- Story Arc: The Avalon World Tour
- Characters: Goliath, Elisa, Angela, Bronx
- Enemy : Banshee
The World Tourists arrive in Ireland. Unbeknownst to them, another of Oberon's Children, the Banshee, is in the midst of distracting a young human named Rory from a powerful secret, but Bronx's arrival brings it to light. Rory battles the Banshee and aids in the rescue of Goliath, Elisa and Angela.
Banshee returns in "The Gathering" Part 1.
Tropes:
- Action Pet: Bronx made it clear that he's more than a match for the Banshee.Goliath: It's got Bronx.
Elisa: More like Bronx has it. - Angel Unaware: Rory Dugan, who in this case is a reincarnated hero unaware.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Bronx, who helps bring back the greatest hero in Ulster.
- False Friend: The Banshee became Rory's girlfriend, Molly, in order to prevent him from learning his past life.
- Foreshadowing: When the Banshee has Goliath, Elisa and Angela captured, she interrogates them to find out if they were sent by Oberon to make her attend the Gathering, which they know nothing about. Oberon will appear ten episodes later and the Gathering itself will be shown two episodes after that.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: For Heroes of Ulster, one of the many planned Gargoyles spinoffs that didn't get off the ground because the series was cancelled.
- Shout-Out:
- "The Hound of Ulster" includes several homages to the film The Wizard of Oz. When the travelers arrive in Ireland, Elisa says "I don't think we're in Scotland, or Kansas, either." When the Banshee faces Cu Chullain and Bronx in her Crom-Cruach form, she describes it as "more than enough to deal with a noisy young hero, and his little dog, too". It should also be noted that the little dog in the film is Toto, Dorothy's pet cairn terrier. This Scottish breed was named for its use in digging and hunting for prey among cairns (manmade stone structures such as Cairn na Culainn). The fact that Bronx is a dog-like beast of Scottish descent and is attacking a foe that is hiding in a cairn while being referenced to Toto is an incredible coincidence.
- Asked on Ask Greg if the Banshee enjoyed The Wizard of Oz, Greg Weisman answered, "Who wouldn't?".
- This one's absolutely obscure: In "The Hound of Ulster", one of the few episodes where Bronx gets the limelight, he is joined by a young Irishman, who turns out to be the reincarnation of an ancient hero. At one point, the young man says to Bronx that there's more than meets the eye to him. Bronx is voiced by Frank Welker, aka G1 Megatron.
- Rory/Cu Chullain bears a striking physical resemblance to the Marvel Comics take on Thor. In the Marvel Universe, a lame doctor named Donald Blake, visiting Norway, discovers a cane in a hidden cave which turns out to be Thor's hammer Mjolnir in disguise and transforms Donald Blake into Thor when he picks it up (it turns out much later on that Blake actually was Thor all along, temporarily banished to Earth and imprisoned in a human body by Odin to teach him humility). The similarity is unmistakable; in each case, a modern-day person discovers an old stick or cane underground which turns out to be the disguised weapon of a "real" mythical hero or god ("real" in the sense of existing in actual legends rather than being an invention of the writer), which transforms him into that same hero or god.
- Greg has openly regretted this similarity since it's not consistent with the appearance of the mythological Cuchullain, and hopes to, if he ever produces further stories about Rory, tone down his physical resemblance to Thor/Donald Blake in them.
- "The Hound of Ulster" includes several homages to the film The Wizard of Oz. When the travelers arrive in Ireland, Elisa says "I don't think we're in Scotland, or Kansas, either." When the Banshee faces Cu Chullain and Bronx in her Crom-Cruach form, she describes it as "more than enough to deal with a noisy young hero, and his little dog, too". It should also be noted that the little dog in the film is Toto, Dorothy's pet cairn terrier. This Scottish breed was named for its use in digging and hunting for prey among cairns (manmade stone structures such as Cairn na Culainn). The fact that Bronx is a dog-like beast of Scottish descent and is attacking a foe that is hiding in a cairn while being referenced to Toto is an incredible coincidence.
- Sadly Mythtaken: While most myths are portrayed accurately (or with some minor changes as the result of time limits imposed on the writers for each episode or to excise details that would be unsuitable for children), the portrayal of Cuchullain in the "Hound of Ulster" episode is painfully inaccurate... this page
goes over it pretty well, actually. - Spanner in the Works: As the Banshee noted, her plan to prevent Rory from reawakening as Cuchullian was working perfectly until Bronx showed up, his appearance reminding Rory of Cuchullian's hound.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Even before her identity as a False Friend was revealed, it was clear that the Banshee in her human form was doing all she could to bring out the worst in Rory.
