How Xena changed throughout the entire Warrior Princess show (35 photos)

It took Xena no less than 134 episodes to achieve redemption. The path to it was thorny and throughout the series the mother of warriors underwent various metamorphoses: she was a Valkyrie, a Hestian priestess, a saint, a demon and many others.





You can lose count of how many reincarnations Xena has had over the course of 6 seasons. We will remember the most important events and appearances in which the heroine had a chance to visit.

How it all began



The episodes "Challenge" and "Unchained Hearts", which concluded the first season of the show with Kevin Sorbo, became the starting point for the creation of a spin-off about the Warrior Princess. Xena was forced to think about changing her activities by the actions of one of the commanders of her army, Darfus, who rebelled against the warrior. Banished by her brothers in arms, Xena meets Hercules, who gives her the idea that it is never too late to change, which reinforces her desire to get rid of her dark past and start life with a clean slate. Following this goal, the warrior queen returns to her homeland in Amphipolis. Actually, this is how the first season of the spin-off begins, which will later become a more successful series than “The Amazing Journeys of Hercules.”

On her way to Amphipolis, Xena encounters Draco's bandits harassing civilians. The decision to get rid of the armor and weapons and start a life without war is annulled, and Xena enters into battle with the thugs to help the peasants. One of those whom the warrior saved from Dreyko’s robbers was the young and dreamy Gabrielle. Admiring Xena's bravery, the girl follows her to Amphipolis to learn how to defend and defend. This is how Xena gets a companion. And by taking on the responsibility of helping the innocent, the warrior princess's journey of redemption begins.

First reincarnation





In the episode "Princess...Warrior", Xena temporarily takes the place of Diana, a princess who resembles a warrior like two peas in a pod. Of course, this is a change of role, and not a complete reincarnation, but still. In the episode “Xena... princess... tramp” we meet Meg, and it’s still the same story - a change of role. This will happen in the episode about the priestess of the virgins Leia, played by Lucy Lawless. Besides Xena, there are three characters played by Lucy in the series: Diana, Leia and Meg. We've sorted this out, let's move on to something more interesting and important.



Xena's first significant change was her transformation into her enemy, Callisto. Enlisting the support of Ares, Callisto escapes from Tartarus by switching bodies with Xena. Gabrielle is forced to get used to her friend's new appearance, because she has to see the face of her lover's killer. Luckily for her, Xena spent only two episodes in Callisto's body.

The appearance of Dahak and Nadezhda Gabriel



In the third season episode "The Messenger", Xena and Gabrielle meet Craftstar, played by Marton Csokas, who played Lord Belach in the series and Xena's former love, Solan Borjas's father. He is looking for comrades to oppose Caesar, one of the sworn enemies of the warrior princess. Based on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Xena decides to help Craftstar in the fight against the Roman. Unity in opposing Caesar is not enough, and Craftstar begins to influence Gabrielle. He impresses her with his stories about the one God, the God of light, whom he worships. Tired of eternal battles, Gabrielle listens to every word of the handsome man. Love and kindness all over the world is too good to be true. But Gabby decides to trust Craftstar, which subsequently leads her to the sacrificial altar of Dahak, where she becomes a vessel for the child of the God of Evil.



After some time, Gabrielle had a daughter, whom she named Nadezhda. Xena tries to convince her friend that this is not an innocent child, but an evil that can destroy the whole world. She suggests that Gabby get rid of Nadezhda in order to ensure that Dahak's path to Earth is closed, and she agrees.



He agrees, changes his mind and saves his daughter’s life by deceiving Xena. Later, the grown-up Nadezhda kills the son of the warrior Solan. Believing that killing his daughter can fix everything, Gabriel injects Nadezhda with poison. Obviously, there was some anger and serious discord between the heroines.s, but they eventually restored their friendship.



