# Any Suicides Because of HIGHLANDER? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2002, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216 "2002-08-30T02:00:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dr\_hermes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dr\_hermes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dr_hermes)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/1 "2002-08-30T02:00:22Z")
I used to watch the final ten or fifteen minutes of the HIGHLANDER series because some of the sword fights were pretty good, especially against different weapons like an axe or spear. Anyway, the central concept of the show is that there are a species of Immortals, people who revive after being killed, and from that point on can only die by being decapitated. Considering how looney many people are, were there any documented cases of Highlander fanatics commiting suicide in the belief that they themselves were certain to revive as Immortals? (I don`t recall any mortal characters on the show killing themselves for this reason, whether they came back or not, but it would have been an interesting plot. Maybe if there`s another movie, it could deal with a cult of Immortal wannabes committing hara kiri left and right.) ``` Anyone know of any suicides blamed on HIGHLANDER. Lord knows, self inflicted deaths have been blamed on everything from video games back to dime novels.... ``` ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/2 "2002-08-30T03:12:12Z")
I’ve seen the movies, but I’m not a fanatic or anything, so I don’t really know–but don’t you have to be killed yourself in some violent way to come back immortal? ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/3 "2002-08-30T03:17:04Z")
I almost killed myself after watching _Highlander II_, does that count? I didn’t think I was immortal, it’s just the movie sapped all my will to live, and almost completely destroyed my faith in the intelligence of my fellow humans. ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/4 "2002-08-30T03:42:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Caesar’s Ghost \* > \*\*I’ve seen the movies, but I’m not a fanatic or anything, so I don’t really know–but don’t you have to be killed yourself in some violent way to come back immortal? \*\* In the TV show they didn’t have to die a violent death, they were just shown that way on the series to add more action. I seem to remember that they mentioned some elderly immortals that apparently died a natural death and then had to live through the centuries as an elderly person. I think it was when Duncan was debating with a bad guy about whether it’s better to kill a pre-immortal while in their prime or letting them live their life and risk spending the next two thousand years in the body of a 90 year old. ---
**Author:** ![breaknrun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@breaknrun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaknrun)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/5 "2002-08-30T04:06:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Swede Hollow \* > \*\*In the TV show they didn’t have to die a violent death, they were just shown that way on the series to add more action. \*\* I’m pretty sure this is incorrect. I seem to recall a show that dealt with Duncan killing his new wife so that she could become an immortal and the immortal that urged Duncan to commit that act mentioned that if she lived out her life, she would not become an immortal. Did some googling and all the sites that came up mention that violent death is the trigger and a few sites say it is the only way to become immortal. At least one show mentioned some pre-immortals used suicide as a trigger to become immortal. In another show, the character, Amanda, says that if you don’t die a violent death, you won’t become immortal. Whether this influenced some mentally unstable people to commit suicide, I don’t know. I haven’t heard of something like that happening but it’s not unthinkable. Still, I woud expect something like that would make news and someone would have heard of it or some grieving relative would have tried suing the producers of Highlander. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/6 "2002-08-30T05:43:41Z")
In any case, I’m guessing that if someone commited suicide “because” of watching Highlander, they would have ended up killing themselves soon enough anyway. I don’t seem to recall Duncan ever marrying, actually. And what determines if a death is “violent” or not? Would, say drowning be enough? How about starving to death? Or a staph infection? Ranchoth (So, if immortals can only be killed by decapition…what happens if they’re, like standing next to an A-Bomb when it goes off?) ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/7 "2002-08-30T06:50:06Z")
Duncan never did marry in the series. In fact an old gypsy woman once told him that he would be with many women but was doomed to never marry. He tried to marry Tessa but of course she got offed by a petty thief. Sort of like falling in love with Captain Kirk or a Cartwright I guess. Some immortals were blown up by explosives, though not atomic bomb caliber, and revived as usual. I don’t believe that preimmortals ever got sick from infection and they were sterile even before becoming immortal. [sup]I really liked that series… and Adrian Paul…[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/8 "2002-08-30T07:25:14Z")
He married a few hundred of years ago. If you consider the most recent movie, Endgame to be canon. (I believe that’s where she appeared.) Some don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/9 "2002-08-30T13:59:54Z")
Somewhat off topic: This reminds me of Alfred Bester’s _The Computer Connection_. Violent death resulting in immortality is the theme. The book’s narrator became an immortal by being on Krakatoa when it blew. Later, he had the habit of slaughtering people in ghastly ways to see if he could immortalize them. Never worked, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/10 "2002-08-31T00:07:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dwyr \* > **Some immortals were blown up by explosives, though not atomic bomb caliber, and revived as usual.** Yeah, but could they survive being vaporized by a nuke? I’d think it would be kind of hard to heal when you’ve been reduced to your component electrons. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/11 "2002-08-31T11:13:17Z")
I thought the question was going to be about the scene in which Duncan stabs himself with the dagger and the chick immediately decides to have sex with him. Hmm … stab yourself —\> sex with a pretty girl It might just work! ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/12 "2002-08-31T19:11:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Myron Van Horowitzski \* > \*\*Somewhat off topic: > > This reminds me of Alfred Bester’s _The Computer Connection_. Violent death resulting in immortality is the theme. The book’s narrator became an immortal by being on Krakatoa when it blew. Later, he had the habit of slaughtering people in ghastly ways to see if he could immortalize them. Never worked, though. \*\* Yes, it did, once. That’s the entire focus of the book, really – the first person that Guig manages to immortalize. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-suicides-because-of-highlander/126216/13 "2002-08-31T22:51:40Z")
I should think anyone who got suckered into paying to see _Highlander II_ would be more inclined to commit murder, rather than suicide, especially of the film’s writer and director.