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An evil immortal and founder of the Four Horsemen, Kronos put the friendship between Duncan MacLeod and Methos to the ultimate test.
Reign of the Horsemen
Born during the Bronze Age, Kronos was credited as the founder of the Horsemen, which included fellow Immortals Methos, Silas and Caspian, who formed a group of mounted raiders who pillaged and murdered across two continents during the Bronze Age. From their exploits grew the legend of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He imposed two rules on the Horsemen: all the spoils of war were to be shared equally among them, and "We never raise a blade against each other." This, however, did not prevent tension between the members: Caspian held Silas in contempt, Methos cordially hated Caspian, and Kronos kept himself aloof, demanding ruthlessness and brotherhood from the others, a dichotomy that was bound to implode sooner or later.
The Horsemen at the height of their power
During a raid on a small nomadic tribe, Methos took the newly Immortal Cassandra, fresh from her first death when she was stabbed by Kronos, as his personal slave and concubine. Methos kept Cassandra secluded from his brothers, and Kronos noticed. Since he didn't want the attention of his 'brothers' on anything but the Horsemen and their next raid, Kronos involved himself when he noticed Methos beginning to distance himself from his brethren, choosing to spend more time with Cassandra then the other three. Eventually, matters came to a head, and Kronos confronted Methos, demanding that he share Cassandra with the rest of them. Methos, reluctantly submitted, dismaying Cassandra, who would stab Kronos to death later that night. To Kronos' outrage, Methos failed to pursue Cassandra, allowing her to escape into the wilderness.
By the time of ancient Greece, Kronos had not changed, "I'm Kronos. I always have been, and I always will be." But Methos had changed a great deal, and wanted to leave the Horsemen in order to learn and grow, rather than continue to raid and kill. Kronos would not hear of it: "Don't you understand, Methos? The only way to leave the Horsemen... is by leaving your head." Methos then poisoned Kronos, and locked him in a dry well, he hired priests to keep Kronos fed, but then disappeared, and didn't look back. Kronos was trapped for centuries before he escaped. He managed to find both Caspian and Silas eventually, but never Methos, and thought him dead for a long time.
615 BC: Mesopotamia, on one occasion, he encountered the Kurgan, following his triumph over another Immortal. Kronos tried to persuade him to join the Horsemen in order to make up for Methos's absence. The Kurgan refused, claiming that the rules stated that Immortal combat was strictly one on one, and that the Horsemen's alliance would not last, because there can be only one. The incident forever changed the relationship between the Horsemen, and soon the band was sundered and lost to each other.
Kronos tried desperately to find followers equal to his former brethren, but none were able to match. "A dozen times I tried to take up the old ways. I failed. The others I rode with were trash. Scum. I had no one to plan my raids, no one who understood the true use of terror." Eventually Kronos gave up trying to reassemble the Four, assuming his brethren killed or lost, though he always dreamed of reunion.
Kronos in 1867
By the summer of 1867, Kronos rode with a band of Commancheros in the American West, under the alias of Melvin Koren. While in the frontier town of Agua Dulce, Texas, his band was confronted by a band of Texas Rangers who had been tracking them from their latest murders. The Ranger's group included Duncan MacLeod. While the Rangers dealt with the Commancheros, Duncan attacked Kronos. Kronos disarmed the Highlander and threatened his head with a scythe, but Rangers gunned him down before he could take MacLeod's head. He escaped his grave a short time later and disappeared, before Duncan could continue the fight!
Return Of The Four
Kronos emerges in the mist
In November 1997, Kronos resurfaced in the city of Seacouver. He had learned the whereabouts of his former brother, Methos, and became inspired to rebuild his Horsemen once again. Knowing his first task was to force Methos to come back into the fold, Kronos followed him, and ambushed him as soon as he was alone. Methos naturally assumed the worst, "So you've come to kill me?" Kronos delightedly informed him, "It's what I do best!" Knowing Methos' love for self-preservation, however, he offered his former brother a choice: "Well, you can either lose your head, or you can join me."
With no real choice, Methos agreed, but Kronos knew Methos was not to be trusted entirely, and Kronos used Methos' history against him. Knowing Cassandra had come to Seacouver in pursuit of him, Kronos told Methos Cassandra would kill him if she could, but he would kill Cassandra for him. In exchange, Methos was to kill MacLeod, surprised, Methos asked why, and Kronos responded; "Because he's your friend. Because you still have to prove yourself. And because YOU OWE ME!"
