hoped to trick Demona and Macbeth into killing each other so that he could gain all their wealth. However, Goliath and his companions thwarted this scheme when Avalon sent them to Paris.

Macbeth returned to New York afterwards, where he soon learned about King Arthur’s quest for Excalibur, and decided to claim the magic sword for himself. In the end, however, it was Arthur who recovered Excalibur. The Once and Future King held no grudge against Macbeth, however, and offered to take him into his service. Macbeth was too independent to become one of Arthur’s followers, but was willing to act as an ally to him instead.

When the gargoyles were revealed to the world, Macbeth appeared on "Nightwatch" in his Lennox Macduff role, and supported the clan, urging the humans of New York to make peace with the gargoyles and debating vehemently against Margot Yale, who wanted them locked up.

Macbeth is also the author of "Gargoyles In Celtic Legend"

Characteristics

Macbeth is comfortably wealthy, although no match for Xanatos. He has at least two mansions, one in New York and another in Paris on the Left Bank. He also has access to a great deal of high-tech equipment and has even studied a fair amount of magic over the years. For a while he had the service of two mercenaries, named Banquo and Fleance, who even know his true identity; they have currently left him to serve Castaway instead, however.

Macbeth has a sense of honor of a sort. He will not attack the gargoyles while they are trapped in their stone sleep, but will readily battle them while they are awake. He has no grudge against Goliath and his clan, but if they cross his path, won’t hesitate to battle them. But he is aware of their true nature, and will not support anti-gargoyle activity of the Quarrymen variety (as his appearance on "Nightwatch" made clear). He may even be an ally of a sort to them, although in the end, he acts on his own most of the time. The truth of the matter is, he is simply tired of living for so long, and yearns for release from his undesired immortality. Or so he believes; recent developments have made it possible that he can find some way of recovering a sense of joy in life.

By 2198, Macbeth will still be alive, but retired from the world for a time; he will not immediately involve himself in the events of that period following the Space-Spawn invasion.

Real-World Background

Macbeth and Banquo meeting the Weird Sisters, by Théodore Chassériau.

Macbeth was a real King of Scotland between 1040 and 1057, whose life happened pretty much the way that it did in "Gargoyles", minus his involvement with Demona and her clan, of course. Contrary to the popular picture of him painted by William Shakespeare, Macbeth was actually a good king rather than a tyrant; he was noted not only for wise government, but also for making a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050 upon which occasion he distributed much largesse to the poor. His dealings with the Weird Sisters are traditional legend, first appearing in Holinshed’s "Chronicles", Shakespeare’s leading source for his play.

The blackening of Macbeth’s character and reign in Shakespeare seems to have originated from two reasons. First, the "history is written by the winners" principle; Malcolm Canmore had overthrown Macbeth in 1057, and he and his descendants ruled Scotland thereafter, and, after James VI’s accession to the English throne in 1603 as James I, England as well. With James I as his king, Shakespeare obviously had to slant his story as much in favor of Duncan and Canmore and against Macbeth as possible. (Alongside this factor was the fact that James and his Stuart ancestors believed themselves to be descended from the mythical thane Banquo, who was said to have been murdered by Macbeth; in fact, Banquo seems to be pure legend and not historical at all). Second, Shakespeare also seems to have wanted to write a play about the horror that comes from achieving one’s goals through evil means, and darkened Macbeth even more accordingly.

Interestingly enough, "Macbeth" in Gaelic means "Son of Life", a very appropriate name for the Macbeth of "Gargoyles".

Production Background

Voice Actor: John Rhys-Davies