Xena

For the television show, see Xena: Warrior Princess.

For the dwarf planet nicknamed Xena, see Eris (dwarf planet)

For the unincorporated area in Canada, see Xena, Saskatchewan

Xena of Amphipolis is the main character in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. She was played by the New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless. She reached #100 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters behind Monk and Steve Urkel.

Character history

Xena first appears on the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys television series (in the episode The Warrior Princess airing in March 1995), as a seductive but treacherous warlord. Two more episodes during May sweeps chronicle her evolution from a villain to a friend and ally of Hercules. Interest in her was so strong that shortly afterwards she became the main character of the spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess. Ironically, although her character is originally obsessed with defeating Hercules and obtaining his title as the greatest living warrior, she never defeats "Zeus' Favorite Son". In fact, Hercules is the one credited with pointing her down the path of redemption when he beats her in combat and shows her that selfishness and greed are not the way to live. In her own series, Xena sets out to redeem her murderous past by fighting against tyranny and evil and protecting the innocent and weak. Many of her adventures prior to the televised stories are subsequently revealed in flashback episodes (although much remains obscure).

Early history

The only daughter of the tavern keeper Cyrene, Xena grew up in Amphipolis with her two brothers, Toris and Lyceus. Her father Atrius was believed to have left her family when she was a child, but it is subsequently revealed that he was killed by Cyrene when he tried to kill seven-year-old Xena as a sacrifice to Ares.

During Xena's mid to late teens, the warlord Cortese attacked the village, which prompted some villagers, including Xena's older brother, Toris, to run for the hills. However, Xena and her younger brother Lyceus convinced the remainder of their fellow villagers to stay and fight. Although Amphipolis was saved, Lyceus and many other villagers were killed in the battle, which formed a rift between Cyrene and her daughter and caused Xena to be ostracized by the town.

File:Destiny 04.jpg

Xena with Caesar.

The death of her beloved younger brother Lyceus led Xena to leave Amphipolis and begin to build her own army, with her ultimate goal being to take revenge on Cortese. She crossed the seas early on as a pirate, meeting Caesar and a young Gallic slave-stowaway, M'Lila, who both profoundly affected the destiny of the Warrior Princess. While onboard Xena's ship, M'Lila taught her several fighting techniques as well as instructing her in the use of pressure points, including what became her signature "pinch" maneuver.

Xena took Caesar as a hostage, and was naively swayed by the young officer to join forces, after beginning an affair with him. She ransomed him back to Rome as they had planned, only to have him come back with his own men and capture her ship. He had Xena and her men crucified on a nearby beach, watching as his orders to break her legs were carried out.

File:Debt1 01.jpg

Xena with Borias.

M'Lila rescued her from the cross and took Xena to a healer named Niklio. They were found by Roman soldiers, who killed the Gaelic woman as she jumped in front of an arrow meant for Xena. After M'Lila died in her arms, Xena fully embraced her dark side and fought the soldiers, killing them (despite her broken legs).

After surviving Caesar's betrayal, a crippled and rage-filled Xena traveled east where she teamed up with the warlord Borias, who left his wife and son to become her lover. The two terrorized Qin with their joint forces until Xena angered Borias by alienating the powerful Chinese families Ming and Lao. Without his knowledge, Xena kidnapped Ming Tzu's son, Ming T'ien, for ransom. With Borias' help, Ming Tzu captured Xena, intending to hunt her as she fled in her crippled state, for sport and vengeance.

File:Debt2 06.png

Xena with Lao Ma.

Xena was saved from certain death by Ming T'ien's mother, Lao Ma, a woman of great spiritual power. Lao Ma hid Xena deep beneath her bathing pool, even sharing her breath with the desperately submerged Xena, while Ming Tzu was momentarily present and asking questions. During their time together, Lao Ma healed Xena's legs and gave her the title of warrior princess. Under Lao Ma's tutelage, Xena briefly left some of her darkness behind until Borias re-entered her life. A rift formed between Xena and Lao Ma when she murdered Ming Tzu, and suggested that they also kill Ming T'ien. With Lao Ma now their enemy, Xena and Borias were forced to leave Qin.

