Diane Maza is Peter Maza's wife and the mother of Elisa, Derek, and Beth Maza in the Disney animated television show, Gargoyles.
Background[]
Diane Maza currently teaches at Columbia University, specializing in African studies. She is a gifted storyteller and familiar with African legends, particularly those of her Nigerian ancestors. Diane is also a Protestant Christian.
Role in the series[]
Diane Maza is the wife of former police officer Peter Maza and mother to Elisa, Beth, and Derek (now known as Talon). When Elisa was accidentally shot by Broadway after being careless with her gun, Diane and the rest of her family stayed by her side until she recovered. When Derek was considering quitting the police force to work for David Xanatos, he confided in his mother about his decision and she encouraged him to do what he thought was right and to not let Elisa or his father take charge of his life. After Derek quit the force to work for Xanatos, he was transformed by Dr. Anton Sevarius into the mutate Talon. For a while Derek was in hiding, too ashamed to show his face to his family, save for Elisa who already knew. However, since they hadn't heard from in a while, they all started to assume that he might be missing and were considering filing a missing person's report to the police despite Elisa's reassurance. Eventually, Elisa arranged for Derek to see the family again, warning them that he was still Derek despite his bestial appearance. The family was reunited and was introduced to Derek's girlfriend Maggie Reed (who was also a mutate known as Maggie the Cat).
Diane and the rest of the family soon discovered that Elisa was missing and couldn't be reached, which caused them great worry, not knowing that she was on Avalon. It was sometime later that Diane would discover the secrets that Elisa was keeping from her and the rest of the Mazas (minus Talon). While in Nigeria, as part of reconnection to her ancestry, she became a storyteller for a village under the guidance of Fara Maku. Avalon had sent Goliath, Angela, and Elisa to Nigeria, and they overheard her tell the story of Anansi the Spider. It was then that Diane finally found out about the existence of the gargoyles, which made her angry that Elisa kept this from her.
A girl from one of the cities named Tea and some poachers were trying to hunt panthers when she happened upon Fara Maku who had the power to transform into a panther. She tried to kill Fara for marking her and making her transform whenever she got angry. Diane, Elisa, and the gargoyles followed them and tried to stop Tea from killing Fara Maku. Fara was chased again to Kara Digi from Diane Maza's story. In order to find Fara and Tea, the group split up to find them. It was then that while paired off with Goliath, she gave Goliath advice about how children sometimes need special treatment, which changed Goliath's mind about treating Angela as his daughter.
The group eventually found Fara and Tea and learned that Fara marked Tea because he loved her and didn't want her to leave the village. The question was who marked Farrah, which was answered in the form of Anansi himself. After Anansi threatened to turn all of them into panthers to hunt for him, they all fought back and with the help of Diane, Anansi was defeated and reappeared in Avalon sometime later. Elisa and Diane patched things up and saw Elisa off on her Avalon quest.
Trivia[]
- Diane is one of several characters played by a Star Trek cast member, in this case, Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Uhura.
- Diane is an arachnophobe (i.e. scared of spiders).
Gallery[]
External links[]
