Darius (Highlander) - Characteristics

Characteristics

In Highlander: The Series, Darius is portrayed as tall and thin and always wearing "a rough Franciscan-like robe with a cowl". The Watcher Chronicles - a collection of character profiles available as a CD-ROM and as bonus material of the Highlander: The Series DVD edition - describes him as "not the oldest or strongest, perhaps, the wisest. His genius lay not just in the military arts, but in his knowledge of the contents of the human heart." Darius always understands people. His former friend and student Grayson admits that Darius is "a man of (...) insight into a person's soul."

As a general of Late Antiquity, he is described as selfish, manipulative and cynical, a skilled commander and an accomplished strategist. In Shadow of Obsession, Grayson remarks, "The whole world is just a plaything to Darius." Darius despises mortals : "They are born, they love, they fight, they die - and we go on." Darius is nevertheless a beloved general. He "always understood what his men needed - he knew them better than they knew themselves."

After his change of life, Darius has accepted his violent past, because "to deny what I was is to deny what I am." He still enjoys martial pastimes such as chess and recreating famous battles such as Gettysburg. In "Saving Grace", MacLeod tells him, "You may be a priest, but you still think like a warrior." Darius considers that "war, in the abstract, is a great intellectual puzzle, but in reality it's all blood and tears."

As a peacemaker, Darius is described as loving and compassionate. The Watcher Chronicle observes, "there is a quality in the man that I've seen in no other, a sense of peace - perhaps even a sense of God." In Shadow of Obsession, Joe Dawson states, "All the reports mention the sense of sanctity, the aura of peace that surrounded him." Darius considers peace the highest human value and is always shocked and saddened by unnecessary death. The script of "Band of Brothers" has him say: "In the face of violence, we must insist on nonviolence... Weapons have no dominion over the souls of men. Put your weapons down." He is actively involved in promoting and maintaining peace, "preaching his message to those who would become the peacemakers of their own generations," such as Victor Paulus. He also uses less obvious means such as using MacLeod (who has not rejected violence) to protect Paulus, or planting a spy in Grayson's organization.

To help mankind to fight violence, he has studied Buddhism and Hinduism and is now a Roman Catholic priest of the Franciscan Brothers of the Poor. However, Darius believes more in the spirit than in the letter of dogmas. MacLeod says of him, "I don't think Darius believes in religion or a set of rules, being your brother's keeper. I think Darius, if he has to help mankind, he has to honor their codes."

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