The stuff you can find on the 'net (from: http://www.bowch.co.uk/highlander/ex...q/FAQ-4.shtml).



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4.11. Tartan Trivia

Question: I've seen Duncan MacLeod wear several different tartan patterns when we see him in a kilt in flashbacks. And there was also the tartan fragment that led Duncan to discovering the Watcher's chronicle in "The Hunters". Do the MacLeods really have that many tartans?

The pattern for the tartan that Duncan wears, Macleod of Harris and Dunvegan (also known as Macleod of Macleod), is R6 BK4 G30 BK20 B40 BK4 Y4. The numbers represent the number of threads in that color sequence in the pattern. (R = Red, BK = Black, Y = Yellow, G = Green, B = Blue).

The tartan fragment that we saw was done with coarse yarn to make it look older, more period, as if it were a piece that Duncan had given Darius very early in their friendship, maybe a fragment from one of Duncan's original kilts. The red sequence in the pattern, since it was closest to the camera, seemed to stand out. The appearance of a tartan can vary according to dyes and wool processing over the centuries but the essential pattern is usually the same. Which means that Duncan has always worn the MacLeod tartan. Actually there are two Clan MacLeods, the MacLeods of Harris and Dunvegan and the (extinct) MacLeods of Lewis and Ramsey. The pattern for the Macleods of Lewis is primarily yellow and black and we've seen it crop up in the Movies. The MacLeod of Lewis pattern is R2 Y24 BK16 Y2 BK16.