Xena


 * This page details Xena in the primary universe; for the Xena in the mirror universe see Xena (mirror); for the Xena in all other alternate universes see Xena (alternates).

Xena of Amphipolis, the Warrior Princess and Destroyer of Nations was a Human female from the past. As a warlord, she was at the head of one of the most ruthless and destructive armies that the world had ever seen. When Xena was in her late teens to early twenties, her village was raided by the warlord Cortese. She organised a small band of men, consisting of simple villagers and her two brothers, Toris and Lyceus - against their mother's wishes. In the battle, Lyceus was killed and so she was ostracised from Amphipolis and forbidden to return. This shaped her into a violent and merciless warlord. She travelled around the World; mainly to Chin, Jappa and Siberia with lover Borias. Xena gave birth to her son (by Borias), Solan, in the middle of one of the greatest battles of the age - the Battle of Corinth, between Borias and herself and the Centaurs. This battle led to Borias' untimely death, moments after the birth of his son. Xena claimed that giving birth to Solan was one of her turning points, along with meeting Hercules and Typhuss and Gabrielle.

With her lover Borias, she travelled to numerous countries making her name known and feared, notably Chin, Siberia, Jappa and later (after Borias' death) Norway, Britannia and Greece. After being redeemed by Hercules, she attempted to walk a path of redemption. With her friend Gabrielle and lover Typhuss James Halliwell, she became renowned as one of the greatest heroes of that time, travelling to new places, such as India and Egypt and fighting for the greater good.

Her final demise was deemed necessary to complete her quest for redemption. During her journey to Jappa with Borias, years before meeting Hercules, she inadvertantly (and unknowingly) caused the death of the 40,000 people of Higuchi, a large village in Jappa. These souls were captured by Yodoshi and were rendered unable to cross over to the other side. Xena had to die to fight Yodoshi and then stay dead to protect the souls from being condemned once again.

Childhood
Xena was born to Cyrene and Orestes (of whom has caused much controversy and speculation), in Amphipolis, Greece. She was the second of three children: her older brother Toris and younger brother Lyceus completing the family. (XWP: "Death Mask," "The Furies") When Xena was seven-years-old, her father returned home from the Temple of Ares drunk. He said that he needed to sacrifice Xena to Ares, but in a panic to prevent him from getting to her, Cyrene took an axe and killed him. Xena and Lyceus were very close whilst growing up. They enjoyed fishing and would constantly attempt to catch Solaris, the biggest fish in the lake. Xena and her older brother Toris however, did not always meet eye-to-eye: they got on for the sake of Lyceus.

Cortese’s Raid
Xena began teaching herself how to fight and eventually taught Lyceus how, too. When Xena was in her late teens, the warlord Cortese attacked and raided Amphipolis. Xena gathered an army, made up of simple farmers from her village, including her brother Lyceus. Toris and few other villagers ran for the hills to escape the battle. After Cortese attacked once, the villagers fended them off, but Xena knew that he would be back and so she used the surrounding villages as a buffer. When he returned, a fierce battle was waged. In the heat of it, Lyceus was killed and Xena was blamed for this. Cyrene blamed Xena heavily for what happened and she forced Xena to leave Amphipolis.

First Crucifixion, Caesar and M’Lila
After her banishment from Amphipolis, Xena travelled towards Italia by sea. She raided villages as she went, warning them not to ally with the enemies of Amphipolis, otherwise they would suffer the consequences of her army. During her raid of a village, she capturef a Roman, Julius Caesar. She asked one of her men to send a ransom to the nearest Roman settlement of 100,000 dinars for his safe return. The next morning, Xena found a stow-away on her ship: a young Gaelic girl named M’Lila, who was a master in the art of pressure points. She displayed an impressive fighting style whilst taking on Xena’s men, which puts Xena in awe of the woman. When she killed one of Xena’s men using pressure points(cut off the flow of blood to his brain), Xena noticed and demanded she teach it to her. Julius Caesar, who was still on board the ship, translated her Gaelic dialect: she would teach Xena the pressure points if she spared her life. After M’Lila was taken down below, Caesar and Xena talked about destiny, when Xena invited him into her cabin that evening for dinner. Later that day,

M'Lila taught Xena how to use pressure points. Later that evening, Caesar joined a provocatively dressed Xena in her cabin, where Xena talked about her reasons for looting villages: to protect Amphipolis. She then asked Caesar if she could join him in his quest to become ruler of the world, before the two embrace. The next day, Xena was paid her ransom money and Caesar departed. She asked if she would ever see him again, to which he replied that a day would not pass where he wouldn’t think of her.

Later that day, Xena came into contact with Caesar’s ship, where she decided to join him. M’Lila warned her not to, but she did not heed the warning. Just as she met him and made contact with him, he quickly grabbed her and held her at knife-point, while his men seized Xena’s ship and secured it. Caesar then put Xena and the rest of her men on the cross and broke her legs. During the night, M’Lila sneaked into the camp and rescued Xena from the cross. She dragged her body to a healer, Niklio, who set Xena’s legs back into place and applied acupuncture to them. Xena thanked M’Lila for saving her, before being ambushed by a group of roman soldiers. During the battle, M’Lila took an arrow intended for Xena and was almost instantly killed. This angered Xena beyond belief, as the one person who had ever shown Xena any compassion had died so suddenly. Xena claimed that from that moment on, she knew that she had changed for the worse and set herself a new purpose in life: death.

Meeting Borias
Sometime after leaving Niklio, Xena travelled to Hungary, where she met a man named Borias, who was the leader of a ruthless army. He was also married and had a child with his wife Natassa. However, Xena had managed to worm her way in and he began an affair with her. Borias' young son, Belach, once discovered the two lovers having sex and although sent away quickly by a less-then-caring Xena, he told his mother. When Natassa heard from her son what was going on, she gave Borias the choice between Xena and herself: but he chose Xena and rode away with her, leaving Belach only a medallion to remember him by. (XWP: "Last of the Centaurs") They then formed an army and decided to ally themselves with different countries, in order to build relations and eventually conquer parts of the Earth. They continued their love affair far into the depths of eastern Asia - namely "the Land of the Rising Sun," Chin.

Chin
Thy chose to first of all build a relationship with both the kingdoms of Lao and Ming, located in the far eastern land of Chin.

Meeting Akemi
Borias learns that a Chinese warlord has kidnapped a young girl, whose home is on a large island even further east than Chin. Her return will ensure a large sum of money, large enough to fund their desire to conquer the planet. She and Borias travel back to Chin, where they find the young girl and learn that her name is Akemi. Before Kao, the kidnapper, can tell Akemi who Xena is, she explains who she is herself, saying that she had heard of how she fears nothing, as opposed to Kao. During their conversation Akemi begins to show signs of an oracular nature, predicting what each person would do. Akemi tells Kao that she believes Xena wouldn’t let him kill her, as she knows that Xena will soon lover her, whilst Borias tells her that she has spirit and guts, an aspect he seemingly admires. Kao begins to feel insulted by Akemi, as well as attempts to punish her, before Xena gives Kao fifty pieces of gold in exchange for her. Before Kao refuses, Borias warns him that Xena is not the sort of person he would want to turn down and advises him to hand Akemi over. He feels angered and attacks them. Xena reacts and puts the pinch on him, whilst they deal with his guards. Akemi watches Xena fight and witnesses Kao die a slow and painful death, which puts her in a state of utter amazement for the warrior princess. Xena and Borias take Akemi, leaving Kao to die.

They head to Jappa to return Akemi to her family. On the way, Xena tells Borias that she wishes to conquer every piece of land from Jappa to Britannia. She continues to tell him that with Akemi’s father as an ally, they could get work their way to conquering it. She knows that Akemi is faithful to her and so she is sure that she will lead her to him. When Xena refers to herself as Akemi’s teacher, Borias laughs and implies that she doesn’t have the ability to teach. Xena calls Akemi over to prove him otherwise. She tries to teach her a defensive move, but fails. Xena and Akemi then travel then travel the rest of the way on their own. They reach mainland Jappa, where Xena and Akemi travel through a snowy forest. The two talk about nature, which doesn’t seem to interest Xena. Akemi reads Xena a proverb from an old script of writing, which implies a feeling of love and hope for Xena in the future. Xena, not being completely sentimental, dismisses this writing and quickly moves on. Xena learns that they have travelled for days in the wrong direction to see Akemi’s deceased grandfather. Akemi explains that it is for a good cause: she must ask for his blessing and on his opinion on Xena. She further explains that she can hear sounds that Xena can’t, such as the deceased talking to her: much like Xena can hear things that Akemi can’t, such as background noises.

Akemi continues to tell Xena that there is a weapon that she may be interested in owning, considering her skills with the sword – a special crafted katana. Xena likes the sound of having it for herself and so she asks Akemi to get her one. Akemi takes her to where it kept, protected by several highly skilled samurais that Xena must fight. During the battle she is given one of her only known scars, located on the top of her right breast, when she is pushed into a spiked wall. She wins the fight hands down and gains possession of the katana. Later that night, Akemi asks Xena if she will teach her the pinch – the move she used to kill Kao. Xena is unsure about teaching someone with no other training that move, as it can be very deadly. She does, however, agree to teach it to her. After many more days walk, they reach her father’s kingdom. Upon first sight, she puts the pinch on him and kills him. Xena’s immediate reaction is to ask where her money is, to which Akemi asks her to kill her with the katana. She continues to tell her to take her ashes and place them in her family shrine in Higuchi. Xena, very confused, disagrees at first, but Akemi mortally wounds herself, to which Xena uses the katana to behead her, possibly in anger over the loss of her money. The people of Higuchi learn of Xena worshipping the ashes of a girl who killed her father and band against her as she travels through the town with cropped hair, seemingly drunk as she is carrying a wineskin and staggering. She is attacked by one of the men, which results in her losing her footing and dropping Akemi’s ashes. She defends herself against a man with a lit torch and she gains possession of it. She performs for the first time her fire-breathing technique, where she takes a mouthful of alcohol and spits on the fire. This results in two men setting alight and running into a wooden house. Xena then carelessly drops the torch and walks away. Unbeknownst to Xena, the wind picks the fire up and it destroys the village, resulting in the deaths of 40,000 people. She doesn’t find this out until 30 years later.

Alti’s Manipulation
"Help me, and I’ll make you the Destroyer of Nations."

- Alti, “Adventures in the Sin Trade I”

After leaving Jappa, Xena fell pregnant with her first child, Solan, by Borias. Xena and Borias travelled north to Siberia. They decided that they wanted to defeat the Centaurs, which would get them out of the way while they conquered Greece. They realised this would be hard, as well as decided to try and ally with the Amazons to help them. An ex-Amazon turned Shamaness, named Alti, caught wind of what they were attempting to do and confronted them, offering them her help in defeating the Amazons, being one herself previously. She claimed that she was kicked out of her tribe as she was too powerful for them. She then told Xena that she was with child, something she already knew – but Borias did not. Xena claimed that she was “getting around” to telling him. Xena immediately noticed her power (although was clearly not aware of her true potential) and she invited her into the camp. Borias tried to warn her that she would be trouble, but Xena’s lust for power made her not care, much like it did in Chin. Xena seemed to grow close to Alti’s apprentice (and also ex-Amazon), Anokin, who later died during a raid on a village. Alti told Xena that she could see Anokin again if she wished. Alti took Xena to the Amazon Land of the Dead, where she was greeted by a deceased Anokin. She told Xena that she didn’t like her – it was her that poisoned Anokin’s soul which ultimately led to her death. Alti told Xena that it is possible to take vengeance on the dead. (XWP: "Adventures in the Sin Trade I")

Once she returned to the living, Borias tried to tell Xena that it is unhealthy what she is doing to herself and more importantly their unborn child. Alti makes a prediction stating that neither him nor Xena will name the child. Borias tells Alti that he has had enough of her and calls her a hag. Xena warns Borias of her powers and he continues to tell Xena that she has changed since she has known Alti. Alti promises Xena great power and her infamous title of the Destroyer of Nations, if she helps Alti harness the power she needs. (XWP: "Adventures in the Sin Trade I")

Alti predicts that a young child Borias rescued from a village will one day take Xena’s power from her and so she tells Xena to kill her. Hesitant at first, Xena warns Alti that Borias will be mad when he learns that they’ve killed his precious orphan girl. Alti persuades her otherwise, reminding her that she hasn’t been wrong with her predictions so far. Once again, Xena’s lust for power gets the better of her and she advances onto the child, dagger in-hand. Borias catches Xena before she can strike. (XWP: "Adventures in the Sin Trade I")

Alti and Xena begin to compose a plan to gain the trust of the Amazons, namely their leader, Cyane. Xena sneaks into the Amazon camp and finds the Queen’s hut, where Cyane is receiving a massage. Xena spies on the Amazon Queen from the secrecy of the roof of the hut, when the roof suddenly gives way and almost falls on Cyane. Cyane’s high ability of reflexes help her realise that the roof is about to fall and moves out of the way in time. A naked Cyane uses her skill and quick hands to remove Xena’s clothing and applying it to herself. Xena hastily wraps a cloth around herself and escapes from the hut. Despite still being partially crippled from Ceasar crucifying her, she moves quickly through the forest, evading the highly-skilled Queen. While Xena hobbles through the forest, Cyane glides through the trees like a primate. She eventually catches Xena and attempts to kill her, before being stopped by Borias. When he tells her that Xena is with him, she questions his motives: she was convinced that he was there to a form an alliance. She tells him that her instincts are telling her not to trust him and Xena, but he convinces her that he would never betray her trust. Once she lets Xena go, Borias tells her that it was stupid to try and assassinate Cyane, as it almost destroyed the shots at defeating the Amazons successfully. Xena reveals that she wants to gain her trust, as she wants to learn some of her moves and skills. (XWP: "Adventures in the Sin Trade II") Xena stays with Cyane for a while. The two form a friendship, but not anything strong. She tells Xena that she should leave Borias, as he is trying to change. She warns her that if she stays with him, she will end up killing him. Cyane offers Xena into the Amazon tribe, but she denies acceptance, claiming that it is not the sort of life for her. Cyane then confirms that she and the Amazons had in fact, by that time, allied with Xena and Borias. Not long after that, Borias gave his orphan girl, Otere, to the Amazons to raise. When Alti learnt that Xena had been offered into the Amazons, she was defiant towards Xena not joining, trying to convince her that she is more matched with her than with the Amazons. She tried to convince Xena to side with her as opposed to the Amazons by explaining that she can give her great spiritual power to lead a fearsome army, strong enough to defeat Julius Caesar and even take Rome and Greece. She told her that she must first destroy the Amazons, but before Xena has a chance to decide, Cyane interrupts and takes part in a spititual duel with Alti. Cyane wins and cripples Alti, as she explains to Xena (who is in awe of her) that if she were to join the Amazons, she would find life, yet acting with Alti would lead to death. The thought of power and was seemingly irresistable to Xena, as she sides with Alti and kills the entire Amazon tribe - including Cyane - once again causing Borias another lost chance at making an ally. As Alti collects Cyane's blood for her rituals, Xena is told by her that her day will come and she will become the "Destroyer of Nations." (XWP: "Adventures in the Sin Trade II")

