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Xena is a fictional character from the franchise, portrayed by New Zealander actress Lucy Lawless and co-created by Robert Tapert and John Schulian. She first appeared as a villain in the 1995–1999 television series before joining forces with Hercules. Xena was popular with fans, so the producers decided to create a spin-off with the character in the starring role. She later appeared in the of the same name, as well as the spin-off animated film , and non-canon expanded universe material, such as and .
Xena is the protagonist of the story, and the series depicts her on a quest to redeem herself from her dark past by using her formidable fighting skills to help people. She is joined by the bard , and together they go up against ruthless warlords and gods in the ancient mythological world. Xena was raised as the daughter of Cyrene and Atrius in Amphipolis; though the episode "The Furies" raises the possibility that Ares might be Xena's biological father, it is never pursued further. She has two brothers, the younger of whom is dead.
The original choice to play Xena was British actress Vanessa Angel, but she became ill and had to decline the role. Ultimately the role was given to Lawless as she was already a resident of New Zealand. Lawless had several mishaps playing the character due to the stunts (some of which she performed herself), such as getting cut by swords, being struck in the head, and horse-related incidents. In 1996, while rehearsing a sketch for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, she broke her human pelvis when she was thrown from a horse. As a result, several episodes of season two were edited to accommodate her recovery, some were changed so Lawless could appear only briefly, and new episodes were written to highlight Gabrielle and supporting characters.
Bruce Campbell, Rose McIver, Hudson Leick, and Ted Raimi also portrayed Xena in various episodes as a result of "body-swap" plotlines.
The name Xena derives from the ancient Greek ξένος ( xenos), meaning "stranger".
In "Unchained Heart", the two share a brief romantic relationship before Xena decides to leave and start making amends for her past.
Later she acts as the captain of a pirate ship, raiding ships and ransoming hostages. It is during one ransom attempt that she encounters a young Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar. Caesar is an experienced warrior and military commander with grand ambitions. He and Xena have a passionate love affair and plan to join forces. Caesar, however, betrays Xena. Caesar has Xena beaten and crucified (with her legs broken) on a beach to die of exposure, but she is saved by an Egyptian slave girl named M'Lila. M'Lila had originally stowed away on Xena's ship and subsequently befriends her and teaches Xena how to use pressure points. After saving Xena, M'Lila takes her to a healer who treats her injuries. While the healer is treating Xena, Roman soldiers burst in and try to kill Xena, but M'Lila shields Xena, takes a fatal shot from a crossbow and dies in Xena's arms.
This event drives Xena to the side of evil completely. Despite her injuries, she kills the soldiers but warns the last one before he dies, "Tell Hades to prepare himself; a new Xena is born tonight."
Borias betrays Xena, leading to Xena running for her life and being hunted. While on the run, Xena meets Lao Ma, a woman with special abilities. She scares away the hounds chasing Xena with just a look and can move like a martial artist which awes Xena. Lao Ma cares for Xena, and under her friend's guidance, she learns to put aside much of her hatred and pain. Lao Ma heals Xena's crippled legs and it is implied that she teaches Xena fighting moves she had not yet developed. Lao Ma gives Xena the metaphorical title "Warrior Princess", intending that she be a major catalyst for change in the land.
Borias and Xena reconcile and renew their alliance, only to break it a final time and split their forces between them, with Xena proving the stronger of the two. Borias is killed in the ensuing battle, and Xena gives the newborn Solan to the centaurs to raise.
Gabrielle follows Xena in a quest to persuade Xena to let her be her traveling companion. Xena returns to her hometown, Amphipolis, and eventually reconciles with her mother, Cyrene. She also visits the grave of her brother Lyceus. When Xena privately confides with Lyceus that it is difficult to be alone, Gabrielle—who is silently standing in the doorway of the crypt—tells her, "You're not alone." Soon, Xena agrees to allow Gabrielle to travel with her. Over time, Gabrielle becomes Xena's dearest friend.
The instances where Xena and Gabrielle almost part ways tend to result from the outside manipulations of others. After Gabrielle's demonic daughter Hope kills Xena's son, Gabrielle, consumed with grief, journeys to stay with the Amazons. Xena locates her and tries to kill Gabrielle by throwing her over a cliff while she is in a weakened state. Xena fails and both women reconcile with the help of Solan's spirit. Solan creates the land of Illusia wherein, through music, both women express their grief and anger at each other and the traumas they have endured. Xena confesses that she did indeed kill Ming T'ien because he killed his mother Lao Ma. Xena admits to Solan that she is his mother and asks his forgiveness.
Xena arrives too late to save her mentor and friend Lao Ma from being tortured to death by her own son, the emperor Ming T'ien and is crushed with the loss. Finally, she and Gabrielle are crucified by the Romans on the Ides of March by her former lover Caesar. Caesar himself is betrayed and killed by Brutus. They are later revived by a mystic named Eli, along with the spiritual aid of Callisto, who became a demon and then an angel after Xena killed her.
