Highlander: The Series, Season One

(Duncan is telling a little girl a story in a compromised building.)

Duncan MacLeod:
Once there was this place where the faerie-people lived. It was a beautiful city in those days, surrounded by white walls, and tall stone towers...

Little girl, Belinda:
What were they like?

Duncan:
Oh, they were like regular people, except they lived for a very long time, and they never grew old.

Belinda:
Like Peter Pan!

Duncan:
Yeah, sort of. Well, the fairies...were handsome, and wise, and very, very clever. The problem was, as time went on, there were more and more people, and soon the faerie people had to leave this home in the faerie city. They moved into the mountains, and into the old forests, and in the caves, and in the cliffs, but the other people always found these places, so the faerie people had to move on.

Belinda:
That's sad. Where do they live now?

Duncan:
Oh, Belinda, they're all around us, and you know what their job is? It's to protect children, and sometimes tell them stories.

Belinda:
Have you ever met one?

Duncan:
Oh, lots.

Duncan MacLeod:
You have not changed.

Alexey Voshin:
No, did you expected me to?

Duncan:
No, that's why I'm here.

Melinda:
He's gonna be ok?

Tessa:
I don't know.

Tessa:
Bad money put to good use.

Tessa:
I'm going to think about both of you for a long time.

Tessa:
I am going to miss you, Melinda, very very much. I'll always remember you.

Melinda:
Promise?

Tessa:
You see, I am going to save you right here. (in her heart)

Randi McFarland:
(to Duncan) Surprise, surprise! Another weird murder attempt and you're right here in the middle of it.

Randi:
Come on, MacLeod, you were here. Give me a quote.

Duncan MacLeod:
Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it.

[She is crying]

Tessa Noël:
I just keep seeing him in front of me as I ... (ran him over with a car)

Duncan:
You did what you had to.

Tessa:
I thought ridding the world of evil would feel better than this.

Duncan:
I know... I know.

Richie:
Whoa! Damn, check me out, I am one sharp dude!

Tessa Noël:
Even if you do say so yourself.

Richie:
Hey, Tess, I'm just callin em as I see em.

Tessa:
I stay with you because I want to! I won't run. I'm not that "little woman", and I'll never be barefoot and pregnant! We all have things to face. This is mine. I have to see it through.

Duncan MacLeod:
Tessa, you're stronger than she was. If something happened to me, you'd be fine.

Tessa:
You only think so because it suits you.

Tessa:
Duncan, when the time comes, if you ever have to leave me, (Duncan groans) I won't be like Ann, I'll leave you first.

Duncan:
You do that!

Tessa:
Yeah?

[they kiss]

Duncan:
Yeah! And I'll follow you, wherever you go, for as long as you live.

Tessa:
Mmmm... Then maybe, just maybe, I won't leave.

Grayson:
I shall hunt down your proteges, one by one, until you sicken of it and come out of sanctuary to fight me.

Darius:
Will it please you that much to destroy me?

Grayson:
Immensely.

Darius:
Grayson! You believed in me once.

Grayson:
I didn't change, you did.

Richie:
So what makes this Grayson guy so different from the others?

Duncan MacLeod:
He's 1400 years older than I am. He's one of the few ancient Immortals left. He's been a warlord most of that time. You don't just go up to him with your sword and say "Tsst, tsst, tsst! En garde, fool!".

Duncan:
The legend has it that Darius killed a holy man at the gates of Paris, the oldest living Immortal at the time. And suddenly he changed. He turned his back on war.

Richie:
Did Darius ever change you?

Duncan:
Yeah, I guess he did. I was born of a warrior people. When war came I chose sides like most men. I fought. I killed.

[Flashback to Waterloo, 1815]

Darius:
You shouldn't be taking part in this tragedy.

Duncan:
I was raised a warrior. I choose battles I believe to be just.

Darius:
Oh, I'm sure. You're quite loyal to your convictions and compatriots... But I wonder what these (dead) men think about that, about convictions and compatriotism now?

[Duncan's thoughts as he prepares for battle]

Hope doesn't conquer a superior adversary. So why do I hope to beat Grayson? Why do I think that a good life will protect me from an evil one? What power can I draw from this thing, this hope?

Victor Paulus:
You've saved my life again. Why are you... who are you?

Duncan:
I'm a friend of Darius.

Victor:
You didn't learn this (fighting) from Darius.

Duncan:
I wasn't much of a student.

Darius:
I wasn't always a priest, you know. When I was a young man the first thing you had to do when introduced to a woman was compliment her father's horse. (Richie looks doubtful) Well, that probably doesn't help you.

Duncan:
It's a good job, huh?

Tessa Noël:
Great job.

Duncan:
Great. I like being kept.

Tessa:
Kept?

Duncan:
Yeah, I mean, hang out on the barge, catch up on my reading, while you bring home the bacon.

Tessa:
Barge, what barge?

Duncan:
Oh I forgot to tell you about the barge. No self-respecting museum curator would live anywhere else.

Tessa:
So I slave away all day while you sunbathe on a barge. Is that it?

Duncan:
Yeah, but just think of how ... rested I'll be. He he he...

[Flashback to about 1800]

Baron Deshields:
Absinthe?

Kuyler:
From the Luchessi family. None better in the whole of France.

Deshields:
No, thank you. Madness and death are not things to which I aspire.

