Ask a Highlander Expert!

[Coolwater]

Darth Sinister knows more about Highlander details and debates than almost anyone. He's a scholar on the subject. I'm going to ask him to come over here to answer questions about the episodes, the movies and any other HL material you might have puzzling you. (We don't have a forum for both TV and film combined, so this will have to do.)

Question #1. If an immortal exploded, would he recover?

#2. If an immortal lost a limb, would it grow back eventually, or would St. Cloud have been doomed to be one-handed forever? Why didn't Kalas recover his voice?

[L_Shell]

Cool, this should be good. Can't wait to hear what he has to say.

[brilliant!MacLeod]

Great idea,Cool,so many questions unanswered so far!!

Here are some more:
1.why didn´t Duncan get any scars on his neck when cut there,but other immortals do?
2.why did Kate hate Duncan for not being able to have children when even as a not-yet-immortal she was never supposed to have any(like we learned when Richie got immortal)?
..to be contined..

[Barney]

Question # 1 Would an immortal recover if he exploded seems to have a pretty straight forward answer, not if his head became detached from his body and yes, if only other parts were lost.

Question #2 Since it was sometime before Duncan saw St Cloud again, it seems the answer to regrowing limbs was answered, it does not occur. As for Kalas' voice, his throat would have had to been cut rather deeply to affect his voice, so maybe because he came so close to losing his head, his voice was permanently affected. Which might also answer #1 from Brillant. Duncan's neck was sliced but never cut that badly so it healed. As for Kate being upset about not having children, that has to be attributed to poor research on the part of the writer or the director told her to say it without knowing any better. I am surprised Adrian didn't catch that. He usually caught mistakes like that.

[brilliant!MacLeod]

Thanks Barney!

[pukkie]

Thanks Barney!


Dito !! :)

[Coolwater]

While I can see the point about Kalas' throat being close to his head, I don't know that I agree with you about St. Cloud. It may just take a long time to regrow an entire limb.

See, some lizards can regrow a tail, and it takes from four months to two years. Most lizards live 7 to 10 years, which would make the regrowth period as much as a fifth of their lifetime. In a European or American human that would be about 16 years. St. Cloud didn't live that long. Of course, that estimate is just for regular people. Immortals might be faster because they heal faster, or they might be slower because they live so much longer.

The things we consider!!!:rolleyes:

[EvanStar4506]

As for Kate being upset about not having children, that has to be attributed to poor research on the part of the writer or the director told her to say it without knowing any better. I am surprised Adrian didn't catch that. He usually caught mistakes like that.

Or from the view point of a man...there is no use arguing with a woman about her ability to have a child.

[appeace]

Originally Posted by Barney View Post
As for Kate being upset about not having children, that has to be attributed to poor research on the part of the writer or the director told her to say it without knowing any better. I am surprised Adrian didn't catch that. He usually caught mistakes like that.

Hummm--seems to me that someone other than Duncan was Kate's teacher and perhaps from them, she learned that Immortals could not have children.
I would think that would be a part of learning what she was.

[Coolwater]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: where Highlander movies are concerned "story continuity" means that the snippets of film are all in one piece. And now that we have digital we can't even rely on that!

Hm. If a director says jump, isn't it the actors' jobs to ask how high? This may not be the place to speculate on such things, but wasn't it after Endgame that AP said that he wanted to go into the next film as a producer? And don't directors have to pay attention to the opinions of producers? It may be that while yes, AP catches discontinuities, he may not have been able to help them during Endgame.

(For those of you who haven't been over to highlander-community.com, it is one of the great pleasures of HL fandom to mutter and grumble over our fare. ;))

[Coolwater]

Sin! I see your name on the bb! Welcome!! :D

See? You know the answers to all of these items.

[Barney]

[QUOTE=Coolwater]"While I can see the point about Kalas' throat being close to his head, I don't know that I agree with you about St. Cloud. It may just take a long time to regrow an entire limb."

When I mentioned that St Cloud couldn't grow his hand back, I was just repeating what David Abramowitz said at a convention.

Adrian had much to say about Immortals according to the lady that played "Kate". She was very impressed with his knowledge of what an immortal could and could not do and the history of Highlander. Adrian himself said that he was quick to point out inconsistencies which is why I suggested that he missed the one about Kate having children before she died. It's interesting to see how different people interpret what they see and hear. It's what makes the world so fascinating.:)

[Coolwater]

Couldn't agree with you more. And a lot of the the time one puts two and two together and still manages to get five. ;)

[brilliant!MacLeod]

Couldn't agree with you more. And a lot of the the time one puts two and two together and still manages to get five. ;)

Oh,this comes as a shock-is two and two NOT five?

[Coolwater]

Yep!

Anyone have any other questions? I know there are more, and Sin is ready to come and answer them.

[Darth Sinister]

Question #1. If an immortal exploded, would he recover?

