Virgil

Virgil was a recurring character on Xena: Warrior Princess. He was the eldest son of Joxer and Meg and a writer of epic poems. He kept his bardic skills from his father, as he was scared that he would not accept it. When Joxer was killed by Eve, he struggled to forgive her, but did later find the strength to do so. He claimed that Xena and Gabrielle had his respect as they had Joxer's.

According to Joxer, Virgil was a brilliant blacksmith. He was inspired by stories of Xena and Gabrielle and became a skilled warrior from this inspiration. After his father was killed, Virgil helped his family mourn his death, before joining up with Xena and Gabrielle for a while. He showed signs of affection for Gabrielle (much like his father's famous love for her), notably in "Heart of Darkness". He even went as far as to tell her that he loved her: although this was most probably only as a friend. Unlike his father, Virgil was a skilled fighter.

He was played by William Gregory Lee.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Virgil is the son of Meg and Joxer, born not long after Xena and Gabrielle had fallen into their 25-year slumber. He grew up admiring his father, who told him heroic stories of his travels with Xena and Gabrielle. Gabrielle’s legendary writing skills inspired him to become a writer of epic poems, although he kept this hobby from his father, as he thought Joxer might think that he wasn’t a “man”. Somehow, he garnered the skill to fight, not presumably taught to him by Joxer, due to his obvious lacking in that area. When Joxer and Meg set up their own tavern, Virgil helped run a blacksmith shop at the back. He was apparently very good at shoeing a horse.

Joxer’s Death and Impact[]

When Xena and Gabrielle broke out from their ice tombs after 25 years, Virgil was finally able to meet the warrior princess and battling bard after bring bought up on stories about their travels and being inspired by them ever since his childhood. Upon first meeting them, he called it a ‘privilege’. Xena was in search of Octavius and Eve, of whom Xena presumed would be in Rome, which was apparently very different since Xena and Gabrielle were last there, which prompted Joxer and Virgil to accompany them. Upon arrival, the four witnessed the emperor’s champion parading through the town in a victory march. Xena realised that the emperor was in fact Octavius, who had inherited the name Augustus Caesar by birthright. Whilst Xena confronted Augustus (and learnt that the “murdering bitch” that she had heard so much about was in fact her daughter, Eve), Virgil, Gabrielle and Joxer remained in the crowd of the victory march. After the march, the Roman guards asked for money from the crowd to pay their respects to the emperor. Joxer refused with a bad attitude and provoked them to attack. A fight ensued with Gabrielle and Virgil against the Romans. They were eventually caught and taken prisoner. Whilst in prison, Virgil spoke to Gabrielle about his admiration towards her writing skills. He was revealed to be a writer himself of epic poems. Virgil asked to keep this from his father, as he was worried that he may not accept it, as he had always wanted Virgil to be a fighter. He told Gabrielle the stories that Joxer told him, such as those involving Callisto and the Harpies. Joxer had obviously told them differently, depicting himself as the main hero, with Xena and Gabrielle as his sidekicks. Gabrielle agreed with Virgil and didn’t correct him, in fear of upsetting his and Joxer’s close relationship. Joxer tried to tell Virgil the truth once Gabrielle heard his altered versions, but Gabrielle interfered and called the stories inspiring. However, Joxer did eventually tell Virgil that the stories weren’t true, but Virgil accepted that his father did greatly assist Xena in her travels and believed them to be equal in fighting spirit.

Eve chose Virgil to fight for the Elijans in the arena, where he would fight her to the death for freedom of the followers of Eli. In the end, he did not have to fight her, as Xena took his place in the arena, where Xena almost killed her before she gave in and escaped Rome after her affair with Ares was exposed. Once exiled from Rome, Eve gathered together some loyal soldiers, which were great enough in numbers to raid towns and kill the Elijans. Virgil accompanied Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer in stopping Eve and talking sense into her. Xena went to confront Eve on her own and was willing to kill her if she didn’t comply. Against Xena’s wishes, Gabrielle followed her there to try and stop her from doing something that she would sincerely regret. Joxer was angry at Virgil for letting Gabrielle go alone and so he followed them to Eve’s camp. When Eve was moments away from killing Gabrielle, Joxer intervened to save her, when Eve turned to him and stabbed him. He died shortly after, which deeply affected Virgil. Filled with vengeance, Virgil, Xena and Gabrielle (with some of Augustus’ troops) lured Eve into a trap where a great battle was fought. At the climax of this battle, Xena managed to get through to Eve and she saw the error of her ways. Virgil attempted to kill her for vengeance, but was stopped by Xena. When she was cleansed and realised herself, she confronted Virgil to apologise, but only angered him and he tried to attack her. He then set off to find his mother, brother and sister and stayed with them for a while, to help them grieve and mourn Joxer.

