Against the Darkness
formidable foes
Highlander: The Series offers many "Immortals of the week" for Duncan to battle, but some elude him and continue to stir up trouble. Who are these baddies? Let us gaze into the abyss.
James Horton (Peter Hudson) As an Immortal, what might you fear most? Likely, you'd fear an enemy whom you can't sense, who follows no rules, who will cut off your head without receiving your power and knowledge - lost forever. James Horton's Hunters are just such an enemy, a splinter group of the benign Watchers. Horton considers Immortals an abomination of nature, he creates the Hunters to wipe out the entire race. Duncan crosses the Hunters' path after they behead the peaceful Darius on holy ground. Horton cleverly leads Mac to suspect Horton's own brother-in-law, Joe Dawson. However, Duncan and Joe learn the truth and work together, Duncan appearing to kill Horton with a sword.
Yet the wily Hunter resurfaces and teams up with Xavier St. Cloud in Unholy Alliance I & II, then drives a further wedge between Duncan and Joe. Though Joe shoots him, Horton returns a third time. He plots revenge on Duncan by creating a surgically altered duplicate of Tessa in Counterfeit I & II, who is actually a sociopath set to kill him. Mac figures out her true identity, and finally kills Horton with a knife.
We see repeatedly that there's no limit on Horton's fanaticism and lust for revenge. He knows how to push Duncan's buttons, but repeatedly underestimates Mac's intelligence. He "reappears" in Archangel as one of Ahriman's manifestitations.
Xavier St. Cloud (Roland Gift) Not all villains foam at the mouth and chew the scenery: Xavier is the epitome of elegance and class. He considers himself and all Immortals superior to mortals, and has no qualms about killing them. Indeed, many die in his pursuit of luxury. When a jewelry store heist claims six mortal lives in For Tomorrow We Die, Duncan is intent on finding the thief. He's tipped off by the poison gas the thief uses, since Xavier prefers bloodless methods of killing. Mac remembers that in WWI, Xavier used mustard gas to gain access to the army payroll. The two originally met in 1653 in North Africa, where Xavier kills Duncan's friend Hamza al Kahir. Their fight in 1993 in Paris leaves Xavier alive but not whole: Mac cuts off his left hand.
A year later, in Unholy Alliance I & II, Xavier teams up with James Horton to kill Immortals and find Duncan. Their arrangement is thus: Horton shoots Immortals, and Xavier takes the heads. Yet Mac and Joe Dawson form an effective team as well. While Horton escapes, Mac is able to track Xavier down by his caviar dealer, and takes his head. Few Immortals are as smooth as Xavier, yet his excessive lifestyle proves his downfall. His flamboyance makes him a great contrast to the understated Horton.
Kalas (David Robb) " Taking away everything you love," is a common villain threat, but Kalas is fairly sincere about following through. After all, Duncan robs his of his great gift: his singing voice. Kalas first meets Duncan when the kindly Brother Paul takes the Highlander into the monastery in 1658. Duncan eventually learns the secret of Brother Kalas: he's been killing vulnerable, out-of-practice Immortals as they depart from the monastery. Duncan challenges him, but Kalas escapes, only to meet Duncan in 1920. Another battle ensues and Mac succeeds in slicing Kalas's throat, which doesn't heal properly.
Kalas returns, intent on wrecking Mac's life in 1995 by framing his friends for crimes, killing Hugh Fitzcairn, and seeking any possible advantage in the final battle between he and the Highlander. He soon discovers the existence of the Watchers and manages to obtain the Chronicles on CD-ROM. He threatens to make these public and expose the Watchers and Immortals should Duncan not sacrifice himself. The ultimatum doesn't stop Mac from taking his Kalas's head atop the Eiffel Tower.
Kalas approaches revenge methologically. Life in the monastery has given him patience, discipline, and a knowledge of how to play on Duncan's ethics. Yet Duncan was able to take the risk of killing him thanks to the support of his friends, a motivation Kalas would never know.