Short of their head coming off their body, they can recover. We've seen Immortals recover from bombs ("Money No Object" & "Deadly Exposure") and fire ("Shadows", "The Colonel" & "Eye Of The Beholder"). If you fire a rocket at them and the head comes off, then they'll survive.

#2. If an immortal lost a limb, would it grow back eventually, or would St. Cloud have been doomed to be one-handed forever? Why didn't Kalas recover his voice?

Apparently not with Xavier. As to Kalas and Kurgan, that's because decapitation is the means to killing an Immortal permanently. So their throats and vocal chords would never recover as a result.

1.why didn´t Duncan get any scars on his neck when cut there,but other immortals do?

Kurgan and Kalas were cut far deeper than Duncan has been. Kurgan and Kalas were at least 3/4's of the way through. Duncan, not so much.

2.why did Kate hate Duncan for not being able to have children when even as a not-yet-immortal she was never supposed to have any(like we learned when Richie got immortal)?

You think that Kell told her the truth about her Immortality? She didn't want to talk to Duncan and by what's said or implied, it seems that only Kell has taught her about her Immortality. And obviously, he didn't want to correct her on a few misconceptions. Better to blame Duncan on her not having children as a result of becoming Immortal, as opposed to telling her that no pre-Immortal could do it.

See, some lizards can regrow a tail, and it takes from four months to two years. Most lizards live 7 to 10 years, which would make the regrowth period as much as a fifth of their lifetime. In a European or American human that would be about 16 years. St. Cloud didn't live that long. Of course, that estimate is just for regular people. Immortals might be faster because they heal faster, or they might be slower because they live so much longer.

Humans are not lizards. Immortals are the same way as humans. If a human cannot regrow a limb, then an Immortal cannot.

[Coolwater]

That's right: I'd forgotten that Kell was Kate's primary teacher.

So, you're arguing that immortals merely do what a supercharged human would be able to do? Hmmm...

[Darth Sinister]

Immortals can do what humans can do, but what humans cannot do, in most cases an Immortal can do it. A human can survive serious burns, but depending on the damage, there's only so much that can be done. But an Immortal can come back from it and be just fine physically. The pyschological damage is a different matter.

[Coolwater]

So, aside from St. Cloud, who died too soon, you and Barney have no reason to think that an immie - who could be blown to bits and survive - couldn't regenerate a mere hand?

[Barney]

If an immortal was "blown to bits" and his head was detached from his body he would not survive. If he lost his arms and legs but kept his head intact he would survive but without limbs. Of course if this happened he wouldn't last long. Someone would take advantage his vunerabilty and take his head. Of course, this is just my view of the "Immortal" world.

[Coolwater]

Excellent point! If he were limbless pretty soon he'd be headless as well! :D

[BlackCloud]

Hello everybody! well in MHO I don't think, that this immortal would have to die soon: look at Kenny (over 800 years!!) and Mikey! In their way they were "limbless" too, the one with not as strong arms als adult immortals, the other by not knowing, whats going on and what happend to him.
As we've seen, there was someone to care for Kenny anytime, and so we saw with Mikey. There would be always someone, who protects a "limbless" immortal, at least DUNCAN:D

[hlndr]

As for Kate not being able to have children.....I'm assuming that even as a pre-immie she (or any other female pre-immie for that matter) wouldn't have had any menstruation periods. That alone should have told her that she wouldn't be able to have a child.....right?

[hlndr]

I have a question about tattoos and body piercings. Since an Immortal heals almost instantly....how can they keep a piercing (like Amanda's nose and Duncan's earing) or a tattoo?

[Coolwater]

Ask Adrian:

"Since Immortals heal almost instantly.....how can they have piercings? (Like your pierced ear or Elizabeth's pierced nose?)"

Well they may heal instantly, but if they have something stuck in them then they wouldn't heal. For instance, if you stuck an Immortal with a sword, then he wouldn't necessarily die but would be in a rather uncomfortable position for as long as he is being skewered. Not a pleasant thought really - and not one that I would want to try.

So, to continue with that logic, since a tattoo is ink injected under the skin, wouldn't you guess that the immie's skin would reject the ink the way a normal person's skin rejects a splinter by infecting it and pushing it out? An immortal's tattoo would have to be done prior to the first death, I think.

[BlackCloud]

As for Kate not being able to have children.....I'm assuming that even as a pre-immie she (or any other female pre-immie for that matter) wouldn't have had any menstruation periods. That alone should have told her that she wouldn't be able to have a child.....right?
yes, I think you are right, hlndr, that a pre-immie wouldn't have menstruation periods.
But, at the times of Katie (I don't exactly remember the year of their marriage and my son took my "endgame" and didn't bring it back by now:mad:), but I think it was back in 18th century: at that time Katie wouldn't know anything about the connection between mentruation and getting pregnant! Even at the present times there are lots of women who don't know nothing about the biological interrelations and functions of their bodies.
And we can immagine, in those tense katholic times any thought about the body and sexuality and so on would have been a sin! (Like unfortunately for so many men and women nowadays, who are prevented by traditions, religions and so on, to live their natural lifes).

