Darius (Highlander)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Race | Immortal |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Age | 1943 (at time of death) |
| Born in | 50 AD, Ural Mountains |
| Immortality | 95 AD |
| Affiliations | Callestina, Grace Chandel, Victor Paulus, Richie Ryan, Carlo Sendaro |
| Past affiliations | Goths, Grayson, Ursa, Xavier St. Cloud |
| Mentors | Ahasuerus the Parthian |
| Pupils | Grayson, Duncan MacLeod |
| Watchers | Henri LaSalle (1774-1778), Father Raymond St. Martin (??-1816-??), Ian Bancroft (1962-November 1967/1968-May 1993) |
| Status | Deceased (1993) |
| Killed by | James Horton |
| Portrayed by | Werner Stocker |
| First appearance | "Band of Brothers" |
| Seasons | 1 |
Darius is a fictional character from Highlander: The Series, portrayed by actor Werner Stocker. He first appeared in the season one episode "Band of Brothers" (1993) and is featured in four subsequent episodes of the same season, as well as in one Highlander novel. A two thousand years old Immortal living as a monk in a modest chapel in Paris, France, he is a friend and mentor of protagonist Duncan MacLeod.
He is a peace advocate, having rejected violence fifteen hundred years ago. He is retired on holy ground where other Immortals are forbidden to fight him and lives in his spartanly furnished rectory, visited by other Immortals, studying old books, playing martial games and brewing ancient beverages.
Creative Consultant David Abramovitz's initial idea of Darius having an ugly face but a beautiful soul was abandoned when Stocker was cast and Darius became a moral figure of the show. Darius' further development in following seasons was prevented by Stocker's illness and subsequent death, leading Abramovitz to rewrite the season one final episode "The Hunters" (1993).
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[edit] Appearances
A recurrent character, Darius has appeared in five episodes of the first season of Highlander: The Series and is a character of the Highlander novel Highlander: Shadow of Obsession.
[edit] Highlander: The Series
Darius' first appearance was in "Band of Brothers" (1993). Darius is visited in his chapel in Paris by fellow Immortal and former pupil Grayson (James Horan). Grayson has just killed a man Darius planted in Grayson's organization to spy on him. Darius is shocked by the man's death, to which Grayson answers that he will continue killing Darius' protegees until Darius leaves holy ground and faces him for having betrayed him fourteen hundred years ago.
Darius sends a secret message in ancient runes to Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) in Seacouver asking him to protect Victor Paulus, another protege of his, from Grayson. Duncan tells Richie Ryan (Stan Kirsch) Darius' legend: He is almost two thousand years old, an ancient general and Grayson was his second-in-command. Fifteen hundred years ago [the date is not consistent throughout the episode], Darius could have led his armies across Europe and ruled for a thousand years, but he turned his armies back to become a peacemaker and Grayson felt betrayed. Duncan then recounts, "The legend has it Darius killed a holy man at the gates of Paris. The oldest living Immortal at that time. And suddenly he changed. He turned his back on war."[1] Richie rationalizes that the holy man's Quickening went to Darius and made him benevolent, the only known example of Light Quickening. However, a deleted line from the script has Duncan say: "Maybe what the Old One told him finally made sense to Darius",[2] suggesting an intellectual realization of the horrors of war rather than the overwhelming positive power of the holy man's Quickening.
Duncan's memories of his first encounter with Darius are then shown in a flashback sequence set at the Battle of Waterloo. A British soldier, Duncan carries a sick comrade when he meets Darius. Duncan is eager to get back to fight, but Darius vehemently tries to show him the worth of human life and the uselessness of war. Duncan protests that he is a warrior fighting battles he believes to be just, but Darius answers: "Oh, I'm sure you're quite loyal to your convictions and compatriots. But I wonder what these men think about that, about convictions and compatriotism [sic] now?"[1] Duncan watches the snow-covered battlefield where men are dying, lost for words. The subsequent flashback, set at Darius' chapel in Paris in 1816 (date from script[3]), shows Darius facing three burglars. The chief brigand stabs him to death for having no gold to steal. Out of the church, they meet Duncan who defeats two of them. Darius, who has just revived, urges Duncan to spare the third one, who flees. Darius is truly pained by the death of his own murderer, while Duncan feels he has done well by ridding the world of a killer. He frustratedly admits that he is unable to follow Darius' teachings. Darius sadly realizes that Duncan is leaving him to go to America, away from the hatred of Europe.