They went further east to Jappa, where they kidnapped a girl named Akemi for ransom. Xena ended up falling in love with Akemi, and teaching her the pinch (Something she didn't even teach Gabrielle until the series finale), which cuts off the flow of blood to a person's brain, resulting in death. Akemi then used the pinch to kill her abusive and tyrannical father, Yodoshi, and committed seppuku. A grieving Xena tried to put Akemi's ashes in her family crypt, but was set upon by a mob of villagers who felt she was desecrating the crypt by putting the ashes of a patricide in it. Defending herself, Xena used a fire-breathing trick she had mastered. The result was a fire that spread through the town and killed 40,000 people.

Back in northern lands, Xena and Borias met a shamaness, Alti, who lured Xena toward greater evil with promises that she would become the Destroyer of Nations. She was also befriended by the Amazon queen Cyane, who tried to steer her toward good; but Xena chose Alti's promise of power, and killed Cyane and the Amazon elders at her instigation. By then pregnant with Borias' child, she set out to conquer Corinth. Borias was increasingly troubled by the excesses of her violence, but could do little to stop her: by then, they had split their armies, and Xena's was the bigger of the two. At Corinth, they became mortal enemies after he stopped her from slaughtering the Centaurs with whom he had tried to negotiate an agreement. With Xena about to give birth, Borias tried to get her out of her camp in the hope of rescuing their relationship. He was killed by one of her lieutenants, Dagnine; but the realization that Borias came back for her because he loved her and their unborn child had a strong effect on Xena. It was enough to make her decide to give up her newborn baby to the Centaurs, so that he would be raised in safety and away from her dangerous influence.

Xena traveled to the Norselands, after Qin ~ "She came to us from a distant land in the east. She called it Qin. We call it the land that sent us a demon" (Brunnhilda, The Rheingold). She found Odin, King of the Norse gods full of despair. She brought him out of his contempt and he, in return, made her a Valkyrie. It wasn't long before she came into conflict with Odin's lover, and the head of the Valkyrie, Grinhilda. Xena seduced Odin with her lust for life, convincing him that one could live without love, so that he would tell her the location of the Rheingold. She planned to forge it into a ring, which gives anyone supreme godlike powers at first, but if they have not forsaken love, it destroys what they value most. As soon as Xena forged the ring, Grinhilda tried to stop her and put the ring on. Before long it destroyed her humanity (her beauty) - what she valued most. Since she had not forsaken love she became a monster and her fight with Xena reached a standstill when Xena used her own necklace as a lock (which can only be broken by Odin) and trapped her in an abandoned mine with the ring. She was with child when Xena trapped her, and her child, Grindl, terrorized the Norselands for years. Xena was not aware Grinhilda was with child when she trapped her and didn't realize it until she, Gabrielle, Brunnhilda, and Beowulf killed Grindl 35 years later.

35 years later, Odin joins forces with the mourning Grinhilda, and with his Valkyrie, he sets off to take the ring back from Xena. Brunnhilda, who was supposed to betray Gabrielle, takes Gabrielle away from the battle. She tells Gabrielle that she changed her like she changed Xena and that she is in love with her. Xena, and Beowulf are left to fight Odin, Grinhilda, and the Valkyrie, and before long the battle becomes hopeless. Xena, knowing she is out of options, puts the ring on and has enough power to get away from them, but at the price of losing what she values most - Gabrielle, and the woman she helped her become. Brunnhilda finds Xena lost and confused with no idea of who she is, or Gabrielle. She takes the ring from Xena and brings it to Gabrielle. She harnesses all of her fiber and being into a flame that will burn only until her true soulmate passes through. Gabrielle enters a year long sleep, with the ring in her hand, within Brunnhilda's flame. The only person who can ever enter the flames and retrieve the ring is her soulmate, Xena. With the help of Beowulf, Xena jumps through the flames and kisses her beloved Gabrielle, regaining her former self. She then undoes the evil set in the ring, turning it back into the Rheingold, and returning Grinhilda back into her former self. Xena takes the Rheingold back to the Rhein Maidens, and implies no magic changed her, just Gabrielle.

Later adventures (televised period)

File:Motherhood 18.jpg

Xena with Gabrielle.

