In Highlander universe, why don't Immortals just hide?

Question

Look at canon that includes TV series, it appears that there were plenty of Immortals running around throughout history.

Seemingly, in the movies, most seem to have gotten themselves killed at the end (e.g. enabling Connor to emerge with the Prize if you consider H1 or H2 canon).

Is there any canon explanation as to why tons of Immortals don't just hide away in BumScotch Township, Kansas (or some equally remote and unlikely area), live for a while, change identity, and keep moving around without risking their precious heads?

Immortal "bzzzz" radar seems to only work short distance; so finding an Immortal who doesn't try to stick out should be a fairly complicated task, and even the most driven "I'll kill them all" Immortal can't travel every square mile on Earth to ferret out hiding Immortals. Yeah, if you live in Toronto, New York or Paris you can be easily detected and beheaded. But not out in the boonies - which is what Dunkin seemingly did for a while, quite successfully.

I can see a certain percentage of them being power-driven and thus trying to pick fights.

But there should be plenty who just want to live forever, enjoy comfortable life, and in general not make waves or fight anyone. Why aren't they there hiding (as per canon), thus making The Gathering impossible?

Answer 1

From the transcript of the first Highlander:

Conner: What gathering?
Ramirez: When only a few of us are left we will feel an irresistible pull towards a faraway land to fight for the prize.

Here's a question, how did Ramirez know that?

Answer 2

In the series, Immortals sometimes did hide away, but eventually they were always found. Lucas Desireé in 1x04 "An Innocent Man" hid in a remote woodland cabin by a small town in the middle of nowhere in order to avoid other Immortals. Unfortunately, another Immortal eventually tracked him down after a few hundred years and beheaded him.

Darius tried a different approach to hiding by becoming a cloistered monk on Holy Ground (Duncan also hid on Holy Ground various times, such as in the first episode). This worked for quite a while, but The Hunters found him and killed him, since being mortals they have no inhibitions about killing on Holy Ground. In this case, hiding saved the Immortal from other Immortals, but not from mortals who wanted to kill them.

Finally, Highlander: Endgame revealed that Connor and a bunch of other Immortals had hid out in a Watcher-run "Sanctuary" on holy ground (they cut all references to it being holy ground in the DVD version). This too worked out for quite a while, but Jacob Kell eventually led an attack on them.

All of these cases show that hiding in sanctuary doesn't work forever. In the cases where someone has hidden in the middle of nowhere, they may have been safe for hundreds of years, but eventually someone has always found them. Also, some Immortals that went into hiding decided to voluntarily leave at some point, notably Duncan. I think that this is because most Immortals aren't really content to hide out in a cave for hundreds of years (well there was Nakano in Highlander 3, but not by choice).

Personally, I take Ramirez's line from the original film about them being irresistably drawn to each other to mean that eventually the Immortals find each other, whether they are trying to or not. From time to time they'll cross paths in serendiptous ways, even if one of them is hidden in the most secret place on earth. Some want to make that happen more frequently and so they go headhunting, some want to make that happen less frequently and so they hide away, but it will happen eventually.

Answer 3

Like the other poster said when the Gathering starts the remaining Immortals are drawn together by the pull of the Gathering and with that many Immortals in one place even the most pacifistic Immortal couldn't avoid fighting indefinitely thanks to the Immortal "radar".

On the other hand I suppose that if an Immortal were to go to some place like the north or south poles that devoid of any human presence they might be able to pull it off but it would depend on the range of the radar which they never really go into.

Answer 4

Another factor is that it's hard to hide out in the middle of nowhere, unless you are totally alone. The fewer people around, the more your agelessness stands out. So I'd imagine you have to keep moving to avoid the suspicions of the non-Immortals.

Also, at what point are you surviving versus living? You could live for centuries, absolutely alone in a cave and avoid being beheaded, but...

Answer 5

It's not canon by any means, but I've always considered the game to be just that, a game. If you don't play, you can't win so, by default, someone else becomes the winner. Nakano couldn't play, being trapped in the tomb, thereby allowing Connor to be the one if we were to consider Highlander to be truly canon and Connor won the prize when he killed the Kurgan. Once Nakano was freed, Connor lost his "oneness" with knowledge and had to fight again. As long as there is only one active participant, he is the winner until a new active participant comes along.

Of course the series negates the idea that Connor was ever the one because Duncan was his protégé just as he was Ramirez'.

Answer 6

They're drawn to each other by the power of the Quickening, plus plenty of time, plus not trying to be detected by mortals and moving around. It seems that most of them can hide for a few centuries. Though there was that one Immortal in the series in Ukraine.