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    Xena and the Heroine's Journey: Symbols, Archetypes, and Deeper Meaning
    Xena and the Heroine's Journey: Symbols, Archetypes, and Deeper Meaning
    Xena and the Heroine's Journey: Symbols, Archetypes, and Deeper Meaning
    Ebook344 pages5 hours

    Xena and the Heroine's Journey: Symbols, Archetypes, and Deeper Meaning

    By Valerie Estelle Frankel

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    Heroines have existed since the earliest prehistoric myths, questing to become the all-powerful mother goddess in an epic that has them descend to hell and pit themselves against tyrants and vicious matriarchs. Nonetheless, the nineties TV show Xena: Warrior Princess was one of the first to face this journey onscreen. In it, heroic Xena and her companion Gabrielle battle their dark sides over and over, growing into legends through their struggle. Xena and the Heroine’s Journey explores the symbolism of the costumes, the talismans, the emotional struggles, the allegories of the musical episode. It lays out the journey step by step as Xena and Gabrielle face enemies that reflect their own submerged shadow sides, then plunge into true death through crucifixion and sacrifice. Along the way they battle their evil daughter-selves and thus reconcile with their dark sides, discovering the balance that makes a hero, whatever her gender.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherValerie Estelle Frankel
    Release dateJan 2, 2017
    ISBN9781370755783
    Xena and the Heroine's Journey: Symbols, Archetypes, and Deeper Meaning
    Author

    Valerie Estelle Frankel

    Valerie Estelle Frankel has won a Dream Realm Award, an Indie Excellence Award, and a USA Book News National Best Book Award for her Henry Potty parodies. She's the author of 75 books on pop culture, including Doctor Who - The What, Where, and How, History, Sherlock: Every Canon Reference You May Have Missed in BBC's Series 1-3, Homages and the Highlands: An Outlander Guide, and How Game of Thrones Will End. Many of her books focus on women's roles in fiction, from her heroine's journey guides From Girl to Goddess and Buffy and the Heroine's Journey to books like Women in Game of Thrones and The Many Faces of Katniss Everdeen. Once a lecturer at San Jose State University, she's a frequent speaker at conferences. Come explore her research at www.vefrankel.com.

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      Xena and the Heroine's Journey - Valerie Estelle Frankel

      Symbols, Archetypes, and Deeper Meaning

      by

      Valerie Estelle Frankel

      Other Works by Valerie Estelle Frankel

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      Katniss the Cattail: The Unauthorized Guide to Name and Symbols

      The Many Faces of Katniss Everdeen: The Heroine of The Hunger Games

      Harry Potter, Still Recruiting: A Look at Harry Potter Fandom

      Teaching with Harry Potter

      An Unexpected Parody: The Spoof of The Hobbit Movie

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      Myths and Motifs in The Mortal Instruments

      Winning the Game of Thrones: The Host of Characters & their Agendas

      Winter is Coming: Symbols, Portents, and Hidden Meanings in A Game of Thrones

      Bloodsuckers on the Bayou: The Myths, Symbols, and Tales Behind HBO’s True Blood

      The Girl’s Guide to the Heroine’s Journey

      Choosing to be Insurgent or Allegiant: Symbols, Themes & Analysis of the Divergent Trilogy

      Doctor Who and the Hero’s Journey: The Doctor and Companions as Chosen Ones

      Doctor Who: The What Where and How

      Sherlock: Every Canon Reference You May Have Missed in BBC’s Series

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      Joss Whedon’s Names

      Pop Culture in the Whedonverse

      Women in Game of Thrones: Power, Conformity, and Resistance

      History, Homages and the Highlands: An Outlander Guide

      The Catch-Up Guide to Doctor Who

      Remember All Their Faces: A Deeper Look at Character, Gender and the Prison World of Orange Is The New Black

      Everything I Learned in Life I Know from Joss Whedon

      Empowered: The Symbolism, Feminism, & Superheroism of Wonder Woman

      The Avengers Face their Dark Sides

      The Comics of Joss Whedon: Critical Essays

      Mythology in Game of Thrones

      We’re Home: Fandom, Fun, and Hidden Homages in Star Wars the Force Awakens

      Xena and the Heroine’s Journey is an unauthorized guide to the Xena television series and related works. None of the individuals or companies associated with this series or any merchandise based on this series has in any way sponsored, approved, endorsed, or authorized this book.

