oceana

There are so many things I want to post about, but I'm afraid I'll have to go and sleep a little first.
However, before I go to sleep, I wanted to share some more HL thoughts with you.
Because my brain goes on overload everytime I think about Duncan and Methos, and I know you've all just been waiting for me to share my toughts with you. ;-)

Remember, this is just speculation. Duncan and Methos are far too interesting for a simple solution.

I was thinking about a possible reason those two could be attracted to each other. Besides the obvious, I mean.
We are often attracted to our opposites, and they sure are opposites. I'm not saying that they don't have common characters traits, but on the whole, they are rather different.
The reason for being attracted to an opposite is often that we secretly or openly wish to be like out opponent.

So, what has Duncan that Methos wants and what has Methos that Duncan want? One of the ideas I have on this is the following:


Methos tries desperately to be human. He is "just a guy", He marries 68 times, he falls in love just like everyone else, he reads, he drinks beer, he has no wisdoms or answers.
But no matter how hard he tries, he'll never be human. He is 5000 years old, and sometimes, every inch of him screams his age. Like that scene in Archangel (correct me if I confuse the titles), after Duncan killed Richie, and Methos comforts Joe in his arms. He isn't just a very emotionally controlled human there, he is a 5000 year old man who has seen it all before, felt it all before.

Methos falls in love with Alexa, knowing that she'll die. But when he breaks down in Amanda's arms in "Methuselah's Gift", he doesn't mourn Alexa's short life, he says:" There's so little time for them to see anything or do anything."
In that moment, there is no doubt that Methos isn't human. He thinks of the mortals as "them", and he doesn't belong.

The mere fact that Methos married 68 times (or was it 67? Bad memory, I'm sorry) shows that he isn't human.
And let's not forget about the whoel death thing, though that might be one of the most human things he did. The inability to resist power and then to abuse this power is a very human trait. The whole becoming death on a horse on the other hand isn't: and a 1000 years is a bit excessive for human means, but the principle is a very human one.
Methos proves, just by being himself, that he isn't human.
But his behaviour shows that he wants to be, and that's why he is so attracted to



Duncan.
Duncan is so very very human. More human than some mortals. And Duncan really, really wants to be immortal. I mean, truly immortal, behave like an immortal. Be something special.
But let me explain:
Duncan is fascinated by Methos's age (aren't we all?). He is fascinated the first time he sees him, having obviously heard of the legend Methos.
He calls him "the five thousand year old man" the second time they meet.
Me seems Duncan is obsessing a bit about Methos's age, but we've all been there, nothing to worry about.

Duncan takes it upon himself to rid the world of evil immortals and other nasties that the mortals can't handle. Mortals in his vicinity automatically become his responsibility, his to protect from the dangers that his immortality exposes them to.
He is above the human law in many ways, and because of this, he creates his own sense of justice, judge and jury at the same time.
To me, this shows that he isvery much aware of being different because of his immortality. And unlike Methos, Duncan accepts and sometimes even revels in this. He is immortal, and he is going to make use of all the advantages that immortality brings.
Nonetheless, Duncan never really succeeds in getting rid of his human traits.
Judging people the way he does: isn't that a very human thign to do? Only that most of us can't just hack another's head off with a sword if they think he's an asshole: they would, if they could.
By playing judge, jury and executioner himself, Duncan doesn't act immortal, he actually acts like most mortals would were they given the opportunity to do so.

Another example is that Duncan, despite his fascination with Methos's age, seems to be unable to understand what it means to be this old.
Okay, so no one really can, but some people try. Joe, for example, had no problem saying and believing that Methos had changed in "Comes a horseman".
Duncan didn't want to listen. All that was important for him that Methos did these things, no matter how long ago. If he were thinking like a true immortal, wouldn't he understand that people change? That holding a grudge over a period of a acouple hundred years is really kinf od silly?
(But I doubt he'd understand the horsemen thing. Brothers for a 100 years? Nope, no one but them will ever be able to really understand that)

Duncan is human in everything he does: lead by his emotions, vulnerable because of them. He lives in his world,. a lot mroe than Methos does. Methos who just changes his identity and leaves, because he knows that things are the same everywhere, that people are the same everywhere.
Methos who doesn't care about a reputation, changing his name like he changes his appartments. (and he would NEVER have been able to afford the one he had, not as a poor grad student. i'm just saying.)

Duncan keeps his identity, Duncan sticks around, Duncan gets back to people he knew in another time, takes care of them even then. To say that he has trouble changing his human identity is a bit of an understatement. Even when he died, he just went back to a familiar place, waited a little and went back to his life.

They are opposites, and they want what the other one has to offer. Duncan wants Methos's immortality, Methos wants Duncan's mortal humanity.

I'm sure there are more examples, but I'm really tired and can't think of them right now.
Does that make any sense to anyone? It sounded so logical and convincing in my head, but I'm not sure if it stilll does now that I put it down on paper. so to speak.
Maybe I'm just tired.
Godd night! :-)