The Multiverse

[dubiousbystander]

Oooh, I have one! The asteroid hit Earth and all of the Immortals died, because everyone lost heads and bodies! Hahahahahah! AND... and since there was no one to take the prize, the Quickenings pooled, created The Source, which distributes Quickenings all over the world that appear as babies, who grow up to be the men... and women... they once were... in no particular order, just whenever there's enough of one distilled to recreate the individual... And so the Immortal who gets to the Source will only be accepted if he or she is the one that wants to create life, because The Source's purpose is to restore the Immortals... ooooh. I think I've got it.

[Tootsie Bee]

For all intents and purposes, they would be "dead" from the time they transported through time until 2024. It's not as if they were hanging out in a cave somewhere. They literally didn't exist for most of human history. (And obviously there was only so much the filmmakers could do to rewrite their film in 1995 after having gone with the Zeist idea originally. The alien thing was stupid, but it made more sense. The Prize was always Earth-bound.)

[Nicholas Ward]

That's kinda like saying that Connor couldn't win the Prize because the Kurgan was still alive a second before Connor chopped off his head.

no it isn't. There isn't a mention of Katana, Reno or Corda dying. And even if there was they can't die twice in the same timeline. Or did someone other false prizewinner resurrect them too?

Well, globviously. Anyone who was part of the Game in the past must have died before 1985.

And therefore cannot be alive in 2024 unless they would be from a different timeline/reality.

The director's cut of Highlander II is pretty much the #1 argument for a multiverse. Once you throw in time travel, multiple timelines are almost expected.

True, but unfortunately it isn't mentioned explicitly.

[Tootsie Bee]

if they were in the distant past they were part of the game. So no Prize could have been given.

That's kinda like saying that Connor couldn't win the Prize because the Kurgan was still alive a second before Connor chopped off his head.

Or did they die in the past as well?

Well, globviously. Anyone who was part of the Game in the past must have died before 1985.

Then Highlander II would be confirming the Multiverse.

The director's cut of Highlander II is pretty much the #1 argument for a multiverse. Once you throw in time travel, multiple timelines are almost expected.

[Aleander]

The Gathering isn't being fought across time and space. How hard is that to understand?

[Nicholas Ward]

No one being in the vicinity ≠ being the last one.

[Aleander]

if they were in the distant past they were part of the game. So no Prize could have been given. Or did they die in the past as well?

It doesn't matter. When Connor defeated Kurgan, there was NO ONE AROUND. He literally got old and almost died before the two returned and visibly brought him back to the Game. You clearly haven't seen the movie in a while.

And he didn't get the Prize again after killing Reno and Corda.

He did. He used the Prize to bring back Ramirez. Then Katana came, Ramirez died, Connor killed Katana and with his Quickening, destroyed the Shield, claiming the Prize once again.

Technically, Connor won the Prize three times in the first two films.

[Nicholas Ward]

They weren't still around. In the theatrical cut, they were on another planet. In the director's cut, they were in the distant past. Either way, we know that Connor won the Prize because he had grown old and mortal. Connor in H3 wasn't mortal. He had no powers. He hadn't changed the world. He hadnt aged (even if the actor had). It's an entirely different situation altogether.

if they were in the distant past they were part of the game. So no Prize could have been given. Or did they die in the past as well? Then Highlander II would be confirming the Multiverse.
And he didn't get the Prize again after killing Reno and Corda.

[Tootsie Bee]

Highlander II does the same basically. Connor receiving the Prize even though Reno, Corda and Katana were supposedly still around.

They weren't still around. In the theatrical cut, they were on another planet. In the director's cut, they were in the distant past. Either way, we know that Connor won the Prize because he had grown old and mortal. Connor in H3 wasn't mortal. He had no powers. He hadn't changed the world. He hadn't aged (even if the actor had). It's an entirely different situation altogether.

How did 3 not?

I answered that question in the part of my post you didn't quote...Kane flat-out says he didn't.

Seemed like he'd spent the post-NYC years trying to help people across the globe, even taking in a kid in need as his own.

Seemed like he hid out in Marakesh after Brenda died in Scotland (while he survived thanks to his still-present immortality) and adopted a kid (whom he couldn't beget naturally thanks to his still-present immortality). Not really saving anyone but himself.

They added gray to Connor's temples in at least the beginning parts to show his continued mortality.

Umm...did they add gray to his temples in The Hunted as well? Pretty sure that's just his natural hair.

[Andrew NDB]

Yeah, Highlander II is the only follow-up that starts with Connor having the Prize...

