As with the novel White Silence and the fifth-season episode The Stone of Scone, The Element of Fire breaks the normal pattern of the typical Highlander episode in that the events of the story take place entirely in the past. Spanning prerecorded history up to February 1898*, the novel follows Duncan MacLeod’s transformation from his elder kinsman’s clumsy young student to that of Connor’s equal as a more seasoned Immortal of 305-years-old. Prior to the events of the novel we see, in late May 1896, Duncan barely avoided losing his head to Axel Whittaker in Boston (Rite of Passage). The next Chronicled date in the Highlander Timeline after the events of The Element of Fire finds Duncan in New York City in 1905, helplessly watching as his Italian immigrant friend, Giuseppe, is gunned down by the mob (Revenge of the Sword). The novel's "present-day" (1898) events go nicely in this span of otherwise un-Chronicled time in Duncan's life.
*As originally written, the author, Jason Henderson, placed the novel’s events in late January and early-to-mid-February 1897. The novel makes mention of French poet and playwright Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac and, while the play truly was written in 1897, its exact month/date of publication is unknown. Additionally, the earliest known performance of the play occurred in Paris on 28 December 1897 at Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin. It is my opinion that there simply isn’t enough time for Cyrano’s popularity to have developed to the point where Connor could have purchased a copy in England in the author's original setting of January 1897. Irrespective of the possibility of it being an English translation (as the well educated Connor of this era very likely could have read it in its original French), it would have had to have been published much earlier—likely, at least, in the previous year. As previously stated, since Cyrano was first known to be performed on 28 December 1897 at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin, Paris (with Constant Coquelin in the title role), the events of The Element of Fire should, more realistically, take place beginning in late January 1898 to be plausible. The American premiere of Cyrano took place on 3 October 1898 in the Garden Theater, New York City, with Richard Mansfield as Cyrano.
Additionally, although it was established in the first episode of the Series that Connor MacLeod had been Duncan’s mentor, The Element of Fire was the first story detailing how the two MacLeods first met and gives us a glimpse at their early days together. The manner of their first meeting was later contradicted in the fifth-season finale episode Archangel. It was this version that was detailed in Donna Lettow’s Watcher Chronicles CD-ROM as the official version of how they met. At that time in 1997, Archangel was to be the Series’ finale and it was hoped that Christopher Lambert would be able to reprise his role as Connor MacLeod to show this momentous occasion on film. However, Lambert was unavailable for shooting the scene, and the footage of a Connor-double hiding in the shadows ultimately was not used when a shortened sixth season was authorized for production. Avid fans had to wait for the theatrical release of Endgame to actually see Connor find his younger kinsman. However, because this event was filmed, this third version takes precedence, and is now the official version of how they met. I have included it as such in the breakdown of the novel's events which will follow these notes.
Despite these discrepancies, and a couple of others detailed below, the rest of the novel flows fairly smoothly in the Highlander Universe. The story references characters and events from the original Highlander film, as well as Series episodes: The Gathering, Family Tree, Road Not Taken, Mountain Men, Band of Brothers, Saving Grace, The Lady and the Tiger, Under Color of Authority, The Samurai, Line of Fire, They Also Serve, Star-Crossed, Song of the Executioner, and Finalé II. Connor’s personality is quite accurately translated from the big screen to the printed page and the reader is treated to a bit more time spent with the elder Highlander—something that is sadly lacking in the Highlander saga.
There have been discussions among fans in the past that this novel isn’t considered to be canonical. Some remarked that this was due to the age of the novel's villains Khordas and Nerissa. It is generally frowned upon to think that these two Immortals may be older than Methos, who, at 5,000+ -years-old, is accepted as having the honor of being the most ancient of all Immortals. I argue that it is canonical for two reasons:
Years ago on the original Highlander message board, I found an interesting post with notes from Magnus Magnusson’s book Scotland: The Story of a Nation regarding prehistoric Scotland that is of interest (and gives a plausible date of birth for Khordas and Nerissa):
The first people in Scotland are dated at about 7000 BC as part of the Meolithic period. A dig on the island of Rum shows a campsite with traces of shelters, campfires, and broken hearthstones. These early people lived in tent-like shelters, used stone tools, and had moved north from what would now be England, where people had lived for about 4,000 years. They were primarily hunter-gatherers. In the warmer climates of the Middle East, men were already living in cities, and experimenting with textiles and metalworking. These early Mesolithic peoples were not settlers, but nomads likely following the seasons and the migrations of the animals. The island of Rum had good rock for stone tools, likely the reason such a large campsite was there. The first known permanent settlement in Scotland was about 3100-2600 BC at Skara Brae on the island of Orkney. This well-preserved site offers a dozen separate houses, associated structures, and passage-lanes. The houses were built from native flagstone. Nearby is one of the standing stone monuments. At the same time, there was a settlement on the Isle of Lewis (Calanais) near Loch Roag. The Fir Bhre’ige is the name given to the standing stones found there. The settlement there may have been a funerary one. Also at the same time, there was a burial mound built on Orkney known as Maes Howe, which is a miracle of early engineering. The tomb was first broken into during a Norse raid and invaders left early graffiti on the walls. About 2000 BC, the advent of the Bronze Age brought change to Scotland. Brochs (such as the described home of Khordas on Rannoch Moor) were built. They were conical double-walled structures in which livestock lived on the ground floor. Between the walls were stairs to upper galleries and small rooms. They had no windows.
