Amanda (Highlander)

Amanda is a fictional character from the universe of Highlander: The Series and Highlander: The Raven, portrayed by actress Elizabeth Gracen. She is an Immortal.

The character of Amanda was created to be one of Duncan MacLeod's blasts from the past (and maybe to add some tension between her and Tessa Noel) just like the villain of the week moments in Highlander: The Series. She firstly appeared in the 1993 episode "The Lady and the Tiger". She had a lot of chemistry with Duncan and both the writers and fans like her cunning, lying, immoral, selfish, manipulative ways.

History

Amanda was born in the Abbey of St. Anne in Normandy, France approximately in the year 820. She is a poor and uneducated thief during the plague era in Europe until her first death in 850, when she is beaten in the head after stealing food from a plague-ridden house. She is almost cast into the fire (supposedly to keep her from spreading the plague, having eaten contaminated food), but Immortal Rebecca Horne saves her from that fate just as Amanda breathes her last, and becomes her teacher and mentor. Rebecca teaches Amanda the way of living, The Game, how to fight, and they become best friends. Amanda, however, can not let go of her stealing ways and, one day, tries to steal the Methuselah's Stone that belonged to Rebecca. She is caught but Rebecca forgives her. Amanda is very moved by this and starts to learn how to become a proper lady and to have a proper life. Amanda then leaves Rebecca's abbey, a Holy Ground for Immortals, in 853. Rebecca gives one part of her crystal as a departure gift, like she had done with other pupils.

That same year, while traveling, she meets Immortal Hengist the Saxon who challenges her to fight. Fearing for her life, she runs back to Rebecca's abbey because she knows that the Immortal could not fight her on Holy Ground. Rebecca says that she cannot run forever and must face her demons. Amanda gathers her courage and faces the Immortal. She wins and gets her first Quickening. After the experience, she leaves the abbey again and faces an uncertain future. Amanda becomes one of the best thieves in the world, being able to surpass any obstacle and get anything she wanted.

Life

She is known as one of the world's most adventurous, and uncatchable thieves. She has stolen items thought unstealable: jewels, paintings, money, just about anything she so wishes, and she almost never gets caught. She and Rebecca later meet newly Immortal Duncan MacLeod in 1635, alongside Rebecca. Her relationship with Duncan became intimate and is on/off throughout the centuries. They have many adventures together such as the robbery of the Stone of Scone (1950) with Hugh Fitzcairn and the bank robbery days ala Bonnie and Clyde with Cory Raines (1926). Besides being an accomplished thief, she holds many jobs such as an harem dancer (1753), acrobat, tightwire artist, bank robber, teacher, antique dealer, nightclub singer (1936) and casino owner (1888).

In 1993, in Paris, she is working as a circus acrobatic and trapeze performer "The Amazing Amanda", and sends tickets to Duncan MacLeod, Tessa Noel and Richie Ryan. Tessa realizes that Amanda and Duncan had a long romantic history, but merely accepts it. Amanda knows that Tessa does not trust her, but dismisses her. She regrets her attitude later after she finds out about her death. She asks for Duncan's help to protect her from another Immortal, her former partner in crime Zachary Blaine, who supposedly is trying to kill her. She and Blaine are actually plotting a high-stakes burglary, to steal an ancient book in a museum. She plays both Duncan and Blaine against each other, a common ploy of hers, but she only does with Duncan because she is confident he will win. Duncan and Blaine eventually battle, but when Duncan has Blaine in position for a kill, Amanda steps in and beheads Blaine.

After Tessa's death, Amanda returns several times to Duncan's life and has many adventures with him, such as avenging Rebecca's death by her pupil Luther (1994), meets Watchers Joe Dawson (1994), fighting against Kalas (1995) or find the secrets of the Methuselah's Stone (1996). It is her relationship with Duncan that leads her to stop stealing and to be compassionate in her life. Her old habits, however, come back from time to time.

Alternative Amanda

Once when Duncan MacLeod is killed temporarily, he is thrown into another reality where he has never been born.

