SIR GOTESIR GOTE
Real Name: Presumably Gote
Identity/Class: Terrestrial fauna (goat) mutate (New Men)
Occupation: Knight, warrior
Group Membership: Knights of Wundagore (notably Sir Hogg, Sir Hystrix, Sir Lepard, Sir Lyan, Sir Ossilot, Sir Ursus; likely Sir Ram), New Men (inclusive of the previously listed Knights of Wundagore; presumably including Count Tagar, Sir Porga, and Bova Ayshire)
Affiliations: Jonathan Drew, High Evolutionary (Herbert Wyndham), Magda, Magnus
Enemies: Chthon
Known Relatives: None, although he considered the High Evolutionary as his figurative /adoptive father
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
last confirmed (and possibly buried near) High Evolutionary's citadel atop Mount Wundagore, Transia, Europe, Earth
First Appearance: X-Men I Annual#12/3 (October, 1988)
Powers/Abilities: A goatevolved and mutated into humanoid conformation, Sir Gote likely has enhanced human strength. He has horns atop his head, and his skull is likely developed to tolerate concussive force, allowing him to ram his head into beings or objects without casuing skull/brain damage.
If his eyes functioned like a
conventional goat, his horizontally-elongated rectangular pupil in eyes
oriented laterally on the head allowed him perhaps 320-340 degrees of
vision, with a small blind spot toward the back of his head. He would
have had some degree of binocular vision, granting him exceptional
depth perception. The rectangular pupil also functoned to protect
against blinding sunlight while allowing an excellent view of the
terrain. A heavy percentage of rods in the retinae and the presence of
the light-reflecting tapetum lucidum would grant excellent nocturnal
vision. However, the relatively lower number and types of cones in the
retinae would diminish color vision, notably the distinction between
red and green.
He
presumably has enhanced olfactory senses and an increased auditory
ability, able to hear a wider range and much higher pitches than
humans.
He likely was nighly nimble, and
agile, able to scale (and to travel via jumping on steep rocky
terrain). He had human-like hands, with four fingers and a thumb on
each, and he presumably had human-like feet rather than hooves, as he
appeared to have a plantigrade stance, walking with the heel and distal
ankle/tarsus on the ground, rather than digitigrade (on the tips of the
distal phalanges); he did not have the extra angle to the limb as seen
in animals whose tarsus/hock/ankle is lifted off the ground.
He also may have exceptional
dexterity of his lips, enabling him to chew vegetation while avoiding
thorns or other dangerous objects.
As a Knight of Wundagore, he was trained and experienced in armed and
unarmed combat, wore armor (including space armor as needed), wielded a sword and blaster
He presumably sometimes flew atop an atomic steed, upon which he likely wielded some sort of energy lance.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6')History:
(Tales to Astonish I#94/2 (fb) - BTS) - At some point while dwelling in his Citadel of Science atop Mount Wundagore, the High Evolutionary used his genetic accelerator to evolve a goat into one of his New Men.(Thor I#135 (fb) - BTS) - Wyndham taught his New Men language, science, biology, and history.
(Thor I#135 (fb) / Tales
to Astonish I#94/2 (fb) - BTS / X-Men I Annual#12/3) <Circa 1958> - Like
most of his New Men at the time, the High Evolutionary had his ally
Jonathan Drew (possessed by the Arthurian-era sorcerer Magnus) train
the goat-man in the ways of the knights of
old, striving to teach him a code of honor and chivalry; he dubbed him
Sir Hogg and pronounced him and his associates as Knights of the
Realm (later known as the Knights of Wundagore).
(X-Men I Annual#12/3)
- These six newest Knights, which also included Sir Gote, Sir Hogg, Sir
Lepard, Sir
Lyan, Sir Ossilot (and one not pictured/identified), brought the number
of knights up to forty-two. After the ceremony, the Evolutionary told
his knights to assemble the round table and prepare the Feast of
Ascension.
