- "It's a right passed on by Amazons on their death, but I won't take it."
- — Ephiny to [[]] about the Right [src]
The Amazon Right of Cast is an ancient tradition, which an Amazon gives to another, usually (though not always) on their deathbed. It bestows all of their belongings and birth rights to that person. Because the Amazons cannot procreate on their own (being all female), the Right of Cast is often used instead of blood or adopted familial relationship to determine property and succession rights.
History[]
A flurry of arrows are fired and Telaquire Amazon Princess Terreis is fatally wounded upon being hit. In the heat of the moment, Gabrielle, a non-Amazon, who had recently, but briefly, found herself warming to her, throws herself over an injured Terreis to protect her. Before dying, Terreis gives Gabrielle her Right of Cast, claiming that what she did was something that only an Amazon would do for another Amazon with Ephiny, one of the tribe's most trusted members, as the witness to the act. Gabrielle became an Amazon princess and inherited Terreis' weapons and clothing. Because Terreis was the heir of her sister Queen Melosa, Gabrielle, as the heir of Terreis, was next in line for the throne of the Telaquire Amazons. By contrast, although Velasca was Melosa's (adopted) daughter and succeeded Melosa as the new rightful leader of the Telaquire Amazons by challenging and killing her (adoptive) mother in what was ruled as fair combat, she was awarded no Right of Cast to legitimatize her reign, and thus Gabrielle preceded her in the succession. (XWP: "Hooves and Harlots")
Five years later, Gabrielle grants Xena's newborn daughter Eve, her Right of Cast.