Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘The Old Guard’ follows a set of people who were born with the power of immortality. No matter how they are killed, they always come back to life. However, nothing that lives can live forever, and there comes a time when they lose their immortality and have to face the music of death, this time, permanently. The story begins with Andromache of Scythia, aka Andy, who has walked the earth for a very long time. At first, it seems there is no slowing down for her, but by the end of the first film, she has completely lost her immortality. This means that by the time the events of the second film begin, she is forced to make peace with the fact that she won’t live for long. Or so it seems. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Reason Behind Andy’s Loss of Immortality was Right in Front of Her
In the first film, when Andy tells Nile Freeman about the boon of immortality bestowed upon them, she reveals that there comes a time when an immortal loses their power. It is a natural process, much like everything else, and is just as unexplainable as the reason for their current powers. Andy faces the brunt of this harsh reality when she realises her own wounds are not healing. Her friends are heartbroken to discover this, but they take it in stride, believing that they couldn’t have stopped it.
In ‘The Old Guard 2,’ however, new information comes to light. It turns out that Nile is the last immortal, which means that she also has the power to kill other immortals, or at least, kill their immortality. Tuah, another immortal introduced in the sequel, has been keeping records of everyone of his kind. He has created a library that solely focuses on their history and myths, and among those myths is the story about the last immortal and the true extent of their powers.
It turns out that if the last immortal, i.e., Nile, successfully draws blood from another immortal, they will be stripped of their power. It could be something as fatal as cutting off their limb or something as small as scratching them with a pen knife. When Andy and Nile meet for the first time, they have a fight, where Nile manages to cut Andy. At the time, the wound heals, and Andy doesn’t pay much attention to it. Unbeknownst to her, this cut starts the process of losing her immortality, but she is none the wiser. Six months later, she has made peace with the fact that she is going to die, and she probably would have if it weren’t for her friend, Booker.
Andy is Saved by Booker’s Love and Loyalty for Her
There are two sides to every story, and the second part of the myth about the last immortal reveals that one can still salvage their power after the process has already begun. Tuah reveals that once Nile has cut an immortal, there is a small window in which their power begins to dissipate until it’s completely gone. Within this window, they have the power to transfer their immortality to someone else. This way, they will become mortal and die sooner or later, but their immortality will be passed on, and someone else will get to live for an incredible stretch of time before they, too, come face to face with the permanence of death.
When Booker finds out about it, he doesn’t have to think twice about what he needs to do. He has been alive for centuries, during which time, Andy was the one who kept him sane and safe. Without her, he would have been lost, which becomes evident from how easily he breaks down when he is banished into exile by Andy and the rest of the group for betraying them. Six months later, when he reunites with them, Andy welcomes him with open arms, and even goes on to confess that it was wrong of her to banish him in the first place. Booker is relieved to discover that he and Andy are on friendly terms again, but this doesn’t change the fact that she is going to die soon, especially with the danger of Discord looming over them.
The only way he can protect her is by making her immortal again. This is why, when he finds out about the possibility of a transference, he acts on it immediately, even though Tuah points out that the theory has not been confirmed and it might not turn out the way Booker wants it to. Fortunately for Andy, there is truth in this myth, and as soon as Nile (who is completely unaware of her power) cuts him in a friendly duel, he immediately rushes to Andy and transfers his immortality to her while she remains blissfully unaware of it. It takes some time for the transfer to kick in, but by the time the final showdown happens in the film, Andy is immortal again, while Booker sacrifices himself in the process.