Between the time of Xena meeting Alti and the birth of Solan, Alti cursed him before he was born, stating that he would never know the love of either of his parents. (XWP: "Adventures in the Sin Trade II")

Death of Borias, Birth of Solan and the Battle of Corinth

 * See main article: Battle of Corinth

Xena and Borias then travelled back to Greece in search of the Ixion Stone, an object of great power that Alti needed to possess to complete her rituals. The Ixion Stone was owned by the Centaurs, of whom vowed to protect the Stone from Xena, Borias and their army. Two legions of Centaurs, led by Kaleipus and Tildus, waged war against Xena and Borias, which resulted in the Battle of Corinth. Xena was heavily pregnant and due to give birth at any second, but still managed to take command of her army. Once Tildus’ Centaurs and been forced to retreat and regroup, Xena captured Kaleipus and a number of his Centaurs. She ordered Dagnine, her second-in-command, to kill them but Borias was not happy and intervened. He helped the Centaurs escape and began to work with them against Xena. Meanwhile, Xena goes into labour and is unable to take control of her men and so her servant Satrina helps her to give birth. Moments previous to being at Xena’s side, she had intercepted Borias from seeing Xena and stopped him from witnessing the birth of his son. She stabbed him in the leg, putting him at a great disadvantage when he fought Dagnine. He battled hard to get past Dagnine, but his wound slowed him down and Dagnine wrenched his own sword into his back. In his dying seconds, he catches a brief glimpse of his son. After witnessing Borias’ death, Xena made the hard decision to give Solan to Kaleipus and the Centaurs to raise, convinced he would be safer and kept away from the blood and violence. (XWP: "Past Imperfect")

Odin and the Valkyrie
After the tragic events at Corinth, Xena travelled north to the Norselands. During her journey here, she met with Ares, God of War. He gave her the Chakram, a weapon with the unique ability of being thrown and then returning to her, which had sharp edges and was able to cut through most things. (XWP: "Chakram," "The Rheingold," first appearance of it in Xena's timeline)

She came across Odin, where he had hung himself from a tree to prevent himself from taking part in the struggle of life. He tells her that it is his duty to bring peace to the World, but cannot stand sitting in Valhalla watching endless suffering occur. Xena then tells himself to embrace the struggle of life, instead of trying to escape it. She made him share her lust for life, which led to him making her a Valkyrie and returning to Valhalla. She created an antagonistic relationship with Grinhilda, the leader of the Valkyrie and Odin’s lover. Xena’s “fight to the death” attitude was not pleasing to the graceful Grinhilda. Xena’s and Grinhilda’s disagreements lead to feud between them, which led to Odin losing his love for her and Grinhilda almost leaving the Valkyrie. Odin then began to grow close to Xena, which led to him appointing her the head of the Valkyrie and his most favoured, casting Grinhilda aside and reducing her rank. Xena wanted more and so she acted as if she were in love with him and so he told her about the Rheingold: a mystical nugget of gold, which can be used to grant power to those who have forsaken their love. He told her that it was in the Rhein River and was guarded by the Rhien Maidens. With this information, she set off to find it. When Grinhilda learnt of Xena heading to the Rhien River, she confronted Odin about it. He lied to her at first, saying that he had no idea how she were to know, but once Grinhilda worked out what Xena had done to squeeze the information from him, she asked Odin to give her back command of the Valkyrie so that she can stop Xena – as she did not have forsaken love. The Valkyries attempted to stop Xena, although she avoided and defeated them, except Grinhilda. Grinhilda dismounted Xena from her flying horse (the only way to gain access and leave Valhalla), which led to the two of them plummeting to the Earth below, their fall softened by the trees. Xena knocks out Grinhilda and enters the Rhein River to confront the Rhein Maidens. She convinces them that she wants to be Rhien Maiden and so their leader shows her the Rheingold. Xena steals it from them and leaves. (XWP: "The Rheingold")

From the Rheingold, Xena forged the Ring, an item which harnessed the power of the Rhiengold. The Runes stated that it could cause disastrous results to the wearer if they haven’t forsaken love. It would destroy what the wearer valued the most, but not before giving them a surge of Deity-like power. Grinhilda took a chance, as well as stole the Ring from Xena to use against her. She placed it on her finger, willing to take a risk in order to defeat Xena. The two engaged in battle. Grinhilda gained the upper hand and was moments away from killing Xena, before the Ring’s other power kicked in and robbed Grinhilda of her beauty and humanity, turning her into the hideous Grindl (XWP: "The Ring"). Xena sliced off Grindl’s finger and stole the Ring and used it herself. Grindl knew that she was no match for Xena whilst she was wearing the Ring and so she fled. Xena tracked her down and managed to trap her using Grinhilda’s own necklace and a Raven lock that she stole from Odin. Xena was then expelled from the Valkyrie. (XWP: "The Rheingold")



Attack on Cirra
She then travelled back to Greece, where she formed another army and wreaked havoc. Her most destructive attack was that of her assault on Cirra, which was the only instance in which she responsible for the deaths of women and children. Amongst her victims were Arleia and Pankos, the parents of a young girl named Callisto, who was mentally scarred by the events here, which would lead to her twisted nature and hatred for Xena. (XWP: "Callisto", "Destiny", "Armageddon Now II", "Fallen Angel")

In an alternate timeline, Callisto (as an adult Goddess) is sent back in time to the attack of her village and tried to save her family, only she accidentally killed them herself with her powers. However, events that followed caused Callisto's travelling in time to never happen. (HTLJ: "Armageddon Now II")

Meeting Hercules and Iolaus
Upon her return to Greece, Xena becomes obsessed with conquering Arcadia. She knows it will not be possible as long as Hercules is in the area and she also knows that she would be unable to take on the Demi-deity one on one and win. Instead, she concocts a plot wherein she tricks Iolaus into falling in love with her. Once Iolaus is thus bewitched she begins to poison him against Hercules. Her trickery is so strong that she manages to drive a wedge between the heroes, eventually even causing them to fight one another. Finally, Iolaus realizes what is happening and re-joins Hercules to fight Xena and her army (HTLJ "The Warrior Princess").

Xena and her army escape and continue to plunder the nearby villages but there is descension among the ranks. Xena's lieutenant, Darphus, begins to openly question her orders and disobey her. When Xena is scouting ahead of her army, Darphus orders the men to attack a village and kill all the men, women and children. A single baby survives and Xena saves him, giving him into the care of Salmoneus, whom she met after an attack on another village. Xena is furious that her men killed women and children. When she tries to discipline Darphus, he and men loyal to him, decide she is no longer fit to lead the army and they force her to walk a Gauntlet. No one has ever survived this before but Xena manages to get through, bloodied but not beaten. She leaves her army and goes off to heal. A short while later, Hercules encounters Darphus and the army headed to attack Parthus. Along the way, Hercules encounters Xena who is also tracking the army. The two fight in a titanic battle and Hercules defeats Xena. However, he spares her life and tells her that "killing isn't the only way of proving you're a warrior." Xena declines when Hercules asks her to join him in fighting her army. He lets her leave and continues to Parthus where he helps prepare the villagers for an attack. When the attack comes, Xena appears and fights alongside Hercules against Darphus and her former warriors. Xena kills Darphus in combat and the remains of the army scatter. Parthus is saved and Xena asks Hercules if she can travel with him to discover what is next for her (HTLJ "The Gauntlet").

Xena travels for a time with Hercules and Salmoneus. Salmoneus tries to convince the duo to let him write their celebrity biographies. The trio eventually meet up with Iolaus who is understandably displeased to see Xena. They learn that Darphus has been restored to life by Ares and been given the mission of feeding Graegus the bodies of innocents. Meanwhile, Xena and Hercules begin to develop feelings for one another. Iolaus notices this and warns Hercules to watch his back. In time, Hercules convinces Iolaus that Xena has changed and is now definitely on the side of good. Xena apologizes to Iolaus for hurting him and he forgives her.

The heroes track down Darphus. Together, they fight off the remnants of Xena's army and manage to turn Graegus on Darphus. The beast is able to kill Darphus for good and the darkest chapter of Xena's life is ended. Hercules confesses that he loves Xena and never thought he would feel that way again for anyone but Deianeira. He asks to continue helping her find redemption but she tells him he already has: "You've unchained my heart." Xena rides off to begin to atone for her many crimes (HTLJ "Unchained Heart").

Meeting Gabrielle and Reconciliation with Cyrene
"You've got to take me with you - teach me everything you know."

- Gabrielle to Xena, mirroring what Akemi had said to her many years before in Jappa, "Sins of the Past"

Once being reverted by Hercules, Xena decided to give up fighting. She buried her belongings and was about to walk away, when she saw Hector, a lieutenant of Draco’s (one of her old flames) kidnapping a group of young girls from the village of Potedia. She intervened and released the girls from him. Her fighting skills caught the eye of one of the girls: Gabrielle. She was a simple farmer, whom had been put into an arranged marriage that she did not want to be a part of. She relentlessly asked Xena to allow her to travel with her and teach her how to fight. In awe with every aspect of Xena, she wasn’t satisfied when Xena said no to her offer of accompanying her on the road and so she decided to follow her to Amphipolis, crossing paths with a Cyclops on her way. Xena confronts Draco about his planned ransack of Potedia, as well as asks him to spare the village. She continues to tell him that she going home, to see her mother, which he tries to talk her out of, telling her that she will not be welcome. He then decides that he is going to ransack Amphipolis instead. Xena confronts her mother and tries to make it up with her, only to be rejected on first sight. She tries to warn her of the upcoming attack, but she and the rest of the villagers do not listen to her and instead decide to stone her. Gabrielle, who had followed Xena there, intervenes and saves Xena from being pelted with stones, which finally convinces Xena to take Gabrielle with her. They go to visit Xena’s brother Lyceus first, who died during Cortese’s raid. Gabrielle tells Xena that she is not alone, as well as their friendship begins from there. Xena then returns to Amphipolis to face Draco. The two fight on scaffolding with staves: the first person to touch the ground loses. With some sneaky intervention by Gabrielle, Xena wins and Draco touches the ground first, where she makes him swear on the head of Ares never to return to Amphipolis again. After seeing that she had in fact changed for the good, Cyrene and Xena reconciled.

Reunion with Solan and the Centaurs
TBASolan first met his mother when she and Gabrielle travelled to help the Centaurs protect the Ixion Stone from Dagnine. While the Centaurs were less than happy to see her, Solan was even less happy. One first sights, Solan attacks Xena, claiming that he hates her. He later sees her by the side of his "mother" and father's grave and is angry at her for being there and continus to resent her. Solan and Gabrielle begin to start a friendship. Gabrielle tries to explain to Solan (who is convinced that he is a warrior) that he doesn't need to pretend to be something that he's not. While the two talk, they are ambushed by Dagnine's men, who capture Solan and take him to Dagnine's camp. Gabrielle finds Xena and informs her of what had happened, prompting her to break into Dagnine's camp and attempt to rescue him. This results in a fight when she is caught and so they make a run for it, Xena and Solan talk about Borias, in "Orphan of War"Added by The true sorabut end up discovering the Ixion Caverns and falling into them. Once they land at the bottom, Solan breaks his arm and so Xena removes Borias' sword (which Solan carries with him) and uses his scabbard as a splint. Xena uses pressure points to ease the pain, but when she takes the pressure point off, it hurts him and he hugs Xena due to the pain. As they venture on through the caverns, they find the alter where the Ixion Stone should be, but it isn't there. Xena and Solan notice an opening in the top of cavern, but it is too far to jump. Xena finds some pipes that lead to the top and so she blows down them which attracts the attention of Gabrielle, Kaleipus and the Centaurs. They throw down some ropes and pull the two up. As they reach the top, Solan drops his father's sword into the caverns. As it lands, the Ixion Stone falls out of it's hilt, revealing that Borias found the stone all those years ago at Corinth. Dagnine, who followed Xena and Solan into the caverns, retrieves the stone and uses it to transform himself into Ixion's wicked creation - an evil Centaur. As he and Xena meet on the battlefield, he reveals that it was in fact him that killed Borias, clearing Xena's name. Xena kills him with a large spear and avenges Borias. Solan and Xena meet again at the Centaur treaty, in "Maternal Instincts"Added by The true soraLater, Solan sits by the riverside, when he is joined by Xena. He throws his father's sword into the river, stating he doesn't want to fight. He then tells Xena that she and his "mother" would have gotten along and Xena walk away, hiding her sadness.

Prison Breakout and Death
TBACallisto later escapes, weaponless, easily crippling and killing her guards. She finds Xena, but is still unable to defeat her and instead makes her suffer by plunging her sword though the heart of Gabrielle's recently-wedded husband, Perdicas. Xena catches her again and is wracked with guilt as Callisto taunts her about her past. A fight ensues and Xena and Callisto fall into quicksand. Xena's inventive wit allows her to struggle free and she watches doubtfully as Callisto is sucked under. But the ethical dilemma still hangs in the balance: Xena has killed the monster that she created, but still carries the guilt that it was all her fault.