About ten years into her career of pillaging and marauding, Xena meets Hercules. Initially, she sets out to kill him. Then, her army turns against her because of Darphus' lust for power and believing Xena has become weak after she stops her lieutenant Darphus from killing a child in a sacked village. She runs a gauntlet, and survives, becoming the only person ever to survive the gauntlet. She then fights Hercules, in the hope that she will get her army back if she can bring back his head. Xena seems to be getting the upper hand until Hercules' cousin intervenes, giving him the moment to regain composure and defeat her. However, Hercules refuses to kill Xena, telling her, "killing isn't the only way of proving you're a warrior." Touched and inspired by Hercules' integrity and by the fact that he suffered the loss of blood kin as she did and yet chooses to fight in honor of them, she decides to join him and defeat her old army. Hercules tells Xena that there is goodness in her heart, and the two of them share a brief romantic relationship, before Xena decides to leave and start making amends for her past.

However, Xena finds this to be more painful than she thought, haunted by her past transgressions, she is about to give up on her life as a warrior completely. As she strips off her armor and weaponry and buries them in the dirt, she sees a group of village girls being attacked by a band of warriors. In the group is Gabrielle. Xena saves the young women and Gabrielle is left in awe of the Warrior Princess' abilities. Gabrielle persuades Xena to let her be her traveling companion, and over time, Gabrielle becomes Xena's dearest friend. Xena also reconciles with her mother, Cyrene.

Soon after the start of her journeys with Gabrielle, Xena runs into Ares, who has evidently known her since her warlord days and he tries to seduce her into joining him as his Warrior Queen -- efforts that she repeatedly thwarts. She also encounters a formidable warrior woman named Callisto, whose family died in one of Warlord Xena's raids and who is obsessed with revenge against Xena.

Xena's subsequent life is marred by many tragedies. Her son Solan, who never came to know her as his mother, is killed, with the help of Callisto, by Hope. She nearly loses Gabrielle more than once. Marcus, a warrior, close friend and lover from her warlord days, whom she persuades to follow her in choosing good, is killed while doing his first good deed. Later, he is allowed to briefly return to the world of the living to help thwart a vicious killer who has escaped from the underworld. He and Xena spend a night together before Marcus has to return to the other side. She is too late to save her mentor and friend Lao Ma from being tortured to death by her own son, the emperor Ming T'ien. Finally, she and Gabrielle are crucified by the Romans on the Ides of March, as Caesar is betrayed and killed by Brutus. They are later revived by a mystic named Eli with the spiritual aid of Callisto, who by that time had become an angel.

Eve, the miracle child Xena conceives after her resurrection (again through the efforts of the redeemed Callisto), is prophesied to bring about the Twilight of the Olympian gods. To escape the gods' persecution, Xena and Gabrielle fake their deaths. Their plan goes awry when Ares buries them in an ice cave where they sleep for 25 years. During that time, Eve is adopted by the Roman nobleman Octavius and grows up to become Livia, the Champion of Rome, and a ruthless persecutor of Eli's followers. After her return, Xena is able to turn Livia to repentance, and Livia takes back the name Eve and becomes the Messenger of Eli. After Eve's cleansing by baptism, Xena is granted the power to kill gods as long as her daughter lives. In a final confrontation, the Twilight comes to pass when Xena kills most of the gods to save her daughter, and is herself saved by Ares when he gives up his immortality to heal the badly injured and dying Eve and Gabrielle. Xena later helps him regain his godhood. Xena's quest for redemption ends when she sacrifices herself to kill Yodoshi, and decides to stay dead so the souls of the 40,000 she killed years ago could be released into a state of peace. However, her spirit is seen with Gabrielle in a ship shortly afterwards. It is safely assumed Gabrielle then travels to "the land of the pharoahs" which is in need of "a girl with chakram". This now applies to Gabrielle instead of Xena, for by the end of the last episode, Gabrielle can use the charkram. In a symbolic guesture, she throws the chakram and catches it on its ricochet.

According to the darsham, Naima, this is only one of many lives Xena will live throughout the ages. Her next incarnation will be as the revered peacekeeper Arminestra. In many of those lives, she will walk a path together with her soulmate Gabrielle furthering the cause of good against evil.

Warrior Princess

Xena performs many feats that appear superhuman, and may call into question whether she is in fact purely mortal. The show occasionally toyed with the idea that Xena's true father might be Ares. However, this theme was dropped after the third season premiere, both to avoid overtones of incest in the sexual/romantic dynamic that developed between Xena and Ares and because the producers thought that Xena's achievements would be diminished if they were credited partly to divine blood.

