Methos

Methos is a male character who features in Highlander.

Biography

Methos was a male human who was one of the race of Immortals who claimed to be over 5,000 years old. He had been keeping journals chronicling his life.[3] Because of these journals, he was considered one of the Watcher Organization's greatest mysteries. His existence was doubted and questioned for many centuries. Methos (under the guise of Watcher Adam Pierson) was assigned to the writings chronicling the legendary Methos' past. These journals documented - with varied accuracy - much of his life. In doing so, he became somewhat of an off-field agent for The Watchers and was able to keep tabs on other Immortals that he preferred to avoid. That changed when two Watchers died at the hand of Kalas, an evil Immortal. Duncan's Watcher and close friend, realized that Kalas was looking for Methos. Joe knew that with Methos's Quickening, Kalas could be unstoppable. Both Kalas and MacLeod raced to be the first to find Methos. Duncan's search led him to seek out the Watcher known as "Adam Pierson." When they first met, Duncan immediately sensed that Adam was an Immortal. Through his conversation with Adam, MacLeod realized that Adam was Methos. Duncan eventually killed Kalas on top of the Eiffel Tower leading to him and Methos becoming friends. During the Bronze Age, Methos rode alongside three other immortals including Silas, Caspian, and Kronos, who were known as the Four Horsemen and who had plundered and raped across villages on two continents. Kronos tracked down Methos in order to get to MacLeod.

Cassandra, an Immortal love interest of Duncan's and who was also tracking Kronos, pointed out to Duncan that Methos was actually Death. She claimed he had enslaved her after destroying her village thousands of years ago.

In that moment, Duncan decided to put an end to their friendship. Methos persuaded Kronos to put the band together again since he knew where both Caspian and Silas were. Kronos took the opportunity, relishing in the idea of world domination again. In the end, Methos allied himself with Duncan MacLeod to destroy the Horsemen. The two defeated Kronos and Silas together in the same area, resulting in a powerful Double Quickening. Their friendship, however, still remained strained.

He later learns he's being chased by an obsessive Immortal named Morgan Walker. Walker hated him for having had an affair with his slave 200 years ago. Methos, trying to hide from Walker who had tracked him down, looked for information in the Watchers' computer database. Joe Dawson was angry when he found out that Methos was only trying to save his own life by hacking into Joe's files, instead of explaining his whereabouts one year earlier. Although Joe and Methos' friendship was shaky, together they helped rescue a rookie Watcher and also Joe's illegitimate daughter, Amy Thomas. Their adventure helped them to rekindle their friendship and Methos was able to defeat Walker.

Overview

Personality and attributes

Methos is portrayed as having a dry sense of humor, a pessimistic view on life a witty repertoire and a somewhat loyal devotion to his friends. He's also very untrusting of people, has been accused by others as putting himself first, as being arrogant, and as being manipulative. When in conversations with both Duncan and Richie, his manner is often comparable to that of a sarcastic old man, with his tendency to be right being rather annoying to his friends.[14] Ironically, Methos looks younger than most Immortals in the series, being physically stuck at ca. 25-35, causing his mannerisms to clash with his appearance. He has also the habit of saying "yes" after each sentence if he wants to emphasize whatever he is saying right now. Methos is a method actor, being able to completely become whatever identity he has taken on at the time, but is able to switch to a far darker tone within a moment, surprising most people, and making them unsure of what to think of the "old man".

Methos avoids battle and, for the most part, other Immortals whenever possible. In tune with this, it is hardly surprising that his Ivanhoe-style sword was quite subdued, simply serving the purpose of keeping him alive. He sleeps with his sword under his bed and sometimes carries a handgun. He rarely participated in The Game, preferring to remain a legend so few would come looking for him. Whenever he perceived that there was a great danger nearby, he had a habit of suddenly disappearing for a while. However, even though he preferred to stay in the shadows, he could still defend himself when needed, and with time, his admittedly rusty skills would come back to life. In combat, he showed a deviousness and ruthlessness unmatched by most of his associates not considered evil, using underhanded tactics to win, such as a surprise attack with an additional dagger while locking his opponent's blade in defense.

He considered opera music to be boring and he liked Bruce Springsteen, Queen, and other music as well. He collected things, mostly antiques that many people considered to be junk, claiming that he thought some of the "junk" could be his from the past. He has also commented that although he knew most of everything in life, he was a bit weak in pop-cultural matters.

Methos often used the name "Adam" in some way in most of his aliases. In the early 19th century, one of his aliases was “Benjamin Adams.” He was also known as “Ben Adams” when he moved to Arizona around 1860. Between 1980 and 1996 he was known as “Adam Pierson.” He also made rather frequent jokes and references to his age; Duncan and Joe often simply called him "Old Man". He is one of the few immortals who count their lifetimes in millennia, instead of centuries.

When an impostor calling himself Methos appeared he thought it was flattering, and was happy to let someone else be hunted for a while.

Methos claims to have met Helen of Troy, Socrates, Julius Caesar, Jesus, and Cleopatra. He knew the English poets Byron and Percy Shelley, the English author 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 as both Julius Caesar and The Rolling Stones.

He's also been married 68 times, but never to an Immortal. According to him, it would be too much of a commitment

Notes

• Methos was portrayed by actor Peter Wingfield.

Alternate Versions

• Duncan MacLeod was thrown into another reality where he had never been born. In this reality, Methos had a lover named Jillian, who was killed by The Watchers (who were trying to kill him). He survived their attack due to Kronos saving him. The event made him swear revenge to all the Watchers. He gathered together the Four Horsemen and also Richie Ryan, but the Watchers killed Silas and Caspian. Methos later killed Richie, who couldn't bring himself to kill Joe Dawson on Methos's orders. Duncan MacLeod saw this with the help of the Hugh Fitzcairn's spirit, and tried to stop all of it. He fought Methos and killed him in revenge for Richie's death. 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 advice of Methos that put Duncan MacLeod back into The Game once more.

Appearances

• Highlander: The Series:

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