Watcher (Highlander)

Watchers is a secret organization that watches the Immortals in Highlander: The Series and all subsequent related series and movies.

They were introduced in the season 1 finale as a cliffhanger for the subsequent season. Since then, they became an integral part of the series and Duncan MacLeod's adventures.

In "The Watchers", Joe Dawson explains the purpose of the Watchers to Duncan MacLeod: "For as long as your kind's been around, we've been watching ... We observe, we record, but we never interfere... Too much of man's history has been lost. When you get through all of life's crap, the only thing that matters is the truth. We want the truth about Immortals to survive, not a bunch of old wives' tales... If we had revealed your secret in more superstitious times, you can imagine the witch hunts... And today... You'd probably end up on page three in one of those supermarket rags next to the two-headed monkey and I'd've been in a straight jacket."

The Watchers is a secret society of mortal humans that observes the lives of the Immortals without revealing themselves. While the Watchers seem to have the resources to function independently, there are Watchers like Joe Dawson who run their own businesses to provide a cover as well as income. Each Immortal is assigned a Watcher whose sole job is to monitor and record daily activities. The network of Watchers generally keeps careful tabs on subjects and tracks even the casual movements of the Immortals. Most Immortals are unaware of the Watchers. The organization was created by Ammaletu, the Akkadian, after he saw Gilgamesh coming back to life. In past ages, all Watchers wore a medallion of the symbol of their organization. In modern times, each Watcher has the symbol tattooed on the inner wrist.

The Watchers stated that once all but one of the Immortals are no more, they will tell the world that Immortals once walked among them.

The Hunters are an offshoot of the Watchers, originally led by James Horton, with the stated goal of killing all Immortals. Their most famous victim was Darius. Their motivation varies from one member to another; Horton was afraid the victor of The Prize would control the world, which he believed should belong to "humans", while some other Hunters wanted to become Immortals themselves (though this probably wasn't possible), others just hunted them for pleasure, mainly due to their beliefs; one Hunter targeted black immortals.

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