Black Armband Days

I'd like to return to the "Questions from Jan" theme I've been playing with. She asked, "Why was Xena stripped of the power to kill gods and since when did Eli give it to her? Just a way to get rid of that aspect of the character for story-line purposes?" I sort of addressed this question in my article about Michael, but I will address it again briefly.

Xena was supposedly given the ability to kill gods in order to protect Eve, the messenger of the Light. This is true, but there was a beneficial side effect to this ability. Xena ended up killing off most of the dominant pantheon in the area, effectively removing the Light's competition.

But when Xena threatened to use that divine assassination ability on the very powers that gave it to her -- powers represented on Earth by Eli and Eve -- it was taken away in a kind of divine disarmament. That's what I think the "story reason" is. However, I do believe RenPic took Xena's power away to remove as many elements of a generally unpopular storyline as they could.

Jan also asked how I thought the series would end. Would Xena retire and pass the mantle of hero to Gabrielle? Would she die, leaving Gabrielle as her heir? Would the series end in the same way Hercules did, with Xena and Gabrielle heading off into the sunset and further adventures?

I know you're going to hate this answer, but you've been warned.

I can see it ending any one of those three ways.

Which way would I like to see it end?

The series opened with Xena turning away from the path of the warrior by burying her armor and weapons, but she was drawn back into it because of her desire to atone for her murderous past. In a sense, that quest for redemption is what the whole series was about.

Therefore, Xena must achieve the redemption she has spent all this time pursuing. When that happens, Xena will retire. Her task is finished, and her apprentice (Gabrielle) will be ready to carry on the fight without her. But wait, will Gabrielle ever be willing to leave Xena's side? Recent stories bring that very much into question. I don't think so.

Therefore, based on everything that has been presented up to this point, I feel the most logical conclusion to the series is for Xena to die, going out in some tremendous blaze of glory (as befits a hero of her stature). That's what I'd do were I writing this story.

I recognize that there are other things to be considered; the possibility of a future TV movie project has been floated online. While this is little more than rumor, it has not been denied as a possibility at some future date. Killing off the titular character would make future appearances a little bit more difficult.

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