Canmore

Malcolm III in 1093

Canmore was the eldest son of Duncan, the brother of Donalbain, and the third Hunter. He was eventually crowned King of Scotland as Malcolm III.

"Macbeth has spared your life, boy – don't throw it away." - Angel to Canmore ("City of Stone" Part Three)

History

An infant Canmore held in the arms of the Weird Sister of Vengeance in 1032

Canmore was born in 1031. [1][2] In 1032, he was brought by Prince Duncan to Gillecomgain and Gruoch's wedding at Castle Moray, where Duncan showed off his firstborn son. During this time, the Weird Sisters posed as servants, and while they often attended to the young prince, Seline took a more direct interest in attending to young Canmore. After the death of Gillecomgain, as Macbeth and Gruoch were wed; Duncan vowed that there would always be a Hunter and there would always be the hunted; as he spoke, Seline cradled the child. ("City of Stone" Part Two)

A young Canmore in 1040

In 1040, Duncan and Canmore visited Castle Moray and Canmore and Luach both played together on the cliffs, which Macbeth encouraged and Duncan was suspicious of. As they prepared to leave, they came across the Weird Sisters, who had taken the forms of three old crones and prophesized that each of the four assembled would in turn be King of Scotland. While Macbeth tried to convince Duncan not to take any of that seriously, Canmore regarded Luach with just as much suspicion as Duncan did of Macbeth. After Macbeth slew Duncan and became King of Scotland, Canmore was banished to England, to be taken in by his relatives there. The young prince ran at Angel with a knife, blaming her for all of this - but the gargoyle disarmed the youth with little trouble, warning him not to throw his life away after Macbeth had spared it. But Canmore stole the mask of the Hunter from Demona's belt. He immediately sought revenge on both Macbeth and Demona for slaying his father and (as he saw it) cheating him of his inheritance. During his time in England he became a protégé to Edward the Confessor. ("City of Stone" Part Three) [3]

Canmore masked.

Canmore in 1057

In 1057, he proceeded to seek out that revenge by invading Scotland with the aid of the English, taking up the mask of the Hunter as he did. For reasons of her own, Demona decided to betray Macbeth and made an alliance with Canmore. Canmore finally defeated Macbeth at the Battle of Lunfanan thanks in part to Demona and her clan abandoning Castle Moray when it was assaulted. But Canmore betrayed Demona as well. After having the gargoyles in Demona's Clan slain, Canmore intercepted Macbeth and Gruoch in their flight from Castle Moray and stabbed Macbeth in the back while he was berating Demona for her treachery, temporarily "slaying" both of them. Learning afterwards of Luach's approach with reinforcements, Canmore retreated temporarily, but the following year, he overthrew Luach and became King of Scotland, as Malcolm III, at last. ("City of Stone" Part Four)

As the years passed, Malcolm married Ingibjorg, becoming the stepfather to her two sons Paul and Erlend Thorfinnson, and fathered three sons with her: Donnchad, Domnall and Malcolm. After Ingibjorg died, he married Margaret and fathered eight children with her: Edward, Edmund, Edelred, Edgar, Alexandair, Edith, Mary, and Dauid. He also welcomed his brother, Donalbain, in his court. As he raised his children, he told them tales of the "usurper" who "murdered Duncan with black magic" after bargaining for power with "the forces of darkness" and the "demon" summoned straight from Hell who commanded her "gargoyle familiars" and while he "dispatched the usurper" and sent the demon "straight back to Hell", he would warn his children of the demon's gargoyle minions and her inevitable return. He also bypassed his sons with Igibjorg and chose Edward to be his heir.

By 1093, he took his sons into England to do a favor for their current monarch, William Rufus, journeying into Northumbria to Bamburgh Castle to warn Robert de Mowbray that he had failed to show sufficient loyalty to the English crown. Malcolm III was there to teach Robert "a lesson" but promised to only attack local peasants "lesson learned, no real harm done". Malcolm was surprised to spot gargoyles in the distance, but Robert told the Scottish King that they kept to themselves and weren't a problem. But Robert was also plotting a scheme of his own.

Malcolm III slain by Demona.

On November 13th, Malcolm III razed a Norhumbrian village to the ground, killing all within it before turning his attention to the sleeping Northumbria Clan. He donned the mask of the Hunter and while Donalbain made a slight attempt to prevent it, the Hunter destroyed the sleeping gargoyles and made his way into the rookery to shatter the eggs inside. As the sun set, Robert de Mowbray used Malcolm's atrocities as a convenient reason to ambush him and his sons (as part of a plan to destabilize Scotland), and ambushed them during the Battle of Alnwick. Edward took an arrow meant for his father and perished while Malcolm, himself, fled. But he was soon come upon by a vengeful Demona. While Malcolm taunted her with the mask of the Hunter, Demona had no interest in a prolonged battle and simply stabbed the Hunter with her sword killing him - the only witness being Domnall.

