| Mary MacLeod | ||||||||||||||||
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Wife to the clan chieftain, Ian MacLeod. During the Winter Solstice of 1592 she gave birth to a stillborn son; a foundling, who would become Duncan MacLeod, was given to her to raise in the dead child's place.
Mary MacLeod, 1608
In 1608, the immortal, Roland Kantos, appeared in Glenfinnen seeking a foundling he claimed as his own son. Mary was aware that Duncan had been a foundling such as Roland described, but loved the boy as her own, and told Roland there were no foundlings in her village. Roland attempted hypnotic compulsion on her and she again refused to admit to any foundlings in the village. He increased pressure on her, twisting her arm and forcing her to her knees, and she still refused to give him the information he wanted. "Hail Mary, Mother of God; the one you seek is not here!" Protecting her son from the danger the stranger seemed to promise.
In 1624, MacLeod's village was destroyed by Kanwulf the Destroyer and his father was mortally wounded. When MacLeod heard of this, though he'd been banished two years previously, he returned home. Mary was more than pleased to see him again, "My beautiful son has come back. They tried to tell me you were evil, I knew it wasn't true!" She urged her son to claim his father's Claymore and put the clan chief's sword in his hands, "It matters not who bore you, you are my son. Take it I say! Let no man tell you different, you are Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod!"
Duncan visits his parents' grave