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John Durgan is an Immortal, seen in Highlander: The Series.
Early Biography[]
John Durgan was born in the year 1732, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as a foundling of Pennsylvania Dutch origin. He would freeze to death in the Great Blizzard of 1780, and revive as an Immortal. He would subsequently be found by Luke Monroe, who taught him about his Immortality.
Durgan was uncouth and uneducated, had no social skills, and was completely selfish. He lived in the wilds of Montana, and worked as fur trapper. In 1817, he went to Fort Wolfe on the Snake River, in order to sell his pelts, and there met Duncan MacLeod. Durgan asked if he had come for him, but MacLeod assured him that he had not. Encountering Miss Welsley, a school teacher, collecting money for a school fund, Durgan didn't give her anything, but became interested in what "good" reading and writing might be. He asked MacLeod how one could make money with education, just as Father Peter returned to Fort Wolfe.
Durgan in 1817
Upon seeing the cross of St. Antoine in Father Peter's hands, Durgan coveted it. That night he went to see Miss Welsley, asking her to teach him reading and writing, but then suddenly he attacked and killed her. The next morning, he asked Father Peter to baptize him. He then killed him too, and took the cross of St. Antoine as his own. MacLeod tried to stop him, but Durgan escaped. He was last seen in the year 1874, fleeing from Fort Lyon, Colorado ahead of a lynching, dropping off even the Watchers' Chronicles. He would be removed from the roster of active Immortals until the following decade.
Durgan managed to reinvent himself and remove himself from The Game for a time. He changed his name, and began to educate himself, eventually he attended Tulane University in New Orleans (in 1887) under the name "James Dunstan," and studied French and philosophy. He discovered the arts, and studied for decades; eventually he could speak at least nine languages, including Greek and Latin. He reinvented himself, but one thing always stayed the same: his greed. By the late 20th century, Durgan was known as "Armand Thorne," a well-known art lover. He collected artworks, often in illegal ways. He didn't care about The Game, and bought the best bodyguards he could get, to protect him from other Immortals. He planned to stay out of The Game completely, till there was just one other Immortal left.
In October 1994, art historian Michelle Anderson discovered several stolen items in his collection. Durgan went to her home and killed her; the murder was witnessed by her then-boyfriend, Joe Dawson. Dawson asked Duncan MacLeod to help him find the killer, and together with Amanda, he visited the collection Michelle had been working on -- the collection owned by Durgan.
MacLeod spotted the cross of St. Antoine, and knew that he was dealing with Durgan. Durgan also recognized MacLeod, and arranged a meeting on Holy Ground. He warned MacLeod to stay away from him, and claimed that he was untouchable, thanks to his bodyguards and his prominent public position. MacLeod realized a direct attack was out of the question, so he and Amanda stole the cross of St. Antoine in order to lure him out.
In response, Durgan had his men kidnap Joe Dawson, and arranged a second meeting with MacLeod at the church. When Durgan entered the church, he sensed the presence of another Immortal but did not know it was Amanda lurking, and called for the Highlander to show himself. He delivered Dawson, and took back the cross, which had been left on the altar. When he left Holy Ground, he found MacLeod waiting for him. The two Immortals faced each other, and Durgan lost his head to MacLeod.
Weapon[]
He carried an eighth century Frankish broadsword, a one-handed weapon.
Trivia[]
- His Watcher at the time of his death was Tracy Hillman, who was unaware that her assignment, who called himself "Armand Thorne," had once been John Durgan.
- In 1889, Jamie Carson, an Immortal, beheaded another Immortal (a mountain-man) in Taos, New Mexico. The mountain-man was believed by the Watchers for a time to have been John Durgan (having vanished decades previously), but this was later disproved.