During that time, Eve is adopted by the Roman nobleman Augustus Caesar. She grows up to become Livia, the Champion of Rome and a ruthless persecutor of Eli's followers. In a sense she has become a reincarnation of Callisto. Eve's ruthless behavior may be due to the influence of Callisto's soul, but this is unclear, particularly since Callisto was purged of all the evil within her when she became an angel. After her return, Xena is able to turn Livia to repentance, and Livia takes back the name Eve and becomes the Messenger of Eli. After Eve's cleansing by baptism, Xena is granted the power to kill gods as long as her daughter lives. In a final confrontation, the Twilight comes to pass when Xena kills most of the gods to save her daughter, with the help of God and Archangel Michael, and is herself saved by Ares when he gives up his immortality to heal the badly injured and dying Eve and Gabrielle. Xena later helps Ares regain his godhood, though he does become an adversary for Xena again and in modern day as well.
Xena's signature weapon is the
Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) – MAN AT ARMS: REFORGED Xena can skillfully deflect the chakram off the surfaces it strikes, allowing her to hit multiple targets in one throw. She can deflect the chakram back towards her, allowing her to catch it. Besides being a formidable weapon, the chakram has other uses such as distracting enemies or quickly cutting distant ropes. After breaking in half, Xena reforged her chakram with diameter "handles", called the "Yin-Yang" chakram. These were utilized as daggers, could split in two mid-flight to strike multiple different targets, and allowed for "boomerang" flight capabilities. Along with her sword and chakram, she has also shown great proficiency with other weapons such as staves, daggers, and whips.
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Xena is a formidable tactician, inspirational leader, and strategic thinker. She has the ability to analyze her enemy's tactics and effectively formulate a response. In responding to her enemies' attacks, she demonstrates creativity and ingenuity; at times, she has worked with little or no resources and limited time. Xena is well versed in military tactics such as forming a defensive perimeter, building defensive fortifications, organizing and leading troops, and cutting an enemy's supply lines. She also repeatedly demonstrates a talent for disguises, infiltration, and cryptography.
Although the majority of her skills are martial and mental, Xena does have some supernatural abilities. On three occasions, she used telekinesis and energy projection thanks to Lao Ma's teachings. Xena also once possessed the power to kill gods through her daughter, Eve. Outside of these specific powers, Xena knows the rudiments of most other forms of magic, enough that she can effectively battle or outwit magic-wielding opponents.
Xena is a Player character in the videogames , and a selectable character in . In 1999, Lucy Lawless also appeared in the animated television show The Simpsons as Xena during the Treehouse of Horror X. In the video game League of Legends, the character Sivir has a skin titled "Warrior Princess" that resembles Xena.
A statue of Xena made an appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, confirmed by the film's director Sam Raimi. However, the statue did not indicate any bigger relation to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and only served as a fun easter egg with no narrative subtext.
A subject of much interest and debate among viewers is the question of whether Xena and Gabrielle are lovers. The issue is left deliberately ambiguous by the writers during most of the show. Jokes, innuendo, and other subtle evidence of a romantic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle are referred to as "lesbian subtext" or simply "subtext" by fans. The issue of the true nature of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship caused intense shipping debates in the fandom, which turned especially impassioned due to spillover from real-life debates about same-sex sexuality and gay rights.
In a 2003 interview with Lesbian News magazine, Lawless stated that after the series finale, she had come to believe that Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was "Gay. Definitely... There was always a 'Well, she might be or she might not be,' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, that cemented it for me. Now it wasn't just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was 'Nope, they're married, man'."
The Xena fandom also popularized the term Femslash (from "alternative fiction") to refer to same-sex romantic fan fiction.Lo, Malinda. (4 January 2006) Fan Fiction Comes Out of the Closet AfterEllen.com. Accessed 19 July 2007..
Inspired by episodes that featured Xena and Gabrielle sharing past lives or living in alternate timelines, Xena fanfiction writers created an original new genre known as Uberfic.
She was ranked No. 3 in AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters.
Xena has been credited by many, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, with blazing the trail for a new generation of female action heroes such as Buffy, Max of Dark Angel, Sydney Bristow of Alias, and Beatrix Kiddo a.k.a. the Bride in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. The director Quentin Tarantino is also a fan of Xena. After serving as Lucy Lawless' stunt double on Xena, stunt woman Zoë E. Bell was recruited to be Uma Thurman's stunt double in Tarantino's Kill Bill. By helping to pave the way for female action heroes in television and film, Xena also strengthened the stunt woman profession.See the documentary Double Dare (Amanda Micheli, director. 2005) for more information on the role of Xena in fostering the female superhero character and the stunt woman, both of which are traditionally male categories. David Eick, one of the co-developers of Xena, was the executive producer of Battlestar Galactica, which also features strong female characters and Lucy Lawless in a recurring role.
In 2005, the team that discovered the dwarf planet nicknamed it "Xena" in honor of the TV character. On 1 October 2005, the team announced that had a moon, which they had nicknamed "Gabrielle". The objects were officially named Eris and Dysnomia by the International Astronomical Union on 13 September 2006. Although the official names have legitimate roots in Greek mythology, "Dysnomia" is also a synonym to the word "anomia", which means "lawlessness" in Greek, perpetuating the link with Lucy Lawless.
In 2006, Lucy Lawless donated her personal Xena costume to the Museum of American History. Page 44: "Lucy Lawless, star of Xena: Warrior Princess, which aired from 1995–2001, has given her signature costume to the Museum of American History." In an interview the same year with Smithsonian, she was asked the question "Was the Warrior Princess outfit comfortable?" and she responded:
In 2004, Xena was listed at number 100 in Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.
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