How did 3 not? Seemed like he'd spent the post-NYC years trying to help people across the globe, even taking in a kid in need as his own. They added gray to Connor's temples in at least the beginning parts to show his continued mortality. While stupid, as soon as Kane and his posse emerged from the mountain, those blue shockwaves seen the sky in Morocco were clearly meant to imply, literally, "Game... Resumed!"

They just didn't dwell on it, or really make that a big plot point.

[Nicholas Ward]

Highlander II does the same basically. Connor receiving the Prize even though Reno, Corda and Katana were supposedly still around.
Besides that it makes the Prize redundant too because immortals can be summoned at will.

[Tootsie Bee]

Yeah, Highlander II is the only follow-up that starts with Connor having the Prize...and even using it for the benefit of humankind! Highlander III hits us with that ridiculous line, "But you see, the Prize was never yours," even though Connor ended the first film with advanced ESP and the voice of Ramirez affirming his victory from beyond the grave! That's a pretty major retcon, which further condemns the third movie for rejecting the TV show canon.

[Aleander]

Because it retroactively adds to the first. It doesn't change the narrative of the first. What Connor went through in the present of the first still occurred, very much the way it did. 3 makes Connor into an idiot, and a liar (what the hell is he talking about to Brenda, if he DIDN'T win the Prize?). Unwittingly, though, but man, it doesn't work in many ways. And the show? It cannot possibly follow the narrative, because it actively ignores it in order for it to exist.

[Nicholas Ward]

All sequels require an additional theory to make it fit. 2 isn´t any different therein. Why do you consider 2 the only one that doesn't need one?

[Aleander]

The Series already is large chunks of it. Like what the hell is the Kurgan doing in NYC? Sure, he could be looking for "the ones that got away" but... its a theory. An explanation provided academically. Realistically, the show doesn't follow the first film at all. Figuratively, sure, as it acknowledges a lot of that film (mostly doing so to bait the existing fans to tune in for the show). But as a matter of story, and concept (the show's immortals are not as impervious to pain as the film's), they're not a match.

[Nicholas Ward]

What if we disregard the first film then?

[Aleander]

Coolwater does have a point. Nothing really fits with the first film, except the second one. They all look at parts of it, not the whole.

[Andrew NDB]

Honestly, though, I think you'll only give yourself a head ache if you insist on forcing the various story lines to fit one another.

It really, really isn't, though, beyond the really out-there stuff like TAS or the stuff that simply can't fit (H2).

[Coolwater]

Could you add another option?
O Huh?

Honestly, though, I think you'll only give yourself a head ache if you insist on forcing the various story lines to fit one another. It's a multiverse by virtue of the first film having a finale, and later by unprepared writing. I think at some point you have to say, HL1 is in a world of its own because it ends and HL2 doesn't patch that problem up well. In HL3 Connor is not an omniscient being, so that is on it's own, too. The series mostly fits together, especially if you take all the magic crap out. No witches, no curses, no Ahriman, no ESP by an insane person, etc. (Think of this as the Jefferson Bible of Highlander.) And so on. When a fictional universe is created, it's a mistake to change the rules by which it operates, and it has always seemed to me that HL works best when we have immortals living in an otherwise real world. IMO, of course.

[dubiousbystander]

Really, now, dead horse here... a mortal gypsy is reading his "marriage" line, thinking he's a mortal man. Simplest answer: He would not be getting married, and had not married, within a mortal lifetime. Not a curse, just what she "sees".

[Nicholas Ward]

If only Debra doesn't count doesn't that make 3?

[Aleander]

Debra doesn't count because it cocured before the gypsy's reading, although Duncan could be blaming himself for that subconsciously through that filter.

So he tried twice. And the first didn't occur because she was already married.

[Nicholas Ward]

He wanted to marry Debra, Tessa, Anna and Sarah. 1 girl for every mortal lifetime. The curse is later than a few but he definitely tries to get married a lot.
It's like the letter K for villains, ending with 'a' for Duncans girlfriends means it won't end pretty.

[Aleander]

Well, because he thinks he outruned it? He's not a superstitious man to a religious degree, but he's also mindful. Maybe, he thought, being with a woman for over a decade was proof for him that he break that spell. But only after this misfortune happens to her that he considers that flashback.

Besides, I don't think he's tried to get married a lot throughout the show. In fact, he's adamant not to. Its in the movies that this mistake occurs.

[Nicholas Ward]

On the other hand why does he keep trying to marry then? If he believes the curse is true, he is damning the women involved.