Body Switch
TBACallisto, works with Ares, God of War to invade Xena's dreams and switch bodies with Xena, so that she is free and Xena is trapped in Tartarus. But Xena persuades Hades to let her return to earth, although still trapped in Callisto's body, where she defeats Callisto and sends her back to Tartarus. Xena remains trapped in Callisto's body for one episode before Ares restores them to their normal selves.

Second Death and Resurrection
Xena decides to return to the ruins of Cirra, the hometown of Callisto, as well as one of Xena’s most regrettable crimes. It was here that she accidentally caused the death of Callisto’s mother and father, along with countless other innocent people – one of the few times she was responsible for the deaths of women and children. She hopes that it will help her realise what she must do to redeem her past. As she enters the village, she is immediately haunted by visions of the attack and isn’t able to stay there too long. When she returns to where she left Gabrielle, she realises that she is missing and only her staff can be found on the ground. She heads into the nearby woods, where she finds a strange tribe commencing a ceremony, which involves Gabrielle and a group of other captives. She frees them and Gabrielle leads them to safety. When they are yet again ambushed, Gabrielle leads the captives away, when a small girl stays behind to watch Xena fight them. The girl puts herself in danger when she runs out in front of a large swinging tree stump that was intended to hit her. Xena saves the girl but is hit herself by the stump. She suffers near-fatal injuries, which will claim her life if she doesn’t receive help from a past friend and grand healer – Niklio. Xena informs Gabrielle (who had been stabbed in the leg by Xena’s attacker) to take her to the top of Mount Nestus, where he lives. She hesitates at first, complaining that it is very far away, but agrees to do so when she realises that it is her only option. During her journey there, Gabrielle realises that Xena is becoming worse and closer to death. She arrives at Niklio’s house, where he tells Gabrielle that he will see to her wound first, as he can do something for her, whilst Xena can wait. Xena’s pulse begins to drop and Niklio eventually pronounces her dead. Whilst crossing over, Xena is confronted by M’Lila’s ghost, who gives Xena the chance to be resurrected.

From the other side, Xena manages to channel her spirit into the one person she sees fit for the job - Autolycus. She needs him to steal her body back from the Amazons, as they are going to cremate her body. She then needs him to steal Ambrosia, to feed to her corpse, which will revive her. Autolycus, now accompanied by Xena's spirit for guidance and full use of her skills, manages to break into the Amazon village, as well as even find Xena's coffin, only to be caught by Gabrielle. He tries to explain to her what is going on, but his unbelievable (but true) story doesn't manage to convinve her and he is thrown into the dungeon. It does not take him long to break out of the prison, but he is still too late, as the cremation has already began. But Xena takes over and manages to stop the funeral and take her coffin away from the village. Gabrielle realises that Autolycus story that he told her before bein thrown into prison is in fat true, as he showcases many of Xena's trademark skills, incuding her warcry, whistling to hail Argo and successfully throwing and catching the chakram. She leaves the Amazons and follows Autolycus, where he explains what's going on. They later find the cave to the Hall of Ambrosia, where they find a dangerous ascent to a rock in the ceiling, which has an engraving that resembles the Dagger of Helios, something that Autolycus stole just before he was inhabited by Xena's spirit. Before they are able to attempt the climb, they are intercepted by Velasca, the current vicious Queen of the Amazons, who is reluctant to give the throne to Gabrielle, who is the rightful heir. She takes them back to the village, throws them in the dungeon and steals the Dagger of Helios from Autolycus whilst torturing him, in the process breaking his arm. She throws Autolycus in the dungeon with Gabrielle and all of the amazons who are still loyal to her, including Ephiny and Solari. He manages to break them out and they follow Velasca to the Hall of Ambrosia, where Xena's spirit channels into Gabrielle, so that she is able to follow Velasca instead of Autolycus, due to his broken arm. The two fight their away to the top, but Velasca gets there first, using the dagger to present the Ambrosia, where it falls down and is caught by Velasca. However, she drops it and it falls down to the fire-burning pit, being destroyed in the process. It is not long followed by Velasca herself and she is presumed dead. Gabrielle returns to Xena and reveals that she managed to catch some of the Ambrosia as it fell past her, which she gives to Xena and revives her. Xena is forever grateful to Autolycus, as well as tells him that she is forever in his debt.

Feud between Gabrielle

 * See main article: The Rift

Britannia, Dahak and the Birth of Hope
Upon hearing of Julius Caesar's attempt at invading Britannia, Xena travelled there to assist old friend-turned-foe, Boadicea. Along the way, Gabrielle befriended a young man, Krafstar, as well as became quite close to him. He told her of his religious beliefs: that his One God was to cleanse the land of darkness and spread peace throughout it. She was immediately taken by the thought of such a religion, as well as chose to accompany him to the one of their religious ceremonies, whilst Xena was otherwise distracted with stopping Caesar with Boadicea. However, Gabrielle soon realized that Krafstar had bent the truth about his religion: in fact it was the exact opposite of his explanation and had only intended to bring Gabrielle to the meeting to lose her blood innocence by killing a member of the religious order, now revealed to be more like a cult. This made her a target for Dahak - Krafstar's 'One God.' Gabrielle was then raped by Dahak and was impregnated with his child. Xena eventually came to her rescue and saved her from Dahak and Krafstar (who had morphed into a vicious demon-like creature known as the Deliverer). Xena then managed to defeat Caesar with Boadicea and prevent him from taking Britannia.

Xena and Gabrielle, unaware of Gabrielle's pregnancy, tried to get back to Greece and out of Britannia as quickly as possible and so Xena organizes a ship to take them back to Greece the next morning. However, whilst travelling through the aptly named Forest of the Banshees, they are ambushed by it's namesake inhabitants - the Banshees themselves. While they seem hellbent on killing Xena, they try to protect Gabrielle and later inform her of her pregnancy. The baby grew fast and Xena took her to shelter in a nearby castle, where she gave birth hours later to a little girl, Hope. However, the warriors that reside on the castle, known as the Warriors of the Pierced Heart, were less than welcoming to Gabrielle's new arrival, as rumor had it that the child will bring about nothing but destruction. However, half of the warriors saw that she was only a child and couldn't possible be capable of such things and they helped Xena to protect Hope from the other warriors and the Banshees. The baby's development is fast and already resembles five months old in a matter of hours. However, it is not long before Hope makes her first kill while still a baby and Xena begins to doubt her innocence. She confronts Gabrielle and tells her that the child must die, as she too believes the rumors of her future. Gabrielle grabs Hope and runs from Xena, as the Banshees delay her from following. However, after a while Xena manages to catch up to Gabrielle, only to be informed that Hope had turned on her and she threw her over a cliffside, to which Xena informs her that she did the right thing. However, Gabrielle lied to Xena and she had in fact put Hope in a basket in a river, meaning that she is still alive.

Gabrielle's Betrayal in Chin
Soon after, Xena receives word that Ming T'ien has risen to power in Chin and is ruling the land as a callous tyrant. She feels as if she owes it to Lao Ma to bring down her son from his throne and so she travels to Chin to kill the Green Dragon. On the way to the harbour where she departs, she informs Gabrielle of her time there before, involving Borias, Lao Ma and Ming Tzu. However, even after hearing the entire story of Xena's adventures with Lao Ma in Chin, she still cannot quite fathom as to why Xena feels the need to repay Lao Ma a debt. After Xena leaves to go to Chin, Ares offers his assistance to Gabrielle, as well as helps her to travel to Chin ahead of Xena, where she forewarns Ming T'ien of Xena's attempt on his life. This causes Xena's shock and arrest upon arriving at his temple. She is deeply hurt by Gabrielle's betrayal and is thrown straight into the jail. Whilst in there, she learns that Ming T'ien sentenced Lao Ma to her death not long ago. Meanwhile, Gabrielle manages to reason with Ming T'ien, as well as sways him into allowing Xena to be pardoned if she were to make an aplogy to him and promise that she will never return to the land. However, Xena is less than compliant with Gabrielle and Ming T'ien, as well as remains silent throughout her meeting with them. Ming T'ien subsequently sentences Xena to death. Gabrielle then visits Xena in the dungeon an they have a heart-to-heart, where Xena unserstands why Gabrielle acted in the way she did, as well as continues to tell her of her adventures with Lao Ma. When Xena's execution day arrives, she manages to escape using Lao Ma's powers that were taught to her all that time ago. She destroys his temple and despite Gabrielle's pleading not to, she secretly kills Ming T'ien.

Return of Hope and Callisto
"No, you lied to me. I trusted you and you lied to me. Now Solan is dead. My son is dead, because of you."

- Xena to Gabrielle, "Maternal Instincts"

Months later, Xena and Gabrielle discover that a Centaur peace treaty is in order at Kaleipus' village and so they decide to attend. During there time here, Xena is reunited with her son, Solan and Gabrielle is reunited with her fellow Amazon sister, Ephiny, who had attended the treaty for her Centaur son Xenan. Gabrielle confides in Ephiny and tells her about the events in Britannia with Dahak and her daughter Hope. Meanwhile, Xena and Kaleipus investigate the destruction of the peace treaty created by the Centaurs. Witnessing the scene, Xena knows straight away who was responsible - Callisto. Xena and Gabrielle discover that a young girl, Fayla, is being manipulated by Callisto, of whom she refers to as the "monster lady." She tells them of Callisto's plans. However, events pan out and Gabrielle discovers that Fayla is in fact Hope - who now looks 12-years-old. During this time, Hope kills Kaleipus, who was at risk of discovering her and Callisto's plans. Gabrielle decides against telling Xena that the child is Hope and so Gabrielle tells her daughter to wait in Kaleipus' hut - the same place that Xena had told Solan wait for her. Hope kills Solan under the orders of Callisto, which causes immense grief for Xena. She seeks as much revenge as possible for Callisto and so she draws her into trap. She tricks her into destroying a cave with herself inside it, once again supposedly trapping the Demoness for eternity. Meanwhile, Gabrielle decides that her daughter has gone too far this time, as well as poisons her wineskin of water, which presumably kills her. Later at the funerals of Solan and Kaleipus, Gabrielle tries to apologize to Xena, but Xena rejects her, stating that she now blames Gabrielle for the death of her son.

Resolve
Xena, twisted by the death of her son due to Gabrielle's lies, plans revenge on her. She is edged on by Ares to do something and so she storms into the Amazon village where she is being protected by her tribe and kidnaps her. she ties her to the back of Argo and drags her to the edge of a cliff, where she atteptd to throw her over. Gabrielle defends herself, but this results in both of them falling over the cliff. However, they find themselves in a mystical land known as Illusia, which is fuelled by song and dance. Xena is taken through this land by her guide, Aleph. A baffled Xena questions Aleph's true identity, believing her to be Callisto, of whom she is a true likeness of. She asks where she is and why she is there, to which Aleph seems to give nothing but cryptic answers to. Xena moves from section to section of Illusia, meeting Ares along the way. She finally comes face to face with Gabrielle, of whom she fights with and kills in her anger. However, it is revealed that she only kills an illusion of her, as Gabrielle imerges from behind her. The two are whisked away to another place, where they are then haunted by an illusion of Dahak, who takes them to an illusion of the the temple in Britannia where Gabrielle was impregnated with Hope. They are further haunted by illusions of Callisto, Ares, Krafstar and Caesar, however as soon as they begin to forgive each other, the illusions dissapear and the are welcomed by the silhouette of Solan, where it is revealed that it was him that created the land and had intended to bring the pair back together. After one more revelation of Xena's lie to Gabrielle about killing Ming T'ien is revealed, Xena is allowed to have a final goodbye with her son and they are able to leave the land and return to Greece.

The Cult of Dahak
Xena and Gabrielle follow a lead given to them from Gabrielle’s childhood friend’s mother, concerning her daughter, Seraphin, being involved in rituals and cults. They find a group of men, dressed in robes, who seem to be about to sacrifice someone to a welcome the return of a goddess. Upon learning that the sacrifice is in fact Seraphin, Xena and Gabrielle quickly interrupt the ceremony. Xena gives chase to the men who took Seraphin away, where she is greeted by Callisto, who has killed a member of the cult (the Priest of the Flesh). She teleports away before Xena can confront, which makes her presume that the cult was worshipping Callisto. Xena works out there is something else to it, as she doesn’t believe that Callisto is interested in worshippers or temples. While Gabrielle scouts ahead, Xena tries to find Seraphin and the cult, where she bumps into Ares. He asks her if Callisto was wearing the Hind’s Blood Pendant, which contains the blood of a Hind and has ability to kill gods. She answers no, as well as continues to tell him that she heard the story: Callisto used the Hind’s Blood Dagger to kill Strife, before Hercules forced her through the gate into the other world. Ares then tells her that it is good that she didn’t have it, as she would have used against the other Gods if she could. Once Xena finds the cult, she swaps places with Seraphin as the sacrifice and hides her identity with a mask. Once she is attempted to be killed, she stops and a fight ensues. Callisto shows up and fights with Xena, until Ares appears and fights Callisto himself. He tells her that he is going to send her back through the gate, but not until they settle a few things. Callisto quickly escapes, but takes the Priest of the Blood with her. After talking with a rescued Seraphin, Gabrielle and Xena learn that she has been brainwashed by the cult and tricked into thinking that the goddess will bring about good things to the Earth. But the plot thickens when Seraphin is baffled by the name Callisto, informing them that she is being sacrificed for the rebirth of the goddess, leading Xena to work out that it isn’t about Callisto – it’s about Hope.

