Owen Burnett

Owen Burnett is David Xanatos' personal assistant and otherwise known as Puck. As Puck, he asked David Xanatos to choose between any wish Puck could grant or a lifetime of servitude from Owen. David Xanatos, obviously, chose the latter.

History

Some time after Oberon had expelled his kind from Avalon in order to teach them humility towards humans, Puck spotted Queen Titania in the guise of Anastasia Renard, who was a partner with her husband Halcyon. This in turn caused Puck to create a human role for himself to see what made Titania so interested in these humans. Puck modeled his alter ego Owen Burnett exactly like Renard's wooden-stiff aide Preston Vogel, with only a difference in hair, voice, and attire. Puck later grew tired of working for Renard and teamed up with Renard's daughter Janine Reynard (a.k.a. Fox) and his future son-in-law David Xanatos. Soon after, Owen revealed his true self to Xanatos and gave him a choice: 1 wish from Puck, or a lifetime of Owen's servitude. He chose Owen.

As Owen Burnett, he accompanied Xanatos to Scotland where he had acquired Castle Wyvern after learning of the Gargoyles from the Grimorum Arcanorum. Owen helped supervise the shipping of the castle to the top of Xanatos' new skyscraper known as the Eyrie Building, headquarters of Xanatos Enterprises, in an effort to undo the spell the Magus had cast. Xanatos and Owen had tricked Goliath and his clan into stealing special computer discs containing data that could activate Xanatos' Steel Clan Warriors. Eventually the Gargoyles learned the truth and Xanatos went to jail for a while, leaving Owen to watch over the castle and Xanatos' holdings until he was released.

After Xanatos was paroled, Owen continued to aid Xanatos in his schemes, one of which included using The Cauldron of Life to grant Xanatos and Fox eternal life, which would be tested on Hudson who they kidnapped and replaced with a stone replica during a mock battle with the Manhattan clan. Hudson escaped and left Owen to be the one to test it. The Cauldron's powers were unfortunately for Xanatos too literal, because as Owen stuck his fist into the water it immediately turned to stone (which would later become normal again after he transformed back from Puck after the battle with Oberon).

After David and Fox Xanatos gave birth to their son Alex, Owen pulled Xanatos aside and warned him not to leave Fox or his son alone with Anastasia (who had visited to meet her grandson) because of her true identity. During Fox's pregnancy he personally supervised massive security upgrades to the Eyrie Building in the Event that Oberon got wind of the magical heritage of young Alex. Owen also warned Xanatos of Oberon's vulnerability to iron, which he had used to make some special steel clan warriors. Owen left David and Fox to avoid a face-to-face confrontation with Oberon to keep him from taking him back to Avalon for the Gathering; but, he reluctantly came back to aid Xanatos and the recently reassembled Manhattan Clan defeat Oberon. It was then that he transformed back into Puck and told Oberon his story. At the end of the battle, Titania froze Puck, Xanatos, and Goliath to stop them from interfering with Alex's abduction. Out of desperation, Fox tapped into her dormant magical abilities and emitted an an energy blast so powerful that it actually hurt Oberon. Goliath pointed out that Alex didn't need to go to Avalon to realize his full magic potential if his own mother could tap into a woefully underdeveloped power. Goliath nominated Puck to be the tutor, Oberon agreed but also permanently banished Puck from Avalon stripping him of his all of his powers except when he's either training or protecting Alex. Although he begged Oberon to reconsider, he transformed back into Owen and agreed to remain on Earth and teach Alex.

Characteristics

Owen Burnett is a smart, well-dressed man. He strongly resembles Preston Vogel. He is a skilled practitioner of Karate, one time even beating David Xanatos in a sparring match. ("The Edge") His most distinguishing feature is his left hand, which was turned to stone in the shape of a clenched fist, and which he has used on occasion to deliver powerful punches. ("The Price") Most people consider his fist to be an eccentric prosthesis.

Although, as Puck he is a member of the Third Race, as Owen he is subject to all the usual limitations of a human. He is unable to use magic, except to change himself back into Puck, and following Oberon's edict he can now only change back to Puck when training Alexander how to use magic, or acting as a bodyguard. He is also vulnerable to magical assault (as demonstrated by Demona's turning him to stone by night). Also, if Owen were to actually be killed, Puck would die with him. These limitations are partly due to the general limitations of a Child of Oberon in a human body, but, more significantly, also due to Puck's 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. ("City of Stone", "The Gathering")

Despite this, every time Owen transforms into Puck and back again, he resets Owen's age to the age he was when he first made the deal with Xanatos. The only part of himself that does not reset completely is the stone hand. Because of the aforementioned deal with Xanatos, he cannot (or will not) undo that condition, so his hand remains stone permanently.

Notes

• Demona was already aware of Owen's true nature, presumably through her short-lived alliances with Xanatos.

• In the show's comedy development, Owen was orignally known as Mister Owen, and was a human turned into an anthropomorphic aardvark, while working for Xavier.

• The writers of Gargoyles knew that there was some secret in Owen's background, but during the first season they weren't sure what that secret was. During the production of the episode The Mirror, which introduced Puck, Greg Weisman suddenly realised that Owen and Puck had to be the same person. He immediately phoned up Lydia Marano (the writer) and Brynne Chandler (the story-editor) to tell them that "Puck is Owen!" Their response was "We know!", confirming that they were on the right track.
  • In fact the first clue that Puck and Owen were the same person was in The Mirror, when Demona commented that he "Serve[s] the human."

• Owen's surname, Burnett was a tribute to Batman the Animated Series' producer, Alan Burnett.

• Owen's hand was turn to stone in "The Price" it has retuned to flesh in "Double Jeopardy" and is stone again in "Kingdom." This may have been an oversight. 

• On his website, Greg Weisman revealed that Owen is asexual, while Puck is bisexual.[1]

Appearances

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