Adventures with Xena and Gabrielle[]

When Xena killed Mephistopheles, she was destined to become the Queen of Hell. In order for the darkness to take hold of her, it had to spread throughout the land to grasp Xena. The portal of Hell acted as a magnet for evil, and drew in all those who had succumbed to the darkness, Virgil being amongst them. He began to act out of character and was unable to control his emotions, such as anger and lust. He and Gabrielle (who was also beginning to succumb to the darkness) became very close during this time. They were very flirtatious with one another. Despite his lost control over emotions, he managed to retain his anger towards Eve for killing Joxer. Once Xena had sent Lucifer to Hell, the portal to Hell closed and the darkness inside people’s hearts, including Virgil’s, faded.

Virgil travelled with Xena, Gabrielle and Eve to Potedia, where Gabrielle was reunited with her sister, Lila. When Lila revealed to them that their (her and Gabrielle's) mother and father, and Lila's own husband were killed by the raider Gurkhan, Gabrielle was filled with vengeance and wanted his blood: especially when she continued to reveal that her daughter (subsequently Gabrielle’s niece), Sarah, was kidnapped by him and may still be alive. The four of them set out to Africa, where Gurkhan’s palace is located. On the way there, Xena drugged Gabrielle to stop her from entering the highly guarded palace without a stable or working plan. Once Gabrielle was under the effect of the drugs, Virgil and Xena composed a plan to get into the palace. Virgil acted as a pirate named Superlious, who captures young and beautiful women and sells them. Xena acted as his slave, of whom he was going to sell at an auction. Once Gurkhan made a bid on Xena, Virgil was to stand behind him and follow him once he bought her, but each of the buyers were hiding Gurkhan’s identity, as they all took that name during the auction. Once bought, Xena and Virgil were taken to Gurkhan’s palace. It was revealed who the real Gurkhan was and Xena was bought by him, where she worked out that Sarah had actually become Gurkhan’s number-one wife. Meanwhile, a drunken Virgil returns to the boat where a drugged Gabrielle had awoken. He told that he had sold Xena to Gurkhan and so she insisted on Virgil doing the same with herself. Reluctantly, he did so. She and Xena worked together to retrieve Sarah from the palace and tricked Gurkhan’s own guards into killing him.

Once returning to Greece, Virgil met up with his friend Yosef and agreed to meet Xena and Gabrielle. But Yosef and Virgil ran into trouble when they crossed paths with a group of Cannibals, where Virgil managed to escape, but Yosef was captured and subsequently eaten by the Cannibals. Virgil tried to run through a forest to escape, but got caught in a trap that was set by the Cannibals and was captured by them, too. Whilst imprisoned by them, Virgil met a fellow prisoner, Rubio, who told Virgil that he is big enough to be eaten by tomorrow: Rubio had apparently avoided being consumed due to a strict diet and exercise routine. Meanwhile, Gabrielle had been injured in a battle with the Cannibals and so Xena hatched a plan to rescue Virgil and put Gabrielle out of danger – by allowing her to be captured. Xena created a fearsome, man-made avalanche that was built to fall on the Cannibals once Xena had lured them to the correct spot. She sneaked into the Cannibals village: just before Gabrielle was being cooked and saved her from them. Gabrielle then released Virgil and Rubio from imprisonment, Xena’s plan played out, thus they all escaped.

Background information[]

Behind the scenes[]

The part of Virgil was the first mainstream television role for William Gregory Lee.
William Gregory Lee left the show after "The Abyss", due to being casted in Dark Angel. Otherwise, he would have appeared in more episodes after that one.
The character of Virgil was based on Publius Vergilius Maro, an ancient Roman poet, who did indeed live during Augustus's reign.

Trivia[]

Meg stated in "The Key to the Kingdom" that she couldn't have children, hinting that Meg wasn't Virgil's biological mother. This also applies to Theon and Kara. Virgil refers to Meg as his mother in "Motherhood", when he says that his "mother is with [his] brothers and sisters." It's possible Virgil and his siblings were adopted, although it's also possible that Joxer and Meg overcame her fertility issues.
After Joxer dies, Virgil literally takes up his sword.
There was a deleted scene in "Who's Gurkhan" between Virgil and Eve, where he forgives her for killing Joxer.