Seraphin believes that Hope is a saviour for Earth, which angers Xena, who informs that Hope killed her son. Gabrielle takes her away to explain to her about Hope. Ares appears to Xena, who agrees with killing Hope – but on his terms only. He asks Xena if she will take charge of his army to combat against Dahak, which doesn’t even consider, before turning him down. He upsets her by saying that she is taking Hope’s return too personally, before disappearing. Gabrielle asks if Xena is ok, to which she tells that Ares is right – she is taking it too personally and it is clouding her mind and focus. She tells Gabrielle that Hope still hasn’t made an appearance, possibly because she can’t, leading to the conclusion that she may be vulnerable. She asks Gabrielle to see what Seraphin knows about the rebirth. Meanwhile, Gabrielle tells Seraphin that Hope I her daughter, after finding out that Hope is hiding at the Sister Peaks. Xena works out that Callisto is protecting Hope and so she has to neutralize Callisto, before going after Hope. When she hears from some local villagers about a man stealing food from the marketplace, the description fits that of Werfner, confirming that Hope is in fact hiding at the Sister Peaks. Xena warns Gabrielle not to turn her back on Seraphin, before heading off to the Sister Peaks. Once Xena arrives, she is greeted by Callisto, who fights Xena in an effort to protect Hope. Xena takes the fight outside, where she tricks Callisto into causing a rockslide and trapping herself. With Callisto out of the way, Xena finds Hope encased in a large cocoon and before she can kill her, Ares takes Hope away. Working out that the only safe place he can take her is the Halls of War. During their journey, Xena, Gabrielle and Seraphin are attacked by innocent but brainwashed citizens, but manage to escape hastily. The next morning, Xena and Gabrielle pretend to argue about Hope, which convinces Seraphin that Gabrielle is beginning to see how her daughter is good. Gabrielle then releases her and tells her to find Hope. After Seraphin leaves, Xena tells Gabrielle that she almost convinced her about Hope, but she assures her that she now sees that Hope is evil and must die. As Xena enters the Haus of War, Ares takes Gabrielle to the Temple of the Fates where she is informed of Ares’ deal with them: if Xena is to kill Hope, then they will cut her life thread and kill her. He tells her he has the power to do this, as he is calling in her debt to him for getting her to Chin before Xena. He continues to tell her that Xena’s life rests in her hands.

Gabrielle’s and Hope’s presumed demise
Meanwhile, in the Halls of War, Xena fights with the cult of Dahak and prevents Seraphin from committing suicide. Werfner then wounds Seraphin and draws her blood, which she places onto the cocoon and releases Hope. Moments before she hatches, Xena attempts to kill her while she’s defenceless, but Gabrielle stops her. Hope uses her powers to protect herself from Xena, while Callisto also protects her by fighting off Xena. Xena once again temporarily traps her. Xena then uses her Chakram to defend herself against the daggers that Hope telekinetically throws at her. After they escape, Gabrielle tells Xena of the Fates deal with Ares and the reason why she stopped her from killing Hope. Xena continues to tell her that she would gladly die to rid the world of Hope. Meanwhile, Callisto agrees to change Hope’s image into the spitting image of her mother, in order to attract less attention and be able to trick Xena into telling her where the Hind’s Blood Dagger is. Callisto becomes annoyed when she realises that Ares has been included in Hope’s plan, as well as the thought of the two of them having sex made her sick, so she decides to join forces with Xena and Gabrielle, if Xena will kill her once Dahak is defeated. Xena agrees, realising that Callisto could be helpful. During their journey, Callisto tells Xena that she is taking the whole thing way too personally and Gabrielle agrees, saying that it is beginning to make her lose focus. They come across a village that is being attacked by Dahak’s men. During the fight, when she realises that Callisto is distracted, Xena finds Gabrielle to tell her where the Hind’s Blood Dagger is. Unbeknownst to her, Hope had secretly snuck into the village during the fight. She spots Hope, mistaking her for Gabrielle, but soon realises who she really is. When Hope defends herself and knocks Xena back, Ares shows up and takes Hope out of harm’s way. Xena informs Callisto, Gabrielle and Joxer (who had been lead to the village by Hope, thinking she was Gabrielle) that she must want the dagger to kill the Olympian Gods. Later on, Xena and Joxer put on a performance in front of Callisto and Gabrielle, where Xena pretends to tell Joxer to get lost and not to follow them, when in fact she tells him the location of the Hind’s Blood Dagger and asks him to retrieve it, before purposely getting caught by their men to get into their lair and then give Xena the dagger when the time comes. Later that night, Ares appears and tells Xena that he has impregnated Hope with six children that will help Dahak to take over the world. Xena, Gabrielle and Callisto arrive at the lair of Dahak’s Cult. They fight their way through the men, where they reach the main hall, where Hope and Ares are. Mid-way through the fight, Xena throws her Chakram at the steel ball above the fire pit, which falls onto the pit and takes Dahak out of play. Joxer then throws the Hind’s Blood Dagger to Xena, where she confronts Ares. Callisto knocks Ares back and Xena fights with Hope’s telekinesis in order to kill her. Ares reminds Gabrielle of the stakes and so she steps in saves Hope from Xena, but loses her footing and falls into the Lava Pit with Hope. They are then both presumed to have been killed. Callisto giggles childishly at the sight of Gabrielle plummeting to her death, which angers Xena and she drives the Hind’s Blood Dagger straight into her, killing her.

Return to Siberia
A grief-stricken Xena intends to say a final goodbye to Gabrielle, as well as see her for one last time. She travels to the remains of a finished battle, in hopes of running into Hades. She is in luck, as he delivers the final judgement on the final resting place for those fallen. She asks if he has seen Gabrielle pass through the Underworld, but he says no. He asks if she was member of any cults or factions that may have had a sway in where she was to go in the afterlife. She suddenly remembers that she was an Amazon, which makes her realise that she has no choice but to return to the Amazon Land of the Dead and so she travels to Siberia to commence with the ceremony that will allow her to cross-over into the the Land of the Dead and eventually into eternity to meet with Gabrielle one last time.

Xena seemingly passes out, when in actual fact she had crossed over successfully. She is met there by the young amazon girl that she gave a funeral to, during her ritual. Xena explains that she isn't dead, but knows what she is doing as she had done it before with Anokin. She then spots a familiar face - Cyane I, Queen of the Amazons, of whom she had killed before under Alti's orders. She questions why she is still here, as she should have crossed over into eternity by now. Cyane explains that due to Alti's power, she has prevented them from crossing over and so they are stuck in the Land of the Dead as long as Alti continues to live. Xena's guilt for what she has done to Cyane and her tribe leaves her no choice: Gabrielle must wait whilst she stops Alti.

When Xena awakes from her trip to the Land of the Dead, only to discover that a small Amazon tribe has taken her body to safety. The tribe is led by two young women: one named Yakut and the other she has met before - Otere, the young orphan girl that Borias took in, many years back when she was first here with Alti and Borias. Xena noticed that the amazons have captured one of the attacking men that ambushed her when performing her ritual. She tells him to go to Alti and tell her that she is coming for her. However, Xena is quickly informed by Otere that Ali will now send her favoured warrior after them kown as the Berserker, who has been gifted with special powers by Alti. And soon after, Xena meets the Berserker in battle, who manages to make Xena relive past memories to inflict pain (much like Alti), most notably to break Xena's legs. However, it seems that the Berserker's powers are not as strong as Alti's, as Xena later makes a quick recovery. She does eventually manage to defeat the Berserker and look onwards to taking on Alti. Xena tells the Amazons of different techniques that the Amazons used to use many years ago, as well as having a long talk with Otere about how her father died defending her village from Xena's army. She tells Xena that she does not hate her, but feels a sense of gratitude towards for teaching her to stay alive.

Xena eventually deicdes to tak her spirit and that of the other Amazons over into the Spiritual Realm by putting herself and the others under the pinch. Through Xena's teaching methods, the Amazons merge their spirits with Xena's and strengthen her to take on Alti, as she comes forth to commence into battle her. During the fight, Xena is shown visions of her future by Alti. Alti hopes that she will be able to advance into Xena's timeline far enough to find her death and use that to kill her now. Alti achieves this and Xena is shown a vision that depicts both her and Gabrielle being crucified by the Romans. Alti inadvertantly gives Xena the power to defeat her, by accidentally telling her that if Gabrielle is dying with her in the future, this means that she is still alive. Xena thrusts Alti into a spiked branch (as she did many years ago with Cyane and the Amazons), killing her and subsequently allowing Cyane and her tribe to cross-over. She returns to her body, as do the Amazons, with hope that Gabrielle is still alive.

Marriage to Ares
"I’m just worried that your still holding out on hope... guess that was a poor choice of words."

- Ares in “Soul Possession”

Once Xena had received confirmation of Gabrielle’s survival, thanks to Alti and her vision, she went to find Joxer, who was drowning his sorrows in a tavern. She tells Joxer that Gabrielle is in fact alive and he accompanies her to find Gabrielle. During their journey, Ares appears to Xena and informs her that he has picked up something on Gabrielle and would be willing to return her to Xena on one condition – they get married. Xena doesn’t ponder and quickly turns him down. To ensure that there is truth behind his words, he promises to marry Xena in front of the Fates, meaning the bond will be unbreakable and Ares wouldn’t be able to betray Xena without harming himself, literally meaning if he promises to give Gabrielle to Xena, he must do so. Joxer is very unhappy about this idea, thinking that there must be an alternative. He tries to tempt Ares away from Xena, but is unsuccessful. Xena thinks about Ares proposal before deciding to go through with the wedding in order to get Gabrielle back, as long as it takes place at the Lava Pit. As the ceremony commences, Xena has a last minute thought and runs to the lava pit. She tells Ares that the wedding is off, as well as jumps into the pit. Ares teleports into the pit and saves Xena from falling to the bottom. Upon returning to land, Xena tells Ares that she had worked it out. It had bothered her that he didn’t try to save Hope, considering that she was carrying his child. Then she was made suspicious when Ares began acting interested in her search for Gabrielle, which further convinced her that he had something to do with it. She continues to tell him that she decided to play along with his game, until the truth was exposed – the truth being that he saved Gabrielle in the same way that he saved Xena, as he thought that she would be a good enough reason for Xena to marry her. Ares congratulates Xena on her almost accurate findings, but reveals that Gabrielle in fact sold her soul to him, in exchange for Ares to save Hope’s life (which would have in turn saved Xena, due to Ares deal with the Fates). Ares continues to tell Xena that he will release Gabrielle’s soul, if she were to exchange her on soul in return. Xena agrees to the deal and signs the binding (and indestructible) contract, giving Ares possession over Xena and her soul. Ares then tucks the contract into his back pocket and releases Gabrielle, but not in plain sight: Xena must continue to find her, but with one hundred percent certainty that Gabrielle is alive. A curious Ares then asks what would have happened if he were to ask Xena to marry him with no strings attached, which results in Xena kissing him and secretly taking the contract from his back pocket. She tells Ares that he will never know and he disappears. Having secretly stolen the contract, Xena and Joxer conceal it inside another scroll and take it to the bottom of the Ionian Sea, where it will be difficult for Ares to find. Xena and Joxer work out that Gabrielle would have returned home to Potedia and so they go there.

The Destroyer
The Destroyer is the monster child of Hope and Ares. It was born because Hope and Ares wanted to help the demon-deity Dahak take over the Earth, so they were going to make an army of Destroyers. Only one of them was born though sometime after Ares saved Hope from the lava pit. It grew very fast, since it was over 7 feet tall in less than a very months.

The Destroyer eats any kind of meat from sheep to humans. Hope kept it in a cave outside Potidaea and came by to check on it and feed it every once in a while, but sometimes it got out to find food for itself. It could only come out at night though, because it couldn't walk into the sunlight. It loved it's mother very much and had a personality like a very young child, since that's what it was. It could even speak a little bit.

Death
Xena came to Potidaea looking for Gabrielle, where she found out about the Destroyer. She tried to fight it, but it was too strong and covered in deadly spikes, so she couldn't get to it. She finally was able to kill it when Gabrielle pretended to be Hope and distracted it while Xena stabbed it in the back. Hope came running in and The Destroyer killed her as it was dying, thinking she betrayed him.

India
TBA Xena and Gabrielle travel to here to find answers to the visions of thier death, only to cross pathes with Alti again. It is here that they meet and befriend Eli, who will later become the creator of a peaceful religion.

The country itself is much more spiritual-oriented than Greece or Italia. Although it shares the same continent as Chin, Jappa and Siberia, it seems to be much less advanced, but has a deeper culture and history. It didn't seem to share the same kind of democracy that Italia or Egypt were shown to have, either: in fact, it didn't even seem to have a democracy.

Death of Pompey Magnus
TBA

Return of Callisto and Second Crucifixion
TBA

Resurrection and Pregnancy
TBA

Avoiding the Olympians
TBA

Return to the Northern Amazons
TBA

Death of Cleopatra
When Cleopatra was killed, Xena posed as her to prevent the defeat of Egypt and it succumbing to the power of Rome. Brutus and Marc Antony both wanted control of the fleet, as they would have the upper-hand against the other in their civil war and would therefore win and reign as Emperor of Rome. Xena tries to trick Marc Antony, but realises that he is actually falling in love with her and that she is falling in love with him. Octavius, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, believes himself to be the rightful heir to the throne and so he tries to confront ‘Cleopatra’. Mistaken for an assassin, he is thrown in the dungeon. He informs Gabrielle that he wants to erase what his father had done to Rome. Xena discovered that it was in fact Brutus that killed Cleopatra in order to secure her Fleet and so she and Gabrielle forge a secret alliance with Octavius and give him control of the Fleet. Once the war between Brutus and Marc Antony had begun, Gabrielle and Octavius attacked with the Egyptian Fleet. Gabrielle kills Brutus and in his dying words calls out to Xena (who is still posing Cleopatra). Marc Antony hears this and he is distraught that he has been played for a fool – even as far as to fall in love. Xena is then forced to kill him. Octavius is forever grateful to both Xena and Gabrielle and goes onto assist them in their plan against the Olympians during the Twilight of the Gods.

