Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘The Old Guard 2’ builds upon the myth of the immortals led by Andromache of Scythia, aka Andy. The sequel picks up six months after the events of the first film and introduces new immortals to the fore. One of them is Quynh, who was thrown into the ocean, trapped in an iron maiden, doomed to die repeatedly for 500 years. However, she is brought out of the water and back into the world by another immortal, Discord, whose existence had remained a secret to the others. With the loss of immortality being a key plot point in ‘The Old Guard 2,’ the film uses Discord and Quynh to show how differently things can work for the immortals. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Reason for Discord’s Immortality Could be Tied to Nile
In ‘The Old Guard 2,’ Discord is introduced as the first immortal and the oldest one so far. She is so old that she has seen civilisations crumble and fall, and has adopted many names and identities over the centuries and millennia that seemed to have passed by in a blur for her. However, all good things must come to an end, and this holds true for the immortals as well. In the first film, it is revealed that despite the extreme longevity of people like Andy, the clock is ticking on them nonetheless, and no one knows when they will run out of time.
Andy gives an example of another immortal, Lykon, whose immortality ran its course without any warning or apparent reason. The fact that they have no explanation of how they got their immortality makes it reasonable that Andy and the others learned to live with the mystery of how they lose it. They called it nature taking its course, and apparently, this is what happened to Discord as well. Being alive for so long made her think she was invincible, especially after she amassed exceptional wealth and influence to ensure that no human could ever harm her.
This is why, when she woke up feeling like just another human one day, she could not accept the reality of death hurtling towards her, leading to the events of the sequel. Interestingly, Discord suddenly losing her immortality might not be a coincidence. When she meets Nile for the first time in the church, her hand shakes, revealing that she has already lost her powers. It must also be noted that this development has happened relatively recently, which means that she might have lost her power around the same time Nile gained hers.
She also reveals that her being the first immortal and Nile being the last ties them together. They have the same birthmark to exhibit this connection. This could mean that Discord lost her immortality because her counterpart gained hers. This could also be a general explanation for why certain immortals like Lykon suddenly lost their powers. Perhaps, when one immortal gains their immortality, an older one has to lose theirs. Thus, Nile’s rise could explain Discord’s downfall.
Quynh Loses Her Immortality to Nile
When it is revealed that Nile is the last immortal, Tuah digs into his books to discover that her status grants her the power to kill others of her kind. More specifically, it gives her the power to take away theirs, so that they become killable. According to the theory, even a single scratch from the last immortal can lead any immortal, no matter how old they are, to lose their power. This is how Andy lost her power in the first film when she was nicked by Nile in their first meeting. In the same vein, Booker loses his immortality when he engages in a friendly duel with Nile, and she cuts him in the arm.
While Tuah, Booker, and even Discord are aware of this fact, Nile herself does not know about it. Eventually, Discord sets a trap for her and her group, and they walk into a nuclear facility, which is rigged to be blown up. As Andy and the group try to find the bomb and dismantle it, Nile looks for Discord, but ends up finding Quynh, who has her own reasons to want to hurt the others, especially Andy. The fight between them is relentless, and Nile, being the great fighter that she is, manages to draw Quynh’s blood.
When the wound does not heal, Quynh, who doesn’t know about Nile’s power, knows that she has lost her power, and is so devastated by it that she agrees to blow up the whole place with herself in it. Fortunately for her, Andy arrives just in time to make her reconsider her action and spare thousands of innocent lives in the process. So, even though she has lost her immortality, she gets back the spark of life and is ready to fight alongside Andy to help her rescue her friends.
Read More: How Did Andy Lose Her Immortality? Does She Get it Back or Does She Die in The Old Guard 2?
