Is a promise a forever thing to an Immortal? Does his honor dictate an eternal fidelity to a promise made 200 years before, even if the promise requires an unnecessary killing?
In 1460 Immortal Kassim promised his dying lord that the house of Al Deneb would rise to rule again. In 1755 Duncan made a promise "a life for a life" to Kassim in order to save the life of the urchin Reza. In present day Paris, Kassim calls in Duncan's marker and asks him to kill the dictator Hamad. He asks this so that Nasir Al Deneb, the only survivor of the house of Al Deneb, could take his place as ruler.
In the course of events, Mac saves Hamad's life so Hamad owes him a favor. Mac asks that Nasir Al Deneb's life be spared from an almost certain assassination by Hamad's people. Hamad says okey fine. In the meantime, Kassim has been publicly killed so he can't protect Nasir when Hamad's people kill Nasir.
Kassim blames Mac for Nasir's death and kidnaps Rachel MacLeod from the barge and sets the barge on fire. Mac goes to rescue Rachel and fights Kassim and wins, but he refuses to behead him. Instead, he goes to Hamad and tosses him out a window. Since Hamad isn't Immortal, he dies. Now Mac has kept his word to Kassim "a life for a life".
Rachel goes home to Glenfinnan.
Questions:
1. A life for a life "to me" means "a life saved for a life saved". Instead of asking Mac to kill Hamad, could Kassim have asked Mac to protect Nasir, and ended up with an entirely different outcome?
2. I didn't see the MacLeod sword in Rachel's luggage. She took it back to Glenfinnan, didn't she? Or did it go up in flames with the rest of the barge?
3. Mary Richards once said "it's nice to be nice to the nice." Substitute the concept of "honorable" in place of "nice" and see what you come up with in this scenario. Who was honorable and who was not?
4. Some folks are gonna think Mac should have tossed Hamad out that window. Some folks are gonna think Mac should have shortened Kassim. What do you think?
5. Into the realm of hair and pants, occasionally arise the issues of robes and beards. Comment?