Above right: Rosanna, as rendered by Amy
K. Cyrway.
Species: Human-Gargoyle Hybrid
Gender: Female
First Appearance: "The Midnight Visitor" by Don A. Martinez
Other Appearances: All subsequent parts of Gargoyles: Clan Manhattan, and "Sleepover" by Don A. Martinez.
Created by: Don A. Martinez
Bloodline: Rose is the daughter of Detective Elisa Maza and Goliath of Clan Manhattan. Of her parents, only Goliath is still with her.
Current Occupation: Electronic security expert, Xanacorp Systems. (A cover, so that no difficult questions are asked.)
Rose was born on August 26th, 1999 within the safe confines of Castle Wyvern. She led a very sheltered life, mainly because, though she was half-human, she still turned to stone with the dawn, like her father and his kind. This problem was quickly solved on the girl's third birthday, when Alexander Xanatos' gift to Rose was the same spell that Puck placed upon Demona, allowing Rose to change into a fully human form. The spell wasn't cast with the same skill, however; though the rest of Rose became human, she kept her gargoyle tail all the time.
Although she had gargoyle blood in her, young Rose aged at the same rate as a human girl, up until the age of 17 when her aging simply stopped. By this time, she had already began accompanying the clan on patrols, avoiding human contact as much as possible, and allowing her mother to come up with excuses for her. But this life was a little too much for Rose's (or Rosanna's, as she preferred to be called at night) fragile psyche, so at 15 she was sent to a boarding school in Connecticut, where she stayed in a cliffside house owned by David Xanatos (who also footed the bill for her tuition.). She had an unpleasant experience while here, for, at age 16, she fell in love with a boy, Tommy Walker, who was slain protecting her from gargoyle hunters led by Walker's own father. This traumatic experience haunted her for years after.
At 17, though, a pivotal moment in her life occurred. On a weekend break from school, she returned home and left with her father to join her mother on a gun-runner bust, to offer their assistance. Unfortunately, the bust quickly went sour, as the smugglers were using armor-piercing rounds, four of which hit Elisa, killing her at the scene. Rosanna and Goliath both witnessed this. Goliath swooped down to rescue her, but was too late.
After the death of Elisa, Goliath began shrinking more and more into his brooding state, shying away from everything that made him who he was. This left his children hurt and confused, to the point that Angela left the clan to be with her mother. When Goliath failed to even fly patrols anymore, that was the last straw for Rosanna. Since Brooklyn had left with Sata to return to her native clan in Japan, Rosanna did what she thought was the only way to keep the clan together: she assumed the leadership.
By 2024, Rosanna had been the leader of Clan Manhattan for about a year. In that year, the mysterious death of Matt Bluestone led his son, Steve, to contact her. She rescued Steve from an attack apparently ordered by the Illuminati Society, brought him to the Castle and introduced him to the clan. She also learned of the clan's new mission from Nokkar, who brought Sir Griff with him. Namely, they had to battle the invading alien forces of the Rokkans. Rosanna and clan witnessed the aliens' "show of force," a strategic bombing which left most of New York in shambles, and resulted in Diane Maza's death when the Mazas' condominium collapsed around them. This only served to feed Rosanna's rage, which ultimately caused Rosanna to have a heated argument with her father which left them both feeling awful. Her feelings for her father were tested later on when the aliens attacked and brutally beat Goliath, leaving him for dead at the top of the Castle. She came to somewhat of a truce with him, after relating to Steve Bluestone the circumstances surrounding Elisa's death.
