| “ | I was born before 1600 in the Highlands of Scotland, and I am still alive. I am Immortal and I am not alone. For four hundred years, I have fought, loved, wondered, explored and avenged. Now, I have found the woman of my dreams, but we are always in danger. For centuries, I have battled the Dark Immortals, with Holy Ground my only refuge. Soon will be the time of the Gathering, when the stroke of a sword and the fall of a head, will release the power of the Quickening. I am Owen MacLeod, the Highlander. In the end, there can be only one. | „ |
| ~ Owen's Book 1 narration. |
Owen MacLeod is the overall main protagonist of Roland Cain's fanfiction, Highlander: The Avenger. His name is inspired by the protagonist of the canceled Highlander: The Game.
He is a hermit from the Highlands of Scotland, who learns he is an Immortal, a person born with the power of the Quickening. This means he is unable to die unless he is beheaded, and he can absorb other Quickenings, which contain the power and knowledge of other beheaded Immortals. Owen has made it his goal to battle the Dark Immortals, who aim to gather power by hunting each other in a Game where the winner will gain "the Prize", which is the collective power and knowledge of all Immortals who ever lived.
Trained in combat, survival, and sword-fighting by his adoptive father, Duncan and uncle, Connor, as well as many others, Owen travels the world in search of friendship and adventure, helping people when he can, sometimes fighting alongside or against other Immortals. Armed with an acute sense of hearing, he sometimes he plays dirty, but always says it is for the world and will gladly give up his head to the purest Immortal on the planet.
He is portrayed by Cain's friend, Jack Turpin, who also played many characters in Cain's stories. They included: Lukas Starkiller in Star Wars: Maverick Legacy, Zeke in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Roland Crowley in Stranger Things, and Dustin Riley in Scream.
History[]
Owen grew up as an unnamed hermit in the Scottish Highlands with an acute sense of hearing. One day, at twenty-one years of age, he cracked his skull during a chase and died instantly, but hours later, woke up as if nothing happened.
A year later, he met Duncan MacLeod, who bested him in a duel and took him in giving him his name. Following the Battle of Glen Fruin, they were approached by Connor MacLeod, who informed them that they were Immortals, and helped them develop their skills as swordsmen.
Unlike Duncan, Owen took the Game more seriously, and participated in it to protect the world from the Dark Immortals. However, he was also an open individual, making many friends, Immortal or mortal. Close Immortal friends included Hugh "Fitz" Fitzcairn and the thief, Amanda Darieux, who Duncan had an on-again, off-again relationship with. He even became the mentor of James Vincent and Alicia Mackenzie, who he saw as his children.
Owen also joined fights and wars when he believed he followed a just cause, leading him to become an experienced warrior. Originally taking pride in being reckless and a little uneducated, like his adopted father before him, he matured into a worldly person, becoming knowledgeable in many fields and martial arts, and learning many languages. He came to appreciate the practices and wisdom of other cultures. However, he still retained his childish and reckless actions, holding grudges more than Duncan or even Connor.
Usually fighting in wars with Duncan, Owen fought with the British at Waterloo where he first met the Immortal priest Darius, who urged him and Duncan to turn his back on violence. Owen appreciated Darius' ideals but could never embrace them, just like Duncan. Nevertheless, he worked as a medic during the First World War, while still helping on the frontlines. He even came to view Darius as his grandfather.
In the late 20th century, Owen worked at Duncan's antique shop and began a relationship with Lynn Horton. He told her of his Immortality and they planned a vacation to Paris to celebrate Lynn's college graduation. Even after an encounter with the ruthless Immortal Kevin Draper, Lynn stayed with Owen and actually took self-defense classes.
During an encounter with the vicious Immortal Slan Quince, Owen saw Connor again, as well as meeting Duncan's girlfriend, Tessa Noël and the street kid, Richie Ryan, who he began a brotherly bond with. He fought many Immortals, some evil, some hurt.
Reuniting with Darius in Paris, he found his surrogate grandfather murdered on Holy Ground by mortals, led by Lynn's own father, James Horton. Owen and Duncan saved Fitz from the group and followed them back to Seacouver, where they learned those "Hunters" were a renegade faction of a group known as the Watchers, who observed Immortals. Even though they were meant to keep their distance, Owen and Duncan ended up befriending Duncan's own Watcher and Lynn's uncle, Joe Dawson. Owen exposed Horton to Lynn and Joe and ran him through. After Lynn told him they needed a break from the ordeal, Owen left Seacouver. Secretly, Owen came into contact with his own Watcher, Fredrick Loomis, who he served with during the Second World War. With Loomis' help, Owen hunted down many Hunters.
Not long after, Owen avenged his son Vincent's death upon Hunter Pallin Wolf, but Tessa and Richie were killed during a mugging, triggering Richie's latent Immortality. Duncan sold the antique shop and bought a dojo, keeping its old owner Charlie DeSalvo on as manager, who Owen became friends with, but he and Duncan kept their Immortality secret. In the meantime, Owen killed another Hunter, Eugeue Carter and reunited with Lynn when she saved him from Immortal Bertric.
However, he found Horton a permanent thorn in his side, at one point teaming up with Duncan's evil counterpart, Xavier St Cloud. This damaged his reunion with Lynn, but Lynn repaired it by shooting Horton into the water as payback for killing her best friend, Sidney Tucker. Owen and Lynn also killed Hunters Donovan Thorpe and Carrie Cooper to avenge Alicia.