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2016 Valerie Estelle Frankel

      All rights reserved.

      LitCrit Press

      Print ISBN: 978-1541394193

      Contents

      Introduction

      Xena’s Origin Story

      Starting The Heroine’s Journey

      Simple Shadow Work

      Male Arcs

      Major Descents

      Episode List

      Works Cited

      Introduction

      When Xena: Warrior Princess aired in 1995, the heroine’s journey was rare to television. Superheroines were rare at all, and the few shows they’d had (Wonder Woman, The Bionic Woman, The Avengers…) tended to be episodic with action rather than growth and depth. The great mythic arcs of the hero battling his dark side were reserved for the men.

      Today, the heroine’s journey is more common, appearing in shows like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Birds of Prey, Sailor Moon, Dark Angel, Witchblade, Charmed, Shadowhunters, and Supergirl. Films include The Hunger Games, Divergent, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, X-Men, Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, all with powerful action women. All these heroines like Xena are part of the myth of the American Dream, of transcendence, of individual greatness done for the good of others (Helford 294).

      While the hero’s journey focuses on the boy taking his father’s sword and battling the evil tyrant (Voldemort, Darth Vader, Mordred…) the heroine’s journey has different elements. She receives a different weapon or tool, often round like the lifecycle she embodies. While she sometimes brings down the patriarchy, she’s mostly called to defend the helpless, saving others until she ascends to divine matriarch, the queen or goddess who protects all life. Her enemies thus are the killers of the innocent – the Wicked Witch of the West or Queen of Narnia who freezes the world in perpetual winter. As Xena battles her dark side and all the characters who reflect it, she embarks on a perfect heroine’s journey arc.

      Gabrielle does as well, creating an intriguing double journey rare even in epic fantasy. While Xena is coming from an adult perspective, seeking redemption for her past, Gabrielle is the ingénue seen more in hero’s and heroine’s journey tales as the adolescent leaves home and finds his or her destiny. She grows from peasant girl to Amazon queen and a warrior strong enough to battle gods. Beside Xena, she discovers her true calling and destroys all the Olympic pantheon to protect their new child in the mother’s sacred mission. Together the two women defeat gods and angels alike, ascending to true divinity then relinquishing their power to be simply Xena and Gabrielle – eternal heroes that inspire countless generations. It’s a journey of daughter, mothers, grandmothers, and goddesses – female relationships and female struggles – breaking new ground and emphasizing heroism is a path for the women as much as for the men.

      Xena’s Origin Story

      Xena’s Parentage

      In the earliest days, Xena actually was a princess, with a mysterious missing father to quest for. Her father is said to have been a Spartan King, but no one knows her origins for certain, explains Card #6 of the Hercules Trading Cards. This is fitting for more than the show’s title. Epic heroes are frequently the long-lost child of royalty (as in King Arthur) or born semi-divine with fantastic powers (the demigod Hercules strangled snakes in his cradle).

      Though Xena discovers her mortal father, or so she thinks, in The Ties that Bind, Atreus is finally revealed to be Ares, trying to tempt her back to violence. Further, The Furies (301) suggests this man may have only been her stepfather.

      As far as Xena’s other paternal options, Xena has superhuman abilities, made clearest when she defeats Ares in The Furies and kills most of the Pantheon in season five. Some critics make the case that Xena’s lookalikes could be her half-sisters by the same godly parent (Matthews). Xena has other marks of divinity as Hades, Ares, and Aphrodite beseech her help on occasion. Certainly, mythic heroes all over the world are generally demigods, and Xena’s ignoring of gravity during battles alone is superhuman (to say nothing of her precision with the chakram). Ares’ romantic feelings for Xena make his fathering her unlikely. Zeus is the obvious candidate for a demigod’s parent, but one assumes that if Hercules suspected such a connection, he wouldn’t pursue her. Likewise, Zeus spends God Fearing Child (512) feuding with his son rather than Xena. Going down the list of male gods and the skills they would have passed on (Xena, for instance, seems to have no especial affiliation with the sea and Apollo the musician/archer/healer never appears on her show), one critic makes an interesting case for Hades:

      Hades is a definite possibility. Why? We know that before he met up with Persephone, he was lonely, so perhaps he had a few nights out. Also, Persephone seems a gentle soul. He obviously likes that type, so selecting Cyrene as female company does not seem out of character for him. As mentioned above, one could assume Diana and Leah’s mothers would be similarly gentle souls, and maybe Meg does not take after her mum at all. Perhaps Meg’s mum was a sweet young thing. We may never know.

