Character Development
The character of a strong, female human lead was a part of the Gargoyles universe's conception since the development of Goliath as the gargoyle protagonist. Much as Xanatos began as a descendant or reincarnation of the prototypical Avalon Clan, Magus or Archmage character, Elisa was originally conceived as the reincarnation of the character that would later become Avalon Clan, Princess Katharine. This idea did not last, but the character endured as a potential love interest and equal for Goliath. Elisa had originally been designed as a Hispanic woman with the surname of Chavez. When Salli Richardson was cast as Elisa's voice actor, the character's race and ethnicity was adapted to match hers. Elisa became half-African American and half-Native American, which suited the show's allegory of human intolerance for gargoyles representing racial prejudice. Her last name was changed to Maza, which the creators believed to be a Sioux word for "iron", and which suited the character's strong will. The name Chavez was later used for Elisa's NYPD captain.
Read more about this topic: Elisa Maza
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