Gabrielle

"You've got to take me with you - teach me everything you know."

- Gabrielle to Xena, in "Sins of the Past" Gabrielle, the Battling Bard of Potidaea and Queen of the Telaquire Amazons is one of the main characters on Xena: Warrior Princess and a recurring character on. She is the soulmate of Xena the Warrior Princess. Accompanying Xena on her journey to find redemption, fighting for good, as she chronicled the adventures that they had.

When we first meet Gabrielle, she was a naive and young farm girl. She wanted adventure and found it in the form of Xena, a highly skilled warrior and recently reformed warlord. The two travel together and develop a close bond and friendship, with strong hints of a more romantic relationship. Gabrielle matured from mere villiager to highly skilled Amazon Queen throughout the run of the series, although her life between these times was filled with many pivotal events; Gaining her Rite of Caste by protecting an Amazon Princess, the death of her husband at the hands of Callisto, the spontaneous birth of her daughter, Hope, who was fathered by the one Evil God, Dahak and her two deaths - Once at the hands of the Romans, but revived by Eli and secondly at the hands of Xena, but revived by Ares.

She is played by Renee O`Connor.

First Meeting Xena
When Gabrielle first meets Xena, she is a farm girl living in the village of Potidaea. Gabrielle insists on following an initially reluctant Xena on the road. The two women soon develop a strong bond of love and friendship. Over the six years of the series, Gabrielle evolves from a naive, idealistic teenager into a fully fledged, but deeply conflicted warrior fighting alongside Xena.

The Amazons
Gabrielle becomes an Amazon when she risks her life to defend a mortally wounded Amazon Princess during an ambush. Before she dies, the Princess Terreis passes her "right of caste" to Gabrielle, so Gabrielle inherits her rank as princess of the Amazons. This makes Gabrielle the heiress presumptive to the Amazon Queen, Melosa. Melosa's adopted daughter Velasca becomes a rival for the position of Queen of the Amazons after Melosa's death, but Velasca's schemes (which include aspirations to godhood) are foiled by Xena and Gabrielle. As Gabrielle wishes to travel with Xena rather than rule the Amazons, she appoints her friend Ephiny to act as Amazon Queen in her place. Gabrielle learns how to fight with a fighting staff from the Amazons. With Xena's encouragement, she develops a philosophy of fighting for the Greater Good without killing. Years later Gabrielle passes her right of caste to the baby Eve, daughter of Xena.

Marriage and Widowhood
About a year after meeting Xena, Gabrielle encounters Perdicas again and decides to marry him. The morning after their wedding, he is murdered by Xena's nemesis, Callisto. Gabrielle's grief and anger tests her ideals of reverence for life, but she nonetheless resists the impulse to kill Callisto. During this period, Gabrielle's strong commitment to peacemaking and compassion often serves as a counterbalance to Xena's warrior nature.

Hope, Chin and 'The Rift'
When helping to defend Britannia against Caesar, Gabrielle comes into contact with an evil cult that tricks her into killing one of its priestesses, Meridian. The loss of Gabrielle's "blood innocence" enables the evil god Dahak to impregnate her. After a pregnancy that lasts only a few days and she gives birth to a girl, Gabrielle believes that even though she was born evil, there is still part good in her from Gabrielle's side and that she was her hope to retain her humanity, naming her Hope. When Hope kills one of the guards, Xena becomes convinced that the baby is simply a vessel for Dahak; Xena then wants to kill Hope. Gabrielle manages to save her daughter by putting her in a basket and sending her downriver - this precipitates a major rift between Xena and Gabrielle, a story arc that spans several episodes and includes Gabrielle betraying Xena by foiling her attempt to assassinate the tyrant Ming T'ien. Gabrielle alerts Ming T'ien to the plan and unintentionally causes Xena to be imprisoned and tortured.

