List of Xena: Warrior Princess characters

The following is a list of minor characters in the America television series Xena: Warrior Princess.

Chilapa

Chilapa is the second-in-command to the residing Amazon queen Ephiny. When Ephiny is killed in battle at the hands of Brutus while leading the Amazons in an attempt to stave off a Roman invasion, Chilapa leads the Amazons until the return of Gabrielle, who is the true queen of that tribe; however, when Gabrielle decides to step down from her role as queen and remain with Xena, Gabrielle gives her Right of Caste to Chilapa to serve as official queen of that tribe.^[1] She is played by Nicole Whippy.

Bellerophon

Bellerophon is a son of Artemis by a mortal father. He swore to exterminate the Amazons after they had abandoned Artemis as their Goddess of worship. When Bellerophon recognizes Xena among the Amazons he is attacking, he makes a plan to trap and kill her in retribution for having killed his mother Artemis. When Xena prevails in battle, she gives Bellerophon the opportunity to live by giving up his fight against the Amazons, but he believes he can't be killed since he is a half-god, thus sealing his fate.^[2] Bellerophon is played by Craig Parker, making this his third character in the Xena series, previously playing Prince Sarpedon ^[3] and King Cleades.^[4]

Draco

Draco (portrayed by Jay Laga'aia) is a warrior who fought beside Xena in the past and since then has had an obsession for her. Draco is a very skilled warrior, able to reproduce perfectly the jumps of Xena, using it to his advantage. He is also a master in hand-to-hand combat. Draco once lived by looting villages and trafficking women, until Xena stopped him.^[5] Draco attempts to get revenge by laying siege to her home city of Amphipolis, but Xena again defeats him and he is forced to leave. Later in the series, Draco attempts to kidnap the virgins of Hestia, but during the attack he is hit by one of Cupid's arrows while Cupid's young son was playing with them. The arrow causes him to fall in love with Gabrielle. He vows to become a better man so as to be worthy of Gabrielle's love. Draco returns during the musical competition for the Lyre of Terpsichore, more obsessed with Gabrielle than ever. When Gabrielle refuses to return his affections, he kidnaps her and plans to kill her at the climax of his musical performance. Gabrielle escapes and Xena defeats Draco.

Furies

The Furies, based on the characters from Greek mythology, first appear when Ares, God of War, summons them to make Xena pay for not avengeing the murder of her father, who was murdered by her mother.^[6] Alecto, the leader of the Furies, deems Xena guilty of the charges and drives her insane. Eventually, Xena turns the tables on Ares, and claims he is her father. The Furies restore Xena's sanity and leave, stating they are going to tell the Gods of Mount Olympus about Ares' actions. Much later, the Furies return after Athena plots to use them against Xena and Gabrielle.^[7] They get into Gabrielle's head and drive her to nearly kill Xena's daughter, Eve. After the deaths of most of the gods, the Furies plan to take over Mount Olympus, and get into the now-mortal Ares' head.^[8] They trick him into trapping Xena underwater, but a well-timed chakram throw kills the Furies by slitting their throats and causing them to explode. They are portrayed by Asa Lindh (Alecto 1-3), Celi Foncesca (Tisiphone 1), Annmarie Dennis (Tisiphone 2,3), Graciele Heredia (Megaera 1), and Smeta Choto (Megaera 3).

Gurkhan

Gurkhan is a villain and a mysteriously majestic warlord. He has a very high reputation for being one of the most illustrious men in North Africa and he owns a collection of wives. He also has many loyal bodyguards who act as his decoys so others won't find out his true identity. He is clever for a warlord and he is also rather respectful when it comes to slave trade.^[9] Gurkhan is responsible for raiding and killing many villagers in Gabrielle's hometown Potidaea. He beheads Gabrielle's mother and father and kidnaps her niece, Sara. When Gabrielle returns to her home village, she finds out from her sister that Gurkhan was responsible for the raid. Gabrielle travels alongside Xena, Eve, and Virgil to North Africa, where they free Sara and Gurkhan's other wives and trick Gurkhan's own guards into killing him.