      Hades has the power over life and death, and Xena seems to have inherited a little of this ability. She certainly brought Gabrielle back in Is There a Doctor in the House? (24/124), or was it that Hades felt sorry for his little girl? Or perhaps he was scared of the amount of work he would get if he let Gabrielle die!

      Both Hades and Xena drive a mean chariot. They both like dark, sartorially speaking. Hades has control over Cerberus, his fierce dog, and Xena certainly showed King Gregor’s dog who was boss in Cradle of Hope (04/104). (Matthews)

      When Caesar betrays her, Xena proclaims, Tell Hades to prepare himself. A new Xena is born tonight with a new purpose in life....death! (Destiny, 212). Is she simply planning to fill the underworld with victims, or is she viewing Hades as her true patron? Of course, if this is valid, Xena directly kills her father as Hercules did his, continuing the Greek tradition.

      Xena was created to be smarter, faster, stronger, and tougher than even the gods; though she might have flaws, she could never appear weak (Hayes 136). Her name, meaning foreigner, emphasizes how she’s an intruder on the mythology, a recent addition. The Furies (301) explains in the episode’s interview that they’d been divided on the weak message of Xena only having her amazing power because of a godly heritage, and lessening her humanity (making her even more of a Hercules rip off and less approachable) or whether she really was Ares’ daughter. Thus they left it up to the audience.

      Death Mask (123) reveals Xena’s origin story, dating back to her own village being attacked by the warlord Cortese. At seventeen, she rallied the villagers to fight and her younger brother was killed in the battle.

      XENA: The men who attacked and razed my village to the ground wore the mask of Cortese – this mask. I have never stopped looking for him.

      GABRIELLE: So, he’s the one who made you so – you know – aggressive?

      XENA: It was fighting him that twisted me into what I became. But now – I have him.

      Gabrielle says of Cirra, the town of Callisto’s origin: You’ve changed, Xena. Like this valley. Once it was a place full of death and violence. But now it’s full of beauty and life. The same kind of change has happened to you (Destiny, 212). Xena begins Destiny fighting only for her people’s safety, as she thinks. She’s a warlord, but not yet evil. Producer Rob Tapert describes her as kind of a pirate but not a really bad person in the commentary. It’s this episode, where she’s betrayed by Caesar, that truly transforms her. According to critic Alison Futrell, Rome holds a special position in Xena’s hero quest: Rome ‘caused’ Xena (14).

      As she announced to one village, People of Neopolitis. Friends – you’re free to go. But spread the word. My army will punish any village that allies itself with the enemies of Amphipolis. And I will do anything to ensure the safety of my homeland. Those who don’t heed my warning will pay a terrible price (Destiny, 212). The episode also introduces M’Lila, who teaches Xena pressure points. She bursts onto the scene taking down pirates and throwing with deadly precision – all the skills Xena is later seen with. Even before the pressure points, M’Lila must seem the perfect warrior to Xena, fearless and independent, all she dreams of becoming. She spares the escaped slave, and with pressure points, they learn to trust each other as they play with life and death.

      Xena takes Julius Caesar hostage on her pirate ship and invites him to her chamber.

      CAESAR: Amphipolis. So all your raiding and looting is about protecting your homeland?

      XENA: That’s right. It was once brutally attacked by a warlord. But I’ve made sure that’ll never happen again. And what about you?

      …

      CAESAR: Greatness isn’t just about possessing power. If it was, any thug with an army would be entitled to that label. Greatness is about achieving what seems impossible – to other men.

      As he describes his destiny of conquering the world, she’s swept away by the greatness of his plan. In the commentary, Rob Tapert describes Xena the warlord reaching out for a legitimate reason to maintain her conquests.

