Methos
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| Alias | Adam Pierson, Benjamin Adams, Death, Remus, Caratarix, Haribu, Et-Maru, Metopholus |
| Age | c.5000 |
| Found | c.3000 BC |
| Immortality | c.3000 BC |
| Mentors | Pharaoh Djer, Donald Salzer |
| Watchers | Jesse Benoit1 (??-Apr 1808-??), Timothy Wyatt (1996-??) |
| Portrayed by | Peter Wingfield |
| First appearance | Methos |
| Movies | 4, 5 |
| Seasons | 3, 4, 5, 6 |
Methos is a fictional character from the Highlander movies, Highlander: The Series, and The Methos Chronicles, portrayed by actor Peter Wingfield. He is an Immortal.
What started as a one-shot part, when he was introduced in the episode "Methos," turned into four years of regular appearances, in which Methos became one of the most popular characters on the series. It was initially intended that he would be killed at the end of season 3 in the "Finalé" two-parter, but the writers saw potential in the character, and kept him. The audience liked the perspective of a cynical five-thousand-year-old man, combined with the complexity of the character's dual roles.
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[edit] History
Methos is the mythical "Oldest of the Immortals." He is at least 5000 years old, the approximate date he took his first head, but claims to remember nothing before that - including his place and date of birth. This could have been meant to imply that he may have been still older, but could not remember any further back than five thousand years.
However, it seems that Methos was born either in ancient Mesopotamia or ancient Egypt around 3000 BC. He was the second son of three boys and two girls, and he lived with his family. When he was approximately 28 years old, he died when a sandstorm trapped him and his family. His family died, and Methos became Immortal.
Afterwards, he roamed the Earth without ever knowing of his immortality. People thought he was a demon, and tried to kill him many times over. Methos learned how to survive from then on. By the time he was an estimated 603 years old, he took his first Quickening. He then realized that there were many Immortals besides himself, and he started to learn about The Game.
When he was a slave in Ancient Egypt, an Immortal Pharaoh named Djer took him under his wing, but apparently the ruthless Pharaoh killed his nomad wife during a smiting of Sinai (the killing of all nomads), so Methos buried him alive inside a sarcophagus within a deep tomb, and claimed his throne as a Pharaoh of Egypt. His journey after that is unknown. [1]
He has been keeping a journal almost since writing began (approximately 3300 BC). He learned how to write in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Hyksos, cuneiform, Phoenician, and Ancient Greek writing systems. He claims to have met Helen of Troy, Socrates, Julius Caesar, Jesus, and Cleopatra. He knew the English poets Byron and Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley, and rode with Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. In his first meeting with MacLeod, he said not many people can claim to have been on the same stage (either metaphorical or not) as both Julius Caesar and The Rolling Stones.
Methos has often used the name "Adam" ("Adam Pierson") in most of his aliases as an inside joke, because he was amused that people referred to him as the oldest man. One of his aliases was "Benjamin Adams," or rather, "the good Dr. Adams," as he was known in the 19th century (he majored in medicine in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1453) He didn't care whether he was the oldest one, as long as people were not looking for him. Even when a fake Methos called The Messenger appeared, he was rather surprised that someone else was using his name. He thought it was flattering, and was happy to let someone else be hunted for a while.
[edit] Life
Methos was one of the Watcher Organization's greatest mysteries. His existence was doubted and questioned for many centuries. During his time at a University in Paris, Methos, under the guise of Watcher Adam Pierson, "uncovered" the "The Methos Chronicles," which documented - with varied accuracy - much of his life.
In order to prevent the discovery of his true existence, he volunteered to study the Chronicles. In so doing, he was able to prevent discovery of the true Methos, and keep tabs on other Immortals that he preferred to avoid. Methos tried to remain unseen by pretending to study the Chronicles of Methos, and became somewhat of an off-field agent for the Watchers. Therefore, nobody would suspect that he was actually the legend. That changed when two Watchers died at the hand of Kalas, an evil Immortal.
