Aphrodite

"I thought you guys were extinct!"

- Aphrodite on virgins, in "Many Happy Returns" Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, lust and beauty is a reccuring character on Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. First portrayed as being spiteful and selfish, and very immature at times, as shown with her feuds with Discord and her son, Cupid, she does however mature as the series progresses. She becomes close friends with Gabrielle and grows fond of Xena. She also shows a bond with her brothers, Ares and Hercules.

But as her character is deepened, we learn that she has a soft spot for people and cares for others. For example, her clear respect and love for her brother, Ares and her friendship with Gabrielle. She even stood up against Athena to protect Gabrielle, during the Twilight of the Gods. Though she seemed to honestly fear Eve and the Twilight.

When it comes to Hercules, she treats him as the protective older brother and was close to him often talking or helping him, unlike some of the other Olympians, even calling him "Big Bro".

Her and Ares' connection deepens in Season 6 of Xena, when Aphrodite literally goes insane, when Ares looses his godhood as War and Love balance eachother out. The then Roman emperor, Caligula uses this to his advantage by sucking the godhood and sanity out of her, literally. After the defeat of Caligula, Aphrodite becomes mortal just like her brother though Xena soons helps them regain godhood.

Aphrodite was played by Alexandra Tydings.

Story
As in the myth of her birth, Aphrodite first appears rising out of the sea in a giant seashell. As a joke, she then uses the seashell to go windsurfing.

Before her marriage to Hephaestus she is portrayed as being a bit promiscuous; she steals a boyfriend away from Hera and because of that Hera places a curse on her son Cupid. Cupid falls in love with a girl named Psyche, who is said to be more beautiful than Aphrodite, which makes her extremely jealous. Out of jealousy, Aphrodite tries to shoot a love arrow at Psyche, but Cupid tries to stop her. This only makes things worse when Hercules is accidentally hit and falls in love with Psyche. Thanks to Hera's curse, Cupid literally turns into a green-eyed monster with jealousy at the thought of losing Psyche. The curse is eventually lifted when the truth comes, after he confesses his love for Psyche and she marries him. Aphrodite gives Psyche Ambrosia to make her a goddess to make amends, since she is the one who started the mess. Although she soon realizes she is now a mother-in-law, which does not make her very happy. She becomes a grandmother later on when Psyche and Cupid have a son, Bliss.

On Hercules, Aphrodite is usually the comic relief or the viewers' window into the politics of Mount Olympus. Though she is originally introduced as a scheming goddess, devious and almost as uncaring as Ares, she quickly evolves into a more benevolent fun-loving character, though still prone to mood-swings. She is also the only member of his Olympian family apart from Zeus Hercules seems to have any sort of close relationship with (in one episode he refers to her as his favorite little sister, and is somewhat close to her son Cupid who refers to him as "Uncle Herc"), despite the trouble she seems to cause him.

Aphrodite determines to break up a royal family marriage that will end a war, only because the newly allied kingdoms plan to destroy her temples. As her son Cupid explains to Gabrielle, "When the Goddess of Love decides to do something petty and spiteful, she can be a tad difficult to reason with." She later develops a friendship with Gabrielle and tries to save her during the massacre of the Olympian Gods.

Aphrodite becomes one of the survivors of the Twilight of the Olympian Gods, organized by Xena when the gods, under Athena's flag, join together to kill Eve. Aphrodite remains unconvinced that Eve will willingly destroy the gods, to the point where she sneaks Xena and Gabrielle into Olympus itself. After the Twilight of the Gods, Aphrodite becomes mentally unbalanced due to Ares losing his powers; Love must be balanced by War. Her powers are stolen by Caligula, whom Xena tricks into killing himself. Xena helps restore Aphrodite's and Ares's powers with the golden apples she stole from the Norse Gods, thereby restoring balance to the universe.

This means that Aphrodite is one of the Olympians to survive the events of the show. Since episodes of both Hercules and Xena set in the modern day show that Ares and Hercules continue their rivalry, it is likely the immortal Aphrodite also survives to the present day of the series universe.

Trivia

 * Alexandra Tydings has short brunette hair. She was surprised and gratified to be cast as Aphrodite in spite of her brown locks, but then they showed her the wig she would be wearing.