History Franchise / Highlander

* {{Hammerspace}}: In the series at least, this is where the Immortals appear to store their swords when not in use. It's referred to as "Katanaspace" by the fans.

* ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' (1986) introduces Connor [=MacLeod=] (Creator/ChristopherLambert), an Immortal born in the Scottish Highlands. In a series of flashbacks, Connor is mentored by Juan Ramírez (Creator/SeanConnery), a wise Immortal who teaches him the basics before being beheaded by a barbarian known as the Kurgan (Creator/ClancyBrown). The film's other half takes place in [[BigApplesauce New York City]], where all the world's Immortals, whose numbers are now growing thin, are drawn together to battle to the last man dubbed "The Gathering". By the end of the film, Connor and the Kurgan are the only Immortals left. Connor beheads him, saves the girl (Roxanne Hart), and gains The Prize: enlightenment and mortality.

* ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' (1991) flashes forward to [[TheFuture the year 2024]]. The now-elderly Connor is a wealthy man, having parlayed The Prize into building a planetary force field to repair the [[GlobalWarming ozone layer]]. CEO David Blake (John C. Micginley) has wrestled away control of the company and is in cahoots with another Immortal, General Katana (Creator/MichaelIronside), who reveals Connor's [[RecycledInSpace interplanetary origins]].\\\

* {{Scotireland}}: Averted. They generally go out of their way to note the difference, and in ''Endgame'' Connor and Duncan are reminiscing about Scotland while travelling through Ireland. Scottish and Irish Immortals are frequently on fairly good terms, but mostly that involves being united in the common idea that [[UsefulNotes/BritainVersusTheUK England sucks.]]

* ThemeNaming: ''Highlander'''s [[BigBad Big Bads]] tend to names beginning with a "K" (The Kurgan, General Katana, Kronos, Kell, etc). This earned them the FanNickname of "K'immies".

* FilkSong: [[https://youtu.be/OffF0e2h4TU Highlander (The One) by Lost Horizon]], notable for having one of ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic the most face-melting power metal screams ever.]]''

* SuperStrength: While they don't display it as consistently as they should, the Immortals in ''Highlander'' are more than just Humans with the ability to regenerate and recover from fatal injuries and potentially live forever. Immortals are stronger, faster and tougher than Humans, and this grows as they age, train and acquire more Quickenings. Being able to cut off the heads of other Immortals, much less any Human being requires a great deal of physical strength, seeing as how hard it is to do consistently. The Kurgan himself displays this when He's able to chop down a huge chunk of the tower that Connor lives in, and when He manages to stab a man and lift him up into the air with his sword. It's much more obvious how much more stronger and more powerful Immortals are, in ''The Search for Vengeance''; when you're not constrained by a special effects budget like they would in live-action films.

* ''Anime/HighlanderTheSearchForVengeance'' (2007) is an {{Anime}} unrelated to any of the films or other adaptations. It starts in AD 125, somewhere in UsefulNotes/RomanBritain. A small village is wiped out by Roman troops led by Immortal Marcus Octavius. He is a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist who thinks an Empire is [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans necessary to build a utopian society]]. This battle leads to the rise of another Immortal, Colin [=MacLeod=]. He is mentored by Amergan, the ghost of a druid. Colin devotes his life to seeking vengeance by killing Octavius. The film follows them in brief scenes taking place during a period of two millennia. The film was a critical hit and is thought to have a far more complex plot than most of the live-action sequels.[[/index]]

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: In ''The Source'', concerning planetary alignment: "Well that could just be... orbital wobble."
** Surprisingly subverted. The very next line is (paraphrased) "that's not how orbital wobble works; this is clearly magic."
*** DoubleSubverted when all the the gas giants pass within Mars' orbit without [[NoEndorHolocaust causing any damage to Earth, themselves, the solar system as a whole, or about twenty other delicate astronomical systems.]]

* WhenThePlanetsAlign: The impetus of ''Highlander: The Source''. See ArtisticLicenseAstronomy for the full silliness involved.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Although the phrase is older than the movie, it was first used in the context of that trope here, when before it was about not being a coward in the face of danger.

->''"In the end, [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne there can be only one]]."''

* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' (1992-1998) -- Popularly referred to as ''Highlander: The Series'', it stars Duncan [=MacLeod=] (Creator/AdrianPaul), another Immortal and kinsman of Connor [=MacLeod=]. It coined the term "The Game", which refers to the Immortals' ongoing battle. (The original film is canon, apart from Connor winning The Prize; The Game is still ongoing. Later seasons go further and suggest that it [[ForeverWar will never really 'end']].) The series also introduces the Watchers, a [[TeamSwitzerland neutral group]] who have observed and chronicled Immortal activities throughout history; one of their agents is Joe Dawson (Jim Byrnes), a maverick who bends the rules from time-to-time [[OlderSidekick to keep Duncan alive]]. The other major character is Methos (Peter Wingfield), the oldest Immortal on record, whose [[ImmortalImmaturity immaturity]] masks a [[MrExposition wealth of knowledge]]. For the most part it was well-received and internally consistent.

* ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' (1991) flashes forward to [[TheFuture the year 2024]]. The now-elderly Connor is a wealthy man, having parlayed The Prize into building a planetary force field to repair the [[ClimateChange ozone layer]]. CEO David Blake (John C. Micginley) has wrestled away control of the company and is in cahoots with another Immortal, General Katana (Creator/MichaelIronside), who reveals Connor's [[RecycledInSpace interplanetary origins]].\\\

* A ContinuityReboot was announced in 2008, but has been in DevelopmentHell for years. Creator/RyanReynolds was attached to play Connor, but has since dropped from the project. [[Wrestling/{{Batista}} Dave Bautista]] was cast as the Kurgan in early 2015 and seemingly dropped from it. ''Franchise/JohnWick'' co-director Chad Stahelski signed on to direct in late 2016, and the project was confirmed to be in active development in May 2021 with Creator/HenryCavill set to star in it.

* A ContinuityReboot was announced in 2008, but has been in Development Hell for years. Creator/RyanReynolds was attached to play Connor, but has since dropped from the project. [[Wrestling/{{Batista}} Dave Bautista]] was cast as The Kurgan in early 2015 and ''Franchise/JohnWick'' co-director Chad Stahelski signed on to direct in late 2016.

Although it enjoyed a much-higher budget, it was panned by critics, spurned by fans and rode high on "Worst Movies" lists for a long time. The film was plagued with creative and budgetary problems, which resulted in a private entity taking over post-production and finishing it on the cheap. Several years after the theatrical screening, the director re-edited ''The Renegade Cut'' for release on home video -- ''twice''. The edits had all references to space aliens [[{{Retcon}} removed]]. The troubled history of the film's production is explained in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMcXvG_DoiY this mini-documentary.]]

* SkywardScream: When Duncan finds [[spoiler Darius's body]] in the season 1 finale.

* {{Scotireland}}: Averted. They generally go out of their way to note the difference, and in ''Endgame'' Connor and Duncan are reminiscing about Scotland while travelling through Ireland.

* KryptoniteFactor: Invoked; while immortals can only be ''killed'' by decapitation, wounds to their throat apparently remain even if their heads weren't actually severed, such as the Krogan and Kalas retaining damage to their throats at least decades since the wounds were inflicted.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Among the rules, fights on holy ground like a church are forbidden, though some villains like Kane attempt to do it anyway. Those are rare, though; even the most heinous Immortals like Kurgan, Kalas, and Larca respected the rule about Holy Ground, even if they were willing to break other rules or "bend" Holy Ground itself. For instance, Larca told his gang of new Immortals (who thought Larca was God who had brought them back to fight the Devil, i.e. Duncan) that even the Devil can claim sanctuary on Holy Ground. Kalas may have lain in wait for Immortals leaving his monastery to ambush them and take their heads, but he ''did'' wait until they'd '''left''' the monastery.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Among the rules, fights on holy ground like a church are forbidden, though some villains like Kane attempt to do it anyway.

* KatanasAreJustBetter: They're the weapon of choice for every [=MacLeod=], as well as Connor's mentor Ramirez. At various points in the series, Duncan did occasionally use a different type of blade, but the katana was his 'default' weapon. Subverted in ''Highlander: The Source'' where Duncan's katana is broken in half by the Guardian, and he goes into the final confrontation with a pair of knives. Could be partly justified by the katana's effectiveness as a cutting weapon; when the only way to kill someone is to decapitate them, a sword specifically designed for slashing comes in handy. Additionally the katana is a lot easier to carry around and hide in a trench-coat the way Connor did.

* HolyGround: Immortals will not - or possibly ''cannot'' - fight each other on holy ground. In the TV series, there's a legend that breaking this rule triggered ''the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.''

* WomanAreDelicate: According to the writers, there aren't as many female Immortals as male ones in the present day, because women were less likely to survive centuries of one-on-one duels with other Immortals in the Game. It's somewhat similar to the other point that there are few child Immortals, because they have even less chance of surviving centuries of personal combat. This eased up slightly in the modern era as people were less likely to walk around with swords for combat, combined with the fact that most of global society isn't as patriarchal as it used to be, with only men taught to fight. A medieval damsel with no combat training, only recently awakened as an Immortal, would tend to get picked off by stronger and more experienced male Immortals. In the present day, it's a bit more common for women to have self-defense training (police officers, soldiers, etc.). The few female Immortals from pre-modern society who survive to the present are those who through luck and skill managed to survive long enough to get proper combat training, and who have to be ''very'' good at it to compete with male Immortals.

* ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' (1991) flashes forward to [[TheFuture the year 2024]]. The now-elderly Connor is a wealthy man, having parlayed The Prize into building a planetary force field to repair the [[GlobalWarming ozone layer]]. CEO David Blake (John C. Micginley) has wrestled away control of the company and is in cahoots with another Immortal, General Katana (Creator/MichaelIronside), who reveals Connor's [[RecycledInSpace interplanetary origins]].\\\

** Several Immortals from the series, most notably Kronos, have facial scars. Presumably wounds on the face get treated similarly to throat wounds.

* WoundThatWillNotHeal: Kalas received a cut to his throat (like The Kurgan) in the series, as well as Xavier St. Cloud's severed hand.