The Essence of Death
Sick of the Olympain Deities constant hunt for Eve, Xena and Gabrielle visit the Fates to discover when the Twilight of the Gods will begin. They tell Xena that it is her that decides when the Twilight begins. They tell her: “’’Only in the essence of death will the twilight be set in motion’’”. Xena realises not to take what the Fates say literally and she realises that what they meant is that Xena would come into contact with the essence of death, moisture from Celesta herself. She allows Hephaestus to almost kill her, bringing Celesta to her. Gabrielle then disarmed Haephestus and Xena quickly retrieved the Chains of Hephaestus, a creation from the god himself which are able to bind the Deities. She wraps Celesta and captures her. Later, without Celesta seeing, Gabrielle gives Eve to Octavius, one of their only allies during this mission. However, she makes it seem as if she places Eve in the cart. Xena then gives Celesta a talk about all the suffering she had caused to her over the years, namedropping Marcus, Solan and Lyceus to her. Xena explains that Celesta will know exactly how she feels, when her only brother, Hades, dies from the Twilight. She makes her cry and collects her tears, placing them in a medicine vial, making the Deities think it is poison. Gabrielle secretly hands Eve to Octavius, who is concealed in the upper part of the cart, making it seem as if she is asleep in the cart. Gabrielle then goes to find Joxer, of whom Xena has worked out to be the Deities' target to interrogate in connection to their location. She finds him in a tavern, just before Athena’s Elite Archers. He mistakes them to be coming on to him and he flirts with them, only to discover that they want to know where Xena, Eve and Celesta are. Gabrielle reveals their location when they hold Joxer hostage, telling them that they are headed towards the ocean. This is in fact all part of the plan to fake their deaths. Athena takes Gabrielle hostage and asks for Xena to exchange Celesta (who is moments away from death, due to having no contact with her Eternal Flame for a long time). Xena then releases Celesta (without it seeming suspicious) and Gabrielle is returned to Xena. Xena and Gabrielle escape in the cart (without Eve, although Deities not being aware of this), when Ares appears in the cart next to Xena. He offers her one more chance at being the mother to his child, in return helping her to defeat his fellow Olympians: once again, she declines. As soon as they arrive at the cliff edge, the battle between Xena and Gabrielle, and Athena, Hades and Hephaestus commences. Gabrielle throws her Sais at two of Athena’s Elite Archers and throws her Chakram to disarm a few of them. This clears the path and they head off again in the cart. Without the Deities seeing, Gabrielle drinks half of the bottle of Celesta’s tears, just before the cart is exploded by Athena, Hades and Hephaestus. Xena and Gabrielle fall to the beach below the cliff. Gabrielle is seemingly dead and Xena survives. She ponders the wreck of the cart in search of Eve, where she pretends to discover her deceased body. The three Deits watch a distraught and broken Xena stumble around, until she attempts to commit suicide by stabbing herself. She is stopped by Ares, who thinks that he has talked her out of killing herself. He steps back and she reveals the other half of Celesta's tears (which the Deities, including Ares, think is poison). She then drinks the remains of the bottle and seemingly dies. Joxer arrives at the scene in time to see a distraught Ares take Xena’s and Gabrielle’s bodies away to an unknown location. Octavius arrives on the scene and Joxer explains to him what he saw, but Octavius assures him that they did in fact drink Celesta’s tears – not poison. But Ares taking them away and placing them in an ice-cavern was not anticipated by Xena or Gabrielle, which effectively destroyed their plan of faking their deaths and being reunited with Eve a few hours later. Ares declares his undying love for Xena, before saying goodbye to her for good.

25-year Entombment
Xena and Gabrielle eventually break free from their ice tombs. However, they realise that something has gone horribly wrong. They speak to a local woman, who tells them they are at the foot of Mount. Etna. She then tells them that Ares hadn’t been seen in those particular parts for 25 years – since the death of Xena. Upon learning this, they travel towards Rome, in search of Octavius. The woman also briefly tells them that people still follow the teachings of Eli, although they are being hunted like dogs by Livia, the empress-to-be of Rome.

Aftermath
Hera has vanished, Athena, Deimos, Discord, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Hades, Zeus and Artemis are dead and Ares has lost his immortality. Beginning to grow tired of Mortal status, Ares was visited by his sister Artemis in a dream, who tells him that an Amazon tribe are in possession of Ambrosia. He had already put together an army, who were unaware of his recent loss of immortality and would use them to steal it from the Amazons, if Xena, Gabrielle and Eve did not help him secure it. The Furies, in the form of Xena, Gabrielle and Eve, get to Ares first and talk him into taking the tribe with brute force. They torment him and drive him insane. Meanwhile, Xena, Gabrielle and Eve help out the Amazons in a fight and are introduced with their queen, Marga, as well as her second in command, Varia. After teaching her some fighting techniques, Varia realises that Eve was previously the murderous Livia, of whom raided the tribe a few years previous, where she killed Varia’s sister. Xena convinces the Amazons to banish Eve, instead of sentence her to death.

Xena, Gabrielle and Eve devise a plan to stop Ares and kill the Furies. After many confrontations, Ares and Xena engage in a bloody battle. Xena opens the fight with her Chakram flying at Ares, but it misses and flies off. Ares knocks Xena into an icy lake, where she is trapped under the ice. The Furies leave Ares and he realises what he has done to Xena. He hastily dives into the lake after her and brings her ashore. Gabrielle and Eve arrive with blankets and wrap Xena in them. Gabrielle gives her mouth-to-mouth, whilst Eve tries to keep her body warm. Xena is eventually revived, whilst the Chakram returns to her and kills the Furies in the process.

Return Home
Xena, Gabrielle and Eve return to Amphipolis, where Xena is horrified to discover that a portal to Hell has opened in her mother’s home. Gabrielle and Eve investigate the now decrepit house, whilst Xena tries to find Cyrene. She discovers her charred bones and promises to avenge her death and make things right. Back at the house, Gabrielle and Eve are haunted by the evil spirits that have taken refuge at the house. Mephistopheles inhabits Gabrielle’s body and tells Xena that he will only stop tormenting her mother’s sprit after he has been killed and that can only be done on Earth. Once he has been given a mere droplet of blood from Eve, he will be unleashed on Earth and vulnerable to death. Meanwhile, Eve has discovered that she can “cast out” the evil spirits by using her power as the Messenger of Eli. She casts Mephistopheles out of Gabrielle and she accepts the consequences of releasing Mephistopheles onto the Earth. Once released, Xena and he engage in battle. He tells her that if she were to kill him, she would take his place as the Royal Ruler of Hell. Regardless of this, she kills him anyway.

Xena’s heart begins to fall victim to the prophecy and she slowly deteriorates from her heroic state. She becomes a lot more laid back and less-caring. The Archangel Michael sends fellow Archangel Lucifer down to Earth to hurry the process along and send her into Hell. Xena hatches a plan to make someone else take her place in Hell – Lucifer. Being an Archangel, it would be sacrilege for him to sin and so Xena plans on making him secretly caving to the Seven Deadly Sins. She first makes him cave to pride, where he believes himself to be able to easily beat a mere mortal such as Xena. He then gives into gluttony and sloth, when Xena prepares a feast for the two to share, where he takes full advantage of the food and lazes around. Greed gets the better of him, when Xena tells him that she can give him the World. Xena then gives him an Egyptian massage, which makes him lust after Xena. She then tells him that she would rather Gabrielle kill Eve, than him, which makes him green with envy. He then tells Xena that she will feel his wrath forever, after he realises what she has achieved. He is then transformed into a hideous creature and put on the throne of Hell.

Return of Grindl and the Valkyrie
Xena and Gabrielle travel to the Norselands, where they stop at an inn and eat. They are interrupted by Beowulf, a warrior from the land, who gives Xena the Raven lock which she used to imprison Grindl almost 35 years ago – 5 years before meeting Gabrielle. Xena and Beowulf embark on a suicide mission to take down Grindl, which forces Xena to leave Gabrielle behind. Gabrielle, not happy with Xena’s decision, follows her for many weeks, before meeting a strange women named Brunhilda. She tells Gabrielle the story of Xena’s days in Odin’s Valkyrie – her manipulation of Odin, feud with Grinhilda and forging of the Ring. Meanwhile, Xena and Beowulf wait for Grinhilda. When she arrives, they engage in a fierce and bloody battle. Grindl drags Xena away and Beowulf is trapped and knocked out. Gabrielle, Brunhilda and Beowulf split up to find Xena, where Gabrielle follows a trail of Xena’s armour. Once the two are reunited, they are quickly joined by Brunhilda and Beowulf. She insists on Gabrielle, Brunhilda and Beowulf leaving, but with Gabrielle defiant on staying, the others stay on too.

The four of them track Grindl to it’s lair, where they hatch a plan to take her down. Xena draws Grindl in and the four team-up to take her down. Grindl takes them all out and causes part of the cave’s support beams to weaken. Xena purposely throws her Chakram to make the support beam collapse, which results in Xena being separated from Gabrielle, Beowulf and Brunhilda, getting them out of harm’s way. By accident, Xena is also separated from her Chakram, which Gabrielle picks up. Meanwhile, Xena and Grindl go one-on-one, whilst Gabrielle, Beowulf and Brunhilda begin to remove the rocks one by one to reunite and help Xena. When Grindl gets the upper hand and is moments away from killing Xena, Gabrielle shows up and attacks Grindl with Chakram. Grindl shakes Gabrielle off and she drops the Chakram. Xena picks it up and slices Grindl with it and kills her. Once she is dead, Xena realises that the monster has all of its fingers in tact – whereas Grindl had one of its fingers removed when Xena stole the Ring from her. This means that had actually killed its child, not Grindl. Once they escape from the lair, Xena asks Brunhilda to scout ahead. She tells Gabrielle that she doesn’t like or trust her. Brunhilda is then revealed to be a Valkyrie and working for Odin to defeat Xena and steal the Ring. She defies Odin, when she realises that she is has grown closer to Gabrielle than she thought. Odin tells her to capture Gabrielle to distract Xena from the Ring. Brunhilda refuses and acts alone. She takes Gabrielle herself (not under the orders of Odin) and hides her away from the Valkyrie who are looking for her. Xena and Beowulf fight off the Valkyrie, when Odin appears and stops the fight. Xena discusses with him the Ring, where it is revealed that he wants it to use for himself to become supreme above the other Deities and avoid Xena, who has the power to kill him. Beowulf finds where Brunhilda has taken Gabrielle and he and Xena set out to find them. Odin stops them and attacks Beowulf, taking him out. Grindl, who has been told by Odin that it was in fact Xena that killed her child, grasps Xena and another battle ensues. Xena escapes from Grindl and steals the Ring from her. The new leader of the Valkyrie stabs Beowulf, rendering him unable to fight alongside Xena. Outnumbered, she has no choice but to wear the Ring herself, despite her love for Gabrielle. She takes out many of the Valkyrie and attempts to take out Grindl. She hears Gabrielle shout and tries to find her, but loses her memory ad puts Gabrielle in danger. Brunhilda takes the Ring from Xena and gives to Gabrielle, telling her that Xena will not remember her. She then encases her in an eternal flame, sacrificing herself to do so, which protects her and the Ring. Beowulf survives the attack and finds Xena’s sword and Chakram, where he realises what has happened. He tries to pass through the flames to rescue her, where his flash is burnt on a single touch. Only Xena, Gabrielle’s soul mate, can pass through the flames. After this, Xena stumbles around, until she falls into some icy water and is rescued by King Hrothgar, where he presumably convinces her that her name is Welthea and she is betrothed to him.

A year passes and Beowulf is devoted to protecting Gabrielle and warning all those that are willing to pass through the flames that they will not be successful. They are either devoured by Grindl or killed by the flames. Beowulf seeks out the help of King Hrothgar and his army to help defeat Grindl. Upon his arrival, he and his son, Wiglaf, realise that Hrothgar is to be married to Welthea. Upon realising her true identity, Beowulf and Wiglaf try to confront her, but then realise thast they are in the middle of the wedding ceremony and she is in fact walking up the isle. When she and Hrothgar marry, Welthea/Xena sees their rings and she briefly remembers the past events of the Valkyrie and the Ring. Beowulf tries to convince Welthea/Xena of her true identity and the guards try to seize Beowulf, as Hrothgar believe that he is trying to come on to Welthea/Xena. He fights them off and Welthea found herself performing a great move when she saves his life from a guard he was unaware of. Beowulf notices one of Odin’s Ravens, which indicates that he already knows that she is there. The two escape and arrive on a beach, where they are confronted by the Valkyrie. Their leader, Waltroute, attacks Welthea/Xena, where she finds herself performing even more spontaneous moves. Odin arrives and breaks up the fight. He tells her that Waltroute to return to Valhalla. Later, Welthea and Beowulf talk on their ship. He gives Welthea/Xena the Chakram, although she is unsure of what it is. They then arrive at the Flames of Brunhilda, where Welthea/Xena is unsure about passing through them. Beowulf assures her that she is the one and she plucks up the courage to touch the flames. Before she can pass through, the Valkyrie interrupt and a fight ensues between them and Welthea/Xena, Beowulf and Wiglaf. Wiglaf throws a sword to Welthea/Xena, where she is still rusty with her techniques, but manages to push Waltroute into the flames and kill her. Beowulf is then stabbed in the shoulder by Grindl, which forces Welthea/Xena to pass through the flames to be safe. She kisses Gabrielle to awake her, which then makes her memories return. She holds up the Ring, where it draws in the flames and they cease to exist. She then attempts to talk sense into Grindl, where she manages to maker her forgive Xena and destroy the curse, bringing back Grinhilda to her normal form. Xena tells Beowulf that she is forever in debt to him for everything she has done. Xena and Gabrielle then return Grinhilda to Valhalla. Xena tells Odin that Grinhilda was the best thing that had ever happened to the Valkyrie and Valhalla and that she was going to return the Ring to where it rightfully belongs – with the Rhien Maidens. Although angry with Xena, they forgave her for her previous treachery and accepted the Ring.

