Gabrielle

"There’s only one way to end this cycle of hatred, and it’s through love" -Gabrielle in "Callisto"

Gabrielle, the Battling Bard of Potedia and Amazon Queen, is an ancient Greek Bard and Warrior. She is the soulmate of Xena: Warrior Princess and Joxer the Mighty. She is a main character on Xena: Warrior Princess and recurring character on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

She travels around Greece, with Xena and Joxer, fighting for the Greater Good. She has one child, Hope, who was the Daughter and living imbodiment of Dahak, the bringer of all evil.

Her weapons of choice are the Fighting Staff, Sais, Sword and Chakram (by the end of the show).

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 defends a dying Amazon Princess during an ambush. Before she dies, the Princess Terreis passes her "right of caste" to Gabrielle, and Gabrielle inherits her rank and possessions. This leaves 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.

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, which become her signature weapon thereafter. 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 sleep in an ice cave for 25 years after Ares places them there because he mistakenly believes they are dead. After waking up, 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.

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.

Personailty
Gabrielle is first portrayed as a farmgirl stereotype - Young, naive, an ambition to broaden her horizons and 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 life in Potedia. 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.

"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 iuntroduces Gabrielle's Bilious Green Sports Bra, or the 'BGSB'. 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"
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 twoleather 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 an episode set in modern times, Gabrielle's scrolls were preserved for thousands of years and later discovered by modern archeologists. They found their way to Hollywood, where they formed the basis of the television series.

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

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

Season Two

 * Witnessed what would of become Ixion's hell on Earth, and its death - "Orphan of War"
 * Witnessed the war between the Philistines and the Israelites - "The Giant Killer"
 * Witnessed David of the Israelites kill Goliath - "The Giant Killer"
 * Witnessed the death of Bacchus, after becoming a Bacchae herself - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
 * 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) - "A Solstice Carol"
 * 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 - "A Solstice Carol"
 * 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) - "A Solstice Carol"
 * Noticed that the Big Dipper looks like a Bear, presumably leading eventually to its Latin name Ursa Major - "A Day in the Life"
 * Assisted Ulysses in avoiding Poseidon while returning to Ithaca - "Ulysses"
 * Postulated the Theory of evolution - "The Price"
 * Met Cecrops, the Lost Mariner, and helped him escape Poseidon's curse - "The Lost Mariner"
 * Coined the phrase "Love is Blind" - "A Comedy of Eros"

Season Three

 * Postulated atomic theory - "The Deliverer"
 * Impregnated with the child of Satan (Dahak) - "The Deliverer"
 * Witnessed the formation of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Stone Henge - "The Deliverer"
 * Gave birth to the child of Satan (Dahak) - "Gabrielle's Hope"
 * Prevented an assassination attempt on Queen Cleopatra - "The King of Assassins"
 * Created of the game of charades - "Forgiven"
 * Witnessed and half-assisted in defeating the Persian Army - "One Against an Army"
 * Was the catalyst of the death of Crassus of Rome - "When in Rome..."
 * Helped to rescue Vercinix of France - "When in Rome..."
 * Helped to put the North Star in the sky - "Fins, Femmes and Gems"

Season Four
*Thought up the idea of Cinderella - "If the Shoe Fits"
 * Assisted in taking down the Scythian Army - "In Sickness and in Hell"
 * Thought up the idea of Pinocchio - "If the Shoe Fits"
 * Possessed by the Spirit of Tataka - "Devi"
 * Waged war against the Romans, which led to Pompey's death - "Endgame"
 * Crucified by Julius Caesar - "The Ides of March"

Season Five

 * Accidentally sent to Hell and became a Demon - "Fallen Angel"
 * Became an Archangel - "Fallen Angel"
 * Travelled to the Spirit world - "Them Bones, Them Bones"
 * Stole Zeus' twins Seperation Potion - "Little Problems"
 * Punished by Lachrymose, God of Despair - "Punch Lines"
 * Stole and wore the Helmet of Invisibility - "God Fearing Child"
 * Witnessed the death of Zeus - "God Fearing Child"
 * Witnessed the breaking of an ancient Amazon Law - "Lifeblood"
 * Witnessed the death of Mark Antony - "Antony and Cleopatra"
 * Killed Brutus of Rome - "Antony and Cleopatra"
 * 'Commited suicide' to initiate the Twilight of the Gods - "Looking Death in the Eye"
 * Witnessed the death of Discord, Goddess of Retribution - "Motherhood"
 * Witnessed the death of Posiedon, God of the Sea and Natural Disasters - "Motherhood"
 * Witnessed the death of Hades, Lord of the Dead and God of the Underworld - "Motherhood"
 * Witnessed the death of Hephestus, God of Arts and Crafts - "Motherhood"
 * Witnessed the death of Athena, Goddess of Warcraft and Wisdom - "Motherhood"
 * Witnessed the death of Artemis, Goddess of the Amazons and Nature - "Motherhood"
 * Witnessed the death of Deimos, God of Terror - "Motherhood"
 * Driven to murderer by the Furies - "Motherhood"

Season Six

 * Witnessed the death of The Furies - "Coming Home"
 * Witnessed the death of Mephistopheles - "The Haunting of Amphipolis"
 * Met the Archangel and later King of Hell, Lucifer - "Heart of Darkness"
 * Witnessed Lucifer turn into the King of Hell and put in his rightful place - "Heart of Darkness"
 * Met Beowulf of Norse Mythology - "The Rheingold"
 * Witnessed the suicide of Caligula of Rome - "The God You Know"