Cauldron of Life
Cauldron of Life - A magical cauldron, made of iron, and thus presumably created by a human wizard (and apparently one with a twisted sense of humor).
History
According to legend, it possessed the key to immortality; if a special brew (which included a piece of gargoyle stone skin in its ingredients) was made in it and someone bathed in it afterwards, that person would live "as long as the mountain stones." In fact, the brew would turn anything dipped in it into stone.
Xanatos obtained the Cauldron of Life and decided to use it as a means of becoming immortal, capturing Hudson to use both as a source for the necessary piece of stone skin, and as a guinea pig. When Hudson escaped, Owen volunteered to test it, and dipped his hand into the Cauldron's brew; his hand was promptly turned to stone. Xanatos was mildly disappointed, but out of his usual desire not to waste anything, he melted the Cauldron down and used it to create Coyote 4.0., intending to use this robot's iron composition as a means of turning it into a "faerie trap," particularly for Coyote the Trickster. This also failed in the end, however. ("The Price"; "Cloud Fathers")
Real World Background
The Cauldron of Life contains a strong echo of the various magical cauldrons of Celtic mythology. Throughout the legends of the Celts, there are stories about cauldrons with miraculous properties. One that particularly echoes the Cauldron of Life was the Cauldron of Bran the Blessed, a mythical god-king of ancient Britain; this cauldron would restore to life a dead man laid within it, although he would not be able to speak. Another (or perhaps a different version of the same cauldron) was the Cauldron of Annwn, which King Arthur, according to the Welsh poem "Preiddeu Annwn," attempted to carry away from Annwn, the Welsh Otherworld. It was rimmed with pearls and warmed by the breath of nine maidens; it bestowed great wisdom upon its user, but would not boil the food of a coward. Many Arthurian and Celtic scholars believe that such cauldrons may have helped give rise to the legends about the Holy Grail.
It is uncertain whether the Cauldron of Life in the Gargoyles Universe is to be actually equated with any of these Celtic cauldrons, but they may be based on distorted rumors about it. It is at least quite likely that they were the inspiration for the Cauldron of Life to the "Gargoyles" production team.