While Xena does not possess the brute strength of her friend and ally Hercules, she can arm-wrestle warlords, punch through solid ice, kick down doors, and knock out opponents with a single punch. Her greatest feat of strength to this day occurs when she allows herself to be arrested for a crime she didn't commit. Several men of that town come into her cell, where her hands and feet are chained, and begin to beat her. The beating, combined with goading by Ares, sends Xena into a rage of pure adrenaline. She tears her chains out from where they are rooted and then kicks the thick prison door completely off its hinges. This is the only time where Xena shows such magnitude of strength, so it can be safely assumed that this is caused by a fight or flight-like response.

Xena possesses an amazing ability to heal, explicitly noted in a number of episodes, , as well as to withstand pain. On one occasion she ignores a dislocated shoulder until it is pointed out by Ephiny, and then fixes the injury by deliberately slamming her shoulder into a wall. In her second appearance on Hercules, she became the only warrior to survive the ordeal of the gauntlet, where she is forced to run without armor or weapons between two lines of soldiers, who beat her with clubs. In the final episode of the series, Xena is hit with a multitude of arrows in different areas of her body and still continues to fight a samurai army single-handedly.

While technically Xena does not possess godly powers, she has a leaping ability demonstrated by other warriors of a high skill level, notably M'Lila, Callisto and Draco. Xena performs gravity-defying leaps usually in an acrobatic style up to 30 feet. Xena leaps straight up from moat water to the top of a high castle wall and somersaults from her position on the ground to the top of a tall tree where an archer is ambushing her group with arrows. Xena once ran up an opponent's torso, performed a backflip, and kicked him while still in mid-air. On rare occasions, she is actually able to run on the faces of a surrounding squad of soldiers. This ability could have possibly originated as an Amazon ability before catching on with other warriors, since Xena is asked about her leaping ability and she answers that the Amazons taught her, which would make sense as the Amazons "invented the technique of fighting from trees". In martial arts terms, these abilities can be referred to as Karumijutsu, Tobi Waza and Qing Gong. Karumijutsu, translates literally to “the body lightening art” and Tobi Waza, a.k.a. "leaping or flying techniques". Both involve extensive physical and Qi training. Due to the delayed landing effect of Xena's jumps and flips, it would be accurate to state that these Amazonian techniques that Xena learned are synonymous with the aforementioned Asian fighting techniques.

Xena possesses incredible speed and reflexes. She is able to catch knives and arrows in mid-flight and dodge energy blasts from mystical foes. She is able to routinely catch her chakram, a skill only Callisto, Eve and eventually Gabrielle are able to duplicate. Xena's greatest feats of speed are shown in "The Execution" and "King Con". In "The Execution", three arrows are fired at one of her allies, she catches one in each hand and the third one in her teeth. In the second, she grabs the con man, Rafe's hand, and holds it in place on the table he is seated at, while jabbing a knife down between the spaces of each finger in a display of incredible reflexes. She is able to execute this feat so fast that she jabs each space a total of six times in less than a second.

Xena is a master of martial arts. As a young girl, Xena practiced "fighting and swordplay" with her brother Lyceus and surpassed him in skill. Later, she learned some fighting techniques and the "pinch" from M'Lila. During her "evil" period, Xena encountered the Amazon Queen, Cyane, who defeated her in their first meeting but then took her under her wing and taught her powerful Amazon techniques and fighting styles. This training put Xena on a whole new level of fighting, and later, she attacked and defeated not only Cyane, but all the leaders of her Amazon tribe at the same time. It is also suggested that Xena was being trained by Ares between the time of Borias' death and her transformation to good.

In her fighting, Xena utilizes different styles ranging from Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, Ju-Jitsu, judo, and kung-fu to boxing, Eskrima and multiple sword-fighting techniques, effortlessly and fluidly combining them into a virtually unbeatable fighting style. For example, in typical hand to hand combat, Xena can flow from straight boxing punches to the Chinese style of punches mid-battle before launching into a flurry of tae kwon do and jeet kune do-inspired kicks. In one instance, when Xena wakes in her ice coffin after 25 years of sleep, she executes a vertical punch (without chambering) through the thick block of ice placed over the coffin, demonstrating jeet kune do's famous one inch punch. When she engages with her sword, she can use the more elegant parries of fencing however, more often switches with techniques attributed to eskrima arts, or the Asian styles of sword fighting. Most notable is Xena's ability to incorporate her leaping and acrobatic skills into her hand-to-hand combat, utilizing flip-kicks and bicycle kicks and somersaulting great distances out of harm's way.

