Fox

Above right: Fox, as the Werefox. (Both pictures courtesy of Gorebash.)

Species: Half-human, half-fay

Gender: Female

First Appearance: "The Thrill Of The Hunt"

Other Appearances: "Her Brother's Keeper," "Leader Of The Pack," "Eye Of The Beholder," "Vows," "City Of Stone" Parts I & II, "Outfoxed," "Upgrade," "Walkabout," "The Gathering" Parts I & II, "Possession," "Hunter's Moon" Part III, "The Journey," "Ransom," "Broadway Goes To Hollywood"

Janine Renard was born of Cyberiotics reclusive CEO, Halcyon Renard, and Anastasia Renard, the human form of the Fay Queen of Avalon, Titania. This resulted in Janine being half-fay, but as she had no knowledge of her magical heritage, her magical abilities remained non-existent until very recently. Little is known about Janine's childhood or, upbringing, but before her first appearance, she changed her name, legally, to Fox, and tattooed a blue foxhead over her right eye. She has also apparently received much training in the martial arts and may have even been a mercenary.

In the years since she began her relationship with billionaire industrialist David Xanatos, her life has rarely been boring. He created a mercenary team known as the Pack, and she became its leader. Along with her teammates, Wolf, Dingo, Jackal and Hyena, she lived the celebrity life as a TV star. But this was not the only reason the Pack was created. Among them all, only Fox knew the truth- that they being tested by Xanatos against the gargoyles to see how well they could serve his needs.

The Trio of gargoyles, Lexington primarily, became enamored with the Pack, and at a live showing, Lexington became brave enough to show himself to Fox and the rest backstage. Fox tricked him into bringing Goliath to Pack Media Studios, and then the Pack ran the two through a gauntlet of sorts, hunting the gargoyles for the thrill of it. In the chase, Fox was photographed holding a woman hostage, and when the gargoyles had beaten the Pack, she was imprisoned.

Fox next made an appearance when Elisa suspected Xanatos's treachery involving her brother, Derek, so she went to prison to probe Fox for information. Fox was nearly fanatical in her praising Xanatos for his genius in creating the Pack and dealing with Elisa's brother.

Later on, Coyote 1.0 and Dingo staged a breakout of the Pack at the prison, but Fox refused to go with them and the rest of the Pack, even saving the life of a prison guard in the process. This may have seemed noble, but it was all an elaborate plan of Xanatos setting her up for an early parole, which was granted.

In time, Xanatos and Fox grew to love each other as much as they each were capable of that emotion, and he asked her to marry him, presenting the magical jewel, the Eye of Odin, as an engagement gift. The 'gift' it gave her was more than she bargained for, as the Eye transformed her into a manifestation of her inner self, specifically an 8-foot tall, rust-red colored werefox. Xanatos suspected these transformations, but had no proof until he observed her directly transforming. The Eye controlled her, corrupting her inner self, and unleashing her savagery through her were-form. The chase to get the Eye away from her involved Goliath, Elisa and Xanatos himself, who, for perhaps the first time, admitted to himself he loved her, even though he thought it a sign of weakness. After many struggles, the Eye was taken from around her neck and she transformed back to herself with a horrible shriek, remembering nothing. The Eye was given to Goliath as a "payment" for his help.

Soon thereafter, Fox and Xanatos were married, and had a most unusual honeymoon, going back in time along with Petros Xanatos, Goliath and Demona to the year 975, 19 years before the massacre at Castle Wyvern. The entire trip was for the benefit of Xanatos's fortune in the future, and Fox was quite proud of him for gaining his wealth through such a fascinating and unusual way, proving to her even more that Xanatos was the match for her.

A short while after they returned to the present, she experienced a brief time of turning to stone during the night, a result of a spell cast by Demona. She later participated in a scheme to wipe out her father's Cyberbiotics company, with the help of Preston Vogel on the inside. After it failed due to the intervention of Goliath, she flew to the Cyberbiotics airship Fortress II to see her father and trade philosophies. She also informed Halcyon Renard that she was pregnant with hers and Xanatos's child.

She dropped out of sight for a while, scheming from behind closed doors with her husband, playing games of chess (of sorts) with the lives of the gargoyles and those of the Pack. When she was heavy with her future grandson, she flew to Australia to help her mother, Anastasia Renard, with an experimental nanotechnological lifeform known as the Matrix. It escaped its confinement, forcing Fox and Anastasia to run to the saftey of Goliath, Angela, Dingo and an aborigine Shaman. This crisis was averted by Goliath and Dingo going into the Dreamtime, a dimension of the mind, where they convinced the Matrix of the error of its ways.

Later, back in the United States, Fox and Xanatos celebrated the birth of their son, Alexander Fox Xanatos. But this happy time was cut short by the appearance of Oberon, Lord of Avalon and the revelation that Anastasia Renard was really Titania. They had come to take Alex to Avalon, to properly train him in his mystical heritage. Fox learned that she was half-fay. In the ensuing battle for the child, Fox also learned that her magic was not truly dead, for she blasted Oberon through a wall in a cry of rage and desperate hope for her child with a eldritch blast of green witchlight. It did not come to her voluntarily, as she could not control it. Thanks to Goliath, Oberon was convinced to leave the child, for he did not need to go to Avalon to learn to use his abilities, as evidenced by Fox's "outburst."

After the gargoyles came to live at Castle Wyvern again after the events of the Hunter's Moon, Fox attempted to soothe relations between the Xanatos family and Goliath's clan.

In the Goliath Chronicles, these efforts fell short when her baby was kidnapped by people loyal to anti-gargoyle New York City mayoral candidate Pat Doyle. She blamed Lexington and would not forgive him until the baby was found. She later helped Broadway go public to the world with a talk show, in an attempt to improve the gargoyles' public relations. She fine-tuned his show appearance for the public and helped to protect him against her former teammates, Jackal and Hyena.

Currently, an uneasy truce exists between Fox and the gargoyles she shares her home with. She truly loves her son and husband and would do anything to help or protect them. Whether she truly reforms, whether she chooses to try and learn to use her magical abilities, and whether she can truly embrace her motherhood after all that she has been through, is anybody's guess.

Fox is a skilled mercenary, trained in various styles of fighting. She is a formidable opponent to any man, woman or gargoyle. She also possesses untapped and uncontrollable magical abilities which may or may not come to aid her in times of crisis. Her one weakness, perhaps, is her love for her husband and son, which may be used against her.

Back to The Main Encyclopedia or The Combined Listing.

Back to the Listings page.

Back to the main page.