In his final scheme, Horton had a criminal, Lisa Halle, undergo plastic surgery to resemble Tessa and begin a relationship with Duncan. It was a scheme to isolate Owen from his loved ones before killing him, after which Horton killed her. Owen killed Horton once and for all, but was forced to go through the grief of breaking up with Lynn again, this time, permanently.
Owen poured his sadness into one-night stands and headhunting, killing his rival, David Keogh and rule breaker, Michael Christian. He saw Duncan begin a relationship with doctor Anne Lindsay but they were forced to reveal their Immortality to her when she witnessed Duncan fall to his apparent death in a fight with Antonius Kalas. The MacLeods found Kalas was after Methos, the oldest living Immortal, who they met and befriended. Kalas also managed to kill Fitz before Duncan finally defeated and beheaded him in a duel on top of the Eiffel Tower. Anne was unable to accept Duncan's lifestyle, and the fact it meant she would have to want him to kill others, but they remained friends and he gifted a house he had renovated to her and her newborn daughter.
Owen began a relationship with Samantha August after he and Duncan liberated her from Immortal Niccolo Machiavelli. However, they soon discovered Duncan's friend, Jim Coltec, had absorbed a Dark Quickening, turning the once gentle and noble man into a psychopath. Duncan was forced to kill Coltec but in the process absorbed the Dark Quickening himself. He nearly killed Richie, with Owen having to save the younger Immortal, and also had to witness Duncan kill his friend Sean Burns. Sean's Quickening helped Duncan regain some of his sanity and Owen and Methos guided him in symbolically fighting and defeating his evil self.
Owen faced twin threats when head Watcher Jack Shapiro placed Joe on trial for revealing the Watchers' existence, at the same time that Duncan's Immortal friend, Jacob Galati began killing Watchers as revenge for his wife's murder by Horton. Duncan failed to stop Owen from using his connections with Loomis to help him execute Galati, but Joe was able to convince Loomis to expel Shapiro. Owen was pleased that he foiled Shapiro's plans to wage war against the Immortals, but he left his relationship with Duncan damaged. However, their relationship was mended, along with their friendships with Richie and Joe, during an encounter with Haresh Clay, the Immortal who had killed Duncan's friend Graham Ashe centuries earlier.
Contacted by the ancient Immortal Cassandra, Owen and Duncan learned of the Four Horsemen, a group of ancient Immortals led by the brutal Kronos. Duncan discovered Methos had been Kronos' lieutenant and his friend joined Kronos in locating the other Immortals, Silas and Caspian. Owen fought Caspian and as Duncan challenged Kronos, Methos switched sides and similarly challenged Silas. Owen, Duncan and Methos both beheaded their opponents, sharing a Triple Quickening.
Sadly, Owen would witness Samantha's unintentional death at the hands of Immortal Steven Keane, who he killed himself. Because Duncan had interfered in stopping Keane initially, Owen blamed him for her death and vowed never to love again. He even ended up killing his fallen friend, Chang Shu.
The MacLeods were confused to hear a prophecy that Duncan was fated to defeat the demon Ahriman. Both beset with visions of Ahriman, one of which caused Duncan to accidentally kill Richie. Working with Joe, Owen helped Duncan finally destroy Ahriman by finding the peace within himself and refusing to fight. Richie's death would weigh heavily on Duncan and he was reluctant to face other Immortals, resulting in Owen having to do most of the fighting. When old enemies, Liam O'Rourke, Lauren Alves and Rita Luce took Joe and Amanda hostage, Owen and Methos prevented Duncan from letting O'Rourke take his head without a fight. Only Fitzcairn showing Duncan a vision of the world without him convinced the older Highlander to fight and defeat O'Rourke, while Owen defeated Alves. Luce was taken away by the Watchers in the aftermath.
In the seventh book, Owen and Duncan were reunited with Connor as they discovered an Immortal, Jacob Kell, breaking all the rules, using gangs of Immortals to team up on other Immortals and kill them, even removing them from on Holy Ground buy force. Owen was forced to kill Connor in order to use the strength of his Quickening to defeat and kill Kell. Afterwards, Duncan reunited with his lost love, Kate, who Owen accepted as his mother.
In the eighth and final book, following the actions of a reckless Immortal, Owen became caught up in the quest for the Source of Immortality. He even reunited with Lynn, who had visions of the Source. As he and his companions neared it, they became truly Immortal and Owen the Guardian of the Source, Kron, defeating him. Refusing to kill him, Owen connected with the Source and his wish for the end of Immortality came true.
Some time later, Owen and Lynn married and took residence in Chicago, intent on living happily ever after.
External Links[]
Trivia[]
- Owen's actor, Jack Turpin, has dreamt of playing Connor MacLeod in a Highlander reboot.
- From Duncan's point of view, Owen is one of the two deuteragonists alongside Richie.
- Cain wanted to include Owen in the chapter, "The Innocent," but felt like he would not do much in present day, so he only included him in a flashback and had him battling Herbert Gris, explaining his absence.
- Cain jokingly said that if Owen actually appeared in the original series, he would be the secondary protagonist. In Cain's words, "This fanfiction is all from Owen's point of view. Connor is the protagonist of the trilogy, Duncan is the protagonist of the series, Connor, Duncan and Owen are the all protagonists in Endgame and Owen is the protagonist in The Source."