In the hands of the Warrior Princess, any object can become a weapon. Xena can fight with frying pans or use rags as whips, even turning one into a staff after getting it wet and taut. At one point, Xena uses fish hooked on a string in a ball-on-chain fashion. As far as traditional weapons go, Xena is an expert combatant with the following and their derivatives: swords, chobos, staffs, whips, axes, knives, and bows and arrows. In terms of weaponry, Xena usually carries her sword, chakram, a breast dagger kept in her bosom armor, and a whip.

Xena is capable of launching numerous objects into the air as effective projectiles. She can hurl arrows, crossbow bolts, and hairpins through the air with her own hands with enough force to penetrate wood. She is able to spit a diaper pin from her mouth with such force that it penetrated a man's skull. She is able to kick embedded spear blades out of the ground and through the air towards an enemy in one move.

Xena's incredible fighting prowess makes her a match for foes who are otherwise physically superior to her, such as gods, demigods, archangels, and demons. In the trilogy of her debut episodes on Hercules, she faces off against Hercules, and definitely has the upper hand at the start of their fight. After she pummels him with fists and feet, and overwhelms him with her high flying acrobatic maneuvers, Xena takes Hercules to the ground and prepares to strike the killing blow. However, the momentary interference of Hercules' cousin, whom Xena quickly dispatches, gives Hercules enough time to recover and turn the tables on Xena. Later, she engages Ares in a fight in season 3; the fight results in Xena being the victor. In other episodes, Xena is also able to fight Ares and hold her own. One of the Furies even makes a comment to Ares in the guise of Xena after he turns mortal in the season 6 premiere, saying, "You were barely a match for me when you were a God!" Xena also takes on the Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare, Athena (who had defeated Ares in Amphipolis under Siege), and bests her in combat before killing her. Later on, Xena defeats Michael the Archangel and nearly kills him before the God of Eli strips her of her power to kill angels. In spite of this, Xena manages to face off against Odin, The King of the Norse Gods, beating him in order to obtain the Golden Apples. Xena even stands toe to toe against Mephistopheles and Lucifer when they both reigned as the King of Hell.

Xena's usual combat attire throughout the series consists of a leather slip outlined with light armor to protect her chest, shoulders, and abdomen while leaving her arms and legs free for hand-to-hand combat.

Mystical and temporary powers

While in Qin and on the brink of being tortured to death by Ming T'ien, Xena is finally able to achieve sufficient inner serenity to master the qi powers of her mentor Lao Ma (a form of psychokinesis that allows her to deal a powerful "blow" of spiritual energy against either a person or objects, shattering walls and repelling attackers). After this first manifestation, she is unable to recapture this power. About two years later (plus her 25 year sleep), she is able to regain the power and retain its use for a longer period after intense spiritual training with Kao H'Sin, one of Lao Ma's twin daughters. On that occasion, she is able to use qi powers to turn an entire attacking army to stone.

From Alti, Xena learned the powers of a shaman. She uses them to cross over to the Amazon Land of the Dead to seek out Gabrielle, believing her to be dead, and then to battle Alti in spiritual form on two occasions.

During their travels in India, Xena and Gabrielle encounter a darsham, a wise woman, named Naima who enables them to use the powers of "The Mehndi", activated by Mehndi tattoos on their bodies, to trap and destroy Alti. Xena achieves this by creating chakram constructs made purely out of the Mendhi's supernatural energies as weapons, while Gabrielle binds Alti with what appears to be magical lightning. This is the only time they are ever seen using these abilities, presumably because Naima is the one channeling the power.

Also in India, Xena converses with the Hindu god Krishna who helps her battle Indrajit, the King of Demons. After Indrajit severs her arms, she calls Krishna's name, and is filled with his strength and takes on the appearance of the Hindu goddess Kali in order to defeat Indrajit.

In the Norselands, Xena puts on the Rheingold ring and receives god-like abilities which enable her to defeat the combined forces of Odin, Grendl, and Odin's Valkryie army. The consequence of this action, as for anyone who had not forsaken love, is the loss of what Xena values most. Her identity and all her memories are erased; she begins to regain brief flashes of memory a year later. She finally recovers her true self after finding Gabrielle asleep behind a mystical wall of fire conjured by the Valkryie Brunhilda that only Xena could walk through.