      She sleeps with him and they agree to conquer the world together. On their next meeting, he betrays and crucifies her, an image of savage cruelty that will return in later seasons. Caesar tells Xena, With this, especially with you, I define myself to all those who would dare oppose me, all those who would dare prey on Rome. Goodbye, Xena (Destiny). He executes her, but as she survives, she transcends her old existence and becomes something more, especially for modern viewers.

      In the Roman world, crucifixion marked the body as abject; it was designed to cast that person outside the boundaries of civil society (Merback 1997, pp. 202–205). But to the modern viewer, crucifixion marks the body as sacred. It implicates the crucified in the Passion of Christ and the tradition of martyrdom that built the early Christian Church (Merback 1997; Perkins 1995). Consequently, even in those moments in which Xena specifically invokes the Roman meaning of crucifixion, it cannot escape its Christian implications. (Kennedy, Xena on the Cross 314)

      Behind Xena’s (and Christ’s) cross is a history of violence directed not only against its victims but against all those who stand in the way of those invoke its power (Briggs 183). In this episode the cross is not particularly a Christian image but a reminder of the thousands the Romans crucified. Still, the quiet M’Lila saves her and carries her to safety. After, M’Lila wants to know if Xena is angry at Caesar. Having passed through this defining moment, Xena begins her path of rage and savagery using her new powers. Tell Hades to prepare himself. A new Xena is born tonight – with a new purpose in life – death, she cries. Bulgarian music swells as Xena kills all her foes. Xena’s first death on the cross initiates what the series constantly refers to as the cycle of violence and hatred. This is the driving force behind much of the series (Briggs 183).

      When she’s killed in the episode Destiny, she relieves all this, then has a ghostly encounter:

      XENA: M’Lila.

      M’LILA: Hello, Xena.

      XENA: You should have left me to die back there on that beach.

      M’LILA: You have a destiny, Xena. But you have to choose it.

      XENA: I did choose it.! I chose evil!

      M’LILA: Now that you know evil – were evil – you can fight evil. When the living think of the dead – the dead can hear their thoughts. Listen.

      VOICE OF GABRIELLE: Xena – I know you can hear me – wherever you are. I know you always told me to be strong. I can’t be – not now. You can’t leave me. I know it’s not your time. I can feel it in my heart. I feel this emptiness that I’ve never known before, and it scares me. Xena – above all – just remember your destiny. Remember it and fight. Just, fight to come back. This world needs you. I need you.

      XENA: I have to go back.

      She turns from hating Caesar to copying his methods. Later, she cries, Spread the word! From this moment on, we are at war with the Centaurs! And Borias is their ally! We’re going to need a lot of wood. When I’m done here – there’ll be a line of crucified bodies leading from Corinth – to the Caspian Sea. And I will crucify them all. Crucify them! Crucify! (Past Imperfect, 409). When Xena later comments to Gabrielle that Caesar had left his ‘mark’ on her, she spoke not only of her broken body but also of her acceptance of the worst qualities of Rome – the unquenchable desire for conquest, violence, and death as a means to life (Kennedy, Xena on the Cross 316).

      Mentor Lao-Ma

      With shattered legs and crippled soul, I went east to lose myself in vengeance – not against Caesar – but the entire human race, Xena explains (The Debt, part 1, 306). Xena travels to Ch’in, where she displays the severed heads of those she defeats in battle as a warning to anyone set against her. "The mark that Caesar has left on her is this commitment to the blood-lust of Rome, a blood-lust that Xena locates in the death of love (Kennedy, Xena on the Cross 316). She will need to grow beyond this stage into a savior: to become a hero, Xena must become an anti-Rome" (Futrell 15). At this point, she still mirrors the empire she hates.

      Wounded and limping, she becomes the lover of Borias, a Mongolian warlord on the steppes. He’s cruel but fair, while she urges him to greater and greater brutality. Xena’s actress, Lucy Lawless, explains in the interview for Adventures in the Sin Trade (401): Evil Xena in the Sin Trade. We get to see her at her most venal most avaricious, most lustful… All the Seven Sins, all that personified. So I always enjoyed playing her a lot.