Without Duncan in her life, Amanda never leaves her thieving ways and is, in fact, a lot more evil than the real life Amanda. She is beheaded by The Hunters led by James Horton who are still in activity because Duncan has never existed and nobody has been able to stop them.

Spin-Offs

Elizabeth Gracen returned as Amanda as the leading lady in the series spin-off Highlander: The Raven. The show lasted one season in 1998-1999.

While being investigated for a crime she didn't commit, a police officer named Claudia Hoffman jumps in front of a bullet to save her life, not knowing she is Immortal. Saddened by Claudia's sacrifice for her life, Amanda begins to realize the consequences of her criminal lifestyle and realises that she has to change her ways. In this time, she meets a pre-Immortal cop, Claudia's partner, named Nick Wolfe. He is the new man in her life. He is there to help her with her struggle, and sometimes adds to it. They argue constantly at regular intervals. But when she truly needs him, he always seems to be there. One day, Nick is poisoned and to save his life she shoots him to trigger his immortality. When Nick wakes up he becomes angry with Amanda's decision because it wasn't her choice to make. Then he leaves her.

Personality and relationships

Amanda is manipulative towards her friends and foes; she does whatever necessary to achieve her goals. She lived for centuries without looking back, never taking responsibility for her actions. Yet she rarely steals from good people, only from banks, museums, or rich people (or anything that amuses her). She is a very confident woman and has so many tricks up her sleeve that Duncan once compared her to a shark, a term he also used to described the equally manipulative Methos. She can be bitchy towards those who scorn her as proved by her famous line after being provoked by novelist Carolyn Marsh, "She called me a cheap whore and a thief - I was never cheap!"

Several relationships important in her life:

Duncan MacLeod

Richie, Amanda, and Duncan

Amanda's relationship with Duncan is interesting; she usually just appears out of the blue, with some new favor to ask of Duncan. Her relationship with Duncan began centuries before the series, and continues in the present. They have often gone decades without seeing one another, then will spend a year or more together, or months, weeks, or sometimes only days. Amanda often manipulates him, and although he seems to be aware of this, instead of stopping it, he just plays into it, often seeming to feel amused. However, despite her manipulations, she is loyal to Duncan, and he to her. Sometimes she wants to help him in her own way, and ends up hurting him, but in the end, Amanda is always forgiven by Duncan since he knows that Amanda meant well. The two never express love for each other in the plain and simple sense, but rather show it in their loyalty and devotion to each other's causes. Both become involved in other relationships throughout their lives, but eventually always come back together. In the series finale, Duncan admits his love to Amanda and tells her that she has always "made his heart glad."

Methos

She also develops an ally and complex relationship with Methos, the only person that can match her manipulative ways. Methos and Amanda sometimes can be very cunning, especially toward Duncan MacLeod. Their relationship is like siblings or good friends. Their relationship is once strained because of the Methuselah's Stone. Amanda owns a part of a stone, which was Rebecca's crystal. A bunch of mortals and a renegade Watcher try to kill her to steal the crystal and she suspects Methos is behind it. Methos needs the crystal to cure Alexa, his terminally-ill lover. After knowing his intention and that it wasn't him who was trying to kill her, she helps Methos steal the crystal. But Methos gets caught by the renegade Watcher, and Amanda decides to exchange the stone for his life. The stone is broken and falls into the river, and Methos has no chance to save Alexa. Amanda can only give him words of encouragement. Methos is also the only person she can turn to when Duncan becomes more brooding after Immortal Steven Keane, who shared the same points of view in life as Duncan, challenges him. Fearing for his life, Amanda begs Methos to help Duncan. Both Amanda and Methos understand each other and the dilemma of being an Immortal. Both of them know that life is about changes, and about accepting who you are, good or bad.

