James Horton

Highlander character
bgcolor = #ffcc00
name = James Horton


image_size = 150px
race = Human
age = 49 (at time of death)
born = 1945
teacher = Ian Bancroft
portrayed = Peter Hudson
first =
seasons = , , , |

James Horton is a fictional character from "", portrayed by actor Peter Hudson. A mortal Watcher, he is protagonist Duncan MacLeod's nemesis and fellow Watcher Joe Dawson's brother-in-law.

Appearances

The Hunters (1993)

James Horton is first introduced in the first season finale episode, "" (1993), as the leader of the men who enter Darius's (Werner Stocker) chapel and behead him. Those men, called the Hunters, [Episode "The Hunters", Final Shooting Script, p. 2, in "Highlander: The Series" (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2001), disk 9.] then kidnap MacLeod's friend, fellow Immortal Hugh Fitzcairn (Roger Daltrey). Horton later sets up a plan to meet MacLeod's lover Tessa Noel (Alexandra Vandernoot) and check a wound she has on her hand to see if she is immortal. Tessa is frightened and bewildered by this encounter. [Episode "The Hunters", Final Shooting Script, p. 22, in "Highlander: The Series" (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2001), disk 9.] In the meanwhile, Fitzcairn has been brought to the Hunters' headquarters. The script says that Horton and his accomplices "study Fitzcairn as one would a large, interesting insect," [Episode "The Hunters", Final Shooting Script, p. 27, in "Highlander: The Series" (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2001), disk 9.] then shot him with a crossbow to see if he will revive, proving that he is an Immortal. When Fitzcairn awakes, Horton tells him, "I've often wondered how much pain an Immortal could bear before he went mad."Episode "The Hunters", in "Highlander: The Series" (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2001), disk 8.] MacLeod searches for the Hunters' hiding while Horton is addressing his men: "We have won a great victory. We have destroyed a malignant evil that has walked this earth in the form of a man for the last two thousand years. People do not cheer us, people don't even know we exist, but we know the battle we fight. We know the evil we must destroy. I would like to send you back to your homes... to your lives... but our work here is not finished." Horton tells Fitzcairn, "You are an abomination before nature and in the eyes of man. There is no glory but ours. No destiny that is not of our making." Horton is about to guillotine Fitzcairn when MacLeod enters. In the ensuing fight, Horton tells MacLeod, "When you kill me, others will come. To continue what we have begun. (...) We've always understood. We will never be dominated. (...) We know about the Gathering. (...) It's about power. There is nothing greater that the power of man. Nothing. (...) You must die. All of you."

In "The Watchers" (1993), after MacLeod meets his Watcher, Joe Dawson (Jim Byrnes), Horton remarks to Dawson, "You spoke with one of them. That's never happened before."Episode "The Watchers", in "Highlander: The Series" (season 2) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2003), disk 1.] When Robert (Cameron Bancroft), one of his men who is also the fiancé of his daughter, Lynn (Kehli O'Byrne), expresses doubts about the Hunters, Horton answers, "It doesn't matter if they're good or evil, Robert. They're here to dominate us. They fight for their right to rule us. And one day, that is what they will do." When Robert expresses the wish to leave the Hunters because MacLeod spared his life, Horton kills him, but is able to confort Lynn afterwards when she learns of her fiancé's death. Horton then mounts a trap to behead MacLeod, but Dawson confronts him, saying, "What you are doing is totally wrong. It betrays everything we stand for. (...) They aren't all evil." Horton answers, "I felt like a doctor watching a cancer grow." MacLeod enters and Horton admits to having killed Robert, saying, "Sometimes in war innocents get harmed. I believe that the generals call it collateral damage." MacLeod is about to kill Horton but renounces because Lynn begs him not to. Horton is infuriated and shots MacLeod in the back. MacLeod is able to stab him with his sword before collapsing dead. When he revives, the others have disappeared.

Unholy Alliance (1994)

In "Unholy Alliance" (1994), Horton concludes an agreement with Immortal Xavier St. Cloud (Roland Gift), in which Horton provides mercenaries that shot Immortals dead so that Xavier can safely behead them. Horton also uses Xavier's Watcher, Barton, to manipulate Dawson so that Dawson tells MacLeod where Xavier is, and Xavier is waiting for him with his mercenaries. MacLeod comes as planned, but his friend Charlie DeSalvo (Philip Akin) has followed him and witnesses the fight between MacLeod and Xavier, then MacLeod being mortally shot by Horton, before being shot himself by Horton. MacLeod revives and breaks open Horton's grave in the Dawson family crypt. But it is empty, and MacLeod finds Horton alive and standing in front of him. MacLeod moves to attack him, but Horton warns him, "Holy Ground, MacLeod! Shame on you... You're forgetting the rules. I tried to get Xavier to come but even he wouldn't kill here."Episode "Unholy Alliance", in "Highlander: The Series" (season 2) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2003), disk 5.] When MacLeod asks if Horton does this to feel powerful, Horton replies, "This is not about me, MacLeod. This is about you, you and your kind. You're an abomination." Then Horton boasts, "I'm the man you can't kill. Frustrated? I know I would be in your position. How would you like to kill me? ...with your sword? No, I think you'd prefer to do it with your bare hands, feel the life drain away from me." Eventually Horton hints that Dawson knows everything and escapes. Later, MacLeod watches Dawson join Horton on their boat, and corners Dawson to hear the truth from him. Dawson explains, "After you fought with Horton, I had to take him to the hospital. He was dying. (...) I made sure he was through with the Watchers, MacLeod. No one was to contact him, and not even his own people. He was an outcast. (...) I've known the man for twenty-five years, he's my sister's husband. I couldn't just let him die. He said he just wanted to leave the country, live quiet." Dawson says he did not tell this to MacLeod "because I knew you'd kill him." MacLeod is hurt that Dawson has lied to him and turns his back on him.

In "Unholy Alliance Part Two" (1994), Horton and Xavier are still plotting MacLeod's death together. During their conversation Xavier puts a friendly hand on Horton's shoulder and Horton shows disgust at this physical contact with an Immortal. He remarks, "It would give you great pleasure to kill Duncan MacLeod, would it not ?"Episode "Unholy Alliance Part Two", in "Highlander: The Series" (season 2) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2003), disk 5.] When MacLeod enters, Horton gets a helicopter to allow Xavier to flee the ensuing fight. Later in Paris, when MacLeod finds their hiding, Horton tries to flee again on a boat, but Dawson stops him. Despite Horton's claim that "we're family," Dawson shoots him and Horton falls in the river. Horton is next seen in the episode tag, watching MacLeod from a distance and apparently unharmed.

Counterfeit (1994)

Character development

The script of "The Hunters" describes Horton as "an imposing man, muscular and intelligent in appearance". [Episode "The Hunters", Final Shooting Script, p. 3, in "Highlander: The Series" (season 1) (DVD, Davis-Panzer Productions, 2001), disk 9.] Executive Script Consultant David Tynan thinks, "Other characters we've killed off, but they weren't dead. Horton would not die. Of course, his brother-in-law, Joe Dawson, was the shakiest gun in the West. He seemed to not be able to hit the guy in any part of the body that would actually kill him. Horton kept surviving. But when he finally got his, Peter Hudson stumbled over a monument in the graveyard scene and fell and cracked his ribs. Duncan really killed a double." [David Tynan, in Maureen Russell, "Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide", Warner Books, 1998, ISBN 0-446-67435-4, p. 18.]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0103442|title=Highlander: The Series