She led the first attack against the aliens, an attack which ultimately
failed because of the tenaciousness of the aliens' forces. As a result
of this failure, Rosanna was taken captive by the aliens. She was held
hostage within the aliens' mother ship, ultimately using an attack by MacBeth
as her opportunity to escape, thanks to the help of a dying alien, whom
she brought back to the Castle. This led to an attack by the aliens on
Castle Wyvern, an attack which was defended by Rose, Alexander, Owen,
the Steel Clan, and the last remnants of the
Quarrymen
under Robyn and Jason Canmore. However, the
fight did not go as planned, as Rose was injured badly. Unfortunately,
when Alexander came to help her, something about his magic
goes haywire and winds up performing a soul transferrence. Rosanna
found herself fighting her own inner demons, with the help of the soul
that displaced her own ... Elisa Maza, her mother.
Rosanna and the clan were kept busy dealing with the alien threat. More
help arrived, including the gargoyles Lina and Rain from Avalon; Mustang,
Dodge, and Buick from Detroit. Rain and Rosanna began to form a special
bond- he helped protect her when she was badly wounded in an assault on
Rokkan "arks." She was deceived by Angela, who was under the
influence of Demona's Obedient
Child spell, into accepting her back into the clan- whereupon she betrayed
them- but they managed to shatter the spell, regaining Angela- but losing
Samson.
After dealing with a TimeDancing Brooklyn and Sata, and seeing her grandfather Peter slain by an ensorcelled Samson, Rose confronted the modern versions of the time travellers and forced Brooklyn to tell her what their future was. She was told a tale of doom, where a massive, final attack on the Rokkans failed, but resolved to change that future for the better.
She learned that while in Rokkan captivity, she had been infected with a retro-virus, injected into her right ear. It would kill her within two weeks, but the only way to stop it was to remove much of the right side of her face. She fought as long as she could without this treatment, until she succumbed in the midst of battle. Using sorcery to help, wherein Rose saw visions of her past thanks to Coyote, the operation was a success. The removed part of her face was replaced by a cybernetic plate. As she recuperated, she and Rain admitted their feelings for one another.
Unknown to anyone, the excised part of Rosanna's face was taken by Demona, who combined it with Rokkan DNA to create her warrior- Thorn. She sent Thorn to battle Rose, who was disturbed by the creature, but drove her off with the help of Sata.
Rosanna resumed leadership of the clan, and was confronted by Captain Walker, repentant father of her first love years previous. The two made peace with one another.
The clan was led by Rose to several succesful battles, culminating in a major defeat of Demona and the Rokkans at the United Nations building. However, Demona, now with the assistance of the Weird Sisters, regrouped the remaining Rokkan forces, readying for a massive attack. As their last resort, Alexander Xanatos cast a massive spell, summoning gargoyle aid from across the multiverse. Now, the final battle will begin...
Rosanna is committed to her clan, especially where it comes to keeping them together: after her mother's death and father's apparent nervous breakdown, they were all the family she had. She tends to fight with abandon, not caring whether she is injured, just as long as justice is served. Her relationship with her father is extremely strained, because of his constant mourning. She won't ever admit it to anyone but her mother's tombstone, but she fears for him. She's afraid that he will kill himself with his sorrow.
Rose Maza, in her daylight human form, has the abilities of an athletic human woman of around 17 years of age. She also has a prehensile tail, a result of the imperfection of the spell used to give her humanity under the sun. As Rosanna, the nighttime gargoyle, she possesses the normal abilities of a female gargoyle. The cybernetic right eye that replaced the one removed gives her enhanced sight.
In her human form, Rose looks like an uncanny lookalike for her mother
Elisa, possibly because of Alexander's spell, and except for her tail she
can pass for full-blood human. When she is a gargoyle, though, she has
the lavender skin tone of her father, but the webbing of her wings matches
the skin color of her mother, and because of her hybridization her wings
are a
one-clawed, one-fingered style not seen in pure-blood gargoyles. She
has brown hair, and 4 short horns framing her hairline. As a tribute to
her mother, she wears Elisa's gold NYPD Detective badge as her belt buckle.
The transformation from human to gargoyle adds two feet in height (from
5'5" to 7'5") and approximately 120 pounds in weight (from 118 to 238)
to her frame.