Several months later, Gabrielle finds Hope again, now looking like a nine-year-old, and already in the process of helping her father, Dahak, implement his plan to take over the world. Hope allies herself with Xena's enemy, Callisto. In revenge for Xena's attempt to kill her as a baby, Hope murders Xena's son, Solan. This forces Gabrielle to accept that Hope is indeed evil. She kills her daughter by giving her poison, an act that continues to haunt Gabrielle throughout the series. She holds herself responsible for Solan's death, as well as for betraying Xena a second time, even after reconciliation with Xena is effected through their musical journey in the Land of Illusia. When she once again encounters Hope, who was saved from the funeral pyre by her father, Gabrielle sacrifices herself to save Xena by jumping into a lava pit and taking Hope with her. Gabrielle mysteriously survives the fall, and is later reunited with Xena. It is later revealed that Ares saved Gabrielle, with plans to use her as a bargaining chip against Xena.

Eli, 'The Ultimate Way' and Crucifixion
After her first kill, and the traumatic events with Hope that followed it, Gabrielle temporarily embraces complete pacifism as an alternative to fighting by Xena's side. She and Xena travel barefoot on pilgrimage to India, where they encounter a series of false prophets and gurus, as well as a genuine healer and teacher, Eli. Eli claims to have found enlightenment and Gabrielle becomes interested in his philosophy of non-violence and inner peace, which he calls the Way of Love. Gabrielle attempts to follow Eli's way, and throws away her staff under his influence. However, when Xena is in the midst of a battle with the Romans in an effort to rescue Gabrielle, Eli, and a group of prisoners, Callisto, uses Xena's own chakram against her, breaking her back. Gabrielle chooses to fight to save Xena and even kills some of the soldiers herself. Before their crucifixion, Gabrielle tells Xena that she had chosen "The Way of Friendship".

After her Death
After being crucified, Gabrielle and Xena ascend into Heaven, but are soon ambushed by demons. The demons are able to take Gabrielle to Hell, where she comes face to face with the demonic form of Callisto. Xena and a group of Archangels are able to rescue Gabrielle from Hell before Gabrielle can fall to the darkness. She then learns that Xena has taken Callisto's place in Hell. She eventually forgives Callisto for the murder of Perdicas, and that act of forgiveness grants her the right to join the Archangels in battle. During her fight with the demon-Xena, they are restored to life by Eli. At this time, Gabrielle accepts her new path as a warrior and acquires a pair of sai (a dagger-like weapon with a long blade and twin downward facing curved prongs on the handle), which she carried in her boots. Along with her staff, the sai become a signature weapon thereafter. It is around this time, after adopting the sai, that Gabrielle abandons her philosophy of not killing in battle, and from this point on until the end of the series is shown killing several enemies. Xena's pregnancy, revealed shortly after the duo's return to life, further forces Gabrielle to fight and sometimes protect Xena. On two occasions, the god of war Ares, impressed by Gabrielle's new warrior skills, tries to recruit her to his side, but Gabrielle always resists.

25-Year Sleep & The Twilight of the Gods
Gabrielle and Xena take a sleeping potion to fake their deaths in order to mislead the Gods into believing that Eve is also dead and no longer a threat to them. Ares mistakenly believes they are really dead and inters them in an ice cave. After waking up 25 years later Gabrielle discovers that her parents have been killed by the North African warlord Gurkhan, who has also kidnapped her niece, Sara, for his harem. Around this time, Gabrielle develops a close friendship with Joxer's eldest son Virgil, who shares many of her traits as a bard and warrior. After reuniting with her older sister Lila, Gabriellle learns her parents and Lila's husband were killed while trying to bring back Lila's daughter, Sarah, who was captured by Gurkhan. Gabrielle struggles with the issue of seeking vengeance against Gurkhan, but despite this, she is able to rescue Sarah and the other girls in Gurkhan's palace. Later, Gabrielle is often troubled by her role as a warrior, particularly when she has to lead her Amazon tribe into a high-casualty battle against a superior army, led by the demigod Bellerophon who was the son of Artemis, to rescue a fellow Amazon queen and friend, Varia. Despite the success of the mission, Gabrielle tells Xena, "With each battle, I lose more of myself".

Jappa and aftermath
Xena's quest for redemption ended when she sacrificed her life to right the wrong she had committed many years ago in Japan. Her spirit, however, still very much appears to be with Gabrielle. According to the Darsham, Naima, this is only one of many lives Xena will live throughout the ages, but they all have one thing in common: whatever life awaits her next, it will be spent furthering the cause of good against. It is safely assumed Gabrielle then travels to "the land of the pharoahs" which is in need of "a girl with chakram" with Xena's spirit. This now applies to Gabrielle instead of Xena, for by the end of the last episode, Gabrielle can use the chakram. In a symbolic gesture, she throws the chakram and catches it on its ricochet.

