Xena: Warrior Princess/Characters


Characters from Xena: Warrior Princess include:

Xena and her friends

Xena (Lucy Lawless)

Former warlord turned wandering hero. Born on Amphipolis, she is a Thracian, people who shared many cultural traits with the greeks but are considered foreigners. Of course, that is the least of her problems: Xena has killed so many people directly or indirectly that pretty much every corner she turns around she meets someone with a grudge. And this is the world of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: the gods are petty, cruel, and in the case of Ares, obsessed with making Xena break her newfound code of morality and turn into a warlord again.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • The Ace: Xena can outfight anyone she comes up against, even when she's sick, (or crazy), and the fact that she can outsmart gods makes her a bigger Guile Hero than Gabrielle.
  • Action Girl: Xena is pretty much the person every modern viewer (except perhaps Buffy fans, who have never seen an episode of Xena) thinks of when they think of an Action Girl, to the point it's almost surprising (and dissapointing) she was never the Trope Namer.
  • Annoying Arrows: In the Finale.
  • The Atoner: The overarching theme of the series is she trying to make up for the hundreds of mistakes she made, minor to major, that had alienated her of almost every human being she has ever known by the time Hercules convinced her she could still atone.
  • Badass: Being on the wrong way of her chakram is almost a sure path to Tartarus unless you're a god. And then she gains the ability to kill the gods. If she wants to kill you, you're dead.
  • Badass Normal: She is no demigod or even a close descendant of a demigod. She just happens to be incredibly talented in fighting people that even the gods fear crossing her way.
  • Booze Flamethrower: One of Xena's favorite moves.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Dark-haired, wear dark clothes, but innocent people have nothing to fear from her.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The Finale.
  • The Gump: Sometimes.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: How Xena first became a warlord.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: This is Lucy Lawless of course...
  • Hot Mom: Considering Solan seems to be old as his actor, she must be in her mid-30s, and still pretty in shape. Of course, Lucy Lawless was only 27 when the series started.
  • Kiai: Which is very out of place in a Greek setting to say the least. Later seasons explain she was actually trained on China to justify it. Callisto is the only one other warrior around doing it, apparently to imitate her.
  • Mama Bear: Hurting her son or threatening to is one of the few things that can put her over the edge again. If Solan hadn't tried to reconcile her with Gabrielle, it would be pretty much a given they would never become friends again.
  • Meaningful Name: Xena means "female stranger" in ancient Greek. She is from Thrace, a land to the north of Greece, so she is a stranger even in the primary Greek setting of the series.
  • Our Hero Is Dead: A few times...
  • Rousseau Was Right: Though once a brutal warlord, she only raised an army in the first place to protect her home village from raiders. The death of her brother and then Caesar's betrayal helped push her over the edge.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Xena, of course, is a tall bit of sexy.
  • Weapon of Choice: Her Chakram.
  • Whip It Good: Her secondary weapon, mostly used as a grappling tool than anything else.

Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor)

Xena's best friend, sidekick and chronicler.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Joxer the Mighty (Ted Raimi)

Harmless Villain turned Heroic Wannabe, Joxer is one of Xena and Gabrielle's best and most trusted friends. Not is much explained of his early life aside of his family being on the warlord business, something Joxer hilariously fails at being.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Actor Allusion: Done pretty often with Ted Raimi, usually to poke fun at him for being the Executive Producer's brother.
  • Butt Monkey: Up to Eleven. Xena once killed him because she was annoyed(there was a time loop happening and she knew he would be okay the next day, but still). He gets constantly beaten up by villains and heroes alike, and gods like to humiliate him for fun or manipulate him like a puppet in their zanier schemes in more light-hearted episodes.
  • Comic Relief
  • Dogged Nice Guy: To Gabrielle.
  • Killed Off for Real
  • Miles Gloriosus
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Averted. He stays around in mostly serious situations, though he tries to stay out of trouble or tries to de-escalate conflicts when he realises the danger involved. It's played straight when he finally bites the dust for real in the final season: all the cheeriness is gone and the show stays a serious drama to the end, aside from one flash-forward episode in the future, where his spirit appears anyway.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: After several seasons of almost nonstop humiliation, the final one reveals he married Meg, one of Xena's lookalikes, and had a son with her. He bites the dust soon after Xena and Gabrielle met him, but there was no doubt he lived a happy life.

