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The Quickening is based on differences between immortals not general power

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  • The Quickening is based on differences between immortals not general power

    Highlander mysteries: The Quickening

    The Quickening is of an electrical nature. Therefore a powerful Quickening can only happen when the differences between the victorious and defeated immortal are large. We know that a Quickening carries power and knowledge, so based on that knowledge I state that Quickenings are relative to the combatants and not to overall power. A duel between 2 powerful immortals does not necessarily create a powerful Quickening (for example Connor vs Duncan). And when a powerful or knowledgeable immortal defeats one that is not, a Quickening might be barely noticeable (for example Duncan MacLeod vs Lucas Kagan)

    May flights of Demons guide you to your final rest...

  • #2
    Hm. I'm not sure what I think about that except that if you're right, by the time an Im approaches being The One, the quickening would be more like a frisson than an orgasm.
    “A sinner can always repent, but stupid is forever.”
    Billy Sunday

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    • #3
      That could very well be the case if one immortal would dominate the Game. Kurgan didn´t get much of a Quickening from Ramirez either.
      But I wager that chances are, nearing the Endgame, most active immortals would have knowledge the others do not.

      May flights of Demons guide you to your final rest...

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      • #4
        I'm pretty sure the size of each quickening was wholly dependent on the available budget of the production and how close each film was to its ultimate climax. ^_^

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Takk View Post
          I'm pretty sure the size of each quickening was wholly dependent on the available budget of the production and how close each film was to its ultimate climax. ^_^
          You must be fun at parties
          May flights of Demons guide you to your final rest...

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          • #6
            Hahahah And the whim of the director!

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            • #7
              I seem to recall one of the Highlander novels mentioning something like this (I think it was the first one "The Element of Fire) where two immortals were killed in the same instant. One was not even truly activated I think and just gave off a spark while the other was considerably more experienced (more powerful?) and his quickening was much stronger as a result. (Maybe not a climatic bring down the house quickening but a middle of the episode before the commercial break light show.

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              • #8
                I think that was scimitar... but not sure.

                Question is was that because of power levels or because of the differences between the immortal?
                May flights of Demons guide you to your final rest...

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                • #9
                  I don't know. I still think the point was that the stronger the Immortal, the bigger the Quickening.

                  And, we don't know that Quickenings are of an electrical nature. They look like electricity, but that doesn't mean that they literally are electricity. There are only so many ways to visualize something like that, and the makers of Highlander chose lightening for their visual. Godzilla's old enemy King Ghidorah fires bolts of what looks like electricity from his mouths, but traditionally these have been defined as 'Gravity Beams', beams of concentrated gravitational force, I believe. Don't judge a book by its cover.

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                  • #10
                    We do know they are of electrical nature because of the 'giant lightning rod' that was the Eiffel tower in combination with a thunderstorm enhanced the area of effect of the Quickening for example.
                    May flights of Demons guide you to your final rest...

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                    • #11
                      Ah. You win this round. But, I'll be back....

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Darth Reaper View Post
                        I don't know. I still think the point was that the stronger the Immortal, the bigger the Quickening.

                        .
                        That may seem like it is the case. However, older (and therefore stronger) immortals are way more likely to have acquired a broad array of knowledge and accumulated Quickenings, so therefore chances of a larger Quickening upon their demise are higher as well.

                        In this case one doesn't need to exclude the other and the statement that the older/more powerful immortal generates the bigger Quickenings holds true as a rule of thumb.
                        May flights of Demons guide you to your final rest...

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                        • #13
                          Hi!
                          What is the definition of the Quickening, what is the principle of the Quickening?
                          In the series, it is indeed said that an Immortal can get power and knowledge thanks to it.


                          We should at some point define what they mean by “knowledge” as we can find some paradox or counterexamples. For example: I guess Hugh Fitzcairn had plainty of opportunities to learn to read thanks to Quickenings before meeting Duncan, as Fizcairn was already 447 years old. On the other hand, in Highlander III (which was released while the TV series was on air), Kane did learn some magic tricks by beheading Nakano.

                          So I would insist on the “power” side.

                          In Highlander I, Connor could also catch a Quickening through a thunder...quite practical to gain some free energy! Actually you could avoid fights like Methos and peacefully hang around with a lightning rod? Anyway Quickening definitely has a link with electricity.

                          In Gregory Widen script, nothing happens when MacLeod kills another immortal. Only when he kills the Knight (=Kurgan), his breathing “quickens”! and a “sensation sweeps over him”. But we later assume that may be the feeling of getting the Prize. So in the script, there’s no Quickening as we were used to see in the series. But Romirez (=Ramirez) does mention power. Power within immortals. Power within other leaving beings (we can see the expression of this part of the script in the “deer scene” that I liked very much but wasn’t developed afterwards). And MacLeod and the Knight are supposed to have received much more power than the other Immortals from the beginning. That is said by Romirez who confesses being himself a “small player”. I recall Highlander II tried to explain what the “beginning” could be, but I wouldn’t risk myself too much into it, to not start a fight J
                          Nevertheless, that gives also more clue why Connor MacLeod was treated like the chosen one…until then.


                          Eventually or first! I would mention two other aspects from the TV series again:
                          • A young Immortal faces a stronger (for him) first Quickening. Does it light or explode more around him? I’m not so sure. But the Immortal can even levitate in these occasions! So there is a difference between a Quickening as a personal experiment and a Quickening as a visible manifestation. When Amanda “stole” the Quickening from Duncan, would the fireworks be smaller or bigger if it got rightfully to him?
                          • A double Quickening is said to be an extreme one, is it regardless the power of the two beheaded Immortals? The only example we had was indeed between high levels Immies.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Michel de Burgoyne View Post
                            Hi![*]A young Immortal faces a stronger (for him) first Quickening. Does it light or explode more around him? I’m not so sure. But the Immortal can even levitate in these occasions! So there is a difference between a Quickening as a personal experiment and a Quickening as a visible manifestation. When Amanda “stole” the Quickening from Duncan, would the fireworks be smaller or bigger if it got rightfully to him?
                            Here's a point I raise quite often. Amanda did not steal a Quickening from Duncan. This was a first season episode. What Duncan should have done is taken the gun from Zachary and sat back to watch Amanda fight him and take his head. Duncan stole that fight from her, because of the standards of the time the episode was made. Though I suppose Elizabeth Gracen's pseudo-fighting skills might not have been up to it. Of course, that didn't stop most of the fights when the actors couldn't manage it. Not to mention there are stunt-folks.

                            The sensation was the Quickening, but Connor MacLeod was standing on a raised point while a thunderstorm had begun. He was simply hit by lightning. And lightning, like bullets, knives, and etc in the movie, doesn't bother an Immortal for more than a moment.

                            Since the Quickenings in the tv show were unfortunately actually governed by the whims of the directors and the special effects people, nothing in there can really mean much. Heck, I think I heard that Coltec's Quickening was so dramatic because a new man doing the effects got carried away.

                            The Double Quickening was because Methos and Duncan took the heads at the same time, and all it is, the story went with, was just feedback bouncing between them. Silas' Quickening went to Methos. Kronos' went to Duncan.

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                            • #15
                              I don't think "stealing Quickenings" is really one of the rules of Immortals. If two Immortals are fighting and a third shows up and kills one of them before the other can, he/she can do that. He who takes the head gets the reward.

                              But, on that same note, I don't think Duncan was obligated to do anything in particular. If he wanted to fight Zachary in Amanda's place there's nothing that says he couldn't. It's just his misfortune that she made the kill before he could. His loss was her gain.

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