Methos

Real Name: Unknown

Identity/Class: Immortal human

Occupation: Unknown; formerly Watcher researcher, doctor; barbarian pillager; Pharaoh, slave

Affiliations: ally of Duncan MacLeod, Joe Dawson, Amanda, Marcus Constantine (owned him when he was a slave), Lord Byron

formerly the Four Horsemen (him, Kronos, Silas, Caspian); the Watchers

Enemies: Kronos, Cassandra, Kalas, Morgan Walker, Prince Khyan

Known Relatives: Alexa (wife, deceased); 67 other wives over the centuries;

Aliases: Dr. Benjamin Adams; Adam Pierson; Methos; (possibly) Death, Caratarix, Haribu, Et Maru, Metopholus

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: Highlander: The Series #3.16 "Methos" (syndicated, 11 March 1995)

Powers/Abilities: Methos is an immortal, capable of healing virtually any wound (except those to the throat) in minutes. Even if a wound is instantly fatal, he will come back to life a short while later. The only way to permanently end his life is to decapitate him. This leads to Immortals having massive sword (and axe) fights with one another. Certain rules have evolved over the millennia: the fights must only be between two Immortals - third parties cannot interfere once battle is joined; and no Immortal can fight on Holy Ground. Like other Immortals, he doesn't age.

Methos can also sense the presence of other immortals, although he only gets a vague sense of their proximity, not where or who they are. When he kills other immortals through decapitation, he receives their life essence in the form of a "Quickening", a sort of electrical light show. Centuries of practice have made him an incredibly adept swordsman.

History: Methos is an immortal, believed to be the oldest one still alive in the modern world. He claims his first memories are from five millennia ago, when he took his first Immortal head and experienced his first Quickening.

Much of his history remains a mystery, but it is known that around three to four thousand years ago he rode with three other Immortals across Bronze age Europe, raping and pillaging as they went. They created such a lasting impression that they became the inspirations for the Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. As Methos said much later, describing this time "Killing was all I knew... I killed - but I didn't just kill fifty, I didn't kill a hundred, I killed a thousand. I killed ten thousand. And I was good at it. And it wasn't for vengeance, it wasn't for greed, it was because - I liked it... Do you know who I was? I was Death. Death on a horse. When mothers warned their children that the monster would get them, that monster was me. I was the nightmare that kept them awake at night."

Eventually Methos passed through "his angry adolescence", and in undisclosed circumstances left the Horsemen. For many years he kept a low profile, avoiding other Immortals and the fights to the death that might follow - not because he was bad at fighting, but because he was aware that even a good fighter could have a bad day, and he had grown fond of living. He encouraged people to believe that Methos, the oldest Immortal, was a myth, a fairy tale. In recent times he even infiltrated the Watchers, a group who secretly monitored the Immortals, simply so he could track his fellow Immortals; ever crafty, he got himself assigned as a researcher to the "Methos Chronicles", allowing him to mess with their records of him and hide himself more thoroughly.

In 1994 his cover was blown, when two Immortals tracked him down. One was Kalas, who sought the power he felt he could get from Methos' Quickening. The other was Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander, who sought to deny Kalas this prize, which he felt might make him unbeatable. MacLeod stumbled upon him first, and Methos recognised a man of honour, a man he could trust,...a man he could use. MacLeod killed Kalas, and he and Methos began to develop a friendship. Cynics might say that Methos was merely using MacLeod as his blunt instrument, the executioner he could use to fight his enemies without risking his own neck; but a genuine friendship seemed to grow too. Their friendship even survived the revelations about Methos' murderous past. Perhaps hanging around with MacLeod has started to bring out a more heroic side to Methos; even if that is the case though, it should be remembered that Methos didn't become five thousand years old by taking risks, or putting anything before his own self-interests when the chips were down. However he feels about anyone else, Methos intends to stay alive, and if there can be only one, he intends to be that one.

Comments: Played by Peter Wingfield

CLARIFICATIONS: None.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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