Owen Burnett

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Owen Burnett

Owen Burnett is Puck's human alias, and David Xanatos's right-hand man.

History

Puck "created" the role of Owen Burnett after discovering how Titania had taken on the role of Anastasia Renard, and becoming intrigued enough with her so doing to decide to create a human identity for himself. He therefore took on the identity of Owen Burnett, deliberately modeling this alter ego of his, in both appearance and character, after that of Preston Vogel (choosing Vogel for his "original" since he had never played a "straight man" before). Originally, Owen was an employee of Halcyon Renard at Cyberbiotics, but he quickly found Renard too "dull" for his tastes, and entered the service of David Xanatos instead, delighted and intrigued by Xanatos as a kindred spirit, a fellow trickster.

Not long after entering Xanatos’s service, Owen revealed his true identity as Puck to his new employer, and offered him a choice: a single wish from Puck, or a lifetime of service as Owen Burnett. Xanatos chose Owen’s service, much to Puck’s surprise and interest. Since then, Owen has loyally served Xanatos in the role of his Executive Assistant, carrying out his work in a very efficient and admirable fashion.

It was Owen who introduced Xanatos and Demona to each other, leading to the alliance which resulted in the re-awakening of Goliath and his clan. Throughout the period following Goliath and his clan’s awakening in New York, Owen loyally and efficiently served Xanatos’s interests, including those relating to the gargoyles.

Remaining aware of Anastasia Renard’s true identity, Owen also anticipated her plan to kidnap Alexander at birth, and set up a defence system for the Eyrie Building in case of that attempt, an attempt which was, in the end, carried out by Oberon himself. When Oberon overcame all the other obstacles in his path, Owen, who had originally hid himself out of fear of Oberon’s wrath (knowing that, as Puck, he had earned that wrath for refusing to heed the Gathering), finally realized that he would have to help the Xanatoses against Oberon, and revealed his true nature as Puck. Even he was unable to hold off Oberon for long, but Goliath at last offered a compromise solution whereby Puck would remain in the human world to tutor Alex in magic, if Oberon and Titania would relinquish their claim upon the child. Oberon agreed to this, but stripped Puck of his powers except when he was teaching or protecting Alex, trapping him on all other occasions in Owen’s form. And Puck has been trapped in the human world as Owen ever since.

At present, Owen still becomes Puck on regular occasions to teach Alex magic, and reverts to Owen after the lesson is over, even going back to the same apparent age that Owen was when Puck first "created" him. This will change dramatically in 2198, when the grown-up Alexander, now Secretary-General of the United Nations, is abducted by the Space-Spawn alongside the rest of the human and gargoyle world leaders. Owen, at that time serving as Alex’s Chief of Staff, resigns when Alex’s successor makes it clear that he is uninterested in opposing the Space-Spawn, and joins forces with Samson and his resistance movement, secretly placing the assets of the Lexington-Xanatos Corporation at their disposal. Because of Alex’s capture, however, Owen has no occasion henceforth to become Puck - it’s too late to protect him and he can’t teach him anything - and is trapped as Owen.

Characteristics

While Puck is in Owen’s form, he is unable to use any magic (other than to change himself back to Puck), and is even vulnerable to magical assault (such as Demona’s turning him to stone by night) - also, if Owen were to actually be killed, Puck would die with him. This limitation is partly due to the general limitations of a faerie in a human body, but, more significantly, also due to his deal with Xanatos. Since Xanatos chose Owen’s mundane services rather than a wish from Puck, Owen has to adhere to this, and cannot use his magical abilities as Puck to assist Xanatos in any way.

Owen’s most distinguishing feature (beyond his close resemblance of Preston Vogel, of course) is his stone hand, which became that way when he dipped it into the Cauldron of Life. Because of his aforementioned deal with Xanatos, he cannot undo that condition, so his hand remains stone permanently.

Behind the Scenes

Voice Actor: Jeff Bennett

In the Comedy Development, Owen was originally known as Mister Owen, and was a human turned into an anthromorphic aardvark, while working for Xavier.