Kronos (Valentine Pelka) Duncan first meets "Melvin Koren" in the 1870s Wild West. In the 1990s, he seems like another routine villain for Mac to dispatch. How is the Highlander to know that Koren is really Kronos, one of the Four Horseman of the Apocolypse? In the Bronze Age, Kronos raped and pillaged alongside his "brothers" - Silas, Caspian, and... Methos.
In Comes a Horseman and Revelation 6:8, Duncan feels understandably betrayed when he learns about his friend Methos's true past. Kronos uses this broken trust to overwhelm Duncan and win Methos back to his team. Kronos kidnaps Methos's one-time slave Cassandra (a friend to Duncan introduced in The Prophecy), and she convinces Duncan that all four Horsemen need to die. Indeed, with Kronos developing a deadly virus, he must be stopped. Fortunately, Methos is able to manipulate the situation so that he and Duncan can finish off Caspian, Silas, and Kronos. While these battles are drawn out, it takes even longer for Duncan to believe in Methos's good nature once again.
Kronos represented War when riding with the Horseman, and he has charisma as well as a love of death and destruction. He forces Duncan to see evil in a trusted friend, and Methos to turn against those he previously loved, especially the naïve Silas. It's no wonder Kronos is one of the manifestations of another ancient evil Duncan faces: Ahriman.
Ahriman One of the least corporeal enemies Duncan encounters, Ahriman, is an ancient Zoroastrian demon. Every thousand years he awakens, and an Immortal called the Champion must find his own unique way to put the demon to rest. In 1999, guess who the Champion is? Duncan, naturally. In Archangel, Ahriman first manifests as James Horton, whom Mac is sure has died. Is he going crazy? Maybe not - research leads him to realize Ahriman's powers of illusion and trickery, including the ability to manifest as dead enemies. Still, Ahriman is able to trick Duncan into killing Richie.
After a year of mourning, suffering nearly unbearable loss, and witnessing the deaths of innocent victims, Duncan returns to battle the demon. He sees Ahriman's full power over the forces of life and death when Ahriman revives and manipulates Sophie Baines; Mac helps her find peace. Alongside Joe Dawson and the kindly Father Beaufort, Duncan is able to conquer the demon by accepting the evil within himself.
Ahriman may not have the traditional Highlander enemy, but his profound effect on the series and Duncan's character cannot be dismissed. (See Inner Demons)
Jacob Kell (Bruce Payne) The antagonist of the film Highlander: Endgame
was once a childhood friend of Connor MacLeod. Connor is banished from the village in 1536 for his "sorcery" (recovering from death), but returns years later to find his mother. The two are captured, and Connor is forced to watch his mother burn at the stake. Desperate to save her, Connor escapes by killing Jacob Kell and his father. But Kell, like Connor, can't die.
Over four hundred years later, Kell is one of the most powerful Immortals alive. He disregards the rules of Immortality, set on revenge against Connor. Duncan joins the fight against Kell when a gang of Immortals attack the Highlander. They are lead by Mac's former lover, Kate. Combined, Connor and Duncan have the power to defeat Kell. Connor decides to make the ultimate sacrifice, and Duncan, though emotionally distraught, is able to kill Jacob Kell.
The smarmy Kell begins as Connor's enemy, but poses a threat to all Immortals. Duncan does the unthinkable in order to defeat him, which makes Kell one of his worst opponents.
The Guardian (Cristian Solimeno) Of all Duncan's foes, the Guardian is most like a comic book character. He has super-powers (speed, energy beams and barriers) and spouts one-liners that are actually lyrics to Queen songs. In the film The Source, he protects said Source, and attacks anyone trying to find it. He was actually once a seeker himself, but not pure at heart, so he became cursed as the Guardian. Duncan is also a seeker, and apparently so outmatched during his first bout with the Guardian that Methos and Joe haul their friend away.
Duncan faces the Guardian in a rematch at the site of the Source, having gained the same speed and power as his opponent. He buries the Guardian in sand, but refuses to behead him. The Guardian disappears after warning that Duncan is cursed. However, Duncan is pure at heart, and can embrace the Source without harm.
After the serious, provocative enemies Duncan has faced, the Guardian is a lame joke. We can only hope that in future productions, Highlander villains become magisterial once again.