      Meanwhile, Borias is courtly and gallant towards the gentle, delicate, and beautiful Lao Ma – all brutal, unwashed Xena is not. Jaqueline Kim’s Lao Ma is both tranquil and powerful, and as impressive as if she’d dominated half a dozen episodes or more, instead of only two (Hayes 81). Seeing the attention her lover pays Lao Ma, Xena is consumed with jealousy. She tells Gabrielle later, I wanted to kill Lao Ma because I knew in my heart that she’d be a civilizing influence on him – and I liked him wild like I was – an animal, living from one moment to the next, driven by desire alone. Yet she envies Lao Ma’s stillness, her sense of certainty in the world. When Xena attacks, Lao Ma defends herself with amazing control and prowess, emphasizing that one need not be a savage to fight. Look how beautifully Lao Ma, how effortlessly she thwarts Xena’s every move, Lucy Lawless says in the commentary.

      Lao Ma, once a courtesan, then a wife sold for a marriage alliance, has her own method of defeating the patriarchy – keeping her husband in a perpetual coma. She adds, I make sure he stays alive, but in this half-conscious state…I make sure he’s seen every once in a while, in the garden. It helps to convince doubters.

      XENA: So you rule in his name.

      LAO MA: The only way a woman could rule in the kingdom of Ch’in. It’s my gift to him. He was a vicious tyrant. I’m going to make him the most loved of rulers. (The Debt, part 2, 307)

      She sees nothing contradictory about forcing her husband into complete helplessness and taking his kingdom from him, though giving him the gift of a benevolent reputation. She likewise is happy to give him the credit for her book of wisdom. Thus she becomes ruler of half of Ch’in, though hiding behind a man’s identity. Publicly, she’s sweet and self-deprecating, explaining, Please forgive my husband for sending his insignificant wife to handle such difficult affairs of state. But he’s very ill (The Debt, part 1, 306). Though gentle and kind, she has a stronger will than any other human on the show. She explains, Nothing is soft as water – yet, who can withstand the raging flood?‘

      When a woman decides to break with established images of the feminine she inevitably begins the traditional hero’s journey. She puts on her armor, mounts her modern-day steed, leaves loved ones behind, and goes in search of golden treasure (Murdock 36). All her ambition focuses on achieving male goals of career and wealth. Thus women like Xena have been content to be men in petticoats and so have lost touch with the feminine principle within themselves (Harding 16).

      However, after she’s proven she can outdo men in the arena of sports, warfare, or business, when she’s gained external power and success, the Warrior Woman feels a spiritual lack. … Deeper than she realizes is possible, a voice is calling her to find the Dark Goddess, the savage powerful icon of femininity, and absorb her wisdom. (Frankel, Buffy 8)

      Xena responds to Lao Ma’s example with further brutality, kidnapping the young son of the ruler Ming Tzu. He and Borias betray her, and Ming Tzu hunts her like an animal through the forest. Filthy, furious Xena is now at her lowest point – only animal instinct. Dramatically, Lao Ma appears in a beautiful crimson robe, perfectly groomed. She tells Xena, Come with me if you wish your freedom…I have been blessed – or cursed – with the ability to see into the souls of others. You don’t know it yet, Xena, but you’re a remarkable woman – capable of greatness.

      Usually, when the hero is at the nadir of despair, a nurturing, strong, and independent woman appears to her. Although the hero associates this figure with her biological mother, often the actual mother is more captor than rescuer. The powerful and heroic woman whom she encounters may be a surrogate mother figure. Unlike the male seducer who claims that he can slay the dragons for her, the female rescue figure tells the hero that she is capable of saving herself. (Pearson and Pope 184)

      She hides Xena in her bath and gives her air from her very lungs to keep her safe. She sees her as a powerful person who can do good and wants to convert her, Tapert explains in the commentary.

      When Xena leaves Greece and Rome, the liminality that already exists there is even more pronounced, especially in the use of magic, movement across boundaries of life and death, and transcendence of human physical limitations. Equally significant, the East serves as a possible place of spiritual rebirth for Xena. Her love of Eastern women and her mastery of their secrets enable her to transcend the limitations of her body and the impurities of her soul. (Kennedy, "Love Is the Battlefield 48).