Caligula and Aphrodite
Xena and Gabrielle find the remnants of a bloody battle. Whilst wondering what had happened, they are confronted by the Archangel Michael, who informs them that it was the current emperor of Rome that had headed the army of this battle – Caligula. He had killed the previous emperor, Tiberius, as well as his family in order to gain the throne of Rome. Michael tells Xena that he has become a deity and asks her to kill him. Xena and Gabrielle head to Rome, where Caligula is in the courtyard with a dozen or so Elijans, including Eve. She attempts to stab Caligula while she has the chance, only to be stopped by Ares, who explains that Caligula has created a bond with Aphrodite who is giving him a his deity-status. If Xena were to kill Caligula, then Aphrodite would die too. Gabrielle tells Eve to head for the catacombs and wait there with the Elijans. Aphrodite, who has suffered amnesia due to the bond with Caligula does not recognize Xena, Gabrielle, or even her brother Ares. He kisses Aphrodite and she immediately faints, before Caligula implies a burst of energy running through him. Caligula orders his guards to find the Elijan (Eve), before questioning what Xena was doing. Gabrielle quickly interrupts and informs him that she is “Cinda of Thrace” and is the representative of “Sabba” (Xena), a charioteer that would of challenged Caligula to a race, if Ares hadn’t of intervened. Caligula asks Sabba and Cinda to stay for a while and entertain him. Xena tells Gabrielle to try and talk some sense into Aphrodite at the party later, while she goes and talks to Ares in the dungeon. Ares tells her that without the God of War, the Goddess of Love is unbalanced. Caligula took advantage of this and began draining her Goddesshood from her bit by bit. Xena returns to Caligula, where Gabrielle is performing a dance for him. Gabrielle tells Xena that Aphrodite doesn’t recognize them. Caligula realises that Sabba has returned and asks for a chariot race, but she must prove herself worthy first. His request to prove her worth is for her to kill his prisoner – Ares. To delay for time, Gabrielle and Xena improvise a dance, where Xena becomes intimate with Caligula. She bites his lip and makes him draw blood, which scares him and forces him to put Sabba in chains. He asks for a guard to stab him in the arm to prove that he is still an immortal, which makes him baffled towards how Sabba was able to draw his blood. Caligula becomes angry and slaps Aphrodite which also draws her blood, meaning that she is losing her immortality. Sabba lies to Caligula, saying that she is too a Deity – none other than the Celtic Goddess of Sex. She makes up a story to help further convince him, which explains that she heard about Caligula and thought he would make the perfect ally for her. She tells him that her power is the ability to kill Deities and immortals alike. She asks Caligula to leave Aphrodite and join her, as she would make a good friend and prove useful to him, as opposed to a now weak Aphrodite. She asks him to think about her offer and leaves.

When she returns, Caligula was being confronted by Eve, who is trying to spread her message of peace. He attempts to kill her, only to be stopped by Sabba. He tells her that the “Demon with Wings” (Michael) had told him to get rid of her. She convinces him that it would be a waste if he were to kill here there and then, but would prove useful if he were to kill her in front of the peoples of Rome. This way, it would make the people take notice of him and make him be taken seriously so that he could create his own cult of blood. Meanwhile, Michael tries to kill Aphrodite and Gabrielle, just before Xena shows up and stops him. She warns him to stay out of her way and stop trying to force her hand. She puts the pinch on him and asks him why he was trying to intervene and kill Aphrodite, Gabrielle. He explains that he was only trying to kill Aphrodite, not Gabrielle, as Caligula is on his way to becoming Eli’s number one foe. He couldn’t allow Caligula to be a deity and to stop this, he tried to kill Aphrodite to stop Caligula from kissing her one more time and becoming a full Deity. Moments away from allowing Michael to die, Eli strips Xena of her power to kill Deities. Caligula then kisses Aphrodite and becomes a full Deity, which makes her memory return, but makes her become a mortal. Xena and Gabrielle then explain to her what had happened between her and Caligula. Xena returns to the dungeon, where both Ares and Eve are being held captive. Xena explains that Aphrodite is mortal and she no longer has the ability to kill Deities. Eve is angry at Xena for marching over her decision, which prompts Xena to tell her that she would die protecting her, although she must ask her to commit to a painful death to help commence the final part of her plan to kill Caligula, to which Eve seemingly agrees to take part in.

The next day, Xena drags Eve through the courtyard, being witnessed by the peoples of Rome and ties her up. Caligula arrives on the scene and welcomes the citizens to witness the chariot race that celebrates the alliance between him and Sabba – his new queen and empress. He further informs them that whoever wins the race will gain the right to kill Eve, the messenger of Eli. The chariot race commences, during which Caligula shows off his new abilities. Caligula takes the lead for most of the race, but Xena is not far behind. Once the two are neck and neck, the finish line is in sight, where Xena takes the lead, just before the end of the race. Caligula’s cart topples over and is destroyed where Caligula rolls out and finds that Sabba has won the race, earning her the right to kill Eve. Sabba finally reveals her true identity to Caligula (and the Romans). Caligula (who is unaware that Xena has lost the ability to kill Deities) recollects what he knows of Xena – realising that he knows her as the Slayer of Gods. The crowd begins to chant Xena’s name, which angers Caligula and makes him demand their respect. Xena convinces Caligula to kill himself to avoid the humiliation of Xena killing him, which means that Xena does not have to kill him as she is no longer able to. Later, Xena begins to feel guilty towards what she had done to Caligula, claiming that he wasn’t evil, but was damaged.

Nigel and the Golden Apples
Xena and Gabrielle realise the chaos that could happen if Aphrodite and Ares did not have their Divinity returned and so they return to the Norselands in search of Odin’s Golden Apples – food with the ability to transform a mere mortal into a Deity. After weeks of travelling, they finally arrive in the Norselands, where they find Beowulf in a tavern. Xena realises that the once love-stricken Beowulf no longer seems to be in love with Gabrielle. Odin notices that Xena is in the Norselands for the Golden Apples (that are protected by his sister-in-law, Frigga) and convinces himself that she wants them to make herself a Deity. To stop her, he gives his Valkyrie strict orders to keep her away from Valhalla. They confront Xena in the tavern and a fight ensues. Xena quickly defends them off and escapes from the tavern, where she is greeted by Nigel, a modern-day reporter, as well as his crew. He hits them both up for an interview, where he questions why she is in the Norselands, but she is swift with her answers, which makes Nigel become more abrupt with her. Once he begins to remind Xena of her history with Odin and the Valkyrie, she gets angry and leaves with Gabrielle. Nigel continues to interview those known to Xena, such as Charon, Caligula, Odin himself (where he reveals that he believes Xena wants to return Ares to Olympus, so that he can make her his Queen) Ares, Michael, Lucifer, Eve, Gabrielle and Aphrodite. During his interview with Gabrielle, she tries to inform him of Xena’s true reasons for wanting the Golden Apples, but he feels that her feelings for Xena are shielding her from the truth, before she announces that she doesn’t love Xena. Xena then shows up and puts the Pinch on Nigel, where she asks him if he still loves his wife and family, where he is unable to answer. Xena then tells him that it is because everyone is unable to love.

A mysterious and hooded figure then confronts Nigel and tells him that Xena is also trying to put another Deity on Olympus. He is baffled by which one, where she tells him to follow the love. This leads him to Aphrodite, where he quickly interviews her and it becomes apparent that she is trying to return her to Olympus. He takes Aphrodite to Valhalla, where they find Gabrielle and Beowulf waiting for Xena to return from Valhalla with the Golden Apples. The sounds of a fierce battle can be heard from inside the walls of Valhalla, before Xena emerges with the Apples in hand, followed by Odin. She gives one to Ares, whose Godhood returns immediately. He tempts Xena with the Apples, but she refuses to eat them and gives it to Aphrodite. Xena then gives the Apples to Odin and asks him to keep them safe, before Brunhilda arrives and reveals herself to be the mysterious figure that confronted Nigel earlier. Nigel then interviews Brunhilda and Xena, Ares, Eve and finally Xena and Gabrielle one last time. He asks then if they are lovers and Gabrielle tells Xena that she thinks it’s time they revealed the truth behind their relationship. Xena begins to explain, when Nigel’s camera cuts out and Xena isn’t heard.

Return to Jappa
Xena and Gabrielle are confronted by a monk from Jappa, who reveals himself to be sent by Akemi, the deceased protégé of Xena’s. He tells them how he and a fellow monk ran into three ghostly figures in a teahouse, not far from the town of Higuchi. Akemi being one of them secretly allowed him to escape from the teahouse after Yodoshi appears and tries to devour their souls. She asks him to find Xena and ask her to come to Jappa to help stop Yodoshi and Morimoto, the general of his army of twenty-thousand, from slaughtering the innocent people of Higuchi and capturing their souls to torment them. She gives him the Katana and he sets out to find her. Xena, Gabrielle and Kenji immediately set sail for Jappa, which is located just past Chin. On the way, Xena tells Gabrielle the story of how she and Borias first met Akemi.

She tells her about how she rescued Akemi from Kao, her kidnapper, as well as how she fell in love with her. When she tells Gabrielle that she taught Akemi the pinch, Gabrielle becomes very envious, claiming that she has known Xena for years and she is yet to teach it to her properly. Xena’s story is interrupted by the captain telling Xena that he is turning the boat around, as there is nowhere to dock, due to Higuchi being attacked. Xena and Gabrielle jump off the boat and swim to the shore themselves. Upon arrival in Higuchi, they discover that the town is in utter chaos. They witness firebombs being thrown which will eventually burn the town to the ground if they don’t douse the flames. Xena notices a water tower, which s located rather high up. Xena asks Gabrielle what she would do in this situation and so Gabrielle remembers seeing some acrobats in the circus, which prompts to try and copy their act to reach the water tower. During their obstacle course to get to the top, Gabrielle manages to perform Xena’s lengthily signature flip. Once they reach the top, they release the water and the fire ceases to exist. Once Higuchi had been saved, Xena continues telling her story about Akemi. She tells of Akemi’s death and how she asked for her ashes to be placed in her family shrine in Higuchi. Xena is then confronted by a mysterious man named Harukata, accompanied by Kenji. He tells Gabrielle that the last time Xena was there in Higuchi, she killed forty-thousand people. Gabrielle asks Xena what he is talking about, to which Xena seems puzzled, but continues her story. She tells of how she drops Akemi’s ashes and is attacked by men with torches, which is then revealed by Harukata to have started a fire in the town and caused the deaths of 40,000. Kenji then tells Xena that not even the Underworld would accept Yodoshi’s soul, as it was filled with so much evil. After this, he became Lord Yodoshi, the Eater of Souls. He captured and enslaved the souls of Higuchi inside of him, which Xena then feels completely responsible for. Gabrielle tries to convince Xena that it was nothing but a horrible accident, but Xena still feels as if it were her fault and feels liable to put things right. Later that day, Xena and Harukata talk. Harukata, who possesses the ability to kill ghosts so they can escape from Yodoshi, tells Xena that he cannot get close enough to kill Yodoshi as he is a mortal – only the deceased can have a chance of killing him.

Preparing for Yodoshi
The information that Harukata tells Xena does not scare her out of facing Yodoshi. She teaches Gabrielle the pinch, who doesn’t understand why she is doing so, but accepts the lesson anyway. Xena tells Gabrielle to find Kenji and lead a contingent in the opposite direction of where she knows Morimoto’s army is headed, although she doesn’t tell her that she is facing the army on her own, as she knows it will be her final battle whilst alive. Xena heads into the forest in Japanese armour. She buries her old armour and sword (keeping her Chakram), whilst Gabrielle travels into the opposite direction. Gabrielle remembers Xena’s words about listening to what is behind the sounds, which makes her hear the army’s footsteps in Xena’s direction. She is too far behind Xena to catch up, but continues to run to her friend anyway. Meanwhile, Xena hears a heavy cart travelling with the army, which could only be explosives, considering they would not need anything else whilst attacking Higuchi. Xena plans to catch their attention whilst they are on their way to attacking Higuchi, so that she can limit their numbers to an extent which forces them to retreat. She throws her Chakram at the cart of explosives, which causes a large number of soldiers to be taken out. The explosion is so large that the wind of the aftershock affects even Gabrielle, who is quite some distance away. Xena, armed with a crossbow, climbs a fallen tree branch and shoots 12 of Morimoto’s men. She then hears Morimoto’s men arm themselves with bows and arrows, to which she quickly responds and catches two of them speeding towards her. She tries to avoid the flurry of arrows, but is hit by four arrows in the process. The men then attack her. Extremely angry and full of adrenaline, she quickly fights them off, until she is faced with Morimoto and is beheaded by him.

As soon as Gabrielle appears on the scene, she finds Xena’s bloody Chakram, but no body, hinting that something horrible had happened. Xena arrives at the teahouse, where she is greeted by Akemi. The two have a brief talk, before Yodoshi appears. He tortures her for not showing respect by bowing to him and demands it from her. Later, Xena tells Akemi that she is going to destroy Yodoshi. Gabrielle eventually finds Xena at the teahouse, where she tries to give Xena her Chakram back to help her to defeat Yodoshi, which leads her to discover she is dead when she can’t take it from her. She is angry that Xena did not tell her she was planning to be killed to fight Yodoshi. Not long after, Harukata shows up, where Gabrielle warns him not to come near Xena. Xena tells Gabrielle he is working with Xena to defeat Yodoshi and that he isn’t a threat. Xena then grabs Miyuki, the ghost that has the Anklet that calls Yodoshi. She throws her to Harukata, who impales her and sets her soul free. Xena grabs the anklet, which now gives her the power to call up Yodoshi whenever she pleases. Kenji and Harukata tell Gabrielle of a way to ressurect Xena after her fight with Yodoshi, which must be completed before sunset on the following day. She must cremate Xena’s body and sprinkle her ashes into the Fountain of Strength, located atop Mount Fuji. Xena then introduces Akemi to Gabrielle, to which they are both honoured. Akemi gives Gabrielle a large tattoo on her back, which will protect her against the powers of Yodoshi. Gabrielle then says her final goodbyes to Xena and ventures off to the camp of Morimoto and his army, where she hopes to find Xena’s body. She also carries Xena’s Chakram with her. Gabrielle finds Xena’s headless body, which prompts her to fight Morimoto to gain possession of her head. During the fight, Xena’s words echo in Gabrielle’s head and she deflects Morimoto’s attack. She takes Xena’s body away and cremates it.

