Xena
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Lucy Lawless as Xena |
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Xena is the main character in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess and a recurring character on the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Her character was played by the New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless. 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.[1] Two more episodes during May sweeps chronicle her evolution from a villain[2] to a friend and ally of Hercules.[3] Interest in her was so strong that shortly afterwards she became the main character of the spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess. 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.[3] 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).
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[edit] Character history
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The plot summary in this section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
The only daughter of the tavern keeper Cyrene, Xena grew up in Amphipolis with her two brothers, Toris[4] and Lyceus. Her father Atrius was believed to have left her family when she was a child,[5] 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.[6]
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.[4] 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.
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,[7] 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.[7]
Xena took Caesar as a hostage, and was naively swayed by the young officer to join forces, after beginning an affair with him.[7] 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.[7]
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).[7]
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.[8] The two terrorized Qin with their joint forces until Xena angered Borias by alienating the powerful Chinese families Ming and Lao.[9] 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.[9]
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.[9] 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.[9]
They went further east to Jappa, where they kidnapped a girl named Akemi for ransom.[10] 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.[10] 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.[10]
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.[11] 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.[11] 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.[12] 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.[12] 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.[13][12]
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.[14] 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.
About ten years into her career of pillaging and marauding, Xena meets Hercules.[1] 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.[1] She runs a gauntlet, and survives, becoming the only person ever to survive the gauntlet.[2] She then fights Hercules, in the hope that she will get her army back if she can bring back his head.[2] 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.[3] 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.[15] 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.[15]
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.[16] 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.[17] They are later revived by a mystic named Eli with the spiritual aid of Callisto, who by that time had become an angel.[18]
Eve, the miracle child Xena conceives after her resurrection (again through the efforts of the redeemed Callisto),[18] is prophesied to bring about the Twilight of the Olympian gods. To escape the gods' persecution, Xena and Gabrielle fake their deaths.[19] 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.[20] After her return, Xena is able to turn Livia to repentance, and Livia takes back the name Eve and becomes the Messenger of Eli.[21] After Eve's cleansing by baptism, Xena is granted the power to kill gods as long as her daughter lives.[22] 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.[22] Xena later helps him regain his godhood.[23] 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.[24]
According to the darsham, Naima,[25] 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.
[edit] Influence
Xena: Warrior Princess has been referred to as a pop cultural phenomenon and feminist icon.[26][27][28] The television series, which employed pop culture references as a frequent humorous device, has itself become a frequent pop culture reference in video games, comics and television shows, and has been frequently parodied and spoofed.
Xena: Warrior Princess has been credited by many, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, with blazing the trail for a new generation of female action heroes such as Buffy, Max of Dark Angel, Sydney Bristow of Alias, and the Bride in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.[29]
[edit] Sexuality
Xena has enjoyed a particular cult status in the lesbian community. Some of the lesbian fan base sees Xena and Gabrielle as a couple and has embraced them as role models and lesbian icons.[30] A group called The Marching Xenas has participated in many gay and lesbian pride parades.[31]
A subject of much interest and debate among viewers is the question of whether Xena and Gabrielle are lovers.[32][33] The issue is left deliberately ambiguous by the show's writers. Jokes, innuendo, and other subtle evidence of a romantic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle is referred to as "lesbian subtext" or simply subtext by fans.[32] The issue of the true nature of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship caused intense shipping debates in the fandom, which turned especially impassioned due to spillover from real-life debates about same-sex sexuality and gay rights.[34]
The sexual nature of Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was discussed in an interview given by Lucy Lawless to Lesbian News magazine in 2003. Lawless stated that after the series finale, where Gabrielle revives Xena with a mouth-to-mouth water transfer filmed to look like a full kiss, she had come to believe that Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was "definitely gay... there was always a 'well, she might be or she might not be' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, 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'."[35] On the other hand, in the interviews and commentaries on the DVD sets released in 2003-2005, the actors, writers and producers continued to stress the ambiguity of the relationship, and Ares was also considered at least as a potential love interest for Xena.[33]
[edit] Industry Achievments and Awards
Xena's character reached #100 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters behind Monk and Steve Urkel.[36]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "The Warrior Princess". Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. 1995-03-13.
- ^ a b c "The Gauntlet". Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. 1995-05-01.
- ^ a b c "Unchained Heart". Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. 1995-05-08.
- ^ a b "Death Mask". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1996-06-03.
- ^ "Ties That Bind". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1996-04-29.
- ^ "The Furies". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1997-09-29.
- ^ a b c d e "Destiny". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1997-01-27.
- ^ "The Last of the Centaurs". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2001-04-30.
- ^ a b c d "The Debt". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1997-11-03.
- ^ a b c "A Friend in Need, Part 1". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2001-06-11.
- ^ a b "Adventures in the Sin Trade, Part 1". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1998-09-28.
- ^ a b c "Past Imperfect". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-01-04.
- ^ "Orphan of War". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1996-09-30.
- ^ "The Rheingold". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-11-13.
- ^ a b "Sins of the Past". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1995-09-04.
- ^ "Maternal Instincts". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1998-01-26.
- ^ "The Ides of March". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-05-10.
- ^ a b "Fallen Angel". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-09-27.
- ^ "Looking Death in the Eye". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-04-24.
- ^ "Livia". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-05-01.
- ^ "Eve". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-05-08.
- ^ a b "Motherhood". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-05-15.
- ^ "You Are There". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2001-02-05.
- ^ "A Friend in Need, Part 2". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2001-06-18.
- ^ "Between the Lines". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-02-15.
- ^ Blackwell Synergy - J Popular Culture, Volume 32 Issue 2 Page 79-86, Fall 1998. www.blackwell-synergy.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-01.
- ^ Atara Stein, "XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, THE LESBIAN GAZE, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FEMINIST HEROINE " (1998).
- ^ Janet K. Boles, Diane Long Hoeveler (2004). Historical Dictionary of Feminism. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810849461.
- ^ What we owe Xena. Cathy Young. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
- ^ Xena and Gabrielle: Lesbian Icons. AfterEllen.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
- ^ Top Ten TV - Sex Bombs. warriorprincess.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
- ^ a b Leonard, Andrew (1997-07-03). Who Owns Xena?. Salon Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
- ^ a b Young, Cathy (2005-09-15). What we owe Xena. Salon.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
- ^ Young, Cathy (2005-09-15). What we owe Xena. Salon.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
- ^ Lucy Lawless. Lesbian News. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
- ^ The 100 Greatest TV Characters. Bravotv.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