      Following this, Lao Ma, a force of civilization from one of the oldest literate cultures in the world, washes Xena’s hair. She puts makeup and Chinese clothing on her, making her into a lady at last. She also teaches Xena the power of discipline. In the interview for The Debt II (307), the writers call Lao Ma the seminal person Xena meets before Gabrielle, the one who completely changes her. She is a force of gentleness but also power, as the one foe Xena cannot defeat. Her way offers to Xena an alternative model of heroism and love that she ultimately must incorporate in order to fulfil her destiny (Kennedy, "Love Is the Battlefield 48).

      Their lives mirror – Lao Ma has given up her own son, who’s been raised to hate her. Thus she gives Xena advice for the future, sadly noting, I know, it’s foolish of me. Just because we give birth to them doesn’t mean we own them. Reacting to the example of Lao Ma and her own child, Xena manages to build a good relationship with Solon.

      After civilizing Xena, Lao Ma teaches her gentleness and self-control. Would you kill a mosquito with an ax? she asks and shows Xena how to hurl a tiny hair brooch. However, she adds that she doesn’t like to kill.

      LAO MA: The entire world is driven by a will – blind and ruthless. In order to transcend the limitations of that world, you need to stop willing – stop desiring – stop hating.

      XENA: How do I do that?

      LAO MA: Heaven endures – and the Earth lasts a long time, because they do not live for themselves. Therefore, she who would live a long time should live for others – serve others.

      XENA: I could serve you, if that’s what you mean.

      LAO MA: Of course, you can. It’s easy to serve someone you love. You feel it will make them love you more. It’s like a good business investment. That’s not what I’m talking about.

      XENA: You mean that – I should serve someone who hates me.

      LAO MA: More than that – you need to serve someone you hate – Ming Tzu. (The Debt, part 2, 307)

      Xena does so – humbling herself – and learns a modicum of self-control. Her memories of her time with Lao-Ma show the pair laughing and cuddling together, floating around the room borne by Lao-Ma’s spiritual magic. They wear long, draping silk robes and whirl around each other, dancing. Many see a romantic relationship between the women who truly love each other. She saved my soul – my spirit, my entire Being, Xena explains. Borias visits, and Lao Ma tries to turn Xena from her anger, crying, Stop, Xena, just stop. Stop willing; stop desiring; stop hating.

      Lao Ma heals Xena’s legs, which is metonymic for the greater cure that Lao Ma’s wisdom offers her. In The Debt, Xena sadly remembers the crucial moment at which Lao Ma challenged her to stop hating and how she refused the opportunity to let go of her hatred. (Briggs 185)

      Xena tells Gabrielle, later: That was the moment. I could’ve done it right there. I could’ve just – let go and buried all my hatred forever. That was my chance. As she continues, She had such dreams of peace for her land – and for my soul. I ruined them all. It was years before I understood finally what she wanted from me. Not long before I met you, I was at the end of my rope. I was ready to give up. And then I thought of her and what she taught me, and – and I was reborn. That’s the debt (The Debt, part 2, 307).

      The heroine’s journey involves meeting archetypes – Lao Ma is the mentor and perfect lady who teaches these qualities to Xena. The Debt emphasizes Xena’s split between warlord enemy, feminine mentor, and masculine lover as all three literally gamble for her in the land of Ch’in.

      XENA: Lao Ma, if I may make a suggestion. Ming Tzu is a man of great courage. I say you should put me up as the stakes in a game of chance – and see who wins.

      MING TZU: Excuse me – but I do not have to play such a game. You belong to me, now!

      BORIAS: I have a claim on Xena. I discovered her – so to speak.

      LAO MA: And I was fortunate enough to save her.

      XENA: And I should say, I belong to myself. It should be an interesting game. (The Debt, part 2, 307)

      Xena wins – symbolically she belongs to herself. In fact, she has not fully embraced Lao Ma as spiritual guide or Borias as life partner – she values advice from both but doesn’t fully follow their paths. In fact, she’s more committed to her own path, hate. Thus moments after the game, she murders Ming Tzu in front of his son, emphasizing that she still craves violence. Borias, who has gambled a body part in the game, offers Xena his heart, possibly becoming her subordinate from this moment on. Certainly, he follows her home to Greece and becomes her lover. His romance and loyalty are placed at her service, but she rejects his sense of fairness as she preys on the centaurs.

      In the present day, Xena goes quietly, humbly to her execution. There, like her mentor, she is spread out on

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