Kenny

800 years ago, Amanda found a 10-year-old Immortal boy named Kenny and taught him about The Game and how to survive it. Being killed so young, he will forever live as a child, thus learns fast that his main weapon is his innocence. After Amanda is captured by the soldiers that have killed him and his family, he runs away. Amanda survives, but isn't able to find him. In 1995, she once again meets him. Kenny, however, is no longer the boy she had met. He betrays her and Duncan to Terence Kincaid who has a grudge against Duncan. Amanda is heartbroken with the idea that Kenny is not a boy, but more a man in a child's body. She always considered him as a son that she could not have, forgetting that he is an Immortal who has grown up and only wants to win The Game.

Derrick Markham

Just like Duncan MacLeod, who had been married only once (as far as we know) in the past, Amanda apparently also married an Immortal named Derrick Markham. They were separated and estranged for 132 years. Amanda betrayed him to the authorities because he was a brutal criminal. In 1999, Amanda defeats him in a battle, because he wants to kill Amanda and her friends.

Characterization

Executive Producer Bill Panzer thinks Amanda is "a beautiful, funny, international grand thief kind of character, who's crazy mad about MacLeod, but also crazy mad about her own freedom. And when Amanda comes into his life, if he's free, they have a moment. And she generally slips off into the night."

Amanda in The Game

Amanda in battle

With no real interest in winning The Game, Amanda instead focuses on staying alive, and so has minimized the number of duels she participates in. When faced with another Immortal, she typically runs or cons her way out of battle, or has to be rescued by a friend like Duncan MacLeod. (Her tendency to use others to fight for her is evident in the number of Immortal friends and partners-in-crime that she accumulated.) On occasions where she seeks out a battle, she almost always meets with disaster. Because of this, despite her long life, it can be assumed she absorbed a relatively low number of Quickenings.

During the original series her swordsmanship appeared to be less-than exceptional, and in fact she was never actually shown fighting a winning battle, even against an unarmed Kalas. Her skills receive a considerable upgrade after she meets Nick Wolfe and decides to redeem her life. Somehow, she suddenly becomes a highly-skilled fighter, engaging in and winning numerous battles in a relatively short time. Below are the Quickenings seen in the original series and The Raven series:

1 - Hengist the Saxon¹, 853 ("Methuselah's Gift")

2 - Zachary Blaine², 1993 ("The Lady and the Tiger")

3 - Mario Cardoza, 1998 ("Full Disclosure")

4 - Stefan Collier, 1998 ("Immunity")

5 - Wilson Geary, 1998 ("Passion Play")

6 - Crysta, 1998 ("A Matter of Time")

7 - Andre Korda, 1998 ("The French Connection")

8 - Frank Brennen, 1999 ("The Rogue")

9 - Talia Bauer, 1999 ("Inferno")

10 - Derrick Markham, 1999 ("Love and Death")

11 - Vladimir Rankov, 1999 ("The Manipulator")

12 - Dr. Julian Heller³, 1999 ("The Ex-Files")

13 - Evan Peyton, 1999 ("Dead on Arrival")

¹First beheading.

²Duncan MacLeod defeated Blaine, but Amanda beheaded him.

³Beheaded by Nick Wolfe.

Appearances

Episodes - "The Lady and the Tiger", "The Return of Amanda", "Legacy", "The Cross of St. Antoine", "Rite of Passage", "Finale", "Finale Part 2", "Double Eagle", "Reunion", "The Colonel", "Methuselah's Gift", "The Immortal Cimoli", "Dramatic License", "Money No Object", "The Stone of Scone", "Forgive Us Our Trespasses", "To Be", "Not To Be"

Raven Episodes - "Reborn", "Full Disclosure", "Bloodlines", "Immunity", "So Shall Ye Reap", "Birthright", "Crime and Punishment", "The Unknown Soldier", "Cloak and Dagger", "Passion Play", "The Devil You Know", "A Matter of Time", "The French Connection", "The Rogue", "Inferno", "The Frame", "Love and Death", "Thick as Thieves", "The Manipulator", "The Ex-Files", "War and Peace", "Dead on Arrival"

Books - White Silence, An Evening at Joe's