Xena's Past

Xena's past is an interesting subject to delve into. We learn from her past just how deadly a warrior she once was. With travels, from Chin to Rome to even the Norselands as we saw in season 6, the evil Xena, really got around. However, it can be said that she was not born evil, but turned evil.

"Orphan of War"

Our first glimpse of Xena's past is in the season 2 episode “Orphan of War.” At the end of the episode we watch a flashback of Xena giving up her son Solan for adoption by the Centaurs. In this episode we first learn that Xena even had a child.

Next we see even more story background on Xena and what she became and why. As Xena lets Caesar know in season 2 episode 12 entitled , “Destiny:” “I will do anything to ensure the safety of my homeland.” This stems from experience with being on the receiving end of warlord attacks. So what was she to do? She chose to become a warlord herself. Destiny introduces us to Xena's past with Rome and how she came to hate the country and its ruler Caesar after falling in love and being betrayed by him. Really, did she think someone as prideful as Caesar would let her go on her merry way after having held him captive? Caesar's revenge was harsh to, say the least. He broke Xena's legs – ouch! A helpful stowaway, Milila, turned friend, is also killed. Then Xena vows to a new purpose, “death.” a chilling look at the future destruction that would come at her hands later.

"Destiny"

We receive a double helping of Xena's past much later in Season 3's The Debt I and II. We discover just how evil Xena became after her dealings with Caesar. In a way I think he made her become more violent than she would have been. After all, she only captured and sold in the Destiny episode. There wasn't any killing until the end. The Debt series was perhaps the first really violent episode as well. I remember watching and seeing the bloody heads on spears and thinking “oh my goodness”! It was around this time I had to start sneaking and watching the series too because my mom thought it was too violent. Only when I convinced her that a particular episode wasn't going to have much violence, would she let me watch. And this was usually the comedy episodes. Anyway this two-part episode also shows a challenge in Xena and Gabrielle's relationship which I plan to discuss in the future.

"The Debt I"

"The Debt II"

Adventures in the Sin Trade I and II were the season openers for season 4, my favorite season. Xena's dabbling in Shamanism made for an unexpected and bloody tale of her past. I think this episode fully set Xena apart from Hercules. Nothing of this type of episode ever came close to appearing on Herc. Herc I think was more family friendly and lightweight. This episode certified Xena as it's own show with the same format, but different. And Xena outdoes her past crimes in this one by killing many amazons in exchange for a false promise made by Alti to become the “Destroyer of Nations.” It's great that Xena's past was expounded upon on the series, but when you think about it, it seems unlikely that all this stuff happened in Xena's past between those 3 episodes on Hercules where she went from bad to good. Of course Lucy was playing a fresh new role at the time that she acted in quite differently than in the Xena series. She kept a bit of her accent and everything. She didn't know what was to come and just how big it would be

.Season four offers several more looks at Xena's past with Locked up and tied down, Past Imperfect, and Daughter of Pomira. Locked up follows a past misdeed on Xena's part for which she decides she should be locked up for. The theme of Xena's guilt is present and an interesting topic to discuss as I will in future. In Past imperfect we witness Xena giving birth to Solan. Again we had no way of knowing that all this occurred just before Solan was handed over in the aforementioned “Orphan of War,” but again it's all in the scriptwriting and great scriptwriting I would say. Daughter of Pomira deals with Xena's past with the Horde though with just a tiny flashback of a battle she had with them. It also seems that when Xena discussed this battle with the horde to Gabrielle the first time in the episode, “The Price,” she forgot to mentioned how she killed one of her own men for trying to call a retreat. ;)

Season five goes by without any glimpse at all of Xena's past. Then comes season six with The Rheingold and The Ring. I believe after having killed off the Greek gods the writers had to find another way of incorporating godlike characters. So, they wrote a story of Xena visiting the Norse lands in her past. I didn't too much care for these episodes. The seemed a bit contrived, but they were okay. 

 

Lastly there was the final episodes of the season and of the series. A Friend in Need, Part 1 shows a past crime Xena has never told garbielle about and that comes back to haunt her just like the Ring incident. Akemi is yet another young woman who was affected by evil Xena. This episode is the most violent yet and I have yet to every re-watch it. I did not like how gruesome it got. It's almost like they were trying to hard to let Xena go out with a bang and instead it was degrading to her. Needless to say there was utter outrage by many diehard fans. But what's done is done.

"A Friend In Need I"

So there you have it. All the episodes that show us clips of Xena's past. Re-watch and enjoy!

Episodes featuring Flashbacks of Xena's past:

1. Orphan of War
   
2. Destiny
   
3. The Debt, Part 1
   
4. The Debt, Part 2
   
5. Adventures in the Sin Trade 1
   
6. Adventures in the Sin Trade 2
   
7. Locked up, tied down
   
8. Past Imperfect
   
9. Daughter of Pomira
   
10. The Rheingold
    
11. The Ring
    
12. A Friend in Need I
    

February is the month of love so watch out for blogs on Romance, Love and Love Lost in Xena!