Cassandra finally confronted Kronos, but her hypnotic voice had no effect on him, and she ran from him, only to be knocked cold by Methos, and dumped in the river, out of the way. Duncan, who had followed Cassandra, took up the fight, but before there was a clear winner, Methos set fire to the factory, triggering alarms and forcing Kronos to flee. When Kronos, angry at the intervention, questioned him, with a sword to his neck, Methos explained it was to make sure Kronos stayed alive as the fight could have gone either way. He then played his last card in order to keep his head on his shoulders, Methos revealed that Silas and Caspian were still alive, and Methos knew their locations. Delighted, Kronos approved, "Then you live. The Four Horsemen ride again."
Kronos and Methos found Silas, who was living alone in the Ukrainian forests, and he eagerly joined his brethren. They found Caspian being held in a Romanian asylum for the criminally insane, and broke him out, Caspian murdering a doctor in the process. Reunited, the Horsemen set up shop in an abandoned submarine pen in Bordeaux, France, where Kronos unveiled his new plan: Where before the Horsemen had used horses and swords, they would now use science and terrorism. Kronos unveiled a secret laboratory containing a new super virus, which he intended to unleash upon the world, "What better time for us to come together than in the scientific age? Just think of what men like us can do. Men without conscience, without fear. Think of the destruction. The devastation. The death. A world of anarchy and madness. Now you think of that. And dream."
Caspian, Kronos, Silas, Methos
Methos, however, tried to slow his plans down, urging him to start small. Accused of going soft, Methos explained, "It's a prelude....What is the first rule of great drama? Start small and build. A fountain to get their attention. Then a public pool to kill a hundred. Then a stadium to kill 10 thousand. Then one drop of the virus in the city's water supply. Within a week...." The idea pleased Kronos, and he sent Methos to implement the first phase of the plan, Kronos also decided to implement his own plans.
Knowing that Methos would undoubtedly warn MacLeod of the plan, Kronos, Silas, and Caspian searched out Cassandra in a Bordeaux hotel, and took her prisoner. Then Kronos started the second phase early, planting a vial of the virus in the city water supply. As a final stage of the plan, he sent Caspian and Silas to take MacLeod's head. When Methos returned, Kronos confronted him yet again, and revealed the details of what he had done. Methos apparently believed MacLeod dead, and informed the imprisoned Cassandra, "I have seen what happens to people that go up against him. If we want to survive, we will keep him happy."
Silas returned with bad news: MacLeod had beheaded Caspian and escaped into the river. Kronos, furious, ordered Silas to kill Cassandra should MacLeod enter the base. He then ordered Methos to accompany him, "Come with me, my clever friend. You and I are going to poison a city." Then MacLeod arrived.
Ordering Methos to inform Silas of MacLeod's presence, Kronos drew his blade and attacked. Methos, however, finally made his move, and challenged Silas. Kronos battled MacLeod, while Methos fought Silas, the two pairs eventually came together and the sight of Methos' unexpected opposition distracted Kronos for a second, all the time that MacLeod needed. As Methos defeated Silas, the Highlander simultaneously beheaded Kronos, resulting in an ultra rare double Quickening.
In the aftermath, Kronos' virus and all its data were destroyed.
Legacy
Kronos would also appear as an avatar of the demon Ahriman. The ancient Zoroastrian would appear before MacLeod several times in this guise, hoping to evoke a violent response from the Highlander. It also appeared in Kronos' guise to Father Robert Beaufort during that period, in order to chip away at the man's faith and beliefs.
The Horsemen's apprentice
Duncan would also have a vision of Kronos in an alternate history in the series finale, Not To Be, one in which he reformed the Horsemen, Fitz explained: "The Horsemen rode again. And they made the Russian mafia look like the Vienna Boys Choir." They recruited Richie Ryan into their ranks until he failed an assassination mission and was beheaded.
List of Appearances
- Comes A Horseman
- Revelation 6:8
- Archangel (Ahriman's demonic vision)
- Not To Be (alternate reality)
Trivia
- Valentine Pelka also appeared in Highlander: The Raven, as the evil Immortal Andre Korda.
- Valentine Pelka and Peter Wingfield would co-star in another television series by David Abromowitz, Queen of Swords, which ran for the 2000-2001 season.
- Kronos' broadsword never existed in history. It was custom-designed by "Highlander: The Series"' sword master F. Braun McAsh.