Toward nightfall, as Sir Gote was
stationed on watch duty outside the Citadel of Science's gate, he
encountered the full-term pregnant woman Magda, who was seeking
sanctuary to deliver her baby. While Gote was surprised to see a human
woman there, Magda fainted at seeing the goat-headed man. While the
Evolutionary had forbade the presence of outsiders in his Citadel, Sir
Gote considered that he would not deny a very pregnant human in need of
help.
Carrying Magda into the facility,
he brought her to Lady Bova, who had her placed in a bed, examined her,
and noted that her contractions had begun. After Bova noted that she
would assume full responsibility for the woman's presence her, Sir Gote
departed to inform "father" (the High Evolutionary).
(X-Men I Annual#12/3
- BTS)
- Aware of the imminent threat of the Elder God Chthon, the
Evolutionary's ally Jonathan Drew (possessed by the ancient sorcerer
Magnus) examined Magda and found her be free of any trace of the demon.
The Evolutionary instructed Bova that she was to limit the New Men with
whom the woman had contact to herself and Sir Gote. 
However, Drew/Magnus then nearly
collapsed upon sesning Chthon rising that very night, and the
Evolutionary called his Knights of Wundagore to arms.
(X-Men I Annual#12/3 - BTS)
- Soon
after, the Knights were sent out on their atomic steeds to battle the Other, the elemental
host of the demonic Elder God Chthon, summoned by the Chthon-pawn
Gregor Russoff via Chthon's tome, the Darkhold.
While the Knights fought
valiantly, the Other was unharmed by their atomic lances and instead
either smashed the knights against the mountain or simply stole their
life forces. The battle was only won when Magnus possessed Russoff and
recited the spell of binding, trapping Chthon within Mount Wundagore.
Only Sir Ursus and Sir Lepard were identified, but presumably almost all of the Knights were present.
(X-Men I Annual#12/3 - BTS / Web of Spider-Man Annual#4/4 (fb) - BTS) - Seventeen Knights out of the forty-two New Men perished in that battle.
Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Ron Lim, and Tony DeZuniga
Sir Gote has no other confirmed appearances beyond X-Men Annual#12...it is not confirmed whether he survived the battle of Wundagore or not...but, if he did, here are a few other possible appearances of Sir Gote, or perhaps other caprine New Man:
|
In
Web of Spider-Man Annual#4/3, the High Evolutionary's story continued,
and he stood amongst the Knights, including wounded survivors,
caretakers, and corpses. The image to the left shows three horned beings: All three are brown rather than gray like Sir Gote. Two of the characters have
smooth horns, and only the character with his back turned to us (who is garbed as a caretaker rather than a Knight) had
curved lines on the horns like Sir Gote. Only the wounded character (with bandages around the ribs) is wearing Knights of Wundagore armor, but he is brown and has smooth horns, as well as a more bovine face in my opinion. . . . The image to the right shows a New Man in Knights of Wundagore armor, with curved/lined horns like Sir Gote. However, he is brown, rather than gray. It COULD be a miscolored Sir Gote, or it could perhaps be Sir Ram or some other ovine or caprine Knight of Wundagore. None of these horned New Men / Knights of Wundagore were named in this issue, so we don't know who is who, and we don't know whether Sir Gote survived the battle with Chthon's Other or not. IF he did survive, then he could have had other additional appearances. |
.