Back in the present, Duncan protects Paulus' life. After meeting Grayson and realizing he will not stop chasing Paulus, he fights and beheads him. Then Duncan leaves Seacouver for Paris and meets Darius again. Learning of Grayson's death, Darius comments, "He was once my closest friend on earth."[1]
In "For Tomorrow We Die" (1993), Darius is visited in his church by Immortal Xavier St. Cloud (Roland Gift) who has just killed six persons in the heist of a nearby jewelry. Xavier confesses the murders and humiliates Darius, saying one of the great warriors in history does nothing to stop him. Later, Duncan in turn visits Darius for a game of chess, and suspects what happened when Inspector LeBrun comes in to investigate the murders and mentions poison gas. Darius is bound by the secret of confession and says nothing, to the great annoyance of LeBrun. When Duncan visits Darius again later, Darius recollects having found Xavier hiding from the police in his church long ago. Xavier would have had to face guillotine for having stolen a piece of jewelry. Darius comments, "You know, that's hardly a crime to die for."[4] He expresses guilt and concern about Xavier's behavior, believing he should have stopped Xavier, and considers leaving holy ground to prevent further killings. Duncan dissuades him and eventually faces Xavier, who loses a hand and escapes.
In the following episode, "The Beast Below" (1993), Duncan is searching for Immortal Ursa (Christian Van Acker) and visits Darius for help. Darius recalls having met Ursa before the Revolution and having unsuccessfully tried to discover where he came from. After discussing this, they agree that Ursa most likely hides in the catacombs under the Opéra de Paris. This episode also shows Darius' habit of making beverages out of moss and mold forms. In the next episode, "Saving Grace" (1993), Darius and Duncan are in the middle of recreating the Battle of Gettysburg with toy soldiers when they are visited by fellow Immortal Grace Chandel (Julia Stemberger). Grace is harassed by Immortal Carlo Sendaro (Georges Corraface), who chases her ever since she separated from him decades ago. Darius offers to shelter Grace on holy ground in a convent, and even allows Grace and Sendaro to have a private conversation in his rectory. As Sendaro refuses to admit that Grace does not love him anymore, Duncan fights him and beheads him.
The season finale episode "The Hunters" (1993) depicts Darius' death. At the beginning of the episode, Duncan mentions to fellow Immortal Hugh Fitzcairn (Roger Daltrey) that Darius has premonitory dreams about his own death. In the meanwhile, Darius hears ominous-looking people enter his chapel. When Darius does not answer the phone, Duncan and Fitzcairn rush to the chapel to find Darius' body in the messy nave. Duncan searches Darius' rectory and remembers various moments with Darius until he finds Darius' last clue: an old book wrapped in old Clan MacLeod tartan cloth. Darius' murderers kidnap Fitzcairn and thwart Duncan's investigations. Following one of them, Duncan eventually reaches their headquarters. He meets their leader, James Horton (Peter Hudson), who believes all Immortals to be threats to mankind and considers Darius "a malignant evil that has walked this earth in the form of a man for the last two thousand years."[5] Duncan fights them, but Horton escapes. After setting Fitzcairn free, they return to the barge and along with Tessa and Richie scatter Darius' ashes in the Seine River while Duncan says, "Fifteen hundred years ago, you led an army of barbarians to the gates of Paris... You disbanded the army and you spared the city. You broke a promise to yourself. To march west from the Ural Mountains until you had reached the sea. So now, old friend, you're travelling on, going where you never been [sic]. To the sea."[5]
[edit] Highlander novels
Darius is a character of the Highlander novel Shadow of Obsession (1998) by Rebecca Neason. The story is set in the present, when Darius is already dead. When Duncan comes back from Sudan where he has helped Darius' protegee, Victor Paulus and his lover, Immortal Cynthia VanDervane, he tells Joe Dawson how he met Darius at Waterloo and left him one year later. Then the story goes on from Cynthia's point of view, when she recalls how she had loved Darius in 410. When Alaric I was king of the Visigoths, she was his sister, then called Callestina, Darius his general and Grayson Darius' second-in-command. While they prepared to invade Rome, Cynthia became Darius' lover and stayed so until they had sacked Rome, at which point Darius made clear he never loved her. Then Darius and Grayson left Rome to head north and reached Paris. There Darius fought Emrys, the oldest immortal at the time and beheaded him. The power of love in Emrys' Quickening changed Darius completely and he decided to be a peacemaker. Grayson refused to understand this and left Darius, joining Cynthia so that they could destroy Darius' work. Back in the present, Duncan cannot prevent Cynthia from killing Paulus, and he fights and beheads her.