Joe Dawson realized that Kalas was looking for Methos, while Duncan MacLeod knew that with Methos's Quickening, Kalas would finally be strong enough to defeat him. Both Kalas and MacLeod raced to be the first to find Methos. Duncan's search led him to seek out "Adam Pierson." Duncan immediately sensed that Adam was an Immortal and that he was actually Methos. MacLeod challenged Kalas, nearly defeating him when the police arrived to send Kalas to prison for the deaths of the Watchers. Unfortunately, Methos had vanished. A few months later, Kalas ended up breaking out of prison, due to the intervention of Amanda. She wanted to take his head, but he escaped. A woman named Christine Salzer wanted to reveal the secrets of the Immortals and the Watchers to the press, because her husband, Watcher Don Salzer, had been murdered by Kalas.
Methos and Joe Dawson tried to talk her out of it, but she refused. In a desperate attempt, Joe tried to kill her, but accidentally shot Duncan instead. Methos wisely reminded Joe that Duncan didn't try to save Christine, but protected Joe through his actions. Ironically, Christine was later killed by Kalas who then took the disc containing the information about the Watchers and the existence of the Immortals. Duncan eventually fought Kalas on top of the Eiffel Tower, where he defeated the evil Immortal. The tower, being a giant lightning rod, amplified the Quickening, and shut down the power all around Paris, as well as destroying Kalas's computer and the disc containing all the information. The secret of the Immortals and the Watchers was safe, and Methos secured himself as Duncan MacLeod's friend.
[edit] Dark Past
Duncan MacLeod learned that the man he trusted had a horrible secret; Methos had a dark past — he was actually a member of The Four Horsemen, who may have inspired the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Cassandra pointed out that the polite and witty Methos was actually Death, and had enslaved her many millennia ago. Methos had ridden with The Four Horsemen, who plundered and raped villages on two continents back in the Bronze Age. Kronos, the leader of the Horsemen, tracked down Methos in order to get to MacLeod. Methos decided to flee, but Duncan caught him leaving, then asked whether Cassandra's accusations were true. Duncan learned the shocking secret that his friend had an unjustifiably evil past. Methos knew that Duncan's moral conscience couldn't stomach this revelation, though he tried to make Duncan understand. In that confrontation, Methos finally admitted that his past was evil. He told Duncan MacLeod as much, in a chilling monologue:
| “ | "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. Cassandra was nothing. Her village was nothing. Do you know who I was? I was Death. 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. Is that what you want to hear?! The answer is yes. Oh, yes." | ” |
In that moment, Duncan decided to put an end to their friendship. Methos decided to put the band together again, and both he and Kronos tracked the remaining members. Silas, the brutal but naive one, and Caspian, the insane one. Kronos had a plan to rule the world once again.
In the end, Methos joined Duncan MacLeod to destroy the Horsemen. The two defeated the Horsemen together, resulting in a powerful "Double Quickening". Duncan first killed Caspian and later slew Kronos, while Methos had to kill Silas, the only member of the Horsemen that he really liked. But it was too late to repair the friendship between himself and Duncan.
Although Methos's friendship with Duncan was officially over, it didn't prevent the two from interacting, wherein Methos would talk to Duncan about life. Amanda begged Methos to do something, because Duncan's outlook on life had been shattered by another Immortal named Steven Keane. He shared Duncan's black-and-white point of view, and it affected him in dealing with The Game. Methos wisely told a reluctant Duncan that life was not as simple as good and evil. There were always two sides of the same coin, and also a grey area in between. Methos claimed that he was not a perfect Immortal, and there was no such thing as being perfect. An Immortal should just accept his life, and decide what was best for himself. Immortals also made mistakes because they are just human beings and mistakes could be forgiven. As Immortals, they had their duty to play in The Game.
Duncan's reluctance to compete in The Game affected him in many ways. He accidentally killed his own protegé, Richie Ryan, because he thought he saw an evil being called Ahriman posing as Richie. After realizing his mistake he became more brooding, but in the end he defeated the evil being. Unfortunately, Methos had disappeared again and not even Joe Dawson could find him this time.
[edit] His Return
When Methos returned again, the following year, he found himself being chased by an obsessive Immortal named Morgan Walker, who hated him for having had an affair with his slave 200 years ago. Methos had no choice but to hide for the time being, and to look for some information from the Watchers' computer database. Joe Dawson was angry when he found out that Methos was back, only to try to save his own life by hacking into Joe's files, instead of explaining his whereabouts one year earlier.