Lila

Lila is Gabrielle's only sister.^[10] She is a warm and adoring sister to Gabrielle, but very conventional by comparison. She lives at home in Potidaea with their parents Herodotus and Hecuba. At first she resents Gabrielle leaving her, but when Gabrielle returns and helps to save their village,^[11] Lila soon develops a high regard for the maturity and the skills that Gabrielle has acquired over the course of her adventures with Xena. She catches up with Gabrielle whenever she can and at one point she travels from Potidaea to Amphipolis to attend a surprise birthday party for her.^[12]

During Gabrielle's 25-year hibernation, Lila married and had a daughter, Sarah. Potidaea was raided by the warlord Gurkhan, who took Sarah as a slave. Lila's husband and parents went to buy Sarah back. But Gurkhan beheaded all 3 of them. Eight years later when Gabrielle and Xena return, they listen to Lila's story, travel to North Africa to find Sarah, rescue her and reunite them.^[9] Lila is portrayed by Willa O'Neill.

M'Lila

M'Lila is the runaway Gaelic slave girl from Egypt who teaches Xena how to use pressure points, and many other moves, in the season 2 episode "Destiny". M'Lila frees Xena from crucifixion in this episode, and is killed by Caesar's men while protecting her, which is what turns Xena evil. M'Lila's shirt design is what Xena later on bases her armor from. She is played by Ebonie Smith.

Meg

Meg is one of the many Xena look-alikes in the series. She first appears in the episode "Warrior... Princess... Tramp" where she is hired to impersonate Princess Diana, another Xena look-alike. She runs a brothel and has a bad reputation as a harlot and a petty thief. Ultimately she has a good heart, working alongside Xena and Gabrielle on numerous occasions. Later in life she marries Joxer and raises three children with him (presumably adopted, as Meg mentioned in one episode was infertile). Meg is portrayed by Lucy Lawless.

Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles is a villain and the well-known "King of Hell." He has a blue/green skin tone and his facial formation and horns resemble a ram's head. He carries a massive trident as his weapon.^[13] The evil ruler of hell, Mephistopheles enjoys enslaving souls and corrupting people. He enslaves Xena's mother, Cyrene, to make a bargain with Xena. His desire is to obtain the blood of Eve, Xena's daughter and a messenger of Eli, which will allow him to ascend upon the Earth and be made flesh. When made flesh, he hopes to conquer the mortal plane along with hell, joining the two together and leaving the gateway to hell forever opened. With no "devil" to rule over hell, the gateway would forever remain open and demons would swarm the Earth, turning inhabitants into dark servants of hell, in turn making them undergo the "heart of darkness". This phase would consume the people with hate and take over their emotions. Xena, Gabrielle, and Eve return to Amphipolis to discover that Mephistopheles has slain Cyrene and is willing to do anything to become flesh. Mephistopheles possesses Gabrielle's body and tries to transmit the message that he needs Eve's blood or else he will continue to torture Cyrene's soul. Xena allows Gabrielle to perform the pinch on her so she can travel into hell temporarily and battle Mephistopheles. Once there, she witnesses the suffering that her mother is being put through and she faces off against Mephistopheles. However, as Mephistopheles blatantly tells Xena, she cannot defeat him in the realm of hell. Therefore, her god-killing powers are cancelled out in this battle. Also, he tells her that if she were to kill him, she'd have to take his throne as his successor. Xena is not able to overcome Mephistopheles but she promises that if he were to come upon the Earth, she could kill him. Mephistopheles accepts the challenge. When Xena returns to the Earth realm, Mephistopheles is already using his demonic illusions to haunt Eve so she will spill her blood in his name. Eve succumbs to his desire, and the gateway to hell is opened, allowing Mephistopheles to ascend upon the Earth. Mephistopheles is overjoyed to have finally been made flesh, but his victory is short-lived as Xena continues to do battle with him now on Earth. Xena does not particularly want to kill Mephistopheles because she does not want to replace him as the king of hell. But when Mephistopheles threatens to continue his madness, Xena calmly mutters "So be it," before slicing his stomach with her sword, killing him. Afterwards, Lucifer the archangel is sent down to force Xena to accept her position as the ruler of hell, but she tricks him into committing the seven deadly sins so that he becomes the successor instead.