Eve/Livia (Adrienne Wilkinson)

Xena's daughter chosen to be the new messenger of the god of Love. Her birth heralded the Twilight of the Olympians so Xena faked her and Eve's death. Eve, as Livia, was raised by Octavius to become Rome's most powerful warrior.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Gabrielle: We saved your daughter.
Xena: No. We saved our daughter.


Eli (Timothy Omundson)

Former street magician turned miracle worker, Eli is a devi, a divine healer, and an avatar of a god. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear it's not a hindu God as it initially seems, but a certain jewish one.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • The Chosen One: As a Devi, and an Avatar.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: He is basically Jesus without being Jesus since the Christian archangels work with him: the unkempt beard, the preaching of forgiveness and peace, and the ability to resurrect people. But his "Way of Love" lacks any connection to the actual Jesus, who was established to have been recently born in the earlier seasons, and after the skip would still be too young to start his preaching.
  • Refusal of the Call: He is not happy about being an avatar to a God, to say the least.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Ares killing him does wonders in making his religion even more widespread, surprising the God of War.

Amarice (Jennifer Sky)

A plucky young Amazon introduced near the end of season 4.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Autolycus (Bruce Campbell)

The King of Thieves.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Ephiny

Amazon Queen. Married the centaur Phantes, and is the mother of Xenon.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings)

The Goddess of Love.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She does quite well against Discord.
  • Dumb Blonde: At first, but she shows her true intelligence as the show progesses
  • Jerkass Gods
  • Stripperiffic
  • Token Good Teammate: The only Olympian to side with Xena for unselfish reasons.
    • Your Mileage May Vary on that one; she helped Xena to save Gabrielle, whom she considered her friend, and gave almost ‘’no’’ assistance to Xena or Eve, aside from watching a critically injured Gabrielle, and taking them to Olympus.


Borias

Warlord with whom Xena rode prior to her first appearance in Hercules. Father of their son Solan

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Villains

Ares (Kevin Smith)

The God of War, the son of Zeus and Hera. He met Xena in the past and inspired her to become a conqueror, though she was not the first or the last person he made into a warlord. Disappointed with her turning to (relative) pacifism, he is always trying to push her back to the dark side. He also hates Hercules for his pacifist ways and for having convinced Xena she could still turn things around and proceeds to try to kill him or ruin his life, depending on how he feels the next time he meets him.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Though he is very evil when he wants to, he can't compare himself to Hera or evil gods like Dahak, and eventually Athena. He is also shown to not be that great of a warrior without his powers.
  • Brought Down to Normal: twice
  • The Corrupter: Attempted. A lot. Many of the warlords running around terrorizing people in Greece and surrounding territories were corrupted by him in the first place.
  • Evil Mentor: Prides himself in making Xena what she is.
  • Foregone Conclusion: Thanks to an early episode establishing he was still around in the 1990s, every time he was depowered you knew he was getting his status of God of War back, or that he wasn't going to be indeed Killed Off for Real.
  • Handsome Devil
  • Heel Face Revolving Door: Though never quite good, his strategic mind often made him ally himself with Xena when he saw a bigger threat or avoid doing evil things that for him were obviously stupid and unproductive. And when the current threat goes down, he goes back to try to corrupt Xena, causes more wars, and tries to make Hercules disappear.
  • In Love with Your Carnage: Ares' attraction to Xena during her warlord days and disappointment when she became a hero.
  • Manipulative Bastard
  • Playing with Fire: Often attacked with fireballs.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: He made it to the 20th-21st century.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: The Yang to Aphrodite, his sister in this universe. Though Aphrodite causes trouble in her early appearances, she is nowhere as evil as him, eventually mellows out and becomes actually good, has a great relationship with Hercules, and craves appraisal of human beings. Ares is sadistic and evil, often stern and serious, absolutely hates Hercules, and wants to be feared by humans.

Callisto (Hudson Leick)