[edit] Characteristics
In Highlander: The Series, Darius is portrayed as tall and thin and always wearing "a rough Franciscan-like robe with a cowl".[6] The Watcher Chronicle - a collection of character profiles available as a CD-ROM and as bonus material of the Highlander: The Series DVD edition - describes him as "not the oldest or strongest, [but], perhaps, the wisest. His genius lay not just in the military arts, but in his knowledge of the contents of the human heart."[7] Darius always understands people. His former friend and student Grayson admits that Darius is "a man of (...) insight into a person's soul."[1]
As a general of Late Antiquity, he is described as selfish, manipulative and cynical, a skilled commander and an accomplished strategist.[8] In Shadow of Obsession, Grayson remarks, "The whole world is just a plaything to Darius."[8] Darius despises mortals : "They are born, they love, they fight, they die - and we go on."[8] Darius is nevertheless a beloved general. He "always understood what his men needed - he knew them better than they knew themselves."[8]
After his change of life, Darius has accepted his violent past, because "to deny what I was is to deny what I am."[9] He still enjoys martial pastimes such as chess[4] and recreating famous battles such as Gettysburg.[9] In "Saving Grace", Duncan MacLeod tells him, "You may be a priest, but you still think like a warrior."[9] Darius considers that "war, in the abstract, is a great intellectual puzzle, but in reality it's all blood and tears."[9]
As a peacemaker, Darius is described as loving and compassionate. The Watcher Chronicle observes, "there is a quality in the man that I've seen in no other, a sense of peace - perhaps even a sense of God."[10] In Shadow of Obsession, Joe Dawson states, "All the reports mention the sense of sanctity, the aura of peace that surrounded him."[8] Darius considers peace the highest human value and is always shocked and saddened by unnecessary death.[1] The script of "Band of Brothers" has him say: "In the face of violence, we must insist on nonviolence... Weapons have no dominion over the souls of men. Put your weapons down."[11] He is actively involved in promoting and maintaining peace, "preaching his message to those who would become the peacemakers of their own generations,"[7] such as Victor Paulus. He also uses less obvious means such as using Duncan MacLeod (who has not rejected violence) to protect Paulus, or planting a spy in Grayson's organization.[1]
To help mankind to fight violence, he has studied Buddhism and Hinduism[4] and is now a Roman Catholic priest of the Franciscan Brothers of the Poor.[12] However, Darius believes more in the spirit than in the letter of dogmas. Duncan MacLeod says of him, "I don't think Darius believes in religion or a set of rules, [but in] being your brother's keeper. I think Darius, if he has to help mankind, he has to honor their codes."[4]
[edit] Character development
The script of "Band of Brothers" describes Darius as a monk with a "hideously ugly face",[6] but when the producers cast the part, they chose German actor Werner Stocker, who did not fit this description. Creative Consultant David Abramovitz explains, "Darius, originally in the script, was written as almost to look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, to be physically ugly and with a glorious soul. And when I got to France, I noticed that they cast this young, handsome German actor named Werner Stocker. I said, 'Wait a minute. What's going on here? He's supposed to be ugly.' And it seemed that the Germans, who were putting up a great deal of money, didn't want the only German actor in the show to be ugly; so he wasn't ugly. And this was one of the cases where politics won out and it didn't hurt anything because he was wonderful in the part."[13]
Despite his limited number of appearances, the character of Darius has an important moral influence in the show. Associate Creative Consultant Gillian Horvath remarks, "When he joined the show it was the first time that someone started talking about peace."[14] Horvath explains, "The arrival of Darius, aside from bringing in a great character, represented the first time that someone questioned the basic premise of the show. The basic premise is that [Duncan MacLeod]'s a hero and he goes around kicking the ass of the bad guys. Now you have this character in Darius who shows up and says, 'Yes, but is it actually a good goal to kick the ass of the badguys?' Even though Mac has to be a good guy who has to fight the bad guys, you set up this scenario where one of his closest friends has questioned whether beating up bad guys makes you a good guy or whether you should be a man of peace. (...) That underlying question shaped the whole rest of the series."[15] Actor Adrian Paul (Duncan MacLeod) comments on Darius' moral influence on his character, "I think the role of Darius was a very important role in Mac's life. He was very significant in the turning points Mac had during his existence. He was one of Mac's teachers and therefore, the impact he had as a character was great, not only to Duncan, but also to the audience."[16] Abramovitz summarizes, "Darius was the voice of God on the show, and then God died."[17]
Associate Creative Consultant Donna Lettow says about Darius' character development, "It was always planned that Darius would die in [the season one episode] "The Hunters". The original plan for Darius was that he would reappear in flashbacks, much like Fitzcairn does now."[18] Stocker's illness in early 1993 prevented this. Producer Bill Panzer remembers that Stocker "had annonced that he had a brain tumor,"[19]. The season 1 promotional booklet recounts, "Just days before going into production [of "The Hunters"] actor Werner Stocker was stricken ill and was unable to work. By now the character of Darius had become an integral part of the story and the writers had to scramble to adjust the story line."[20] Abramovitz recalls, "I got a call at three o'clock in the morning, saying Werner would not be available, we were shooting in a day and a half, and there was fear if we were going to have to shut down. I went into work, wrote twenty-five straight hours, without a break, and got out a script and the show went on and it turned out pretty well."[20] This script bears the date March 15, 1993.[21] The promotional booklet further says, "Footage from previous episodes was successfully used to fill in for the absent actor and the season finale went on to mark a huge shift in the Highlander saga, forever altering the future of the series with the introduction of "Hunters" and "Watchers"."[20]
Horvath explains that Darius' death led the creative staff "to create wise, advisor-type characters to fill the void in MacLeod' life left by the death of Darius."[22] Darius was the first thousands-years-old Immortal featured in the show. In this sense, Abramovitz states, "Darius was a forerunner to Methos, which is why we took Methos in a totally different direction."[23]
Commenting on Stocker's performance as Darius, Abramovitz says, "He had an elegance, presence, and I was happy with the episode ["Band of Brothers"]."[13] Adrian Paul thinks, "[He] had a very ethereal quality himself and I think Werner played [Darius] very well."[16] The promotional booklet reports that Darius was "played with soulful grace by (...) Stocker. Stocker was an instant hit with fans."[20] Stocker died on May 27, 1993.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Episode "Band of Brothers", in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 5.
- ^ Episode "Band of Brothers", Final Shooting Script, p. 8, in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 9.
- ^ Episode "Band of Brothers", Final Shooting Script, p. 20, in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 9.
- ^ a b c d Episode "For Tomorrow We Die", in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 5.
- ^ a b Episode "The Hunters", in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 8.
- ^ a b Episode "Band of Brothers", Final shooting script, p. 1, in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 9.
- ^ a b Episode "Band of Brothers", Bonus Material, Watcher Chronicle, article "Darius", in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 5.
- ^ a b c d e Rebecca Neason, Shadow of Obsession, Warner Books, 1998, ISBN 0-446-60547-6.
- ^ a b c d Episode "Saving Grace", in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 6.
- ^ Episode "Band of Brothers", Bonus Material, Watcher Chronicle, article "Darius-1815", in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 5.
- ^ Episode "Band of Brothers", Final Shooting Script, p. 20, in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 9.
- ^ Episode "Band of Brothers", Bonus Material, Watcher Chronicle, article "Duncan MacLeod-1816", in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 5.
- ^ a b David Abramovitz, at Highlander: The Official Site, archived on December 3, 2002 by the Internet Archive, last accessed February 1, 2007
- ^ Gillian Horvath, in Maureen Russell, Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide, Warner Books, 1998, p. 23, ISBN 0-446-67435-4.
- ^ Gillian Horvath, at Retrovision.com, archived on February 14, 2005 by the Internet Archive, last accessed March 23, 2007
- ^ a b Adrian Paul, AOL Live Chat, May 1997, transcript, last accessed February 1, 2007
- ^ David Abramovitz, at Mania.com, last accessed January 26, 2007
- ^ Donna Lettow, at Highlander_Worldwide, last accessed January 26, 2007
- ^ Episode "Band of Brothers", Bonus Material, Bill Panzer's interview, in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 5.
- ^ a b c d Season 1 promotional booklet, in Highlander: The Series (season 1), (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001)
- ^ Episode "Band of Brothers", Final shooting script, cover, in Highlander: The Series (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc., 2001), disc 9.
- ^ Gillian Horvath, in Gillian Horvath (ed.), An Evening at Joe's, Berkley Boulevard, 2000, p. 273, ISBN 0-425-17749-1
- ^ David Abramovitz, in Scott Thomas, There Can Be Only One, Retrovision, n°1, November 1997 issue, p. 47.