Probably the most unique and most famous of Xena's temporary powers is the power to kill gods (and apparently other immortals such as angels). While normally a sword or other weapon would go right through a god without drawing blood or inflicting a wound, Xena possesses the ability to pierce this "veil of immortality" and make them bleed or die. After Eve is cleansed of her sins, in order to protect her daughter from the Olympian gods, Xena is granted this power by the God of Eli via the Archangel Michael. She is told that she will have the power as long as Eve is alive. During this time, Xena becomes widely known as "Slayer of Gods". She loses this power approximately two years later when she tries to use it to kill the Archangel Michael for trying to manipulate Eve into a suicide mission that would bait Xena into killing the insane emperor-turned-god, Caligula.

Role in historical/mythological events

The show credits Xena (or her friends and associates) with a central role in many events in history and mythology. Among other things, she:

• helped David kill Goliath and defeat the Philistines.
• defended Troy in the Trojan War, and saved Helen.
• assisted Ulysses in regaining his kingdom in Ithaca after returning from the Trojan War.
• single-handedly stopped the invading Persian army at Thermopylae.
• led a band of pirates in the capture and ransom of Julius Caesar, who then captured them and had them crucified (this story of Caesar and the pirates is based on fact, though Xena was not, of course, the pirate leader).
• helped Boadicea defeat the Roman invasion led by Julius Caesar (in actual history, Boadicea fought the Romans some 100 years after Caesar's death and was defeated).
• was present at the formation of Stone Henge, with Stone Henge being the remains of Dahak's temple after it is destroyed in a battle between Xena and The Deliverer.
• helped manipulate the power games of the Roman First Triumvirate, taking advantage of the rivalries between Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Pompey first to free the Gaul rebel Vercinix and then to stop the Roman armies from rampaging through Greece.
• helped engineer the assassination of Caesar by pitting his friend Marcus Junius Brutus against him.
• posed as Cleopatra and double-crossed Mark Antony in order to help Octavius Caesar defeat Brutus and Antony and gain control of the empire (after becoming convinced that Octavius was more honorable than both his rivals).
• engineered the death of the crazed Roman emperor Caligula.
• encountered the Virgin Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus; Gabrielle gave them the donkey on which they rode.
• killed Mephistopheles, the King of Hell, in order to release the trapped soul of her mother.
• tricked the archangel Lucifer into getting in touch with his "inner demon" and becoming the new king of Hell, the devil.
• created the Terracotta Army, by turning a living army to stone.

Xena (and occasionally Gabrielle) are also often credited with a variety of discoveries and inventions. For instance:

• the discovery and naming of The Big Dipper.
• the harnessing of electricity by tying a metal item to a kite (or "flying parchment")
• the discovery of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). When a wounded Gabrielle goes into cardiac arrest, the grieving Xena bangs her fists on the chest of the seemingly dead Gabrielle, and Gabrielle revives.
• pioneering the custom of Santa Claus bringing gifts and coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve. In a kingdom where Winter Solstice celebrations are banned, Gabrielle encourages a toymaker named Senticles to sneak into an orphanage through the chimney to hand out toys to children on Solstice Eve; he is wearing a red coat at the time.

Xena also plays a key role in the destruction of the Greek Gods, and the transition to monotheism (the fictional Elijan faith seems to have been the show's version of Christianity). Among the Elijans, Xena is known as "Defender of the Faith." The show seems to have subdivided the roles of central figures in the story of Jesus Christ and early Christianity among several characters. Xena is assigned some of the characteristics of Mary and Jesus: giving birth to a child conceived without sexual intercourse and being crucified and rising from the dead. Eli is portrayed as the main Jesus figure, and Eve has parallels with Jesus and Saul: a miracle birth intended to herald a new order and being a persecutor of Christians who sees the light, changes their name, and becomes a champion of the new faith.

Love interests

At some point after leaving Amphipolis, Xena got engaged to the warrior Petracles, who seems to have been her first lover. It appears that he lost interest in her and left her after she lost her virginity to him, though he still seeems to harbor tender feelings for her many years later. She had a brief affair with Caesar before being crucified by him, and then a stormy relationship with Borias (whom she continued to idealize years later as "the man who could have changed everything for me, if only I had let him"). She also appears to have been Odin's lover. It is also suggested that during this period, she became a protégée of Ares', and that the two had a sexually charged relationship that may or may not have included sex. She may also have had a relationship with warlord Draco.

