| “ | You know what they say Owen, pay a man enough, and he'll walk barefoot into Hell. | „ |
| ~ David Xanatos to Owen Burnett. |
David Xanatos is an extremely wealthy, influential and authoritative businessman who serves as one of the main antagonists of the first two seasons of the popular Disney cartoon series Gargoyles. By Season 3, Xanatos would ultimately evolve into a less villainous character, becoming a father and husband and giving up his role as an active antagonist of the Manhattan Clan. Although it is unclear if he did fully reform or if he is simply allying himself with the Manhattan Clan for his own benefits.
He was voiced by Jonathan Frakes, who also played J'son in the Guardians of the Galaxy animated series.
History
David Xanatos (who was the founder, owner and president of the powerful Xanatos Enterprises) was a ruthless individual and master of manipulation who rarely got himself involved personally with a battle, preferring to utilize his wealth and power as weapons of their own - he also created the Steel Clan, robotic versions of the Gargoyles and he personally donned a Steel Clan robot suit on several occasions in order to make himself a physical match for Goliath and his clan.
However, Xanatos' most dangerous weapon was always his mind; he was knowledgeable in many ways and held enough influence that he could get away with his illegal dealings (though even Xanatos is not fully immune to the law as he has spent a few months in prison due to being in possession of stolen property - his sentence greatly reduced due to his network of lawyers). Throughout his career, Xanatos was aided by his henchman Owen Burnett (who is the Fay known as Puck in reality): who was willing to do anything for his superior.
Xanatos' efforts to create replacements for the gargoyles resulted in the creation of the Mutates and Thailog - however, Xanatos made a mistake in creating Thailog as the clone learnt a little too much from Xanatos, proceeding to rob him for 20 million dollars before breaking off to become a new rival.
Shortly before his marriage with Fox, David Xanatos became a member of the legendary Illuminati - though is ranked as one of the lowest.
David Xanatos' war with the gargoyles would only truly come to an end after the birth of his son, Alexander. The clan helped rescue Alexander from Oberon (though they had little success - rather the day was saved by negotiation on Goliath's behalf). Xanatos was thankful to his former enemies for saving his son, so he finally put aside his long-running rivalry with the clan and dedicated himself to helping them.
Personality
David Xanatos is an extremely practical and businesslike man who thinks of revenge as a foolish concept and concerns himself purely with increasing his current power and wealth as well as his business, with a larger goal of becoming physically immortal - he has no interest in taking over the world as he finds himself able to manipulate the current laws of society sufficiently to accomplish his tasks and in the end he could be considered a knowledgeable and intellectual businessman: however in order to have such knowledge Xanatos is willing to sacrifice such things as ethics and morality. Also, despite his polite nature, there have been a few times were he was blatantly cruel. An example would be when he mocked Dareck after the latter found out he was the cause of his mutation. There have also been a few instances where he has lost his cool. Said instances, however, are rare.
Despite his ruthless and undemonstrative personality, Xanatos is a genuinely caring and compassionate father and husband and when with his family David Xanatos is a much more sympathetic individual - at least for a little while. Furthermore, he does have a sense of honor as even in the season one finale, he agreed to fight the Gargoyles elsewhere in order to avoid damaging the city. He also helped the Clan defeat Demona after finding out her plan to destroy most humans in Manhattan if not throughout the world. His softer side is especially evident in the non-canon third season where he ends up becoming a trusted ally of the Manhattan Clan and Eliza after the world finds out that Gargoyles co-exist with humans.
Gallery
Trivia
- Xanatos' voice actor in the series, Jonathan Frakes is the same actor who also portrayed Commander William T. Riker in the Star Trek franchise (this has led to him being referred to as "Evil Riker" by fans in a recurring joke).
- During the show's development, Xanatos was originally known as Xavier and he was the descendant of the wizard that originally cursed the gargoyles to sleep for a thousand years. According to Greg Weisman, he was, "rich, powerful and petulant. Very Captain Hook." This idea of a descendant of an ancient enemy was eventually used for Wolf and Hakon in "Vendettas". The name "Xavier" was eventually dropped because of the similarity to Professor X (Charles Xavier) in Marvel Comics' X-Men. Still, Greg Weisman wanted a name with a similar sound to it. Thinking of Thanatos, the Ancient Greek God of Death, and since X and TH sounds are often interchanged, he tried the name Xanatos, which was quickly accepted by other crew members. Some time later, he checked the phone book and found that Xanatos was in fact a real name. The character's first name, David, was chosen specifically because the master gargoyle had been named Goliath, thus echoing the Biblical story of David and Goliath, but with the hero and villain roles reversed.
- Even though Demona was the main antagonist of the series, Xanatos served as The Heavy and possibly turned out to be more dangerous than her because it was his quest to awaken the gargoyles and use her that drove the plot. However, this changed when Demona proved to be far more ruthless and wicked than David ever was.
- He is the first animated character to be voiced by Jonathan Frakes.
External Links
- David Xanatos on the Gargoyles Wiki
 Villains
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Labyrinth Clan Xanatos Enterprises Children of Oberon Scotland The Hunters Other | ||
Template:THX Animation Villains