History Headscratchers / Highlander

** Horizontally? No. You'll just crawl around without any legs and the wound in your torso will seal up. Diagonally? You might eventually regenerate depending on how thoroughly you were cut in half, but would probably suffer permanent brain-damage from the separation and reattachment of your frontal lobes. Completely cut in half diagonally will probably result in effectively permanent death, but no quickening until both sides of the neck were severed from the head (which the next immortal to come along and find you will do).

* I'll save some time and just like to [[http://www.highlander.jinnayah.com/ this site.]] I don't agree with every single point raised, but the bulk of it is good.
* The final episodes of the series Bugged Me. I didn't mind the It's A Wonderful Life treatment; while not exactly a new idea, it provided fodder for some interesting scenes, so fair enough. But the antagonist of the episode, O'Rourke, was just blah. He was hard to take as a credible threat, especially compared with previous bad guys like Kronos, Kalas, or even Grayson. These were guys who could stand up to [=MacLeod=] on a physical level, bad guys with centuries (or, in the case of Kronos, ''milenia'') more experience, greater knowledge of fighting techniques, or just plain more devious than Duncan. O'Rourke does not play in that league. Obviously [=MacLeod=] doesn't want any harm to come to his friends, but it's never for a moment suggested that he thinks O'Rourke is anything special as a swordsman. Their final fight is nice, but that's due more to the location. The episodes work OK, but I'd have liked a bad guy with a little more presence and a higher intimidation factor.
** Yeah, the series basically wasted their best villains earlier on. Really, after taking down two of the four oldest living Immortals, guys who'd been terrorizing the world since shortly after the discovery of fire, where else can you go?
** O'Rourke isn't really the point of the episode. Duncan is guilt-ridden over his friends being endangered for knowing him yet again, after Tessa, Richie, Fitz, and Sean Burns had all died for knowing him. The main plot is Fitz' "angel" convincing Duncan that he hasn't just been a burden to his friends.

* Okay, regarding Highlander III: Why in the HELL would those two Immortals serve Kane for ANY period of time? Did they just not KNOW that there can be only one? Surely they would know that Kane would kill them both eventually.
** I don't think they had any choice. Plus one of them survived until he met Connor.
** "Okay, so here's the deal: you two can serve me, and we'll all go around killing immortals for a long time as an unstoppable team until we're the last three left. At that point, you might actually be strong enough to kill me. Or, I kill you now. What do you say?" Or, alternatively, Kane was the one to mentor each of them and they served him because of this, and because Kane wanted an alternative to having to grow eyes in the back of his head in case an immortal should come at him from behind, or in his sleep, or whatever.
** The way I remember it was that there can be only one on Earth. Thus, they had no reason to worry about it on Mars. It is also the only way to explain Connor becoming the One, and keeping that from the first movie.
** They were already developing a bit of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Kane killed one of them immediately after siccing the other on Connor, with specific instructions to "Just find him." The other immediately decided to take Connor for himself, probably realizing that was the only way he'd be able to have a chance against Kane. It was pretty clearly an alliance of convenience, doomed to fall apart as soon as it was no longer convenient (which is exactly what happened.)

* Okay, so after hearing all the whining about how the movies came out, I've only seen the TV series. Maybe this was answered in a movie, I dunno, but...how the hell does "There can be only one" work when (a) nobody seems to know where immortals come from, they're just random babies that show up somewhere, and (b) nobody knows at what point the immortal babies are gonna stop showing up on the planet? If new candidates keep entering the game, how do you know when you're the only one left?

* It's been so long, but the one of the thing I remember most about the cartoon,even more than insert name [=MacLeod=] being completly useless, is that at the gathering they agree to take the oath the obviously evil ripoff of The Kurgan basically loudly declares his intention to take out the pacified immortals and take over the world; So in response the other immortals go ahead and take the oath without dealing with the one desenter who pretty much said he was going to wipe them out once they made themselves defenseless.