In the Xena trilogy on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, in which the character first appears, it is implied that Xena had sexual relations with a number of men in her army. She seduces Iolaus in order to pit him against Hercules. After Xena changes her ways and joins forces with Hercules, she and Hercules have a brief romantic relationship as well; though remain only friends thereafter.

Early in her travels with Gabrielle, Xena meets Marcus, a warrior who had been a friend and a lover when she was a warlord. Under her influence, he gave his life to save a kidnapped woman from being killed. Subsequently, he is briefly allowed to return from the dead, teaming up with Xena to help recapture Hades' helmet of invisibility and return an escaped villain to the underworld. While on this mission, Marcus and Xena spend a night together, and at least for a while, she considers him her one true love.

About a year later, Xena meets Ulysses in her travels and has a romance with him. After they return to Ithaca and learn that Ulysses' wife Penelope is alive, she encourages him to return to his wife.

While posing as Cleopatra and seducing Antony, Xena seems to develop genuine feelings for him, but eventually she has to kill him when she realizes that he plans to establish himself as a brutal dictator should he seize power in Rome.

Shortly after the birth of Eve, Ares, who has previously tried to woo Xena to his side as a warrior, declares his love for her and offers to protect her and her child from the other gods. Xena spurns his offer, believing it to be a trick, but on one occasion, she uses Ares' help to defeat Athena. He finally proves his love by sacrificing his godhood to save her life by healing Eve (so that Xena does not lose her god-killing powers during a battle with Athena). Xena, in turn, helps him as a mortal. In the Season 6 premiere, the two shares a tender kiss, but Xena tells Ares that they cannot be together: "You always got to me. But you were bad for me, Ares; you still are." Eventually Xena restores Ares to godhood; he asks her to become a goddess with him and once again offers her his love. She refuses, but replies to his promise that he will "never stop trying" with, "I'd expect nothing less." Shortly afterwards Xena and Ares return to an adversarial relationship when he tries to start a war between the Amazons and the Romans, a plan Xena thwarts; however, they also seems to have a new level of understanding and mutual acceptance. In a promotional voice clip for a November 1998 Xena/Hercules marathon on USA Cable, Lucy Lawless commented on Xena and Ares, "They've got this love/hate, lust/hate relationship." Lawless and Renee O'Connor, who played Gabrielle, also extensively discussed the dynamic between Xena and Ares in several interviews and commentaries on the Xena: Warrior Princess DVD sets. In the interview for the 6th season episode Coming Home, O'Connor said that "If there was ever going to be one man in Xena's life, it would be Ares."

The subtext

Xena's ambiguous sexuality has been a source of much controversy in the fandom. The "lesbian subtext" that became one of the show's trademarks suggested that Xena and Gabrielle might be in a romantic/sexual relationship, sometimes through humorous innuendo (e.g., when a villager asks Gabrielle if Xena has ever thought of settling down and getting married, Gabrielle replies, "No, she likes what I do" and then corrects herself, "She likes what she's doing") and sometimes through more serious themes. Thus, in the last season, Xena proves to be Gabrielle's "true soulmate," the only one who can pass through an enchanted ring of fire within which Gabrielle lies magically asleep, and then awakens her with a kiss. In the same story arc, Gabrielle declares that she and Xena were "meant to be together." Over the course of the series Xena and Gabrielle also shared several other kisses, one when Xena was dead and her spirit was in a male character's body, another ostensibly a mouth-to-mouth "water transfer" to revive Xena.

From early on, it was clear that Xena and Gabrielle's bond was the most important relationship in the two women's lives. For the duration of the show, the producers, writers, and stars consistently stated that the nature of this bond was for the viewers to decide. In a typical comment, executive producer Steven L. Sears told Entertainment Weekly magazine in 1997, "They have love for each other. It's up to the audience to determine what that love is." Shortly before the airing of the finale, in June 2001, Lawless was asked in a newspaper interview if Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was a lesbian one, and replied, "More like sisterhood." However, soon afterwards while promoting the finale on the Conan O'Brien show, she said that she felt Xena was "outed" in the final episode: "I didn't run this by anybody, but I don't think there's any doubt in my mind anymore." In an interview with Lesbian News magazine two years after the series ended, Lawless elaborated on this statement, saying that she came to believe Xena and Gabrielle were lovers after the scene in the last episode when Gabrielle revived Xena with a mouth-to-mouth water transfer: "That cemented it for me. Now it wasn't just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was 'Nope, they're married, man."