Personailty
Gabrielle is first portrayed as a farm girl stereotype (a version of the maiden archetype) - young, naive, with an ambition to broaden her horizons yet no idea what 'real life' means. This is shown in "Dreamworker", where she desperatly wants to join in a fight, despite lacking any training in combat. She picks up Xena's sword and is ready to attack, but reveals seven episodes later in "Hooves and Harlots" that she doesn't like swords. This shows that she has matured during her short time with Xena and has learned that all answers don't lie at the end of a sword.

She has been shown to be able to talk her way out of almost any situation. An example of this very early on is in "Sins of the Past" when she talks a cyclops out of eating her. This possibly stems form her skills as a bard. She has a love for a writing, penning her travels with Xena wherever they go. She applied for the Athens City Academy for the Performing Bards and was accepted, but chose not to attend, as she realises that her heart is on the road with Xena.

She has the ability to spontaneously imrpovise. She has been shown in many situations to tell stories on the spot, or create a believable lie in an awkward situation. This also probably stems from her bardic skills, having a mental advantage above others in that time, who were usually lacking in the area of literacy.

One aspect that Gabrielle struggled to cope with, was her control over emotions. Whilst she had a lot of morals and a personal view on life, she hadn't dealt with emotional loss during her simple life in Potidaea. She didn't really have to deal with this until the loss of her newlywed, Perdicas. When he was killed by Callisto, she didn't want to mourn him. Instead, she wanted revenge by killing Callisto, which was very out of character for Gabrielle. We begin to see a different side of her as she matures throughout the series. She eventually sustains her control over emotions and this is shown when Joxer is killed. Eve brings his death up in conversation, implying an apology, but Gabrielle interrupts and says that he is at peace.

Gabrielle has also been shown not to bear long-term grudges. An example of this is in "Forgiven". When Tara beats her up, she says to Xena: ''"Why don't you use your Chakram... To slice some of her ear off". ''Gabrielle forgives Tara countless times throughout the episode, but Tara keeps being childish and nasty towards her. Despite what she does to her, Gabrielle forgives her. Tihs shows the amont of maturity she has towards situations.

Gabrielle's bardic skills appear to be natural and self-taught. In the opening episode, she displays a remarkable ability to talk her way out of fearsome or difficult situations: she talks a cyclops out of eating her, and makes an ally of him; talks an old man into giving her a lift; talks a violent crowd out of killing Xena; and talks her way into joining Xena as her traveling partner.

Besides her persuasive ability, she also reads and writes - rare skills for that time, loves to tell stories, and has some musical ability. As she travels with Xena, she records their adventures on a series of scrolls, with an eye for flair and drama. Occasionally her tendency to exaggerate and glamorize the facts gets her into trouble, She is also shown telling stories for money in an inn. In other episodes, she wins a place in the Athens City Academy for the Performing Bards.

Another unique ability is briefly mentioned in the first episode - the gift of prophecy. This ability is left largely unexploited in the series, although in "One Against an Army", Gabrielle dreams that Xena is killed by a soldier who enters through the roof with a double-edged sword and warns her about this. When the battle between Xena and the Persians commences, she is aware of the soldier and stops him.

"Sins of the Past" to "Hooves and Harlots"
Gabrielle's first costume is a tatty villiagers costume. It consists of a blue cardigan with a white shirt underneath (Although, the blue cardigan is sometimes not worn) and brown skirt.


 * Note: In "Death in Chains", she wears the Amazonian gear she recieves in the next episode, "Hooves and Harlots". This is because "Hooves and Harlots" was supposed to air first.

"The Black Wolf" to "Is There a Doctor in the House?"
The costume that Gabrielle wore for the last half of Season One is more of an alternate version of the Amazonian garments she recieves in "Hooves and Harlots". She wears a skirt that is almost identical to the one with the first costume, apart form a slight colour change. On her upper torso, she wears a mainly red 'sports size' shirt with a blue and black trim. This costume seems to give Gabrielle more flexability and allows for more movement, possibly to coincide with gaining a weapon and being able to initiate into battle.