** This troper always got the impression that the good immortals were waiting for the Gathering, while the less scrupulous ones wanted to jump the gun. Thus, the good immortals would fight immortals they didn't like (read: evil bastards), but had no problems making friends and such with other immortals. Then when the Gathering came, it was understood that they'd have to fight and kill each other, but the Gathering was a long way off.

* I just realised something. Ramirez says to Connor that if The Kurgan won the Prize, mankind would suffer an eternity of darkness. But The Prize is apparently being able to grow old and have children. Wouldn't the Kurgan just die in about 50 years or so? Granted, 50 years is a long time but it's not an eternity.

* Do the "immortals" (that very word just bugs me; all but one of them will die and all of them can!) have to be ''standing'' on holy ground to be unable to fight on it or can they attack someone on holy ground from outside it? For instance, think of that scene from ''Sleepy Hollow'' wherein the Hessian, who cannot attack on holy ground either, stands at the edge of the churchyard, throws a makeshift harpoon through a church window into someone, and drags their carcass over to him, all without setting foot on the grounds. [[LoopholeAbuse Could an immortal do that?]]

* At the end of ''Highlander II'', Connor suddenly switches from the {{BFS}} he took from a {{Mook}} to his signature [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]]. Where the hell was he keeping it all that time?
** [[VoodooShark Tucked through his waistband]]. [[HammerSpace What, you didn't notice it just because it wasn't in a single shot up until then and never impeded Connor's movement? That's nothing new]].
** [[FridgeLogic If that was the case, why bother with the BFS in the first place?]]

** From the Kurgan's point of view, that home belongs to Ramirez, not Conner. Remember, Ramirez lied and told the Kurgan that Heather was his woman. Heather probably went along with the lie to protect Conner. She also never told Conner about the assault, to prevent him from hunting the Kurgan before he was ready to fight him. She might have even told the Kurgan that Ramirez sent Conner away permanently to hunt heads and grow stronger. That would send the Kurgan out on a wild goose chase.
** So the Kurgan had no reason to return, and it made Conner's home the safest place for him to be while still a young and inexperienced immortal.

So the Kurgan had no reason to return, and it made Conner's home the safest place for him to be while still a young and inexperienced immortal.

** The Kurgan is under the impression that Heather is Ramirez' girl, because Ramirez lied and told him such. Heather isn't stupid, and went along with the lie. She knew the Kurgan is hunting Connor, and expressed surprise to see Ramirez there instead. No doubt, he would have pressed Heather for details on where Connor is located, while also assaulting her. Heather lied there as well, probably telling him that Ramirez sent Connor away permanently so he can start taking heads and grow powerful. Basically, she sent him on a wild goose chase. This actually makes Connor's home the safest place he can live while still inexperienced as an immortal. And since The Kurgan believe's she has no ties to Conner, he has no reason to doubt her story.

** Ok, so I have a theory on this. Its related to the scene where the Kurgan taunts Connor in the church. The Kurgan is under the impression that Heather is Ramirez' girl, because Ramirez lied and told him such. Heather isn't stupid, and went along with the lie. She knew the Kurgan is hunting Connor, and expressed surprise to see Ramirez there instead. No doubt, he would have pressed Heather for details on where Connor is located, while also assaulting her. Heather lied there as well, probably telling him that Ramirez sent Connor away permanently so he can start taking heads and grow powerful. Basically, she sent him on a wild goose chase. This actually makes Connor's home the safest place he can live while still inexperienced as an immortal. And since The Kurgan believe's she has no ties to Conner, he has no reason to doubt her story.

** Ok, so I have a theory on this. Its related to the scene where the Kurgan taunts Connor in the church. The Kurgan is under the impression that Heather is Ramirez' girl. Why? Because she told him. Heather isn't stupid, she knew why the Kurgan is there. He is hunting Connor, and expressed surprise to see Ramirez there instead. No doubt, he would have pressed Heather for details on where Connor is located, while also assaulting her. Heather lied there as well, probably telling him that Ramirez sent Connor away permanently so he can start taking heads and grow powerful. Basically, she sent him on a wild goose chase. This actually makes Connor's home the safest place he can live while still inexperienced as an immortal.

