"Empires rise and fall"


That's what Methos says to Joe in the Finale, when Christine Salzer threatens to expose the immortals to the world.
"Empires rise and fall."
I never noticed this sentence before, but what Methos is saying isn't "The Immortal Empire" is going to fall, but that this world is going to end. This world, the world as we know it. Unthinkable, isn't it?
Sure, we know that it has happened, we know that Rome fell, China, the Incan and the Aztec Empire to name but a few. The world made progress and then suddenly disappeared into the Dark Ages for, oh, a couple hundred years. We know that it happens.
But not to us, right?
Because we know better, because we can fly to the moon and back again, because we caan travel around the world in a few hours, and if I want to buy a house in Timbuktu, I can do so safely from behind my desk with the wonder that is internet.
We are better. We are not like those empires. We will not fall.

Or that's what we'd like to think. Methos know better. Methos has lived in the fallen empires, he has seen people who thought exactly the same about their world. And yet, they are gone and forgotten. They fell.
What would it be like to live in a world that is just temporary? Sure, Duncan has seen changes, he is incredibly old from a human perspective, but Methos?
"Empires rise and fall".
Only Methos could have said that. Only Methos could feel that way. He just lives in this world, and when this one is gone, he lives in the next world. Duncan clings to his world desperately. He wants all the good of the new world, but he doesn't want to leave the old world behind either. Not so much its possessions, and he certainly has no trouble adjusting. But look at the many friends he has, reminders of the past, all carrying a part of what Duncan was with them.
Methos doesn't have that. Methos doesn't seem to have many friends at all, apart from Duncan and Joe. And, well, you can't really count the Horsemen, though he did keep track of them over the years. ;-)

And that drives me crazy. Because I can't decide what it does to their relationship. We know that Duncan can do casual, but that doesn't mean he doesn't truly love whoever he is doing the casual with. I don't see Duncan as someone wo would settle down with one person, except if this person is mortal. But an immortal? Forever? I really don't think so. Though if what I said before is true, shouldn't he do exactly that? Keep the past alive by keeping a relationship forever?
No, it doesn't work that way. Duncan cares too much. That's why he seems to cling to the past. It holds memories that are dear to him, people that he loved: he never really let's go, but he still moves on. There is too much to see, too much happening, too many new people that he can't help but care about. One day, he won't have enough space for all of this anymore, one day he won't be able to stand losing them all. Maybe then he'll stay with Methos forever. But it is more likely that if this day comes, he will lose his ability to love, and eventually, be killed.

Methos doesn't get attached. And yet, he seems to feel so much more deeply. The way he fell for Alexa for example. No, I don't think he was substituting her for Duncan liek some writers seem to think. I think that he was truly, madly, deeply in love with her. And he wanted forever. In that moment, that's what he wanted. He doesn't think about the future this way, he doesn't care if forever last forever, if he will still love he tomorrow.
"Empires rise and fall", and so does love.

Methos wants forever with Duncan, but he is too smart to think that he is going to get it. He knows that Duncan isn't ready for that. And it breaks my heart to see him wait, to know that their way of loving is so totally different: they both love honestly, truly, real love. But it doesn't mean the same thing for them.
What if it never will? There is no happy end for them, even apart from the whole "There can only be one" charade.

But "Empires rise and fall" means something else as well:
There is always hope.



(This completely unplanned post represents my train of thought on the subject"Empires rise and fall". I'll try to stop spamming your flist with Methos and Duncan, but I don't think I'll succeed.)
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