Back at the teahouse, Xena summons Yodoshi, who asks where Miyuki is. Whilst he is distracted, Harukata attacks him from behind and impales him with the katana that he has blessed with power enough to wound Yodoshi. He throws him out of the way and he drops the katana. Xena catches it and tries to stab him, but he submerges under the water in the pool and freezes it solid. He then appears behind Xena and tackles with her for the katana. He breathes fire at Akemi, who catches alight and so Xena pushes her into the pool. Yodoshi freezes the pool once again, trapping her in the water. Whilst Xena and Yodoshi are still tackling with the katana, Kenji is accidentally killed when he gets too close. Yodoshi eventually wins and grabs the katana from her and kills Harukata. Xena then grabs the katana back and wounds Yodoshi bad enough to force him to retreat. Before Harukata dies, he tells Xena that he is drinking from the Fountain of Strength and is too strong. Xena must also consume some of the waters that flow through the fountain to be in with a chance to defeat him. Meanwhile, Gabrielle arrives at Mount Fuji and is confronted by Morimoto, who is angry at Gabrielle for not killing him when he asked, deeming it disrespectful. He tells her that he will not allow her to revive Xena and attempts to stop her. He knocks the ashes out of her hand and they land on some flat ground above them. Gabrielle hastily retreats to the ashes, followed by Morimoto, who continues to fight her. She knocks him unconscious on the floor, but he falls into the ashes and the roll if the edge of the cliff and into a birds nest. Meanwhile, Yodoshi attempts to drink from the Fountain, before Xena pushes him aside and she attempts to drink first. Yodoshi then freezes the fountain before Xena can drink, which results in Xena blowing back and three icicles of the water from the fountain landing in front of Yodoshi. He consumes the ice and regains his power. He is then attacked by Akemi, of whom he consumes. Gabrielle runs to the fountain and attempts to drink, before Yodoshi blows a fireball at her. The tattoo reflects it and it hits Yodoshi, blowing him back. She carries some of the water over to Xena, who drinks it and is revived, equipped with the katana. Whilst Gabrielle attempts to find Xena’s ashes, Xena and Yodoshi wage a fierce fight against one another. Xena ends the fight killing Yodoshi and beheading him. The souls are then freed and Akemi’s soul thanks Xena for freeing them. Meanwhile, Morimoto confronts Gabrielle once again. She reacts and throws the Chakram at him, realising that she now has the ability to use the Chakram. Xena then finds Gabrielle and stops her from placing the ashes into the Fountain of Strength, as it would condemn the 40,000 souls that she had rescued, meaning that she must stay dead to keep the souls safe. The two the watch the sunset, as Xena disappears and ceases to live.

Other Lives/Future Events
In an alternate reality that was caused by Callisto and the Kronos stone, Hercules was never born, which led to Xena never being redeemed and becoming an evil empress of Greece. Also in this later-corrected reality, it was in fact Callisto that killed her parents Arleia and Pankos.

In another alternate reality created by Julius Caesar, Ceasar and Xena are the emperor and empress of Rome respectively. Alti is the High Priestess of Rome and Gabrielle is a playwright, who eventually becomes aware of the alternate reality and destroys it, reverting events back to their previous state. Joxer is also included in the reality, but as a guard in Caesar’s dungeon.

In a future life (not far from her life as Xena), Xena will walk the way of the Saint in the body of Arminestra, an Indian peacemaker.

In Macedonia, 1942, Xena’s descendant Melinda Pappas helped an archaeologist and unknowing descendant of Gabrielle, Janis Covington, search for the lost Xena Scrolls, the artefacts that were written by Gabrielle herself and contained the depictions of the adventures between Xena and Gabrielle. They were helped by Jack Kleinman, an unknowing descendant of Joxer. They discovered them in the Tomb of Ares, where Xena temporarily took over her descendant’s body, as a result of the Chakram being reconnected. Once the scrolls were retrieved, Jack took them and kept them in his attic, where his grandson later found them and pitched the idea of a television show to Robert Tapert.

In the late 20th/early 21st century, a woman named Annie Day believed herself to be the descendant of Xena and so her boyfriend, Harry O’Casey took her to a past-life counsellor, only to discover that she was in fact a descendant of Joxer’s and Harry was that of Xena’s. The past-life counsellor, Mattie Merill was none other than Gabrielle’s descendant. The manager of the past-life clinic was none other than Ares in disguise. He trapped the three of them with a bomb, which was defused by Harry. Harry and Mattie got together and eventually married, whilst Annie devoted her time to studying Joxer the Mighty. All three of them joined the C.H.A.K.R.A.M., a facility that conducts research in ancient mythology. When they discovered a lost scroll in the Ionian Sea that tells of the events between the time that Xena returns from Siberia, having received the vison of her death and her journey to Potedia. It tells how Gabrielle survived the fall into the lava pit and a wedding between Ares and Xena. During the unveiling of the scroll, Ares showed up and attempted to renew a document that was concealed inside, containing a contract which states that Xena’s soul belongs to him. He switches the spirits of Annie and Harry, causing Annie to be the descendant of Xena and Harry to be the descendant of Joxer. Xena takes over Annie’s body and tricks Ares into destroying the presumably indestructible contract, freeing Xena of Ares’ ever-lasting hold on her soul.

In the year 2001, Alti took the guise of Alexis Los Alamos, a scientist who had constructed a cloning program in hopes of creating clones of Xena and Gabrielle using perfectly preserved hair strands. She asks for the help of Clea (a Gabrielle-orientated fan), Polly (a Xena-orientated fan) and Mac (a Joxer-orientated fan) to create tapes of Xena’s and Gabrielle’s memories to help revive them properly. Alti snuck into the lab one night and fed the Xena clone tapes of Xena’s evil past in hopes of reviving an evil Xena. However, once revived, the Gabrielle clone managed to convince the Xena clone around and she defeated Alti.

Cyrene
Xena's mother blamed her for the death of her youngest child (and Xena's brother), Lyceus, as it was her that taught him to fight and asked him to take part in defending their village against the warlord Cortese. This caused a major rift between Xena and her mother, leading to her complete exile from the village.

After she met Hercules and began to fight for the greater good, she returned home to try and reconcile with her. Reluctant at first, Cyrene rejected her daughter. The warlord Draco (coincidentally Xena's ex-lover) was planning to attack and raid the village. Xena took advantage of the moment and attempted to fight Draco to the death. Seeing with her own eyes that Xena had changed for good, Cyrene made up with her daughter and forgave her for Lyceus's death.

Later, The Furies drove Xena to madness and put multiple bounties on her head, due to Ares' medling. They would stop this if Xena avenged the death of her father, but it is revealed that it is Cyrene that killed him. She says that he'd came home from the temple of Ares, drunk, as well as said that he was going to sacrifice Xena to him. He became violent and in her panic, she grabbed an axe and murdered him. Xena managed to trick the Furies into thinking that Ares himself is her father. Once saved, this prompted Cyrene to explain to Xena about her father. Cyrene began to get emotional and Xena comforted her, showing that they had put the past behind them and began to blossom a strong relationship.

Lyceus
Xena and her beloved brother seemed to be inseperable when they were younger: from mentions and the way their relationship was portrayed in "Remember Nothing", they were very close. They seemed to set themselves challenges, as shown in "Fins, Femmes and Gems", where they were both trying to catch Solaris, the biggest fish in the entire lake.

Lyceuses death, at the hands of the men of Cortese, caused a major rift between Cyrene and Xena. Cyrene claimed that he was the only thing she had left. His death was the catalyst of Xena's isolation from Amphipolis and eventually becoming the Destroyer of Nations. Not only did his death cause Xena and Cyrene to fall out, but also Xena and their older brother Toris to do so. They made up, which depicted Xena convincing him not to kill Cortese.

Solan
Xena's only son, Solan never knew either of his parents. He was born in the middle of the Battle of Corinth, of which had Xena and his father, Borias, fighting eachother, as Borias had sided with the Centaurs. Borias's death led to Xena giving Solan up to the Centaurs to be raised away from the blood and violence.

When Xena first meets her 10-year-old son, he has no clue that she is his mother. He feels a great amount of resentment to her, as he beleives that Xena killed his father. He was always trying to get the upper hand on her and hurt her. He was then captured by Dagnine and rescued by Xena. When he broke his arm during his rescue, he allowed Xena to treat it, the first turning point in their relationship. They had a talk about Borias and Xena explained to him that before he died, he was good man and without him, the Centaur nation would have died out many years ago. Solan then discovers that it was infact Dagnine that killed his father, causing Solan to apologize to Xena for trying to hurt her.

When his protector and acting gaurdian, Kaleipus died, he says that he wants to live with someone that he cares about - Xena. Still not in the knowledge that she is his mother, she accepts. Moments later, Gabrielle's evil daughter Hope (under the orders of Callisto) kills Solan and causes a rift between Xena and Gabrielle. He restores their friendship by taking them through the mystical land of Illusia. He then tells his mother that he loves her and the two embrace.

Xena then discovers that he did not crossover to the other side, so Xena takes it upon herself to take him to the Elisian Fields. He becomes envious of her unborn child, claiming that she doesn't love him anymore because she has a new baby. But Xena convinces him otherwise and it is him who names her Eve.

Eve
Eve was Xena's second child and the second child to grow up without her mother. She was hunted relentlessly by the Olympian Deities, due to a prophecy that her birth would cause them to cease to exist. Xena gained an instant maternal instinct to the child (as any mother would) and protected her against the Deities. It drove her to faking their deaths, to trick the Deities into thinking the prophecy had been shattered. Ares (also beleiving that Xena was dead) took her to an ice tomb and preserved her for 25 years.

When she and Gabrielle awake from this "sleep", they discover that Eve is now "Livia", a ruthless Roman General, who is set to marry Octavius and become the Empress. Xena tries to confront her on several occasions, but a fight breaks out each time and she is unsable to get through to her. Livia/Eve now hates her for making the Romans become disloyal to her and destroying her chances at becoming the empress. In an attempt to save Gabrielle, She kills Joxer, which changes Xena's veiw on her, not caring if she lives or dies. Although, with some help from Eli, Eve realises who she really is and who Xena is. The two reconcile and she apologizes for killing Joxer.

Gabrielle
Xena and Gabrielle have a strong relationship, even to the point which has sparked speculation towards a romantic relationship. They are soul mates and are destined to be together in every life they embark on. Xena has proven to be a huge influence on Gabrielle. She matured from a young farm girl to an acomplished bard and Queen of the Amazons, with guidance from Xena. In return, Gabrielle seemed to influence Xena in the same way. When they first met, Xena was lost and confused as to which path she was following, but Gabrielle seemed to guide her to the right path each time she was tempted to be led astray.

There was quite a bond very early on in the relationship, Xena was willing to travel through a dreamscape and face her own past demons, in order to save Gabrielle, of whom she had known for a matter of weeks (3 episodes). Gabrielle later showed the same commitment to Xena in "The Reckoning". She relentlessly fought for Xena's innocence when Ares framed her for murder, even risking her own life by attempting to be executed with Xena (Although she was sure that the judge would stop her from being executed, nevertheless, it was a risk).

Gabrielle froze up in battle and seeked for answers at home in Potedia. She said to Xena that it was the sort of thing that she needed her family for, obviously not considering Xena family at this early stage in the relationship. When Gabrielle died in "Is There a Doctor in the House?", Xena seemed to be emotionally distraught. After only knowing her for approximately a year, this implied that Gabrielle was the universe to Xena. When Perdicus asked Gabrielle to marry him, she confided in Xena for advice. Xena was more than happy for Gabrielle to marry him. Later on, Gabrielle asks Perdicus, if they have a child, if they can name it Xena.

Xena and Gabrielle took a major blow to their relationship, due to events in Brittania and Chin. Gabrielle became preganant by Dahak, the evil "one" God, as well as gave birth days later to his representative on Earth, Hope. Xena convinced her that the child was evil and forced her to kill it, although Gabrielle secretly saved her. Xena's past came back to haunt her, when Ming T'ien, the son of her former mentor Lao Ma, became the ruler of the Ming Dynasty and was brutal and cruel to the people. Against Gabrielle's wishes, Xena set out to kill him and bring an end to his tyranted rule. With the help of Ares, Gabrielle got ahead of Xena and stopped her from killing him, but this caused her to be sent to prison and put on death's row. Once Xena escaped from inprisonment, she promised Gabrielle that she wouldn't kill him, but did so anyway. Gabrielle's motives for stopping Xena killing Ming T'ien was later revealed in "Forget Me Not" to be soley driven by jealously.

Gabrielle's secret returns to haunt both her and Xena, when Gabrielle discovers that a ten-year-old girl is Hope, under the guise of "Fayla". Gabrielle keeps this quiet from Xena, but this inadvertantly leads to Solan's death and Xena sparks an immeadiate hatred for her. She attempts to kill her, but the two are taken to Illusia by a deceased Solan, which forces them to make up and forgive eachother for their wrong doings to eachother. Xena's secret of killing Ming T'ien is also revealed, but Gabrielle forgives her.

These events brought them much closer together. From here on, the pair were willing to sacrifice and risk nearly anything for one another. Gabrielle went against her path of love and peace to protect an out-of-action Xena "The Ides of March", where she claims that she "chose the way of friendship". Xena even threw herself of off the cliffs of the Heavens and into the pits of Hell, in order to save her. When Xena died "A Friend in Need II", Gabrielle was prepared to sacrifice 40,000 tormented souls to save her, which is completely against her morals and beliefs.

Joxer
Joxer is Xena's and Gabrielle's best friend. At first, he wasn't accepted by them and was seen as more of a dope and an irratant than a friend. Although, they later began to accept him and they grew closer as the series went on. Even though they still found him irratating, they tolerate him. Joxer was the first person to 'die'.

