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Warren Cochrane was born in 1485 in Helensburgh, Strathclyde, Scotland. He suffered his first death in September 1513, when he was killed along with his parents at Flodden Field. His first mentor was the immortal, Angus MacFadden. Sometime between 1625 and 1696, Cochrane met Duncan MacLeod. They became good friends.
On July 23, 1745, Cochrane was present when Prince Charles Edward Stuart landed on the Hebridean island of Eriskay. He was a Jacobite, and supported Prince Charles Edward's attempt to claim the throne for the Stuarts, and fought side by side with Duncan MacLeod. In April 1746, he ambushed a patrol of English soldiers, but died in the process. MacLeod found him, and convinced Cochrane that he could not participate in the forthcoming battle of Culloden because he was seen to have died, there were too many witnesses who knew he had been killed. Reluctantly he agreed and watched the defeat of the Scottish army from a nearby hill.
Despite the collapse of the casue, Cochrane's devotion to the so-called Bonnie Prince did not seem to waver. Among other things, he came within a hair of challenging MacLeod when he accused the prince of military errors, something Cochrane could not admit.
Warren Cochrane at the Battle of Culloden in 1745.
Forty years later, Cochrane was living with the mortal woman Sarah and her son James. He still mourned for the days of the Uprising, and eventually developed an ambitious plan to launch a new revolution. He took numerous trips to Normandy, where he met with Duncan MacLeod. Cochrane was euphoric, as Prince Charles Edward had traveled from Rome to meet with them. He forgot all caution and managed to attract two British agents. Cochrane and MacLeod shook off the agents, but not before James and Sarah were shot dead.
The meeting with Charles Stuart was disastrous: while Cochrane still saw the shining prince in him, MacLeod noticed immediately that the aged prince was a drunk, and was even less suited to lead an army than forty years ago. Cochrane's plan dissolved, and he blamed MacLeod. Their paths diverged in a dispute.
Duncan MacLeod and Warren Cochrane in 1745.
Around 1981, Cochrane took a new identity. As Warren Goddard, he said he was born in 1964 in Killiecrankie, that his parents died in a car accident when he was 16. As Goddard, he built a life as a travel writer. He mostly wrote books on the history of England and Scotland. Eventually, he married Nancy Goddard, but she was never told the secret of his immortality.
In the early 1990s, Warren met Andrew Donnelly in Aberdeen, a young immortal who had no mentor, who lived on the street. Cochrane took him in, gave him a job, and taught him about his immortality. At the same time, tried to awaken in him the same reverence for Scottish history and Prince Charlie he had. Andrew, however, had no interest in the past or the independence of Scotland. In April 1996, Cochrane took his student to Normandy, to the hostel where he had met Charles Edward 200 years ago. Here Andrew told his mentor clearly what he thought of history, and the 'bum' of a prince. Cochrane was furious and unthinking, he drew his sword. Reacting purely on instinct, he beheaded his own student. Horrified, he tried to escape the Quickening, and had a mental break, blotting out the memory in hysterical amnesia.
A few days later, Cochrane found his way back to Paris. Here he happened to run across his old friend Duncan MacLeod, but did not recognize him. He did not know who he was himself, or that he was immortal. Duncan spoke with him and brought back the memories slowly.
Finally, returned to the the hostel to confront the memory of his deed. Cochrane attacked MacLeod, blaming him. MacLeod defeated him, but he could not kill his friend. Cochran ran, a fugitive with the burden of the memory of the murder of his student. He had to start again, leaving his wife and identity behind, since he was named a prime suspect in Donnelly's murder.