Born under the name Tak-Ne, he is generally depicted as an Egyptian swordsman who is immortal, unable to die unless beheaded, due to an energy called the Quickening.

The film Highlander II: The Quickening gave the character an alternative origin as a sorcerer from the planet Zeist who becomes immortal when exiled to Earth, while the director's cut of the same film said he was still an immortal native to Earth but one born during a lost age of advanced technology that existed before recorded history.

The man who will be called Ramírez is born in Ancient Egypt in 896 BCE (during the Third Intermediate Period, Twenty-second Dynasty) and named Tak-Ne.

After he revives from his fatal wounds and shows no sign of his injuries, Tak-Ne is banished by the fearful people of his home and wanders the Earth.

[1] Tak-Ne learns he and other rare people were born with an energy called the Quickening that makes them invincible to age, disease, and injury after their First Death, connects them to nature, lets them sense each other, and prevents them from having children.

Tak-Ne is told that one day when just a few are left, those immortals will be drawn to a faraway land and fight in the Gathering, the final battle for the Prize: enough power to enslave humanity.

After he arrives, he discovers the Kurgan targeted Connor MacLeod, a young Highlander who was banished from his clan after he inexplicably recovered from death in the battlefield.

Wishing to make sure MacLeod can defend himself and hoping he will be an ally against evil such as the Kurgan, Ramírez trains the Highlander for over a year.

As a result, the events of the first film still occur in this timeline but Connor's victory over the Kurgan in 1985 is not the final battle and the Prize has yet to be won.

According to Highlander: The Series, soon after being banished from his home in Egypt, Tak-Ne meets and is mentored by Tjanefer, an immortal born in Troy in the 12th century BCE who later adopts the name Graham Ashe.

[7] Another episode says that during his time in Spain, Ramírez trains Otavio Consone, a Spanish noble who discovers he is immortal in 1481.

It is now said that Ramírez and Connor MacLeod were originally mortal men born on the planet Zeist, around the time of Earth's 16th century.

Ramírez is depicted as a sorcerer and the Quickening is now said to be a "kind of" magic he uses to create a bond between him and MacLeod that not even death can break.

Dynamite Entertainment published a comic book mini-series acting as a prequel to the original Highlander film.

After a meteorite devastates much of the planet and leads to the downfall of society, this version of Ramírez joins other immortals in taking a vow of non-violence, deciding to help and guide humanity rather than continue the Game.