Minya

Minya, played by Alison Wall, (First appeared in the second season, episode 15: A Day In The Life). Is a common woman who yearns to be a fierce warrior much like Xena. However, her attempts at heroics often end in comic relief. She is from the village of Laurel and is initially involved with fellow villager Hower, although later in the series she begins traveling and realizes she is a "thespian" after becoming involved with an actress named Pollina.

Najara

Najara is the leader of a cult encountered by Xena and Gabrielle in the fourth season episode "Crusader", in Phoenicia. Inspired by mystical voices she calls the Djinn, Najara leads a group of warriors who fight evil, and in particular, combat piracy and slave-trading, which Najara claims are tolerated by local authorities.^[14] Xena and Gabrielle join forces with Najara at first, until Xena discovers that Najara gives the wrong-doers she captures the choice to either convert to her cult, which she calls "the light", or be executed. Najara also reserves the right to execute them if she deems their conversion insincere. Questioned by Gabrielle, she acknowledges that she may sometimes kill innocent people, but claims that all she does is send them to "the light."

Najara insists that Gabrielle stay with her because she has been initiated into the cult. Xena and Najara fight and initially Najara beats Xena when her back is turned, but later Xena comes back, defeats Najara and turns her over to the authorities.

In a subsequent episode, Najara escapes from prison and meets Xena and Gabrielle again.^[15] This time she tells them she has become a disciple of Eli, who is also Gabrielle's guru, and a complete pacifist. She tries to persuade Gabrielle to join her, saying that life with Xena will only lead her down a path of violence. When Gabrielle tries to come to Xena's aid in a fight, Najara becomes enraged and assaults Gabrielle, leading to a new confrontation between Xena and Najara, which leaves Najara comatose. She is portrayed by Kathryn Morris.

Perdicas

At the start of the series, Perdicas is Gabrielle's fiance, but she is reluctant to marry him and runs away to travel with Xena instead.^[10] After Gabrielle left, Perdicas becomes a soldier to "toughen up." He meets with Gabrielle while fighting at Troy.^[16] He later appears again and explains to Gabrielle that he is totally disillusioned with military service and is tired of killing.^[17] He asks Gabrielle to marry him, and she accepts. But soon after their wedding, he is killed by Xena's nemesis Callisto. In the first episode of the series, he is portrayed by Anton Bentley. Scott Garrison takes over the role for further appearances.

Solari

Solari, portrayed by Jodie Dorday, is a loyal Amazon who befriends Gabrielle and supports her coming Queen of the Amazons. Velasca declares her a traitor to the Amazon nation. In "A Necessary Evil", Solari aids in attacking Velasca and setting up a trap to slow her down. She was killed at the beginning of the episode "Endgame" by Brutus' troops.

Virgil

Virgil, portrayed by William Gregory Lee, is the eldest son of Joxer and Meg. Virgil lives with his parents and younger brother and sister at the family's inn. Virgil is an aspiring poet and warrior. After his father Joxer is reunited with Xena and Gabrielle, Virgil joins them on their quest to find Xena's long-lost daughter Eve. Virgil witnesses Joxer's death at the hands of Eve, then known as Livia, Champion of Rome.

References

1. ^ "Endgame". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-05-03.
2. ^ "To Helicon and Back". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2001-02-19.
3. ^ "For Him the Bell Tolls". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1997-02-24.
4. ^ "The Key to the Kingdom". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-01-11.
5. ^ "Sins of the Past". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1995-09-05.
6. ^ "The Furies". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1997-09-29.
7. ^ "Motherhood". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-05-15.
8. ^ "Coming Home". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-10-02.
9. ^ ^{a b} "Who's Gurkhan?". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-10-23.
10. ^ ^{a b} "Sins of the Past". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1995-09-04.
11. ^ "The Prodigal". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1996-03-04.
12. ^ "Takes One to Know One". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-04-26.
13. ^ "The Haunting of Amphipolis". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2000-10-09.
14. ^ "Crusader". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1998-11-16.
15. ^ "The Convert". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-04-19.
16. ^ "Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1996-01-15.
17. ^ "Return of Callisto". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1996-10-28.