[BlackCloud]

Yes, in the extension of this thougt, I have annother idea. But first a warning to all of you, who could be embarrassed by any sexual stuff:
Please close your eyes before reading this:D:D:

What happens with male immortals at the org...: are there semen, but nonviable, is there a fluid or what?

So, all the shy people can open their eyes again*G*

[Coolwater]

I don't think there's any reason to assume that a pre-im, or an im doesn't menstruate or have semen. There are a lot of infertile people who are outwardly normal. The mechanism for immortal infertility has never been specified, and I think that the only time it was suggested that a pre-im could have children was when Kate was upset. She could have been wrong - what made her think that she'd have had them had Duncan not killed her?

And, in fact, people long before the 17th century Europeans understood that the menses and sex were connected with pregnancy. Remember their belief in the Miracle of the Virgin Birth? It's not a miracle if you don't get the connection. Anyone with a milk cow understood it, because if you didn't breed your cow, she didn't "freshen" and give milk. They had birth control techniques, too, such as inserting small sponges soaked in sea water, and lamb skin condoms (tied on with little colored ribbons!!! I love that!) , and they grew herbs for abortion in their gardens.

Heck, even the pre-Christian Celts got it: the spring equinox festival (May Day) included a bit of orgy because it was a fertility festival and they wanted lots of human babies, baby livestock and crops. The Maypole that people decorate and dance around today was originally a giant phallus or had one carved at the top, to celebrate insemination.

What Kate herself understood, I cannot say. The whole business of not telling children about sex and birth was something that came later: if you grow up in a farming community, it would be hard not to see the obvious.

I think the film writers screwed up.

[Darth Sinister]

The film writers didn't screw up. As I said earlier, we don't know for sure who her first teacher was if she had one, but odds are she never had one until Kell came along. And he probably told her a version of the truth that would suit his needs. That Immortals could have children, before the shock of a violent death. This would make it easier to get her to go along with him on his revenge quest when it came time to go against Duncan.

As to menstration, that subject has never been brought up as that's too much information. But odds are that female Immortals never had them before their Immortality was triggered.

As to semen from a male, well, odds are they are just like the men who are sterile or who have had a vasectomy. They're just shooting blanks.

[appeace]

It would make sense, to my feeble mind anyway:rolleyes:, to tie in the whole "Where do I come from?" problem in with whether pre-ims could have children.

Think about it. If a pre-im could have children, then that same pre-im becomes immortal, might they want to protect their baby? What better way to do that than to give the wee bairn up to a mortal couple thereby preventing another immortal from using the bairn to get to the parent??

Didnt Duncan build the house for Ann and then leave her for this very reason although her baby wasnt his? He left in order to "protect" her and the babe.

Oh well--just my tired brain thoughts.;)

[Coolwater]

If ims could have children, then that would make sense - and isn't there an X-Files in which Skully gives up her half alien baby for that reason?. But I think if I were an im parent, I would find an island, make holy ground of the whole thing, and create a community in which the children could be reared safely. Other ims could come for a vacation when immortal PSTD gets too bad! :D

[appeace]

That would be a great idea until someone like Kell came along--or another immortal who didnt believe in the rules. Of course, according to Highlander lore, the world would come to an end----but then Duncan was never supposed to marry--WRONG:(--and immortals were not supposed to be able to have or father children--WRONG!:(

Therefore, would the world actually end if immortals fought on or killed on holy ground??:confused:

The only reference I can recall is when Joe mentions Pompeii as the result of the only Watcher recorded killing on holy ground. Therefore, only that city was destroyed---not the world.

Therefore, I fear an evil immortal would go to the island with the intent to kill and escape before the destruction of the island.:mad:

[Coolwater]

I suppose that if someone killed on the island, he'd be met by a lot of unhappy ims who might decide to ignore the "no interference" rule. ;)

[hlndr]

Does an Immortal's body simply absorb the bullets when they get shot?

[Coolwater]

Don't the bullets sort of pop out of the k'immie in one of the films?

[Tessa]

Don't the bullets sort of pop out of the k'immie in one of the films?

You're right. I think it was Mario Van Peebles in Highlander 3.

[brilliant!MacLeod]

I have a new question:
In the HL timeline they say Duncan was born 1592 and firstly killed in 1622,at the age of 30.
In the very first HL epi(The Gathering) Tessa said ,from now on she would no longer look younger than him,she would grow old and he would look always 35!!!!
When she died some time later you could see on her gravestone that she was actually 35,too.
And in Justice,when Duncan is questioned about his whereabouts he produces a birth cerificate that seems to make clear he was 35!!!!
So throughout the whole series he "is" 35 and not 30!!!
I´m confused,to say the least.
Did nobody notice there was a discrepancy?

[Coolwater]

Let's ask elle~nora'.