It would seem that you can exhale, because the daughter of the God of Evil is no more. But is it possible to get rid of a demigod simply by poison? Nadezhda is reborn and becomes a copy of her mother. She herself became a mother thanks to Ares. Her son is a destroyer. He terrorized the villages until he encountered Xena. Everything ended well, and this time Xena and Gabrielle managed to get rid of Hope and the Destroyer completely.

Reincarnation as an Indian and warrior Krishna



While traveling around India, the heroines meet Eli, the future avatar and founder of the path of love and goodness. Gabrielle discovers her ability to heal, for which the inhabitants of an Indian village call her “Devi” and make a cult of worship out of the girl.



Xena notices changes in her friend's behavior and begins to suspect that Gabby has been possessed by an evil spirit. Eli acts as an exorcist and casts out the demon.



After Gabrielle was freed from the power of an evil spirit, the heroines went through a karmic tunnel and, finding themselves in the future, encountered a new incarnation of Alti, a sorceress who uses blood magic. If you forgot, Alti poisoned the warrior’s life long before she took the path of correction. The new incarnations of Xena and Gabrielle showed them which decisions in the past were best corrected in order to find a calm life in the future. Of course, Alti’s friends coped with Alti’s machinations.



The adventures around India don’t end with the invasion of evil spirits and travel in the future. The Demon King named Indrajit learns about Eli's good mission and that he is successfully gaining followers. To save Eli and Gabrielle, who have been kidnapped by the Demon King, Xena turns to Krishna for help.



Krishna comes to the warrior queen's call and transforms her into a creature with four arms so that she can confront Indrajit. Obviously, against a six-armed demon, two of your own will not be enough. This metamorphosis of Xena is probably the most striking.

Fighting Caesar and becoming a demon



There is no triumvirate: Marcus Crassus and Gnaeus Pompey are dead. Caesar plans to proclaim himself emperor, and Callisto helps him in this. He needs to get rid of the Amazons and, of course, Xena, who always puts a spoke in his wheels. The warrior sees only one way to stop the bloodshed and dictatorship of Caesar - to kill him.



However, Xena does not know that Callisto is on the side of the Roman, who warned the commander about the danger. The heroes fall into a trap; Eli, Joxer and the Amazon Emaris manage to escape.



Xena and Gabrielle were crucified on Caesar's orders, but he never became emperor. Brutus stood in his way of proclamation, you see. How the Senate meeting ended is known from history books.



For reference: Caesar, played by Karl Urban, is the fourth character in the entire series. In addition to the Roman dictator, Urban played Cupid, Cor (primitive man) and the son of a conspirator trying to kill his brother Aicus (in the collage below). Jeremy Callaghan, who plays Pompey, appeared in the episode "Blind Faith", where he played the robber Palemon (collage #2).



Joxer and Emaris remove Xena and Gabrielle from their crucifixes and take them to a secure location, where Eli attempts to bring them back to life using his avatar powers.



While Eli makes attempts, we are shown the struggle between Hell and Heaven. Under the precise guidance of Callisto, Gabrielle's soul is kidnapped and taken to Hell, but the archangels intervene and save her. The warrior princess decides to save Callisto's soul and sacrifices her own to purify it. Having turned into a demon, Xena tries to drag Gabrielle to Hell. The archangels use all their strength and manage to save as you saylinen and the soul of a warrior.



For the cleansing, Callisto thanks Xena in a special way: a magical touch gives birth to a new life in Xena’s womb. After the turmoil on the other side, the souls of the heroines are ready to return to their place and Eli manages to resurrect the warrior and storyteller.



The journey in the afterlife left a mark: Xena's soul was purified, she became a saint and became pregnant. The eventfulness makes my head spin: die and go to heaven, turn into a demon, return to heaven and be resurrected pregnant.

The Olympus Gods' Hunt for Xena and Her Daughter



With the birth of their daughter Xena, the fates foretold the coming of twilight. Zeus and the rest of the Gods of Olympus declared war on the main characters. Hercules had to kill his father to allow Eve to be born. Embittered by the death of their father, the Olympians attacked Amphipolis, Xena's home village, where she hoped to find protection for herself and her daughter. Ares offers to help the warrior princess and confesses his love to her, but everything is in vain. However, the handsome black-haired man prefers to stay on the sidelines rather than participate in the murder of a newborn.



