Keep Hoping Machine Running (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thefourthvine) wrote2007-04-14 09:43 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2007-04-14 09:43 pm
Any Highlander fans out there? I have some questions.
Do you know HL? I need some help from people who have seen Highlander canon. Here's what I'd like to know:
And if you know any sources for getting this kind of information without bugging my friends list - like, a Highlander encyclopedia or whatever - I would love to know about it.
- What are all the ways to permanently kill an immortal? I know cutting off heads, but is there anything else? And is it different the first time they die? And does it matter if the whole head doesn't come off - like, can they come back if the neck is only mostly severed?
- What happens the first time they (don't) die? I mean, they think they're mortal for a period of time, right? And then they die, except they don't, and they say, "Whoa, dude. I must be immortal, because that sure as shit should've killed me." (Although I think most people would assume the injury or whatever just hadn't been as bad as they thought, so - do some of them have to die a lot before they figure it out?) But I'm a little foggy on the whole deal, frankly. Do they have to be buried and then rise again, like vampires? Or is it more of an instantaneous thing?
- What happens if you shoot an immortal (who has already done the first not-death, if that matters) in a way that would kill a human but won't kill him? (Like, gaping chest wound, something like that.) I'm pretty sure he has at least a period of, shall we say, limited activity, but how long is he down for? And exactly how limited is his activity? And what happens - like, do the wounds visibly close over and heal, or does he just suddenly sit up all better, or what?
And if you know any sources for getting this kind of information without bugging my friends list - like, a Highlander encyclopedia or whatever - I would love to know about it.
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The Immortal-sense doesn't tell you anything about the Immortal beyond his Immortality - though the first time Duncan felt Methos's, it was extra sound-effecty. In the first season, an Immortal named Felicia pretended to be a newbie so that Duncan would protect her (or possibly to get him to let down his guard so she could kill him - it's been a long time).
Kenny is 800 years old and became Immortal when he was about 10. Amanda took him in originally, but when he was on his own, he would trick people with his vulnerable, "what happened to me, I'm just a kid" act and then behead them when they turned their backs.
We do not know what happens to the Foundlings that are never found and die as babies. There are several speculatory stories. There was a big deal story called Seeds, that can probably be found on Seventh Dimension, that described how Immortals were born. Immortal women basically went into heat, got it on with some Immortal guy, got pregnant, and gave birth, all within 24 hours, and then abandoned their babies where they thought they would be found and forgot the whole thing.
Immortals do not get scars from their First Death, but do have them from all injuries before their First Death. Some have speculated that severe facial wounds would have the same problem as neck wounds. Though limbs do not regrow, some stories have speculated that lining up the severed limb to the body would cause the healing to jump into action and reattach the limb. It is thought this would have to happen extremely quickly, before the wound on the body sealed. Nothing in canon supports or denies this. Xavier - who lost his hand - had his hand fly off, into a river, I think, somewhere he couldn't recover it quickly.
Some theorize that Quickenings are the Immortal drug - extremely addictive. There have also been episodes where a Quickening affected an Immortal's personality. Darius was a priest who originally tried to conquer the world. When he killed a peaceful monk and took the guy's Quickening, he put up his sword and never killed again - a light Quickening. A friend of Duncan's killed so many evil people that he became evil himself and when Duncan killed him, he also became evil - a dark Quickening. This is the result of taking a Quickening that is vastly more powerful than your own, usually because the opponent has taken so many Quickenings himself and/or is very old. One story speculated that Methos's Quickening was so powerful that it would completely subsume another. That is why he is tall, white, and unscarred, rather than a Middle Eastern guy from 3000BC. It is speculated that a less powerful Quickening might have more temporary personality effect - a genial Immortal acting snappish for a few days.
Fanon says Immortals are claustrophobic because of the times they were buried and had to wait until someone dug them up or they clawed their way out themselves - usually dying of suffocation many times before they finally made it out. I believe there have been canon instances of Immortals who were buried "alive". Amusing stories have been told in canon of Immortals being forced to get across town in a morgue sheet after dying publicly. The realism of this mythos is questionable since canon seems to maintain that after even the worst death an Immortal can recover in less than 24 hours. Obviously, bodies usually don't get buried that fast (I have no idea how fast ME's get around to stripping the corpses).
There does seem to be an indication of a recovery time necessary after dying - the longest is thought to be for a newborn Immortal - age and number of heads taken seeming to make healing faster. They often lean on someone and stagger a little, clutching the wound site after rising. I imagine exhaustion is a physical result of using so much healing energy, but the pain is psychological. (I also suspect I think about this way too much - this was not only my first fandom, but the one I speculated and discussed the most).
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