Kuyler:
Who wants to live forever?

Duncan MacLeod:
Do you have any, uh, any absinthe?

storekeeper:
It is against the law to sell absinthe.

Duncan:
(displays money) Well, uh, to connoissuers... (more money) true men of discretion... (more money) such things can be made unimportant.

shopkeeper:
I wish I could help you.

Duncan:
Me too... (more money)

shopkeeper:
Who sent you here?

Duncan:
A friend whose tastes I share.

Kuyler:
Incidentally, I owe you an apology. Anthony was very sloppy. I killed him for you.

Duncan:
You're mad, Kuyler.

Kuyler:
Maybe. Maybe I'm just trying to excel at what I do. Didn't you ever want to be the best at something?

Duncan:
Murder means nothing to you?

Kuyler:
On the contrary, it means everything.

Kuyler:
Do you know how many Mortals I've killed over the years?

Duncan:
I'm sure you do.

Kuyler:
I've kept a book. 2760. Now I don't just think I'm bragging, but, I'm the greatest assassin in all of history. Of course, there have been men responsible for more deaths, but none of them killed so many, so close.

Duncan:
I don't think there are going to be any more entries in your book.

Darius:
Why are you here?

Xavier St. Cloud:
I've come to confess. Same as everyone else. Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

Darius:
I will not hear this.

Xavier:
You are a priest, and I am a sinner. Isn't that how it goes? Or have you reinvented the position?

Darius:
Why do this? It means nothing to you.

Xavier:
Because it means everything to you.

Dalou:
Parisians don't mind a little larceny now and then. If it's done with ingenuity, no one gets hurt.

Inspector LeBrun:
If this man kills again because you're holding out on me, I will personally have your head.

Duncan MacLeod:
Well I think your gonna have to wait in line.

Richie:
Mac, you ever had it bad for an older woman?

Duncan:
Well, the situation hasn't come up recently.

Xavier:
I'm just trying to earn a few francs. After all, a man's gotta live.

Duncan:
Not necessarily.

[They fight]

Darius:
War in the abstract is a great intellectual puzzle, but in reality it's all blood and tears.

Duncan MacLeod:
Then why make it into a game?

Darius:
To deny what I was is to deny what I am.

Grace Chandel:
God, I get so tired of it sometimes. We go on and everything around us dies.

Tessa Noël:
Do you still love her?

Duncan:
No.

Tessa:
That's all that needs to be said. She's your friend, and she's been hurt. You'll help her. I'd expect you to do no less.

Grace:
The truth is, you and I were too different.

Duncan:
Maybe if I'd stayed.

Grace:
You would've been unhappy. So I let you go. My wandering knight, charging off to right all the wrongs of the world.

[At her husband's grave]

Grace:
You'd think I'd learn how to handle this, wouldn't you. The strange thing is, every time it happens I tell myself I won't go through it again. I swear to myself I won't fall in love with a mortal. As if love were something you had any control over. You and Mac have something good. I envy you.

Tessa:
Grace, about you and Mac...

Grace:
We had a moment, that was all. Though I wanted it to be more. Please don't hold it against me.

Tessa:
It's funny, but I don't. It would take me several lifetimes to find out everything in Duncan's past. I know there have been others. But I never thought I would meet one of them. And here you are.

Tessa Noël:
You don't look like someone who would worry much about forgiveness.

Richie:
Tess, you do know that they all carry big swords with them. Just a thought.

Amanda:
You've always had a taste for beautiful and spirited women, Duncan.

Tessa:
And modest. Don't forget modest.

Duncan MacLeod:
Time to go. It's been thrilling.

Amanda:
It's been 65 years. A girl might think you're trying to avoid her.

Duncan:
Now how could you think that? Goodbye, Amanda.

[She sent him to prison, now he's escaped and has her helpless]

Zachary Blaine:
Do you know what I missed most... was the feeling of a good, old fashioned Quickening. SShhhh!!

Amanda:
Wait!

Zachary:
No, after what you did to me, you can't come up with a reason good enough.

Amanda:
I can give you ten million reasons, in American dollars.

Zachary:
Funny, you'd think that would be enough. (prepares to kill her)

Amanda:
I can give you the head of Duncan MacLeod!

Amanda:
I gave up my life of crime, Duncan.

Duncan:
That's what you said in Constantinople, 250 years ago.

Amanda:
I succumbed to an impulse.

Duncan:
I was nearly flayed alive when they came looking for you.

Amanda:
But you got away. You always do.

Tessa:
After all she's done to you, why do you care whether she's happy or not?

Duncan:
I don't know, Tessa. She made me laugh when there weren't too many things to laugh about. Maybe that doesn't seem important, but those are the things I remember of her.

Tessa:
She makes me feel like I have to compete with her. Maybe if I'd been a lady pirate or something....

Duncan:
whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Richie, give us a moment, would you?

Richie:
I was just leaving. [He leaves]

Duncan:
Hey, listen to me young lady, she's no competition. Hmmm?

[They kiss]

Zachary:
Why try to save her, MacLeod? She's betrayed you before.

Duncan:
At least I'm smart enough to stay out of jail.

[They fight]

Season One:
Original narration, read by Adrian Paul:

Season One:
Second narration, for the second half of the First Season (also by Adrian Paul):