In the aftermath of Malcolm III's death, and the death of his chosen heir, Queen Margaret died of grief and Donalbain and Donnchad both laid claim to the throne as Scotland fell into chaos. But Domnall, finding a higher calling, removed himself from the game of thrones, anglicized his name as Donald Canmore and donned the mask of the Hunter. ("Fools Rush In...")

Characteristics

The Royal Family Tree

Fergus Mór                           Monarch of: Dalriada Scotland England Norway   Hunters in Black                                                                                                                                     Kenneth mac Alpin           Donald mac Alpin                                                                           Aodh           Constantine I                             Constantine II           Donald II                             Indulf           Maol Chalvim I           Queen Katharine                   Richard of Normandy                                                                                                                                                                             Culen   Duff   Kenneth II   Prince Malcolm   Princess Elena   Mary   Aethelred the Unready   Emma of Normandy   Canute   Elfgiva                                                                                                                                                                         Constantine III   Kenneth III   Ruaidri   Maol Chalvim II   Princess Katharine   Tom (Guardian)   Edmund Ironside   Edward the Confessor   Hardicanute   Harold Harefoot                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Maíl Brigti   Bodhe   Findlaech     Doada   Olith           Bethoc             Árni Arnmódsson                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Gillecomgain     MacBodhe     Gruoch   Macbeth   Thorfinn   Ingibjorg     Duncan                       William the Conqueror                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Luach   Paul Thorfinnson   Erlend Thorfinnson       Malcolm Canmore   Margaret   Donalbain               William Rufus                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Donald Canmore   Donnchad                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Edward   Edmund   Edelred   Edgar   Alexandair   Dauid   Mary   Edith   Henry I                                                                                                           Magnus Olafsson                                                                                                                                                                   Sigurd Magnusson                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Edward I                                                   Robert the Bruce                                                                                                                                 Stuart Canmore, the Renaissance Hunter                                                                                                                                                                       James VI of Scotland I of England                                                                               Angus Canmore                                                                                                                                                           Jackson Canmore           Fiona Canmore                                           Aron Canmore                                           Charles Canmore                                                                     Jason Canmore   Robyn Canmore   John Castaway

Appearances

• "City of Stone" Part Two (First Appearance, No Lines)
• "City of Stone" Part Three
• "City of Stone" Part Four
• "Fools Rush In..."

Real World Background

Malcolm Canmore, also known as Malcolm III, is a historical figure, who ruled over Scotland from his defeat of Luach in 1058 to his death in 1093. (He was consistently called "Canmore" throughout the series to avoid confusion with Prince Malcolm; "Canmore" is Gaelic for "Great Head"). As in Gargoyles, he was Duncan's eldest son, and escaped to England in 1040 after Macbeth triumphed over Duncan. In 1054, he and his uncle, Earl Siward of Northumbria (who does not appear in Gargoyles, but does appear in William Shakespeare's Macbeth) began the war with Macbeth to win back the Scottish throne, culminating in his final victory over Macbeth in 1057 and that over Luach in 1058.

Shakespeare treats Malcolm Canmore almost with kid gloves (in part because James I of England was descended from him), portraying him as a noble prince and promising king, in a manner that most Gargoyles fans would scarcely recognize; the historical Malcolm Canmore seems to have resembled his Gargoyles counterpart much more closely. He was a strong ruler, however, and is particularly noted for having helped bring Scotland more into the mainstream of European culture. In particular, under the influence of his second wife, St. Margaret of Scotland (an English princess of the old royal family of Edward the Confessor, who fled to Scotland following William the Conqueror's takeover of England in 1066, and eventually married Malcolm), he introduced the Roman Catholic Church into Scotland, which replaced the older, more Celtic Christian practices that had prevailed there prior to his reign.

In 1093, Malcolm Canmore raided northern England, only to be killed in an ambush near Alnwick Castle by the Earl of Northumberland, Robert de Mowbray.

He is the great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Robert the Bruce. [4]

In the 1948 film version of Macbeth, Malcolm Canmore was portrayed by Roddy McDowall.

Production Background

Voice Actors: J.D. Daniels (young Canmore), Neil Dickson (adult Canmore)

See Also

• Canmore at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia