Richie Ryan (Highlander)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Alias | Bill Powell, Richard Redstone |
| Race | Human, Immortal |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Red |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Age | 23 (at time of death) |
| Born in | 1974, Seacouver, USA |
| Immortality | 1994 |
| Affiliations | Duncan MacLeod, Amanda, Joe Dawson, Methos |
| Past affiliations | Felicia Martins, Randi McFarland, Tessa Noël, Anne Lindsey, Maurice |
| Mentors | Duncan MacLeod |
| Pupils | Kenny |
| Weapons | Katana, tachi, Spanish rapier |
| Watchers | Mike Barrett (1994-1995) |
| Status | Deceased (May 19, 1997) |
| Killed by | Duncan MacLeod |
| Portrayed by | Stan Kirsch |
| First appearance | The Gathering |
| Seasons | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
Richie Ryan is a fictional character from Highlander: The Series, portrayed by actor Stan Kirsch. He is an Immortal.
Ryan was one of the main characters in the show. He remained until the finale of the 5th season of the show, although he made one cameo in season 6. He was introduced in the first episode of the series, as a petty thief who, for mysterious reasons, Duncan MacLeod took under his wing. In the first season he was a typical sidekick, serving as comic relief, damsel in distress, and sometimes helper. In early season 2, after being killed in a robbery, it was revealed that Richie was an Immortal. The rest of the series followed his initiation as an Immortal. He is one of the most popular characters of the show and his untimely death probably contributed to the sharp drop in the show's ratings in its last season.
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[edit] History
[edit] 1974-1992: Introduction
Richie Ryan was an orphan, a foundling, who grew up as a thief in Seacouver. A life of crime was beckoning Richie Ryan the night that he broke into "Noël and MacLeod Antiques" in 1992. A few weeks short of his eighteenth birthday, he was already a skilled thief, but fate was to overtake him. If he was shocked to see the owner of the store, Duncan MacLeod, coming at him with a Japanese sword and threatening to cut off his head, he was astounded when two more men appeared (Connor MacLeod and Slan Quince), also carrying swords, and all three seemed ready to use the weapons they carried. He beat a hasty retreat, straight into the arms of the police. The antiques store owner refused to press charges, but intimidated Richie into saying nothing about what he had seen. Intrigued, he started following MacLeod, only to see the man finish what had started that night in the store, by beheading Slan Quince. Richie would then be "adopted" by MacLeod and his girlfriend Tessa Noël. With them he learned the truth about Immortals and had many adventures concerning them with Duncan. In mid-year they moved to Paris and the adventures continued.
[edit] 1993-1994: Immortality
After the trauma of Darius' death in Paris, Duncan, Tessa and Richie returned to the States, where Duncan uncovered the secret of the Watchers. It was to be a traumatic discovery. Tessa was kidnapped by renegade Watcher Pallin Wolf, and although Duncan rescued her, she and Richie were gunned down and killed by a mugger on their way back to the store, ("The Darkness"). Richie revived to find MacLeod cradling Tessa in his arms and himself immortal.
Later on, Richie, who was now immortal, ran into some trouble, as he and Duncan MacLeod ran into an Irish immortal named Annie Devlin. She was about to kill a British ambassador. She was stopped by Richie, who ended up killing Annie's husband. She swore revenge. Duncan knew her well and told Richie he needed to defend himself. So Duncan trained Richie to use a sword, initially a katana. He instructed him specifically in her favourite move, and the counter to it. Despite Duncan's attempts to talk Annie out of it, she would not be swayed from her desire for vengeance. Richie went to face Annie and they fought. The training work, and Richie disarmed Annie, but found he could not kill her. Having spared her life, she was persuaded to let him live too, and gave up her quest for revenge.
Later that day at Duncan's loft, Duncan gave Richie his first sword, a Spanish Rapier. Duncan had trained Richie to fight with a katana, but probably decided a rapier would allow Richie to keep his distance in a fight, emphasizing his speed over his size.
Richie met an immortal named Mako, who was chasing a young woman, Laura Daniels. Richie intervened to save her, and took her back to Duncan to get help. Richie put her under his protection. But they discovered she was wanted for murder, and Mako was a bounty hunter, tracking down those on the run from the law. She claimed she killed her husband in self-defense, but the local law was corrupt and she would never get a fair trial. Mako was an immortal who lived by the letter of the law. Duncan met Mako a long time ago and he knew Mako won't give up. Richie and the girl made a run for it. They stop at a hotel and spent the night together. Then Mako found where they were staying. They ran again, but Richie realised that they couldn't keep running forever. Laura still wanted to run, and tried to pull away from Richie. Mako, driving his truck, ran into the girl and killed her. He claimed it was an accident, but Richie, enraged, attacked Mako. The fight went into an abandoned store and swords got involved. Duncan arrived and saw the girl was dead, then went inside and saw Richie fighting Mako. According to the rules, he could not intervene, but he tried to talk them both out of it. Richie and Mako end up in a room full of paint and tables. Mako gets up on a table and falls in, becoming trapped. He struck at Richie, cut him, and Richie struck back, taking his head. That was when Richie received his first Quickening.
Later, back at Duncan's loft, Duncan told Richie it was time to go and take his own path of immortality.
[edit] 1995: Trouble in France
A couple of months later in France, Richie was on his motorcycle going to Marseille, he was being followed by an immortal named Martin Hyde. Martin was using Richie to lead him to Duncan MacLeod. When Richie stopped at a gas station and got some gas and had some coffee, he sensed an immortal, got his sword out, demanding the immortal to show his face. The clerk's husband was murdered by Martin Hyde. After she came out and saw her husband dead and saw Richie with a sword, she thought Richie killed him. Richie got on his bike and left. He arrived at Paris, he went to Duncan's barge and asked for his help. Richie told Duncan everything that has happened. Duncan figured out it was Martin Hyde, an immortal who used younger immortals to lead them to their teachers so he can take their teacher's head. The police arrived and Richie tried to get away, but was caught by the police and was arrested. He is identified as the killer by the gas station clerk. Richie went to jail for murder and Duncan had to find a way to prove his innocence. Duncan figured a way to help Richie by setting up Martin Hyde, and proving he is the murderer. It worked, Martin killed himself though. Richie was free. Martin escaped from the morgue. Duncan went off to face him and defeated him. He and Richie renewed their friendship, they had a drink of a great vintage cognac.
As motorcyclist, Richie was getting better and was competing in France, however in a twist of events, he "died" and had to flee the country. MacLeod gave him passport and during this time was trying to rekindle his relationship with the beautiful surgeon Anne Lindsay. However, he met there the former Cossack voivode Ivan Kristov, who turned into prime Russian mobster, organising crime and heroine trade for the Russian mafia. When one of his smugglers - his mortal girlfriend Tasha was saved by McLeod - Kristov threatened Duncan, saying that he didn't want to fight Duncan, but he would if he has to. At the end, Kristov captured Richie (who still hadn't left the country) to blackmail McLeod to kill Tasha in the spare of Richie's life. Duncan arrived to save Richie and started knocking off Kristov's men. Meanwhile Richie easily untied himself while Kristov wasn't watching and challenged him. Duncan witnessed the lightnings of quickening and raised his sword, but for latter's happiness, Richie emerged victorious, beating the Cossack's prowess.
Back in Seacouver, Richie concentrated on training, running the dojo and letting MacLeod fight his own battles. Buying a hot dog on the street, he watched a young man walk by, ("Leader Of The Pack"). It took a moment for him to remember the face of the punk who killed Tessa. He chased Roscza, who ran to the police. Roscza denied shooting Tessa, but Richie brought back the memory to the reformed junkie, but left him alive with the knowledge that he was a murderer.
Accompanying his foster-mother’s daughter Maria to a modelling agency, Richie met Kristen Gilles, the beautiful agency owner and an immortal, ("Chivalry"). Ignoring warnings from both Duncan and Methos that Kristen was bad news, Richie fell in love, only for the insanely jealous Kristen to try to kill him and Maria. As both Duncan and Richie harboured feelings to her, both couldn't gather enough courage to kill her, although she wasn't capable swordswoman, relying mostly on seduction. At the end it was Methos, who appeared without compunctions and beheaded her, though Richie still found it hard to accept that Methos took her head to stop her doing it again. As Methos by this time acted as one of the Watchers, by the alias - Adam Pierson - the Watchers think that it was Richie who beheaded her.
[edit] 1996: Broken faith
Later on, at the beginning of the new year, Richie returned in America with Duncan, who had just broken with Lindsay and was to meet the "old" Indian chief James Coltec, but Coltec had just received the Dark Quickening and only the quick intervention of MacLeod prevented him from beheading Ryan. Later, when MacLeod received the quickening himself and with graceful arrogance fought the youngling, this time only the quick intervention of Joe Dawson stopped MacLeod from his killing his own protege. Ryan fled, with his all faith broken, after his own teacher and best friend tried to kill him. From there, Ryan decided that it's all about the Game, that McLeod did it, so he started to train frantically and devoted himself to headhunting. He travelled across the country on his motorbike, and as he was an experienced rider, he was able to feed himself through racing and wagering. Due to his being trained by MacLeod - one of the finest immortal swordsmen - Richie took a lot of heads on his killing spree, rarely if ever fleeing.
He returned the following Autumn, still picking fights with any immortal who crossed his path. Dawson came to warn MacLeod to watch over Richie, who was "walking the edge", provoking and challenging everyone. After he killed the 900-year-old Carter Wellan with relative ease for no more reason than the Game, Haresh Clay, Wellan's friend, swore revenge. Ryan was unprepared as Clay attacked him right at his own dwelling and Richie thought that it was Duncan, coming again to persuading him. Clay nearly took Richie’s head, breaking his Spanish Rapier in the process.
Richie went to Joe for help. The Watcher was likely to help him, but at this time, his relationship with Duncan was strained, due to the Watcher's oath, he refused to lend him money for a new sword. So Richie tried for a weapon by breaking in to a museum. But Clay was stalking him and confronted him there. Richie broke in to an exhibit to try and grab a sword, and was arrested as the alarm went off. Duncan paid his bail and got him out of jail, offering to rebuild their shattered friendship. He gave Richie a new sword, one that had belonged to an old teacher of Duncan's, Graham Ashe, who had been killed by Clay.
Richie and Duncan rebuilt their relationship, this time as equals, and Richie reluctantly stepped aside so that Duncan could settle the old score with Clay. Duncan defeated Clay and offered to let him walk away, but Clay refused and accepted his death.
Jennifer Hill came to Seacouver, looking for Duncan to avenge her husband, Alec, as she was "Haunted" by her husband's ghost. Duncan went to San Francisco to honour his vow to Alec and take the head of the immortal Gerard Kragan, who they think killed Alec. Richie looked after the grieving Jennifer. They felt a mutual attraction - much to Joe Dawson's horror. Joe told Richie it was he who had killed Alec. Richie had only known him as an unnamed immortal. He had killed him the summer before, when Alec had picked a fight with him. Alec had been on his way to kill Kragan, in a bad mood, and tried to take it out on Richie when his bike got in the way. Unfortunately for Alec, Richie was in a bad mood too after Duncan's attack on him. Fatal road rage.
Despite knowing this, when Jennifer came to Richie's apartment and tried to seduce him, Richie was unable to say no. He said later he felt like something was just pushing him to be with her. It was theorised by Joe that this might be the effect of Alec's Quickening within him. However, the moral complications plagued Richie's conscience, and he felt the need to confess. First to Duncan, who reluctantly forgave him. Then to Jennifer, who oddly enough did not. She felt used and abused, and went to Duncan to get him to kill Richie. When the Highlander would not kill his friend, she went back and shot Richie, then was about to kill him with his own sword. Duncan got there in time to talk her out of it. With the agreement of Alec's ghost, Jennifer let Richie live.
When a new Immortal came to Seacouver with a message of peace, Richie was ready and eager to hear it, fed up with his own killing spree. When Richie interrupted a fight between MacLeod and William Culbraith, Duncan began to doubt his own worth as a teacher, but when Richie told him that he had learnt his new nonviolence from 'Methos', Duncan was enraged. Methos turned up at the loft and was amused to find that the "other Methos" was in town. This mysterious immortal and his gospel of peace had cost several of his converts their heads and Duncan didn't want Richie at risk. He persuades Methos to reveal his identity to Richie, to prove that the other man was a fake. But Richie tells them he believes in the message, not "The Messenger". Methos found his impersonator, confronted him, but decided not to kill him. Culbraith had no such compunctions and, after taking the imposter's head, tried for Richie's. Richie, having given up his sword, was very vulnerable. But Duncan arrived in the nick of time, staying out of the fight but returning his blade, and Richie defeated Culbraith.
[edit] 1997: Death
Richie left Seacouver and made his way back to Europe, using the name of Richard Redstone. After a decidedly unusual courtship with Marina LeMartin, (she kidnapped him and tied him to her bed), in "The Ransom Of Richard Redstone", it seemed he was about to settle down. But a night at the Opera with Duncan was a prelude to disaster, ("Archangel"). MacLeod swore he saw James Horton on the Quai by the barge that night. At first reluctant to believe, Richie found himself defending Duncan to a sceptical Joe and Methos, but then he saw Horton holding a gun to Joe’s head. After telling MacLeod where they were, he went in to try and rescue Joe, unaware that what he had seen was an illusion. He came upon Duncan fighting invisible enemies. From Duncan's point of view, he was fighting a demon calling itself Ahriman, which had taken the form of his great enemies Horton and Kronos. And that of his student, Richie. Before Duncan could distinguish illusion from reality, he struck, taking Richie’s head. Joe and Methos found the distraught MacLeod kneeling over his pupil’s body, but it was left to Joe to bury Richie with his sword after MacLeod and Methos both disappeared. Duncan never fully recovered from the death of Richie.
[edit] Personality
From a nonchalant, tricky and irresponsible character, Ryan had matured through the series. Starting from petty thieving and an irresponsible attitude, he developed into an individual with a distinguished personality. His 'ask for help reflex' might have been underdeveloped at the start, but his instinct to offer help was always part of him. He was particularly vulnerable to damsels in distress, but was always ready to play the hero.
[edit] Richie's death
Richie's death was controversial. The introduction of a demon, after more than 100 episodes, was an unpopular departure from the pattern of the show. And Richie's actions, or lack thereof, seemed unlikely at the end - despite repeated experience with an out of control MacLeod trying to kill him, he did not even have his sword raised to block the fatal blow. The death therefore did not seem in keeping with the show. It also made the Highlander himself look bad - killing a student is the lowest form of behaviour among immortals. This, added to the popularity of the character, made the story widely disliked.
His death was reputed to be about the producer's desire to introduce new characters in order to start a spin-off series, but if that were so it didn't work at all. The show was cancelled after the rushed out season 6, which many felt was a season of pilot shows for that spin-off. Whatever the reason - death, demon, or demo chicks - the ratings dropped considerably. Most fans therefore consider season 5 to be the high point of the show.
Richie Ryan was one of the biggest fan-favourites of the show, after Duncan and Methos. The usual fan actions and reactions to an unpopular death became quite loud and heated. Some fans even refuse to acknowledge his death. They organised, calling themselves Clan Denial, wearing red t-shirts that said "Richie Lives". There was an organised write in campaign. But despite the hints and statements of the makers of the show, the only time Richie was brought back was in a cameo in the series finale. So they could kill him again (in an alternate universe this time). Many fans found that quite annoying.
Fanfictions, of course, and even several fan seasons, continue to be written around his character and possible further development.
[edit] Richie Ryan in The Game
Richie's fighting style was marked by his thieving skills, with "dirty" tricks like kicks into the groins, jerky shifting and deceptive moves. As Ryan was taught by Duncan MacLeod, who is one of the finest immortal swordsmen, his skills were considerably increased. Combined this with hard training in the dojo, despite his young age, he was one of the strongest adversaries. For his 3 years, he had killed some highly experienced swordsmen, including many very old immortals, for example Mako (~700 years) Ivan Kristov (~400 years) and Carter Wellan (~1000 years). Here are Richie's Quickenings seen on the series. As he spent some time on the road challenging and fighting everyone on his way, his number of Quickenings is probably higher.
1 - Mako, 1993 (Under Color of Authority)
2 - Ivan Kristov, 1995 (Testimony)
3 - Mikey Bellows (beheaded by a train), 1995 (The Innocent)
5 - Carter Wellan, 1996 (The End of Innocence)
6 - William Culbraith, 1996 (The Messenger)
[edit] Appearances
Episodes - The Gathering, Family Tree, The Road Not Taken, Innocent Man, Free Fall, Bad Day in Building A, Mountain Men, Deadly Medicine, The Sea Witch, Revenge is Sweet, See No Evil, Eyewitness, Band of Brothers, For Evil's Sake, For Tomorrow We Die, The Beast Below, Saving Grace, The Lady and the Tiger, Eye of the Beholder, Nowhere to Run, The Hunters, The Watchers, Studies in Light, Turnabout, The Darkness, Eye for an Eye, The Return of Amanda, Epitaph for Tommy, Under Color of Authority, Prodigal Son, Counterfeit, Counterfeit Part 2, Line of Fire, Courage, The Lamb, Obsession, Shadows, Vendetta, They Also Serve, Blind Faith, Song of the Executioner, Star-Crossed, Methos, Take Back the Night, Testimony, The Innocent, Leader of the Pack, Double Eagle, Reluctant Heroes, The Wrath of Kali, Chivalry, The Blitz, Something Wicked, The End of Innocence, Money No Object, Haunted, The Messenger, The Ransom of Richard Redstone, Duende, Archangel, Not To Be
Books - Scotland the Brave, The Path, An Evening at Joe's
[edit] Quotes
- "En garde, you fool !"
- "Cut off my head ! You don't think it's a little extreme for petty theft ?"
- "I know. I'm fast. All my teachers said so. 'Fast, but lazy'."
- "Damn !... Sire Lancelot !"
- "I didn't ask you for help because it takes a while to develop that 'ask for help' reflex, okay ?"
[edit] External links
- Highlander: The Series at the Internet Movie Database
- The Nitpicker's Guide to Highlander
- Highlander Page for Beginners
- The shows & movies summed up
- Highlander Watcher Chronicles - Fan page of the series