** Never saw the series, but did try and play the game based on it (which sucked ''hard''.) My first bad feeling came when describing the setting, and specifically when telling that Connor [=MacLeod=] went to try and deal with the traitor, he lost the fight immediately because he'd taken the oath of pacifism. Seriously? Connor [=MacFuckingLeod=] let himself get beheaded because an oath stopped him from fighting back, even in self-defense? IdiotPlot indeed.

* It does indeed seem proper neck wounds don't heal correctly, as demonstrated by the Kurgan and Kalas. The reasons for this, aside from being dramatically appropriate, are never addressed.

** There was also an Immortal in the TV series who wore full chainmail armor (he died in modern times, went insane, and thought he was an old-school Knight Templar.) Duncan still took his head, despite the armor (though the camera glosses over how, exactly.) It seems likely that the coif shifted enough that Duncan got a relatively clean shot at the neck, or that the chainmail gave enough to allow Duncan's katana in between where the coif ended and the cuirass began.

** From the novelization and the stance that his body assumes right before toppling, I think it was meant to indicate that the Kurgan was so hard to kill it was all a delayed reaction to death. He simply doesn't want to finally die, and hadn't realized what happened to him. The novel describes it as ''For one moment, MacLeod was not sure that the cut had been deep enough. Then the head lolled backwards. The cut was almost along the same line as the Ramirez wound. But this time it was deeper. Much deeper. The spinal cord had been severed. Only a thin strip of skin prevented the head from falling to the floor. It hung there: dangled from the cord of flesh. Yet the Kurgan was still not dead. The mouth flapped, though no sound came out. From the open neck, the exposed stump, energy gushed forth. The body danced and jerked, as if on live strings. The wound coruscated, like electrified glass. The Kurgan dropped to his knees. MacLeod was amazed at the tenacity of the man. Still he clung on to life. Still he fought against death. His head flopped on the narrow bridge of skin, yet the body fought to stay upright. The strength of will behind such action was phenomenal. The hands opened and closed. MacLeod thought that his enemy was going to reach up and replace the severed head on its stump. But the final gush of energy died. The body collapsed. It lay twitching at MacLeod’s feet.''

** Ok, so I have a theory on this. Its related to the scene where the Kurgan taunts Connor in the church. The Kurgan is under the impression that Heather is Ramirez' girl. Why? Because she told him. Heather isn't stupid, she knew why the Kurgan is there. He is hunting Connor, and expressed surprise to see Ramirez there instead. No doubt, he would have pressed Heather for details on where Connor is located, while also assaulting her. Heather lied there as well, probably telling him that Ramirez sent Connor away permanently so he can start taking heads and grow powerful. Basically, she sent him on a wild goose chase. This actually Connor's home the safest place he can live while still inexperienced as an immortal.

** Ok, so I have a theory on this. Its related to the scene where the Kurgan taunts Connor in the church. The Kurgan is under the impression that Heather is Ramirez' girl. Why? Because she told him. Heather isn't stupid, she knew why the Kurgan is there. He is hunting Connor, and expressed surprise to see Ramirez there instead. No doubt, he would have pressed Heather for details on where Connor is located, while also assaulting her. Heather lied there as well, probably telling him that Ramiriz sent Connor away permanantly so he can start taking heads and grow powerful. Basically, she sent him on a wild goose chase. This actually Connor's home the safest place he can live while still inexperienced as an immortal.

** Younger Immortals are always being portrayed as at a distinct disadvantage. Duncan in the first season was very nervous about taking on Greyson, who had a millenia on him if memory serves. Younger Immortals have to work hard and fast to train up to a level where they can defend themselves, and even they have to avoid certain notable badasses, like Xavier St. Cloud.

** Not to mention the fact that the series came ''before'' Endgame — it isn't the series doing the retconning here, it's Endgame. (Which, like HL2, never actually happened.)