The warrior and the storyteller decide to deceive the gods by faking their death. They drank the tears of Celeste (Death) so that the Olympians would be convinced of their death. Eve was rescued and taken to Rome by Augustus, but Xena and Gabrielle did not return to life. At least not right away. Ares buried them in a cave in ice coffins, where they slept for almost 25 years.



Awakening and a new hunt of the Gods

Good old Joxer helped the heroes realize that they had slept for a quarter of a century. Literally old. They came across an establishment called "Chakram", where they met the aged Joxer and his wife, attention, Meg. Joxer introduced them to his son Virgil and promised to help them find Eve.



In the company of an old friend and Virgil, the heroines visit Rome to find Eve. But upon arriving in the glorious city, they meet Livia, a fierce warrior of Rome. As it turns out, Libya is Eve. Raised by Augustus and trained as a warrior by Ares, Xena's daughter followed her mother's path when she was not standing in the way of redemption.



In an attempt to return her daughter and set her on the right path, Xena reveals a secret and the Gods of Olympus are again preparing to attack their family. After all, if Eve is alive, then the onset of twilight is possible. Before Livia becomes Eve, Joxer will die at her hands, once again proving his devotion to his friends. In order not to look like a coward in the eyes of his son and to help Gabrielle, he rushed with a sword at Livia, but she turned out to be faster than the old man.



Eli, or rather his spirit, helped Eve realize her mistakes and take the path of good, simultaneously rewarding Xena with the strength to kill the Gods. In the final battle with the Olympians, the storyteller and Eve die, but Ares, as proof of his love for Xena, sacrifices immortality to save them.



Eve's path to redemption will be no less thorny than Xena's. She will repeatedly have to answer for the sins of the past. From time to time she will travel with her mother, and while Eve is not around, the warrior and storyteller will help Ares, who has lost his immortality, learn to be a farmer.

Reincarnation as Valkyrie and Xena's death



The final season delighted viewers with the Golden Ring trilogy. It is in these episodes that we see Xena's transformation into Valkyrie. At Beowulf's request, she travels to Scandinavia to fight the monster Grendel and return the ring of Rhine gold. She will have to fight the Valkyries, Odin himself and seek forgiveness from Gringilda, the mother of the monster she will kill. The journey through Scandinavia does not end with the trilogy of the ring. The warrior princess and the storyteller will go there to find golden apples that grant divine power. Thanks to them, the only surviving Olympians Ares and Aphrodite will become gods again.



In the final episodes of the series, the heroines go to Japan. The spirit of Akemi, the warrior's long-dead friend, appears to her and calls for help. Akemi asks to save Higuchi City from the soul eater Yodoshi. Xena and Gabrielle had never encountered forces of this magnitude before: an army of twenty thousand samurai led by a supernatural being.



Akemi explains to Xena that the only way to defeat Yodoshi is by becoming a ghost. The warrior hides this detail from Gabrielle, anticipating her excuses. Not with the goal of putting up serious resistance, but with the intention of dying and turning into a ghost, Xena single-handedly ambushes the approaching army.



After her tragic death, the ghost of the warrior princess appears to the storyteller and calms her down, explaining that if she burns Xena's body, then by pouring the ashes into the fountain of life, the warrior will be reborn.



While Xena's ghost fought Yodoshi, Gabby tried to get to the fountain of life. The obligatory condition was to pour the ashes into it before sunset. Xena managed to defeat the enemy and free thousands of souls who were doomed to wander forever. However, she hid from her friend the fact that if the ghost that defeated Yodoshi was resurrected, the liberated souls would not find peace.



In the final seconds of the final episode, we see Xena and Gabrielle on the ship, making plans for their upcoming voyages. In Gabrielle's hands is the urn with Xena's ashes, the ghost of the warrior is next to her best friend, as it always has been.