Lyceus

Lyceus was a recurring character on Xena: Warrior Princess. He was the younger brother of Xena and Toris, who died whilst defending Amphipolis against Cortese, with Xena and some of their fellow villagers.

Xena and Lyceus were very close before he died. They loved to fish, and would go to the lake most days to try and catch Solaris, the biggest fish in the lake, but never succeeded. Xena later caught Solaris in a plan to send the North Star back into the skies. She dedicated Solaris' capture to him. Xena asked Gabrielle on numerous occasions to bury her next to him if she were to die, showing how much she cared for him. She always spoke about him highly, although blamed herself for his death, as did their mother, Cyrene. When Lyceus died, Cyrene banished Xena from Amphipolis and had forbidden her to ever return. This was one of many catalysts that would turn Xena into the Destroyer of Nations.

When Xena and Gabrielle saved the Fates temple from being attacked, they gave Xena another chance to live again, when she accidentally asked for it. They created an alternate reality, where Lyceus was still alive, but Cyrene was instead dead. The Fates told Xena that if she were to spill one drop of blood in this reality, it would end and everything would revert back to how it was. Gabrielle was also included, but she was a slave girl to Mezentius and the complete opposite to how she was in reality. She even killed him when she had the chance. Xena tried to live in this reality, before realizing that it wasn't for her and ended it.

Lyceus was played by Aaron Devitt as an adult, and by Callum Gallagher as a child.

Trivia

The Apollo Lyceus (Greek: Ἀπόλλων Λύκειος, Apollōn Lukeios) type, also known as Lycean Apollo, originating with Praxiteles and known from many full-size statue and figurine copies as well as from 1st century BCE Athenian coinage, is a statue type of Apollo showing the god resting on a support (a tree trunk or tripod), his right forearm touching the top of his head and his hair fixed in braids on the top of a head in a haircut typical of childhood. It is called "Lycean" not after Lycia itself, but after its identification with a lost work described, though not attributed to a sculptor, by Lucian as being on show in the Lyceum, one of the gymnasia of Athens. According to Lucian, the god leaning on a support with his bow in his left hand and his right resting on his head is shown "as if resting after long effort." Its main exemplar is the Apollino in Florence or Apollo Medici, in the Uffizi, Florence.