|
Circa Tales to Astonish I#94-96, the New Men on Wundagore II descended into savagery, warring amongst themselves and then assaulting the High Evolutionary's citadel. After battling the Hulk, who had been transported to Wundagore II by agents of the Evolutionary at his instruction to aid against the savage New Men, they were ultimately devolved back into their original animal forms by an evolved High Evolutionary. A goat is clearly seen toward the bottom right, although it is white rather than gray. It may well
be another caprine Knight of Wundagore who has yet to be
identified...perhaps Sir Capra, Sir Hircus, Sir Aegagrus, Sir Buck, Sir
Billy, Sir Angora, Sir Apenzell, Sir Landrace, Sir Nubian, or Sir
Zalawadi (none of which are documented names for Knights/New Men at the
time of this profile. IF it was Sir Gote, than that also means Sir Gote had to be part of the Knights who departed Mt. Wundagore with the High Evolutionary in Thor I#135 (and who likely also opposed the Man-Wolf's New Men in that same issue) and who were seen in the New Wundagore appearances in West Coast Avengers Annual#3. IF Sir Gote
was part of the devolved group in Tales to Astonish I#96, then, if he
did not get devoured by a carnivore or otherwise perish, he could have
been behind-the-scenes in Iron Man I#110-112, although I did not seen
any caprine Knights in those issues. |
.
.
  .. . A horned, goat-like individual was seen on the High Evolutionary's Citadel/ship after it left Mount Wundagore as seen in West Coast Avengers Annual#3, as well as on New Wundagore when the Evolutionary presented the Knights with mates so they could further their population/society. However, the character has brown fur and given that we know Sir Ram was active on New Wundagore, it makes the most sense to identify this character as Sir Ram. |
At the end of X-Men
Annual#12/3, the High Evolutionary notes that over half of his Knights
had perished in battle with the Other/Chthon. In Web of Spider-Man
Annual#4/4, he noted that 17 of his 42 New Men had perished. One
possibility is that the first number was the initial estimate, but that
some of the Knights were only injured and were found to have survived
by the next issue. Another possibility is that perhaps 10 or more of
the New Men were not Knights (such as was the case for Bova, Sir Porga,
and Count Tagar), so that while it was only 17 of his 42 New Men, it
was 17 of 32 of his Knights...or something like that.
Continuity (or lack thereof?):
Only a few years before the writing of this profile, the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) was still the
daughter of the Magneto (with decades of stories since the 1979 supporting this), and the date of the conflict had been set at
1958 A.D. because of the recently retired Whizzer (Bob Frank) and Miss
America (Madeline Joyce Frank), as well as Magnus
(Magneto) and Magda, not too long after their liberation from the Nazi
concentration camp, etc.
All kinds of
things have been ret-conned over time. Most significantly, Wanda is no longer the daughter of Magneto.
I believe the Battle of Wundagore is still supposed to be tied to the birth of Wanda Maximoff, which is why Wanda has connections to Chthon. This was clearly established way back in Avengers I#186 (August, 1979).
So...we shall see...
CLARIFICATIONS:
Sir Gote should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
X-Men I Annual#12/3 (October, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer),
Ron Lim (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (October, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer),
Ron Lim (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Web of Spider-Man Annual#4/4 (October, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer),
Ron Lim (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z#8 (August, 2006) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer/coordinator), Sean McQuaid, Stuart Vandal, Ronald Byrd, Michael Hoskin, Mark O'English, Chris Biggs, Eric J. Moreels, Mike Fichera, Al Sjoerdsma, Barry Reese, Chad Anderson, Madison Carter, Anthony Flamini & Rich Green (writers), Michael Short (assistant editor), Jeff Youngquist & Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#8: New Men entry (July, 2009) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer/coordinator),
Stuart Vandal, Mike Fichera & Madison Carter (coordination assistants), Sean McQuaid, Michael Hoskin, Stuart Vandal, Ronald Byrd, David
Wiltfong, Madison Carter, Mike Fichera,
Chad Anderson, Chris Biggs, Eric J.
Moreels, Mark O'English, Al Sjoerdsma, Jacob Rougemont, Gabriel Shechter, Anthony Flamini, Rich Green, Markus Raymond, Andrew Goletz, Rob London, Mike O'Sullivan & Jeph York (writers), Brian
Overton (copy editor), Alex Starbuck (editorial assistant), John Denning & Cory Levine (assistant
editors), Mark D. Beazley (editor, special projects), Jeff Youngquist
&
Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
First posted: 04/29/2023
Last updated: 04/29/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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