Due to the historical evidence, it is my belief that Khordas and Nerissa are nearly 4,000 years older than Methos—born approximately in 7000 BC. The novel doesn’t confirm that Khordas was alive as long as people had lived in Scotland, but it doesn’t deny the possibility either. Without further official confirmation from The Powers That Be, my educated guess is just as good as anyone’s.
There were multiple pacing errors in the plot that made it rather difficult at times while attempting to deduce the novel’s daily events. Dialogue at certain places in the original text contradicts other events in the story, leading the reader to believe particular events happened on different days or events that were to occur the same day as another event. In other words, things just didn’t add up in some instances. However, staying as true to what I believe to be the author’s intended timeline as possible, I was able to reconcile all the discrepancies to allow the story to flow correctly save for the following two instances:
1. Though oftentimes plot-driven, it was established in the Series that the time required for an Immortal to awaken from his/her First Death is less than a few hours—at the very most—but, due to the author’s mistakes, discovered while placing daily events into a structured timeline, the time for Gabriela to revive from her First Death stretches to more than 24 hours. This, unfortunately, must stand as to avoid a huge hole in the plot.
2. Having Nerissa be the first female Immortal that Duncan has ever met contradicts the Legacy script in which it explicitly states during the 1635 flashback: “Rebecca older, composed, Amanda young and mischievous. Both in fighting garb and beautiful, they are the first female Immortals MacLeod has ever encountered. He lowers his sword in confusion.” Even without the script stating it, Duncan’s on-screen dialogue lends itself to the notion that Amanda and Rebecca are the first female Immortals he’s ever seen: “I beg your ladies pardon, but I thought…” To which Rebecca replies: “You thought right.” Just a moment later in the same scene, an incredulous Duncan says to the pair: “But you’re women! And you’re English!” Amanda then asks if he’s never been with a woman before and Duncan replies: “Not in battle.” However, in Henderson’s story, not only does Duncan meet a female Immortal a decade before the Series establishes he did, but he fights and kills her 3 years before he meets Rebecca and Amanda! Technically speaking, it is later revealed in Prophecy that the first female Immortal that Duncan actually ever met is Cassandra, in 1606, but since the teenaged Duncan didn’t know she was Immortal, or anything about Immortality at that point in his life, that fact can easily be explained away and doesn’t necessarily contradict the spirit of what was established in Legacy. I am not aware of exactly when Henderson wrote The Element of Fire (though it must have been after Finalé II aired (29 May 1995) to have included any of the episode's story elements in the novel), but it was not published until October 1995—well over a year after the final shooting script of Legacy was approved (15 February 1994) and the episode had aired (2 May 1994). It was originally stated that the Series could later on (and sometimes did) contradict the novels, but the novels, up to their publication dates, were not supposed to contradict what had been established in the Series; they were meant to only enhance and expand the mythos. If one tries to rectify this error by shifting the year of Duncan's battle with Nerissa so that it takes place after the flashback of Legacy, then it contradicts another aspect of the established canon which is the year that Duncan and Connor parted ways after Duncan's initial training with him was deemed to be complete. That event was revealed to have occurred in 1634. There is, seemingly, absolutely no way to reconcile these contradictions in the Timeline without damaging Henderson’s story a great deal.
