Image: Cannon Screen Entertainment
Death is something we all fear, whether we want to or not. We fear the possibility of nothingness that may come, or the chance that certain religions are right and we’ll be sent to a less than satisfactory place for eternity. Maybe we’ll all be reincarnated as animals or plants. There is no way to tell. There is one fantasy element that makes us geeks a bit more comfortable with the pending end of our lives: immortality. Haven’t you at least once thought to yourself that when you die, you’ll wake up moments later with a magical sword attached to your hip and the sudden urge to slice someone’s head off and absorb their power? I think about it all the time. We all know where this is going, the source of our immortal fantasy, the Highlander series of movies and the television show.
At first, there was only one Highlander, when we were introduced to Connor MacLeod. He was portrayed in the first four films by Christopher Lambert. In the first Highlander film (the only one that makes any real sense) Connor MacLeod learns the ways of the immortals from Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez (portrayed by Sean Connery) and about “the Quickening” and attaining the “the Prize” by playing “the Game.” That is, he had to cut a bunch of guys’ heads off, gaining their powers and thereby becoming the last man standing.
He did this, and [spoiler alert!]was the last immortal standing[end spoiler alert!]. At least for the moment. Several more films and a television series were made, each struggling to make sense of the fact they closed the loop in the first film with Connor taking the immortal crown. Connor MacLeod/Christopher Lambert showed up in two more Highlander films himself, and then cameo-ed in the fourth.
With Highlander: The Series we were introduced to Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul), who was a clansman of Connor MacLeod and was shown training under him sometime in 1625. The series focused on Duncan’s day to day life of staying off the general immortal radar, but that didn’t stop the evil immortals from finding him. He made plenty of friends along the way, some of them immortals and some mortal. One of the best episodes of television I ever watched was the episode “The Darkness” in which his longtime love Tessa is murdered and his sidekick Richie experiences his first death as an immortal.
Now that the introductions are out of the way (like you didn’t already know all that stuff!) let’s get the debate on.
The Immortal Life
Connor spent his time in the first movie out for revenge, even if he wasn’t completely aware he was doing it. The enemy known as the Kurgan (Clancy Brown, aka Mister Krabs on Spongebob Squarepants) killed his mentor Ramirez and defiled Connor’s wife, Heather. After she died of old age, Connor left Scotland to wander the world, finally ending up in 1985 New York as an antiquities dealer. This was the time of “the Quickening” and would lead to his ultimate showdown with the Kurgan, who didn’t fare so well. It was assumed this was the beginning and the end of the Highlander saga.
It wasn’t. In Highlander: The Quickening a lot of strangeness happened. Connor was dying of old age, learned that the immortals were actually aliens called the Zeist and then some strange anti-corporation sci-fi stuff took place. The movie made no sense whatsoever, but in the end, Connor saved the day, saved the girl and became immortal again. Connor up to this point was leading a pretty tough life, having to fight some major battles in order to survive. It wasn’t a walk in the park, and these weren’t your run of the mill immortals. These were some serious angry immortals.
His quest would continue in Highlander: The Final Dimension where Connor had to fight Kane (a scowling Mario Van Peebles) in order to save his adopted son, win the “the Prize” again and basically retire. In all, Connor MacLeod had to repeatedly defeat other immortals after the original “Quickening” making his life as an immortal hundreds of years of stress.
Duncan meanwhile, was living the good life on the television show. He was staying off the immortal map by not participating in “the Game” and was running an antiques shop with his girl Tessa. This only lasted about half an episode. By the end of the first episode he had killed a fellow immortal that had sought him out, met his new sidekick Richie, and brought back into “the Game” by Connor.
Over the years, he would face many immortals in battle, rarely having to leave the fictional city of Seacouver, WA. He sure got “the buzz” a lot in that town. Every episode featured a flashback to some point in his 400 year life where he either met a mentor or made an enemy. Each flashback had relevance to the episode. He would also encounter “The Watchers” and “The Hunters” who were mortals who pretty much did what their titles would have you assume they did.
The series was very relationship based and had just as much to do with Duncan’s personal relationships with his friends and mentors as it did with beheading other immortals and getting the rush of magical lightning from the sky that probably left the power company scratching their heads. While it was a great series and probably better than the movies put together, it was still a bit on the fluff side. Duncan had his share of fierce battles, but nowhere near the world threatening intensity of Connor’s. Advantage: Connor MacLeod
Quality Kills
While both Connor and Duncan racked up high body counts of the mortals they killed in battle over the hundreds of years they were alive, they didn’t kill quite as many immortals. By the time Highlander: Endgame (the fourth film featuring both Connor and Duncan) rolled around, Connor had Duncan dead to rights on the kill count. It was revealed that he had whacked 262 immortals compared to 174 for Duncan. What about the quality of those kills?
Connor killed the Krugan, General Katana and Kane in the three films he starred in. Those were some pretty strong immortals. Duncan killed numerous one shot immortals and finally the demon Ahriman. Duncan’s greatest battle came in Endgame when he faced off against Jacob Kell, who had racked up an impressive 661 immortal kills and has spent a good part of his life seeking revenge against Connor by killing everyone near and dear to the MacLeod clan. During the faceoff, Duncan is forced to slay Connor, taking his power and kill-count. That should give him the win here, but without Connor’s power Duncan wouldn’t even be able to hold his own against Kell, and at the end Connor is shown taking over Duncan’s actions and killing Kell. Advantage: Connor MacLeod
The Endgame
Both the MacLeods came from the Scottish Highlands (hence the name Highlander) and had some really rough points in their lives. Being an immortal is not an easy life. Not only is it a long one, but you have to watch the ones you love grow old and die, meanwhile fighting to stay alive in a game where there is only one winner. Both men were trained by old masters at immortality, Duncan getting the tutelage from his clansman and from Methos later on, one of the older immortals. Plus his interaction with the Watchers and the Hunters gave him an edge in the knowledge game.
While the introduction of the whole Zeist storyline in the second movie kind of muddled things up, the series seemed to smooth it all out and that endeared Duncan to a whole new audience. Plus, in the storyline - he’s still alive. There was a comic book series based on him and a failed spin-off featuring a female immortal he was mentoring. Duncan survived the one “Quickening” he was involved in, and after absorbing Connor’s power and killing Kull became the most powerful immortal and likely returned to his dojo or opened an art gallery in Paris. It’s not known for sure. Advantage: Duncan MacLeod
Duncan only gets that last category because he lived on. Overall though, I think we can agree that Connor was clearly the most badass of the two MacLeod clansman. He looked better in a kilt and could swing a mean broadsword. Duncan was handy with the martial arts, but that wasn’t enough to outclass Connor when it came to overall awesomeness. This debate clearly goes to Connor MacLeod. Remember, there can be only one.
Vote below on your favorite and leave your comments, obviously I left out a ton of stuff so I’d love to read some great fanboy observations!