"Orphan of War" to "Been There, Done That"
This costume is known as the "Billous Green Sports Bra", or the "BGSB" for short. It is mainly green in colour and has diasmond shaped patters woven into the cotton. Again, she has a brown mini skirt, but less tatty and with a patterned belt around the top.

"The Dirty Half Dozen" to "Devi"
"It's very strange. In every story you tell me, this thing I'm wearing gets smaller. Is it enchanted?"

- Gabrielle to Joxer, in "Forget Me Not"

This costume is an alternate version of the previous one. It is almost identical (oftenly mistaken to not have changed at all) but the BGSB has shrunk in size and is more lighter in colour.



"Between the Lines" to "The Ides of March"
Gabrielle now wears a costume that is yellow in colour and looks as if it is a religious type of clothing. Her shirt is about the same size as the BGSB and her skirt is now completely different. She seems to have a light red material around the top of her legs and a yellow rag that ties in a knot around it. She is almost all the time bare footed whilst wearing this costume (Rarely seen with sandals). She also has various Henna tattoos, which make thier final appearance in "Endgame".

"Chakram" to "The Haunting of Apmhipolis"
Gabrielle's costume is now brown in colour and more 'Warrior-Like'. It looks like it is from African decent, judging by the patterning. She wears silver gauntlets and has two leather straps at the top of her arms. Her upper torso has a brown sports bra, with multicoloured patterning. It has small beaded strings hanging from the base of it. She also wears brown shorts and a leather belt that matches the upper torso. Her boots have leather straps coiled around them, which is wear she keeps her Sais.

"Heart of Darkness" to "A Friend in Need II"
This costume is almost identical to the previous one, but is more darker, giving it a red colour. The shirt and shorts are both shorter and there is no leather belt. Instead, she has a silver and black belt.

Characterization
Despite Gabrielle's ascendancy as a warrior, her role as a bard remains important. About a year into her travels with Xena, her scrolls about Xena's exploits begin to gain popularity, apparently helping, according to Ares, turn Xena into a legend. After their 25-year sleep, Gabrielle finds out that her stories had been read as far away as North Africa where they were popular among nomad tribes. According to two episodes set in modern times, Gabrielle's scrolls were preserved for thousands of years. One set of scrolls was discovered by archeologists. They found their way to Hollywood, where they formed the basis of the television series. Another scroll was discovered by treasure hunters and purported to prove a marriage between Ares and Xena. The episode featured the modern reincarnations of Gabrielle, Xena Joxer and Ares.

Mentions and References

 * 1) "The Xena Scrolls (Mentioned) (See Janice Covington)
 * 2) "Adventures in the Sin Trade I" (Mentioned, Archive Footage, Cameo)
 * 3) "Adventures in the Sin Trade II" (Mentioned, Cameo)
 * 4) "Deja Vu All Over Again" (Mentioned, Archive Footage) (See Mattie Merrill)
 * 5) "Send in the Clones" (Mentioned, Archive Footage) (See Gabrielle's Clone)
 * 6) "Soul Possession" (Mentioned, Archive Footage) (See Mattie Merrill)

Behind the Scenes

 * Gabrielle is one of the five characters to have appeared in every season of Xena: Warrior Princess. The other four are Xena, Cyrene, Ares and Joxer.
 * Gabrielle has appeared in a total of 8 seasons of both and  combined.
 * Sunny Doench was originally cast as Gabrielle, but she did not want to leave her boyfriend in the United States, so the role was given to O'Connor.
 * Renne O'Connor had appeared in Hercules and the Lost Kingdom as a different character, before taking on the role of Gabrielle.
 * Gabrielle had the last line of the ; "I knew you'd say that".
 * Renee O'Connor was pregnant during the filming of "A Friend in Need II".
 * As well as playing Gabrielle, O'Connor also plays Janis Covington, Mattie Merrill and the adult version of her on-screen daughter Hope.

Trivia

 * Gabrielle is one of the four characters to have successfully thrown and caught the Chakram. The other three are Callisto, Xena and Eve.
 * Gabrielle was born with six toes on her right foot. It was removed at birth.
 * Hints were often dropped throughout of a romantic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. Although never confirmed, many fans like to believe that this is true. In the episode "You Are There", a reporter from modern-day, Nigel, put to them the question of wheather or not they were in fact lovers, followed by the camera cutting out and the answer left unheard.
 * Gabrielle suffers from severe sea-sickness.