*As originally written, the author, Jason Henderson, placed the novel’s events in late January and early-to-mid-February 1897. The novel makes mention of French poet and playwright Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac and, while the play truly was written in 1897, its exact month/date of publication is unknown. Additionally, the earliest known performance of the play occurred in Paris on 28 December 1897 at Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin. It is my opinion that there simply isn’t enough time for Cyrano’s popularity to have developed to the point where Connor could have purchased a copy in England in the author's original setting of January 1897. Irrespective of the possibility of it being an English translation (as the well educated Connor of this era very likely could have read it in its original French), it would have had to have been published much earlier—likely, at least, in the previous year. As previously stated, since Cyrano was first known to be performed on 28 December 1897 at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin, Paris (with Constant Coquelin in the title role), the events of The Element of Fire should, more realistically, take place beginning in late January 1898 to be plausible. The American premiere of Cyrano took place on 3 October 1898 in the Garden Theater, New York City, with Richard Mansfield as Cyrano.
Additionally, although it was established in the first episode of the Series that Connor MacLeod had been Duncan’s mentor, The Element of Fire was the first story detailing how the two MacLeods first met and gives us a glimpse at their early days together. The manner of their first meeting was later contradicted in the fifth-season finale episode Archangel. It was this version that was detailed in Donna Lettow’s Watcher Chronicles CD-ROM as the official version of how they met. At that time in 1997, Archangel was to be the Series’ finale and it was hoped that Christopher Lambert would be able to reprise his role as Connor MacLeod to show this momentous occasion on film. However, Lambert was unavailable for shooting the scene, and the footage of a Connor-double hiding in the shadows ultimately was not used when a shortened sixth season was authorized for production. Avid fans had to wait for the theatrical release of Endgame to actually see Connor find his younger kinsman. However, because this event was filmed, this third version takes precedence, and is now the official version of how they met. I have included it as such in the breakdown of the novel's events which will follow these notes.
Despite these discrepancies, and a couple of others detailed below, the rest of the novel flows fairly smoothly in the Highlander Universe. The story references characters and events from the original Highlander film, as well as Series episodes: The Gathering, Family Tree, Road Not Taken, Mountain Men, Band of Brothers, Saving Grace, The Lady and the Tiger, Under Color of Authority, The Samurai, Line of Fire, They Also Serve, Star-Crossed, Song of the Executioner, and Finalé II. Connor’s personality is quite accurately translated from the big screen to the printed page and the reader is treated to a bit more time spent with the elder Highlander—something that is sadly lacking in the Highlander saga.
There have been discussions among fans in the past that this novel isn’t considered to be canonical. Some remarked that this was due to the age of the novel's villains Khordas and Nerissa. It is generally frowned upon to think that these two Immortals may be older than Methos, who, at 5,000+ -years-old, is accepted as having the honor of being the most ancient of all Immortals. I argue that it is canonical for two reasons:
- The Watcher Chronicles CD-ROM clearly lists the novel as an episode of the Series, and one of Connor MacLeod’s aliases in his profile comes from the story. Furthermore in this line of thought, Khordas is mentioned in the official Highlander calendars released by Davis/Panzer Productions, Inc. from 1997 to 2000. Although throughout my research, I have proven several dates in both the CD-ROM and the calendars to be incorrect, many dates for events in the Highlander saga became official due to the release of these calendars.
- Band of Brothers initially indicated that prior to Duncan confronting Grayson in February 1993 he had not faced such an ancient Immortal. However, when the Watcher Chronicles CD-ROM was released and assigned dates of birth for all the Immortals from the Series, Marcus Korolus, another Season One Immortal, is said to be older than Grayson by at least 70 years. Korolus's age at his Final Death had not been revealed by the See No Evil script, just that he was at least 300-years-old when MacLeod defeated him in 1925. This places Korolus' death 67 years before Duncan confronted Grayson. Additionally, in Band of Brothers, the so-called "Legend of Darius" indicates that nearly 1500 years prior to February 1993, at the gates of Paris, Darius beheaded the oldest living Immortal at that time and became a priest. This tale—the exact year (410 AD) and the Immortal’s name (Emrys) were later revealed in the novel Shadow of Obsession. If Emrys was the oldest living Immortal, then he would have to have been born prior to Methos. So the argument that Methos must be the oldest of Immortals holds no weight. Methos is merely the oldest Immortal to have survived into the late 20th century.
