The Staff, otherwise known as a Fighting Staff or a Bō, is a weapon of choice for several characters throughout the Xenaverse, none more famous than Gabrielle, The Battling Bard of Poteidaia when she became aAmazon Princess.
Use[]
In real life, the staff is considered by most martial experts to be the best melee weapon in a one-on-one fight due to its mix of speed, unpredictability and versatility, even when compared to swords, spears, and the like.
In addition to its effectiveness as a weapon, the staff is an unassuming implement, appearing unimposing and non-threatening due to its lack of blades or sharp points. While a highly effective weapon in the right hands, the staff has utility as well, functioning as a makeshift lever, a walking stick, or providing extra reach for prodding or snagging distant items.
Finally, a person skilled in the use of a staff as a weapon can easily find makeshift weapons if necessary, from broomsticks to fallen branches and training in the use of a staff also provides cross-training into other pole weapons such as spears and halberds.
A quarterstaff (plural quarterstaves), also short staff or simply staff is a traditional Europeon pole weapon and a technique of stick fighting, especially as in use in England (known as Britannia in the Xenaverse) during the Early Modern period. The term is generally accepted to refer to a shaft of hardwood from 6 to 9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 m) long, sometimes with a metal tip, ferrule, or spike at one or both ends. The term "short staff" compares this to the "long staff" based on the pike with a length in excess of 11 to 12 feet (3.4 to 3.7 m).
Skilled Characters[]
- Xena (Seen in many episodes, E.g. "Sins of the Past" when fighting Draco)
- Gabrielle (Season One - Season Four: Seen to use it in a few other episodes after this such as "Amphipolis Under Siege" in which she used a Warhammer-staff, "Succession", and used a staff-like-rod against Draco in "Lyre, Lyre Hearts On Fire")
- Draco (X:WP: "Sins of the Past")
- Mavican (Claims that she has 'Perfected the Art' - X:WP: "Succession")
- Ephiny (Gives Gabrielle a staff that has 'Saved her life more than once and that was passed down from her mother' - X:WP: "Hooves and Harlots")
- Callisto (X:WP: "Callisto")
- Mattie Merrill/Gabrielle also used a microphone stand against Ares in the episode "Soul Possession" in the body of Mattie when she regained her memories, which could be considered similar to how she used to use her staff in her past life, however he threw her into some chairs.
Also used in Young Hercules:
- Part of Weapons Training at the Academy
- Used both with and without padded ends.
- Used with Vertical Poles, Elevated Lattice, or Balance Beam to teach a cadet balance on uncertain terrain.
- Seen in 1.02 - Between Friends, 1.06 - Teacher's Pests, 1.20 - Fame, 1.39 - The Skeptic.
Similar or Derived Weapons[]
Spear
Javelin
Chobo
Polearm
Trivia[]
The staff never looked the same after Ephiny gave it to Gabrielle. In Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts Gabrielle's staff looks different, it is broken during the final battle, and Gabrielle leaves Troy with a different staff. In the following episodes, Gabrielle mostly travels without a staff. Then in The Royal Couple of Thieves Gabrielle uses a spear. The Greater Good is actually where the most common version of Gabrielle's staff first appears, but for some strange reason it can fold. In the episodes that follow, the staff no longer folds. Also in the same episode, the broken staff reappears fully intact, but the look of the fur accent near the top changes slightly. That was probably because they make multiple copies of the staff and each version was unique in it's own way.
opinon: Sometimes I think that it was probably meant to be the same staff, but the prop designers just changed up the look of the staff until everyone was happy with it. But considering that the staff did break on screen and had different characteristics like visibly folding, I think there's a pretty strong case to be made that Gabrielle abandoned, lost, or broke the original staff Ephiny gave her shortly after Hooves and Harlots.
Opinion: In Greek mythology Amazons didn't fight with staffs. However, training for spear drill (which the Amazons famously had a breast amputated to make easier) probably would have involved untipped spears, which aren’t that far removed from a staff.
Opinion: In ancient Greece, soldiers typically did not fight with quarterstaffs or similar weapons like those used by Gabrielle in Xena: Warrior Princess. Greek soldiers, especially hoplites, were primarily armed with a spear (doru) and a shield (aspis). The spear was used for thrusting in close combat, while the shield provided defense.
While staves and similar weapons were used in various forms of combat, they were not the primary weapons of Greek infantry. Quarterstaffs became more prominent in later medieval European contexts. In ancient Greece, other weapons like swords (xiphos) and javelins (akontion) were more common among warriors. The portrayal of Gabrielle's fighting style in the show takes creative liberties and is not historically accurate for ancient Greek warfare.
Opinion: In Ancient Greece, they put little pointy things on the tip of their staffs which helped them stick in whatever target or opponent the soldier wanted to incapacitate.
In the episode Blind Faith we see Gabrielle haggle for what the trader calls an 'Egyptian Prayer Scarf'. On closer inspection this scarf is the exact fabric as used on her staff. Perhaps that's why she liked it so much."
In the episode The Greater Good is actually where the most common version of Gabrielle's staff first appears, but for some strange reason it can fold. In the episodes that follow, the staff no longer folds.
Gabrielle uses a spear as a staff in Back in the Bottle. In Little Problems, she starts with a Sai, disarms the thug and grabs a sword, later a mace. Earlier, while protecting the unconscious Xena, Gabrielle grabs a piece of rope and proceeds to demolish the opposition.
The staff Gabrielle uses in Hooves and Harlots had a eagle/bird head. The bird head was never seen on the staff again after that episode. Opinion: Perhaps Ephiny’s staff with the bird head was more ceremonial, so maybe Gabrielle left it in the safe keeping of the Amazons.
Opinion: One of the (rumored) original ideas for season 5 was that Gabrielle would start using Ephiny’s staff - with the implication that the Eagle topper / head made it more of an offensive weapon. But, they then quickly considered nun chucks (maybe as a callback to the chobos) before settling on the Sais.
The fabric on Gabrielle's main staff had a finely-woven, multi-colored design with earth tones, predominantly brown, orange, and white/cream, often intertwined with rope.
Specific details of the fabric are:
- Woven Pattern: The fabric was a genuinely woven piece, not simply a printed pattern.
- Colors: It featured a mix of earth tones, including brown, cream/white, and some orange or reddish-brown threads.
- Appearance: The specific piece of fabric was actually a recognizable prop used in the market sequence of the Season 2 episode "Blind Faith," where it was referred to as a "finely-woven Egyptian prayer scarf". The production team reused this fabric to wrap the middle section of her staff.
- Overall Look: When wrapped around the staff and intertwined with rope, it contributed to the staff's rustic, yet detailed, "battle-worn" aesthetic.
Later replacement staffs were often simpler, sometimes just plain wooden sticks or with minimal wrapping, but the primary, iconic staff from Seasons 2-4 had this specific, detailed woven design.
The original staff has a woven fabric in the middle, in this case Creation decided to used a printed fabric with the same geometric pattern.
External links[]
Quarterstaff on Young Hercules wiki: http://yhwiki.org/wiki/Quarterstaff
https://www.whoosh.org/issue17/plunket4.html
https://whoosh.org/issue21/fines1.html
https://www.whoosh.org/issue32/mcbride1.html