Many fans regard these statements as a conclusive confirmation of Xena and Gabrielle's sexual relationship. However, in the interviews and commentaries on the DVDs released in 2003-2005, the actors and producers continued to stress that the question about Xena and Gabrielle's relationship is never answered and is up to each viewer's interpretation.

Some viewers also believe subtext implies other lesbian relationships in Xena's past -- with Lao Ma, Akemi, and Alti's apprentice Anokin.

In popular culture

The show is mentioned in the last ever (first of a two part) episode of Seinfeld, "The Finale, Part 1" when the main character Jerry phones his parents to tell them that his show which is also entitled Jerry is finally being made. Jerry's father tells him "it's all crap on TV; the only thing I watch is Xena, the Warrior Princess. She must be about 6′ 6″. Jerry, did ya ever watch that?" to which Jerry replies, "yeah, it's pretty good."

Xena is also mentioned on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the episode entitled "Halloween," where all the residents of Sunnydale turn into whatever they chose as their Halloween costumes. Buffy turns into a weak and feeble noblewoman, and her friend Willow quips during the ensuing crisis, "She couldn't have dressed up like Xena?". Writers of Xena made the homage back in 4th season episode "The Play's the Thing", in which the play "Buffus the Bacchae Slayer" is cited.

The show Dark Angel stars a lesbian character called Original Cindy who is a Xena fan. She is shown numerous times in front of her Xena posters and once excuses herself with "Oops, Xena's on"

On a The Simpsons Halloween episode, Lucy Lawless appears at a Xena convention only to be kidnapped by The Collector and saved by Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl. She exhibits the ability to fly and stresses that it's not a Xena power but a power of her own.

On the Futurama episode "When Aliens Attack", Fry gets involved in a space war and says that now he can become a great science-fiction hero "just like as Uhura, or Captain Janeway, or Xena".

In a play on the "WWJD" ("What Would Jesus Do?") bracelets and necklaces worn by young people, "WWXD" ("What Would Xena Do?") items were sold (bracelets, necklaces, bumper stickers, etc.), which were especially popular with fans.

In the South Park episode "Fourth Grade" the science nerds have a Lena poster on their wall which is an obvious parody of Xena.

In an episode of Crossing Jordan, Jordan and her friend as seen sitting on Jordan's couch during girls night out drinking wine and watching Xena.

In Jellyvision's You Don't Know Jack series of trivia computer games, "Xenora: Queen of Battle" is a recurring character in the fake commercials that play after the game has ended.

In episode 20 of season 4 of Ellen, while Ellen and her mom are in a self-defense class, before the final exercise the teacher asks them to "beat the drum, say the power word, and choose the word that best expresses your inner strength". That word ends up being "Xena" to which they all happily chant along. there are 98 seasons of Xena.

In the Animorphs book series by K. A. Applegate, one of the main characters, Rachel Berenson, is often referred to as "Xena" by her fellow Animorphs because of her ferocious fighting energy.

In the comedy movie Big Trouble, a major character is a huge Xena fan. His daughter noted, after the television is destroyed via sniper rifle shooting, that he bought another one the next morning, quipping, "God forbid he miss an episode of Xena." This is further reinforced earlier, in one of his first scenes Xena's opening can be seen on the TV, and the logo is prominently displayed.

Comedian Patton Oswalt mentions in his stand up that Xena: Warrior Princess is his favorite TV show. He explains he reasons for loving the show as "Its a big, moon faced Amazon with a stick beating people up. What god did I please?" He also states that the show should be renamed as "The Patton Oswalt Masturbation Hour".

See also

• Planet X: Xena as a nickname for the tenth planet in the solar system.
• Xena: Warrior Princess is about the show as a whole, and contains links to other characters.
• Xena: Warrior Princess her eponymous comic series
• Ruslana, a singer which used Xena related costume for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
• Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar for the legend of a Viking warrior princess.
• West End Games published a Hercules & Xena role playing game.
• Red Sonja, Marvel Universe version of a barbarian warrior girl.
• Queen Xenobia of Palmyra, who shares many attributes and experiences as Xena.
• List of woman warriors in legend, mythology, and popular culture

External links

• Xena, Warrior Princess at IMDb
• Xena at TV.com