This led to Gabrielle being emotionally distraught and in a state. Xena, on the other hand, was not as upset as Gabrielle. This might be because she has dealt with death and pain longer.

When Joxer was nearly killed in "King Con", Xena showed great anger towards the people that were responsible. She was driven to almost strangling their leader to death, but was stopped by Gabrielle. The way that Xena's feelings were portrayed in this situation implied that she cared a lot more for him then she let on. She later showed this when she entrusted him with the location of the Hind's Blood Dagger and he successfully retrieved for her. He was even willing to get captured so that he could get it to her at the right time. When Joxer made his first kill, Xena consoled him about it. She let him know that she was there for him, if he needed it.

When Ares took Xena and Gabrielle away to the ice caverns, Joxer searched relentlessly for them for years. He even took in Argo and looked after her (and later her daughter) as his own. He created a tavern in memory of them. He told his children inspring stories of Xena, Virgil stating that he'd heard so much about her. When he was killed by Eve, Xena gave up on trying to get through to her.

Joxer is also Xena and Gabrielle's soul mate, as he is with their souls again in a future life, born in the 20th century as Annie Day, later being put into the body of Harry O'Casey. Xena kissed him when she was disguised as Meg.

Hercules
When Hercules first met Xena, he thought she was just another cut throat bandit. She seduced Iolaus to a point where he fell in love with her. This angered Hercules and caused a rift between him and Iolaus. She and Hercules fought several times after this and were far from forming the friendship they have. When Xena saves a baby from being killed by Darphus, she begins a process that leads to her friendship and later love with Hercules.

Hercules has great trust in Xena: he told her where the The Sword of Hephaestus was, in case Prometheus was ever captured by the Deities. He became protective over her and the two were very close friends. He stated that he would rather die than let anything happen to (an unborn) Eve.

Autolycus
Xena first heard about Autolycus from Hercules. Without even knowing him personally, she knew that she could trust him to help her steal back a valuble item. She even trusted him to the point where she inhabited his body (as a soul) to instruct him to steal back her body from the Amazons. He succeeded and she was able to be revived.

The two seemed to be quite close, despite only meeting a few times (that we know of). They were able to predict what each other would say and bounce off of each other in situations. There skills combined made an unstoppable team: they would often join forces (although sometimes unintendedly) to solve hard situations.

As much as he hated to admit it, Xena always bought out the best in him. She recognized his talent and realised his potential, in terms of bluffing, stealing, disguising, etc. She once stated that if his code was to kill, he'd be one of the best. Autolycus was willing to break this code for Xena, when a bounty hunter, Ravenica, was out to take Xena dead or alive. He threatened and warned her to stay away. This would lead to some fans arguing that there was an implied message of love between the two.

Lao Ma
Lao Ma, Xena's mentor, was an understanding and graceful woman, full of compassion and forgiveness - something that the Destroyer of Nations would have never of been able to have understood. Despite this, Lao Ma offered her help to her, after Xena tried to kill her. She allowed her to hide in her chambers whilst Ming Tzu's forces stopped looking for her. She taught her how to channel her anger into telekinetic powers and put her feelings of hatred behind. Lao Ma and Xena had an obvious spark: she managed to turn a ruthless killer into a being of grace, even it was only for a few days. Lao Ma had a great and positive effect on Xena. If it wasn't for Borias, her time spent with Lao Ma would have led to an earlier reformation. An implied romantic relationship was even present. Gabrielle stated that she hated Xena for loving someone else (Lao Ma) and Xena showed the same kind of feelings towards her as she did to Gabrielle, of whom there was also an implied romantic relationship. Xena's feelings towards Lao Ma's were probably stronger than they were for Gabrielle (At that present moment in time), as she was willing to go completely against Gabrielle's wishes and avenge Lao Ma's death and fufill her debt.

Callisto
Callisto's anger and hatred for Xena stems back to the destruction of her village, which resulted in the death of her parents and sister. Callisto felt nothing but resentment towards the warrior princess, butchering innocence and killing women and children in her name. This led to their first meeting, where Callisto steals Xena's Chakram. Xena felt sympathy towards Callisto: she saw a lot of resemblance between Callisto and herself. Xena was also once confused, lost and heartless. However, this relationship suddenly changed when Callisto becomes the catalyst of Solan's death, unravelling events that lead to the climax of the Rift between Xena and Gabrielle. Xena immeadiatly felt pure hate towards her.

Xena and Gabrielle both took a mentally scarring effect on Callisto after she died. She was tormented by figments of them whilst she was in Hell. When Xena and Gabrielle died and were sent to Heaven, Callisto (and fellow Archdemons) intercepted their journey and this led to Gabrielle falling to the Pits of Hell. Xena fought her way into Hell and rescued Gabrielle, but came into combat with Callisto. Callisto claimed that she will never stop hating her, as she is the reason Callisto never had a home and will never be able to love. Feeling sorry for her, Xena swaps places, sending her to Heaven as an Angel and taking her place as an Archdemon. These events lead to a reformed Callisto choosing to be reincarnated as Xena's daughter, Eve. This means that the two will be a part of eachother's lives forever.

Julius Caesar
Xena met Julius Caesar when he was young, but still as smart as ever. She tried to double-cross him, just as he double-crossed her and broke her legs. That event shaped her into the killer she was and she will never forgive him for that. Each time they meet, they are constantly trying to get one over on each other. They would not stop until the other did first, or until they were able to kill one another. Although, the first time they met, Xena seemed as if she had fell in love with him. Although it was a rouge to trick him, she seemed as if she had genuine love for him. Caesar tried to tell her that she looked nice and then tried to kiss her, to which she wasn't interested and blew him off.

She continued to thwart his attempts at making war with Pompey, mostly for personal reasons: saving innocence was an added bonus. Events in "The Ides of March" eventually made him believe that he'd finally got one over on Xena - by crucifying her and Gabrielle. But, he also died moments before announcing himself Emperor.

Not satisfied that Xena was able to be raised from the dead and roam the Earth once again, Caesar's hatred and desire for her, led him to escape from the Underworld and tamper with Xena's and Gabrielle's fate. He created an Alternate Universe, where he tried to have Xena killed once again, but the reality was destroyed by Gabrielle.

Hope
Xena was never convinced of Hope's innocence even when she was a baby, as she realised her origin and reason. Gabrielle was not sympathetic to Xena's view, so she lied to her in saying that she had killed Hope. Gabrielle harboured this secret for months, but it went horribly wrong when Hope returned and killed Xena's son Solan. This is the ultimate factor that led to the Rift in their relationship. Xena struggled to come to terms with the fact that Gabrielle lied to her and what that lie had done, which made it the rift so strong.

After the Rift was resolved, Xena was willing to sacrifice herself to rid the Earth of Hope: Ares deal with the Fates made sure that Xena would die if she were to kill her. Her hatred for Hope even forced Xena to team up with Callisto, of whom helped her get inside the Halls of War. Gabrielle could not allow Xena to die, but knew that Hope had to. She sold Ares her soul, which was the insurance she needed to kill Hope even more. Unaware of this deal with Ares, Xena was convinced that not only Hope died, but so did Gabrielle. When she discovered Hope was alive and Gabrielle, this hatred grew even more, as Xena had been lured into a false confidence that Hope was Gabrielle. But, Gabrielle did in fact survive and and helped Xena kill Hope.

Alti
Alti was the evil shamaness that was relentless in her desire for power. When she first met Xena and Borias, she had been expelled from her Amazon tribe. Borias referred to her as a witch, warning Xena to keep away from her. Xena did not heed Borias's warnings and she led Xena into almost destroying an entire Amazon tribe. This shaped Xena into the Destroyer of Nations, a title given to her by Alti. She then told Xena to retrieve the Ixion Stone for her, which sparked the Battle of Corinth.

When Gabrielle seemingly perished in the Lava Pit, Xena travelled to Siberia and the Amazon Land of the Dead. She discovered that the Amazon Tribe that Xena had wiped out were unable to crossover to the other side, as Alti had trapped their souls and was using them to harness power.

Xena felt it her responsiblity to kill Alti and break the connection between her and the souls. She then showed her a vision of her's and Gabrielle's later death, moments before Xena killed her.

She continued to 'stalk' Xena throughout her adventures, forming an ever growing fued with the Warrior Princess. She even tried to steal an unborn Eve's soul to try and ressurect herself to the surface realm, although was thwarted by Xena. living into the 21st century, Alti had an ever growing hunger for Xena's power, by attempting to clone an evil Xena. Although Xena had no real motive to hate Alti, all things that Alti had done to Xena (Making her destroy an Amazon Tribe, showing Gabrielle the vision of their death, etc.) had built up to strong anatgonistic feelings.

Ares
Ares and Xena's relationship is a very complex one. He knew her after she had split from Borias and was traveling to the Norselands, which was when he himself gave her the Chakram. It had been heavily implied to the point of confirmation that he was her mentor during these times. After she began fighting for the Greater Good, Ares was constantly tempting her away from that path: framing her for murder, impersonating her father and allowing the Furies to drive her insane just to name a few instances. When he realized that there was no changing Xena, he began to respect her path but continued to throw out road blocks despite it.

There has always been a spark of romance, or lust, between the pair, but Ares formally fell in love with her. He admitted this to Xena despite her constantly stating that there was no longer any chance for them. She stated in "Coming Home" that there was a 1/1,000,000,000 chance of them ever being together, to which Ares, in his optimism, replied that those were still good odds. Despite her claims, she also stated in "Amphipolis Under Siege" that she "felt something" during their moments of passion while she manipulated him into saving her village from his sister Athena. His love for her became so strong, however, that he gave up his own godhood to save Eve and Gabrielle in order to allow Xena to kill his own sister, Athena, as well as survive the fight. She killed many of his relatives during the Twilight of the Gods, but his love was still ever strong for her.

It is quite possible that Ares loved her before this point. He asked her to marry him and Agathon claimed that Ares had " always had a thing for the warrior babe".

Even so, Ares still carried his dark side with him when it came to Xena. After the birth of Eve as the "Bringer of the Twilight", Ares attempted to manipulate Xena by using the safety and life of her newborn child to secure a child of his own by her, an offer which Xena actively rejected. Even after emerging from Mt. Etna 25 years later, Ares still attempted to play this card. In a fit of frustration and anger over the bloody path her daughter was making after Ares unwittingly trained Eve to be as violent as the mother he had no idea she had had, Xena told him point-blank that the thought of him made her sick. After this particularly acrid rejection, Ares did not repeat his offer. Ares's last known appearance, was also tinged with manipulation. After walking into a war-mongering operation the newly reinstated God of War had set up to make up for lost time whilst mortal, Xena asks Ares why he seemed to be going out of his way to target her daughter and thus hurt her, who had been captured and sentenced to death by the Amazons. Instead of answering her questions about Eve, Ares instead tells the story "The Scorpion and the Swan", implying that he did give up his godhood for her, he did love her, but he did have to use her to achieve his own ends and he did have to hurt her when they crossed paths, because he was the God of War and that's what he did. Dissatisfied with the most honest Ares had probably ever been with her, she promises to shut down his attempt to start a war and save her daughter, to which Ares acknowledges. In the end, Xena gets her way and Ares applauds her, appearing more pleased by her thwarting him than what his own plans might've been. Where Ares appears to have fairly free access to Xena with relatively little resistance from herself- something that would have been absolutely unheard of prior.

There were some implications of him being her father. once where Ares actually impersonated her father, naming himself "Atrius", and secondly in "The Furies", where Xena lied to the Furies that he was her father. This possibility has stuck with fans, using it as an answer to Xena's immortal abilities. This could still fit regardless of romantic interest, considering that incest was common amongst the Greek Deities (according to mythology). Xena's mother has stated, however, that Xena's father was extremely devoted to the God of War, making him a person Ares would've been familiar with well before Xena's time. It has also been regularly suggested and even outrightly stated by Xena herself, that she was trained and learned some of her deadliest moves from Ares himself. Due to war-devoted warriors running in Xena's family, her own background in actively seeking several forms of personal power, along with the fact that she was trained to fight, even if indirectly, by a deity, this then is perhaps a more fitting explanation for Xena's strength than being a demigoddess.

Argo
Xena's trusted steed and her were very close. She would obey Xena in ways that seemed un-natural for a horse. They seemed to have an unspoken language: a 'psychic connection', to use the term loosely. Xena had trained her to an extreamly high standard, even to the extend where she would respond to whistling. She was always portrayed as being far from the average horse when around Xena. Argo knew Xena very well. In "Intimate Stranger" she had realised that Xena was not who she said she was, even though it was Xena's body.

Borias
Xena's and Borias' relationship is probably best described as lust than love - in the beginning anyway. Their relationship began when Borias cheated on his wife with her. When she found out, he was ostracized form their camp in Hungary and travelled Europe and Asia with Xena. Their lust later led to Xena becoming pregnant with Solan, which in turn led to Borias falling in love with her, but Xena did not love him back. Before he died, he turned out to be quite a loving man at heart: he wanted his son and Xena to be a 'family', but was killed by Dagnine before he could even see his son up close.

This lust that Xena shared probably did contain a spark of love, but not enough for her to feel it. In "Adventures in the Sin Trade II", she said that if Borias was in love, she'd "cut his sweetheart's throat out", implying jealously and a hint of love. But when he said that he was in love with her, she asked if he had lost his mind, claiming that people like him and her do not fall in love.

Years later, when Xena began fighting for the greater good, she realised that he was a good man and felt guilty for not showing him the compassion he deserved from her. There was a lot of respect mixed up in her feelings for him: he went against her, knowing only too well what she was capable of, in order to stand up for what he thought was right and saved the entire Centaur nation from extinction. Xena stated in "Past Imperfect" that if Borias hadn't of died, then maybe Solan wouldn't have either.

Typhuss James Halliwell
In 2359 Xena first met Typhuss James Halliwell. Xena and Typhuss fell in love that day. Later Xena had sex with him under the stars that night. Four weeks later they got married. In 2360 their child Eve was born.