Methos, in his own clever and manipulative way, reminded Joe about his Watcher oath, and that Joe had broken his own vows to help MacLeod, but not Methos. This offended Joe, and damaged their already-shaky friendship. But Joe couldn't stay mad at Methos because he needed his help as a rookie Watcher, also Joe's illegitimate daughter, Amy Thomas had been kidnapped by Walker. Both Joe and Methos had to escape Walker's henchmen and try to save her. In the end, Methos bonded with Joe, and defeated the evil Immortal. Joe also patched things up with his daughter.
[edit] Alternate Methos
Once, when Duncan MacLeod was killed temporarily, he was thrown into another reality where he had never been born.
Alternate Methos had a lover named Jillian, who was killed by the Watchers while trying to kill him. He survived due to Kronos appearing and saving him. The event made him swear revenge to all the Watchers. He gathered back the Four Horsemen and Richie, but the Watchers killed the members. He killed Richie, who couldn't kill Watcher Joe Dawson. Duncan MacLeod saw this, and tried to stop all of it. He fought alternate Methos, and killed him. But in the same instant that Duncan executed the killing stroke, he returned to his original reality, where Methos tried to wake him up. In the end, it was the wisdom of Methos that put Duncan MacLeod back in The Game once more. Methos said that life was about changes, and about accepting who you are, good or bad.
[edit] Spin-Offs
[edit] Highlander novels
Methos appeared in four Highlander Novels: Scotland the Brave, Zealot, The Captive Soul and An Evening at Joe's.
If, in the first two books, he was a secondary character with a role similar to the series, in The Captive Soul, he was the main character, and had to face villain Prince Khyan. In the short story compilation An Evening at Joe's, most of his stories focused in his last days with his lover Alexa Bond.
[edit] The Methos Chronicles
The 2001 The Methos Chronicles, was an animated internet Flash series based on Methos. Peter Wingfield was the voice actor for the main character.
Pharaoh Djer escaped his imprisonment and Methos had to, once again, face him. In the end, Djer escaped and disappeared.
[edit] Highlander: Endgame
In 2000, Peter Wingfield returned to the role of Methos in the fourth Highlander film, Highlander: Endgame, which served as a melding of the Highlander movie universe with the Highlander television series universe. On the 10th anniversary of Connor MacLeod's disappearance after Rachel Ellenstein's death, Duncan MacLeod came to his house to ask him about visions he was having. In the visions, Duncan saw glimpses of Connor and other Immortals being beheaded. Methos told Duncan that Connor had been in the Sanctuary all that time, until it was destroyed by Jacob Kell. He would later rescue Duncan alongside Joe Dawson, when Duncan was kidnapped by renegade Watchers who wanted to make him a "volunteer" at the Sanctuary to prevent The Game from ever being finished. He would later reveal how powerful Jacob Kell really was by showing Kell's record of Quickenings. Duncan would leave Methos and Joe to search for Connor, not believing him to have died in the Sanctuary massacre.
[edit] Highlander: The Source
Peter Wingfield reprises the role of Methos in Highlander: The Source, which was released in September 2007. Duncan MacLeod, Methos, Anna (Duncan's latest wife) and two other Immortals search for the origins of immortality. Methos is much darker in this new film, still living in Paris despite the supposed decline of civilization. While many characters meet their demise in The Source (including Joe Dawson), the fate of Methos is less certain. Temporarily stripped of his immortality (a by-product of being near the Source) and realizing Duncan is really "the One", Methos draws away hordes of cannibals on horseback, entirely disappearing from the film. His fate is unknown though one could argue both ways - even faced with insurmountable odds, Methos was a trained horseman with 5,000+ years experience against a disorganized mob.
[edit] Personality and relationships
Being the oldest in the gang, he could be very witty with a great sense of humor and an extremely sharp mind, which sometimes could be annoying (according to Duncan and Joe). In some ways, he was pretty manipulative towards his friends and foes, not to mention a bit arrogant. Duncan once even compared him to a hammerhead shark. Methos has said that although he knew most of everything in life, he was a bit weak in pop-cultural matters.
Methos avoided battle – and, for the most part, other Immortals – whenever possible, tending to be paranoid unless there was a good reason to stick around. He slept with his sword under his bed and sometimes carried a handgun. Unusually for an Immortal, he rarely participated in The Game and just continued his life, traveling around the world and appearing here and there whenever he liked. Whenever there was a great danger nearby, he suddenly disappeared for years until he came back again like nothing ever happened. His preference was to observe rather than to fight; a few enemies made the mistake of judging this behavior as a sign of weakness. When he was backed into a corner, Methos invariably proved to be an exceedingly dangerous opponent.