Years ago on the original Highlander message board, I found an interesting post with notes from Magnus Magnusson’s book Scotland: The Story of a Nation regarding prehistoric Scotland that is of interest (and gives a plausible date of birth for Khordas and Nerissa):
The first people in Scotland are dated at about 7000 BC as part of the Meolithic period. A dig on the island of Rum shows a campsite with traces of shelters, campfires, and broken hearthstones. These early people lived in tent-like shelters, used stone tools, and had moved north from what would now be England, where people had lived for about 4,000 years. They were primarily hunter-gatherers. In the warmer climates of the Middle East, men were already living in cities, and experimenting with textiles and metalworking. These early Mesolithic peoples were not settlers, but nomads likely following the seasons and the migrations of the animals. The island of Rum had good rock for stone tools, likely the reason such a large campsite was there. The first known permanent settlement in Scotland was about 3100-2600 BC at Skara Brae on the island of Orkney. This well-preserved site offers a dozen separate houses, associated structures, and passage-lanes. The houses were built from native flagstone. Nearby is one of the standing stone monuments. At the same time, there was a settlement on the Isle of Lewis (Calanais) near Loch Roag. The Fir Bhre’ige is the name given to the standing stones found there. The settlement there may have been a funerary one. Also at the same time, there was a burial mound built on Orkney known as Maes Howe, which is a miracle of early engineering. The tomb was first broken into during a Norse raid and invaders left early graffiti on the walls. About 2000 BC, the advent of the Bronze Age brought change to Scotland. Brochs (such as the described home of Khordas on Rannoch Moor) were built. They were conical double-walled structures in which livestock lived on the ground floor. Between the walls were stairs to upper galleries and small rooms. They had no windows.
Due to the historical evidence, it is my belief that Khordas and Nerissa are nearly 4,000 years older than Methos—born approximately in 7000 BC. The novel doesn’t confirm that Khordas was alive as long as people had lived in Scotland, but it doesn’t deny the possibility either. Without further official confirmation from The Powers That Be, my educated guess is just as good as anyone’s.
There were multiple pacing errors in the plot that made it rather difficult at times while attempting to deduce the novel’s daily events. Dialogue at certain places in the original text contradicts other events in the story, leading the reader to believe particular events happened on different days or events that were to occur the same day as another event. In other words, things just didn’t add up in some instances. However, staying as true to what I believe to be the author’s intended timeline as possible, I was able to reconcile all the discrepancies to allow the story to flow correctly save for the following two instances:
1. Though oftentimes plot-driven, it was established in the Series that the time required for an Immortal to awaken from his/her First Death is less than a few hours—at the very most—but, due to the author’s mistakes, discovered while placing daily events into a structured timeline, the time for Gabriela to revive from her First Death stretches to more than 24 hours. This, unfortunately, must stand as to avoid a huge hole in the plot.
2. Having Nerissa be the first female Immortal that Duncan has ever met contradicts the Legacy script in which it explicitly states during the 1635 flashback: “Rebecca older, composed, Amanda young and mischievous. Both in fighting garb and beautiful, they are the first female Immortals MacLeod has ever encountered. He lowers his sword in confusion.” Even without the script stating it, Duncan’s on-screen dialogue lends itself to the notion that Amanda and Rebecca are the first female Immortals he’s ever seen: “I beg your ladies pardon, but I thought…” To which Rebecca replies: “You thought right.” Just a moment later in the same scene, an incredulous Duncan says to the pair: “But you’re women! And you’re English!” Amanda then asks if he’s never been with a woman before and Duncan replies: “Not in battle.” However, in Henderson’s story, not only does Duncan meet a female Immortal a decade before the Series establishes he did, but he fights and kills her 3 years before he meets Rebecca and Amanda! Technically speaking, it is later revealed in Prophecy that the first female Immortal that Duncan actually ever met is Cassandra, in 1606, but since the teenaged Duncan didn’t know she was Immortal, or anything about Immortality at that point in his life, that fact can easily be explained away and doesn’t necessarily contradict the spirit of what was established in Legacy. I am not aware of exactly when Henderson wrote The Element of Fire (though it must have been after Finalé II aired (29 May 1995) to have included any of the episode's story elements in the novel), but it was not published until October 1995—well over a year after the final shooting script of Legacy was approved (15 February 1994) and the episode had aired (2 May 1994). It was originally stated that the Series could later on (and sometimes did) contradict the novels, but the novels, up to their publication dates, were not supposed to contradict what had been established in the Series; they were meant to only enhance and expand the mythos. If one tries to rectify this error by shifting the year of Duncan's battle with Nerissa so that it takes place after the flashback of Legacy, then it contradicts another aspect of the established canon which is the year that Duncan and Connor parted ways after Duncan's initial training with him was deemed to be complete. That event was revealed to have occurred in 1634. There is, seemingly, absolutely no way to reconcile these contradictions in the Timeline without damaging Henderson’s story a great deal.
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