Former Xena victim now bent on her destruction. Becomes an angel in season 5 thanks to Xena.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • And I Must Scream: After she dies the first time, Callisto's existence essentially boils down to this. She is so consumed with hate for Xena killing her family that she can't find peace even in death. (In the HTLJ "Surprise" episode, her version of Tartarus is simply her completely alone and screaming in agony.) It gets worse when she realizes there is nothing she can do to Xena to make her feel the same way.
  • Annoying Arrows: Provides the picture for this trope, from "Maternal Instincts".
  • Ax Crazy: To say she is incredibly deranged is somewhat of an euphemism. She kills with glee in her eyes and often tries to torture her victims. And like most sociopaths, she is emotionally empty, aside from her sadism.
  • Big Bad: One of the most recurring villains on the show, and one of the only ones to pose a serious threat to Xena.
  • Blondes Are Evil: She is the most heartless of all villains of the show with the exception of Dahak (and he is a God of Evil, mind you), and her hair is yellow, almost platinum blonde.
  • Create Your Own Villain: Xena killed her family during her days as conqueror.
  • Death Seeker: Up to Eleven; since there is a clearly defined afterlife, she went there and was punished heavily for her crimes by Hades, she says to Hope she wants oblivion because she knows what is waiting for her in Tartarus is not good. But first, she must kill Xena. The reason behind it is that the death of her family made her feel so empty that aside from killing Xena, she has nothing to look forward to in Tartarus, not even pain: her punishment boils down to being put into solitary confinement, where she has nothing to do except think about what she did.
  • The Dragon: First to Hope, then Mephistopheles.
  • Driven to Madness: The probable reason God eventually made her into an angel; Calisto is so mentally ill that she may as well not be in control of her own actions.
  • The Faceless: Callisto during her first appearance ("The Greater Good").
  • Foe Yay: With Xena
  • The Fool: In "The Bitter Suite" (which was bleeding Tarot imagery) Callisto dresses up like this. Her character certainly embodies the Inverted Fool: she is empty and has nothing to look forward to. However, she also has the normal Fool aspects, thanks to being incredibly lucky and somehow keeps pestering Xena against all odds.
  • Heel Face Turn: In an unusual twist, she only pulls this during her afterlife.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Calisto certainly finds fun in killing and tormenting people, but her episodes are mostly devoid of jokes, and even an All-Loving Hero like Hercules finds it difficult to not think of killing her.
  • Playing with Fire: As a Goddess.
  • Physical God: After eating ambrosia.
  • Reformed but Rejected: When she becomes an angel, Gabrielle finds it difficult, not surprisingly, to treat her well.
  • Screaming Warrior: Apparently into a deliberate attempt to impersonate Xena; however, she keeps doing it long after the gig is up.
  • Woman in White: In “The Ides of March”.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Callisto shows that she would right from the get-go, when she starts committing acts of terrorism in Xena's name.

Xena: I never killed women and children.
Callisto: You do now.

Julius Caesar (Karl Urban)

Exactly who you're thinking when you read that name. Unlike many other threats on the series, he has nothing to do with gods or anything supernatural. He just so happens to be a powerful roman general and politician and that is dangerous enough. The incident where he was being kidnapped by pirates when he was in his twenties is attributed to Xena here, and that is where this Caesar's story begins to diverge from real life (but not that much).

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Brutus: He wouldn't betray a friend.
Xena: Pompey was a friend. And Crassus. Crassus was a friend too. I was once a very good friend of his. But maybe you're different.

  • Foregone Conclusion: Thanks to his ending being a historical fact the series is not willing to change.
  • Glory Seeker: He isn't as much interested in killing but in getting praise and honors for it, and certainly conquering most of the known world for Rome is the fastest way to earn glory in his time.
  • Historical Domain Character
  • Killed Off for Real: Duh.
  • Lima Syndrome: Xena fell in love with him when he was her captive.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: He is loved by the roman public. Of course, they're not on the delivering end of his conquests. Xena and other non-roman mortals see him for what he is: just a warlord that looks cleaner and speaks better.

Valeska (Melinda Clarke)

Amazon who battled Gabrielle to become Queen.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Alti (Claire Stansfield)

Former Amazon turned Shamaness.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Hope (Renee O'Connor)

The evil child of Dahak and Gabrielle.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Gabrielle: Hope… when I gave you that poison-
Hope: It’s okay, Mother, I forgive y-
Gabrielle: –I’m so sorry it didn’t kill you.


Draco (Jay Laga'aia)

A warlord and old friend of Xena’s.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Najara (Kathryn Morris)

A “Joan of Arc” esque character, and warrior zealot. She claims to hear the voices of "Jinn" and believes in reforming her enemies through "The Light".

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Athena (Paris Jefferson)

Goddess of wisdom and war. She took over leadership of the Olympians after Zeus' death.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Bling of War: Her armor is solid gold, and her warriors dress in silver.
  • Face Heel Turn: Before she took over the Olympians and started pursuing Xena, Athena was the only Olympian Xena actually admired.
    • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's every bit as vicious as Ares and the season 5 finale showed her true prejudice against humans.

"I will not be dictated to by a mortal!"

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