A question about Highlander

Dioltach · May 18, 2024

It's been a few decades since I saw the movie, but this morning I was listening to Queen's "Who Wants To Live Forever?" and a thought struck me.

These immortals spend hundreds or thousands of years fighting each other until only one remains. That one last immortal is given a gift: mortality.

Am I missing something? If it's such a punishment to live forever, to see the people around you die, then why do all these immortals fight so hard not to be killed? Why would the reward for outliving every other immortal be the ability to join them in death?

Wolfram stout · May 18, 2024

Careful, asking that question is partly responsible for us getting Highlander 2.

Ryujin · May 18, 2024

It really doesn't pay to examine the Highlander universe too closely. Another obvious question is if all of these immortals were born in different places, at different times, how do you ever know that you're the last?

delericho · May 18, 2024

Because the only thing worse than living forever is dying horribly?

Dire Bare · May 18, 2024

Dioltach said:
It's been a few decades since I saw the movie, but this morning I was listening to Queen's "Who Wants To Live Forever?" and a thought struck me.

These immortals spend hundreds or thousands of years fighting each other until only one remains. That one last immortal is given a gift: mortality.

Am I missing something? If it's such a punishment to live forever, to see the people around you die, then why do all these immortals fight so hard not to be killed? Why would the reward for outliving every other immortal be the ability to join them in death?

Becoming mortal was PART of the "prize", it also included ultimate knowledge. However, the immortals didn't really know what the prize was, and many assumed ultimate power.

There's also talk amongst fan circles that the prize might have been tailored to the last immortal. MacLeod won the prize, and so, for him, it was ultimate knowledge and mortality.

Ryujin said:
It really doesn't pay to examine the Highlander universe too closely. Another obvious question is if all of these immortals were born in different places, at different times, how do you ever know that you're the last?

The immortals can "feel" being drawn to "the gathering", they can feel each others presence, and they can feel when they are the last and win the prize.

However, that was the plot of the third (?) Highlander film . . . Mario Van Peebles was an immortal trapped for centuries, missed the gathering, but was freed causing MacLeod to lose the prize and revert back to being an immortal. It was dumb.

MGibster · May 18, 2024

Dioltach said:
Am I missing something? If it's such a punishment to live forever, to see the people around you die, then why do all these immortals fight so hard not to be killed? Why would the reward for outliving every other immortal be the ability to join them in death?

I'm only going to go by the first movie because all the movies that followed it were crap. Every. Single. One. In the first movie, in addition to becoming mortal, being able to sire children, and not having to worry about cutting your head cut off, winning the Prize allows MacCleod to read thoughts and he hopes to use this power to bring peace and understanding to humanity. Presumably had Kurgan won he'd usher in some sort of dark violent age. Part of the Prize is just having the opportunity to live a normal life.

I don't think living forever was a punishment, but there definitely a downside and it's that you watch your loved ones die. Connor lost his wife, and I think that's where "Who Wants to Live Forever" first plays, and later we see his adopted daughter who appears to be older than he is. We see how Conner lives, from his start being exiled from his home, and he lives a pretty lonely life.

Belen · May 18, 2024

MGibster said:
I'm only going to go by the first movie because all the movies that followed it were crap. Every. Single. One.

True; however, the TV series was excellent. The reboot will adapt lore from the TV series that really expanded the Highlander universe in a good way.

aco175 · May 18, 2024

Was Jason Highlander vs Freddy and Jason Highlander X (in space) part of the official line of movies.

MGibster · May 18, 2024

Belen said:
True; however, the TV series was excellent. The reboot will adapt lore from the TV series that really expanded the Highlander universe in a good way.

It's been almost thirty years since I last saw an episode. While I cannot vouch for the overall quality of the series, the fact that it was actually watchable puts it heads and shoulders above any of the original movie's sequels.

aco175 said:
Was Jason Highlander vs Freddy and Jason Highlander X (in space) part of the official line of movies.

It would have improved the sequels that's for sure.

MGibster · May 18, 2024

So on the tragedy of living forever: In the novel Peter Pan, at the end of the novel our fun loving flyboy returns to the real world only to find that Wendy is a grown woman with children of her own. He doesn't quite understand what he's seeing and Peter is a little scared of her. We come to learn that Peter barely remembers Tinkerbell and doesn't remember Captain Hook at all. One day, Peter isn't going to remember who Wendy was.

For anyone who is basically a human being, immortality comes with a price. Because Peter is perpetually a boy, he can't learn from his experiences because doing so would mean becoming a man. Peter will never know what it feels like to lose someone he loves because at some point he will simply forget that he ever knew them at all. In some ways that's worse I think.

A question about Highlander

Dioltach

Legend

Wolfram stout

Adventurer

Ryujin

Legend

delericho

Legend

Dire Bare

Legend

MGibster

Legend

Belen

Adventurer

aco175

Legend

MGibster

Legend

MGibster

Legend

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