Historical Events
Along with Xena, Gabrielle also played a pivotal role in history and witnessed famous events:

Season One

 * Met the granddaughter of Pandora and opened her box, only to realize that it was empty.
 * Accidentally released the Titans, Hyperion, Theia and Crias from their deep slumber.
 * Played a role in releasing Prometheus from his eternal torment.
 * Witnessed the infamous infiltration of the Greeks, during the Trojan War, concealed inside the Wooden Horse.
 * Applied for a place at the Athens Academy for Performing Bards, and was accepted, although turned the offer down to continue on the road.
 * Encouraged and gave story-telling advice to Homer.
 * Amongst the people who found the Samarian Treasure and The Titans Key.
 * Along with Xena and Autolycus, found the Ark of the Covenant.
 * Witnessed the end of the civil war between the Thessally and Mitoa.

Season Two

 * Witnessed what would of become Ixion's hell on Earth, and its death.
 * Witnessed the war between the Philistines and the Israelites.
 * Witnessed David of the Israelites kill Goliath.
 * Witnessed the death of Bacchus, after becoming a Bacchae herself.
 * Inadvertantly invented the the theme for Jingle Bells.
 * Along with Xena and Senticles, she staged the main plot of "A Christmas Carol", where the three ghosts visit a tyrant king (who resembles Ebenezer Scrooge, in the sense that he doesn't celebrate Christmas).
 * Successfully pioneers the custom of Santa Claus bringing down gifts during Solstice Eve, by encouraging Senticles to hand out toys to children in the kingdom where winter celebrations are banned.
 * Gave a donkey to a traveling couple, of which the female is heavily pregnant, which resembles the story of the creation of Christianity (Mary and Joseph travel on a donkey to Bethleham and give birth on Christmas Day).
 * Noticed that the Big Dipper looks like a Bear, presumably leading eventually to its Latin name Ursa Major.
 * Assisted Ulysses in avoiding Poseidon while returning to Ithaca.
 * Postulated the Theory of evolution.
 * Met Cecrops, the Lost Mariner, and helped him escape Poseidon's curse.
 * Coined the phrase "Love is Blind".

Season Three

 * Postulated atomic theory.
 * Impregnated with the child of Dahak.
 * Witnessed the formation of Stone Henge.
 * Gave birth to the child of Dahak.
 * Prevented an assassination attempt on Queen Cleopatra.
 * Created of the game of charades.
 * Witnessed and half-assisted in defeating the Persian Army.
 * Was the catalyst of the death of Crassus of Rome.
 * Helped to rescue Vercinix of Gaul.
 * Helped to put the North Star in the sky.

Season Four
*Thought up the idea of Cinderella.
 * Assisted in taking down the Scythian Army.
 * Thought up the idea of "Pinocchio".
 * Possessed by the Spirit of Tataka.
 * Waged war against the Romans, which led to Pompey's death.
 * Crucified by Julius Caesar.

Season Five

 * Accidentally sent to Hell and became a Demon.
 * Became an Archangel.
 * Travelled to the Spirit world.
 * Stole Zeus' twins Seperation Potion.
 * Punished by Lachrymose, God of Despair.
 * Stole and wore the Helmet of Invisibility.
 * Witnessed the death of Zeus.
 * Postualted the idea of the clock.
 * Witnessed the death of Mark Antony.
 * Killed Brutus of Rome.
 * Witnessed the death of Discord, Goddess of Retribution.
 * Witnessed the death of Posiedon, God of the Sea and Natural Disasters.
 * Witnessed the death of Hephestus, God of Arts and Crafts.
 * Driven to murderer by the Furies.

Season Six

 * Witnessed the death of The Furies.
 * Witnessed the death of Mephistopheles.
 * Met the Archangel and later King of Hell, Lucifer.
 * Witnessed Lucifer turn into the King of Hell and put in his rightful place.
 * Met Beowulf of Norse Mythology.
 * Witnessed the suicide of Caligula of Rome.
 * Caught Xena's chakram.