He considered opera music to be boring and he liked Bruce Springsteen, Queen, and other music as well. His lifestyle was expensive; he collected things, mostly antiques and modern art, that many people considered to be junk. (He claimed that he thought some of the "junk" could be his from earlier times.) Methos liked to present himself as an easy-going, sarcastic gentleman who liked a drink or two with his friends in a bar. He also liked to pretend that he was completely unscrupulous, warning MacLeod at one point that he hadn't felt guilt since the eleventh century, but his actions often undermined this image.
Many have argued that Methos might be one of the strongest Immortals, albeit not in a physical or fighting-technique way, but more in a strategy-and-survival way. Methos' run-and-hide tactics were so effective that most Immortals and Watchers were convinced he had never been real, only a legend, an attitude which suited him since it meant nobody would seriously come looking for him. He seemed perfectly willing to let other people (specifically MacLeod) fight his battles but occasionally would intercede to help them when it appeared beneficial to him.
According to Methos, he got married 68 times — never to an Immortal, however, because according to him, it would be too much of a commitment.
[edit] Several important relationships in his life
[edit] Alexa Bond
He fell in love with a mortal named Alexa Bond, a waitress who worked in Joe's bar, who was terminally ill. At first Alexa refused his proposition of dating, because she didn't want to disappoint him. He was persistent, and waited for her under the rain and asked her out on a date. He mentioned to Alexa that the reason for asking her on a date was "[b]ecause the alternative is unthinkable." In his quest, he wanted to make her dream come true by traveling the world. Methos had knowledge about the Methuselah's Stone, rumored to be able to make a person Immortal, and tried to steal it (with help from Amanda) to cure Alexa. Methos failed to retrieve the stone, and unfortunately, Alexa died of sickness with Methos remaining by her side until she passed away, becoming one of the true lost loves of his life.
[edit] Amanda
The only person that could match him in his manipulative ways was Amanda. Methos and Amanda sometimes could be very cunning, especially to Duncan MacLeod. Their relationship was more like siblings or good friends. She seemed to know Methos from earlier times. There was a possibility that Methos used to date Rebecca, Amanda's mentor centuries ago. Amanda was also the one who helped him to steal the Methuselah crystal. When he failed to cure Alexa, Amanda gave him a heartfelt hug and words of encouragement. Both Amanda and Methos understood the dilemma of being Immortal. Both of them knew that life was about changes, and about accepting who you were, good or bad.
[edit] Methos in The Game
Sometime during his life, when realizing that for being the oldest Immortal, he was a primary target for all the other Immortals, he removed himself from The Game, eventually deciding the best place to hide was within the Watchers, where he was put in charge of locating himself. (As he told Duncan, "And I make sure it never happens.") When Duncan MacLeod met him in 1995, he hadn't taken a head for roughly 200 years; however, it didn't diminish his sword skills. That changed when he had to behead Duncan's obsessive former lover Kristin Gilles, when the Highlander proved unwilling to do it himself. However, even after that, he only fought when it was necessary.
1 - Unknown1, c.3000 BC ("Methos")
2 - Kristin Gilles, 1995 ("Chivalry")
3 - Silas, 1997 ("Revelation 6:8")
4 - Morgan Walker, 1998 ("Indiscretions")
5 - Prince Khyan, 1999 ("The Captive Soul")
[edit] Appearances
Movies - Highlander: Endgame, Highlander: The Source
Episodes - "Methos," "Finalé, Part 1," "Finalé, Part 2," "Chivalry," "Timeless," "Deliverance," "Methuselah's Gift," "Through A Glass, Darkly," "Till Death," "Judgement Day," "One Minute to Midnight," "The Messenger," "The Valkyrie," "Comes a Horseman," "Revelation 6:8," "Forgive Us Our Trespasses," "The Modern Prometheus," "Archangel," "Indiscretions," "To Be...," "...Not To Be"
Animated Series - The Methos Chronicles
Books - Scotland the Brave, Zealot, The Captive Soul, An Evening at Joe's
[edit] External links
- Highlander: Endgame at the Internet Movie Database
- Highlander: The Source at the Internet Movie Database
- Highlander: The Series at the Internet Movie Database
- Methos Wiki - a Highlander Wiki on Methos
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