Alti

Infobox Hercaverse and Xenaverse Character|Alliance=#B22222


Title=Alti
First=Adventures in the Sin Trade, Part 1
Last=When Fates Collide
Creator=Robert Tapert
Name=Alti
Job=Shaman
Kind=Human
Affiliation= Formerly Xena, Borias and the Amazons
Actor=Claire Stansfield| Alti is a fictional character in the television series "". She is portrayed by Claire Stansfield.

Character History

Overview

Alti is a Northern Amazon shaman driven out of her Siberian tribe by Queen Cyane, because of her hunger for power. She is one of the people who taught Xena in her dark days, and possesses various spiritual powers.

Development

During Xena's dark and ruthless past, Alti trained her as a shaman and seduced her with the promise she would become the "Destroyer of Nations". This finally led to Xena murdering Cyane and several other leaders of the Northern Amazons. Xena escaped from her when she became pregnant with Solan, but not before her unborn child is cursed by Alti.

Alti commands incredible spiritual powers which have been fuelled by her evil rituals performed on the slain Amazon tribe leaders.cite episode|title=Adventures in the Sin Trade, Part 1|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=1998-09-28] While she is strong as a warrior, Alti's true strength lies in her psychic/spiritual abilities. The curses she place on her targets never fail, although only one instance of her curses is actually shown, as Alti curses the unborn child of Xena and Borias. She is very prophetic and every prophecy she mentions in the show eventually happens; such as Solan never being able to experience the love of either Xena or Borias. She can possess living beings in the physical world, Alti possesses the Berserker's horse and attacks Xena through the horse's spirit, and also possesses a spider to bite Xena and extract information about Gabrielle.cite episode|title=Adventures in the Sin Trade, Part 2|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=1998-10-05]

Alti is probably best known for her trademark "stare", which brings up pain and suffering from the target's life and unleashes the torment once again. Whenever Alti "stares" at Xena, Xena often feels the pain of when her legs were broken,cite episode|title=Destiny|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=1997-01-27] her back snapped by her Chakram,cite episode|title=The Ides of March|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=1999-05-10] and multiple barrages of attacks from some of her mortal enemies. However, as Alti grows in power during the series, she is able to conjure up pain and suffering from a person's future as well. This is what causes Xena to realize that Gabrielle is alive in Season 4, after Alti shows Xena a vision of her and Gabrielle being crucified together on Mount Amarro.

Xena is not the only one who has felt Alti's powers. When Gabrielle is shown the vision of her and Xena dying she feels like she is being crucified.cite episode|title=Between the Lines|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=1999-02-15] Alti also forces two Chinese Emissaries to envision the suffering of war.cite episode|title=When Fates Collide|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=2001-05-07]

In the few dealings with Alti, she claims that her powers are always evolving. Alti discovers the rich abundance of life force that can be drained from the Karmic Cycle, and says, "Here, there are generations of power, just waiting for me to take". In an alternate reality, Alti realizes who she really was in the original world, and is able to amplify her power from both worlds. In doing so, she is able to fly, and dart across fields at an inhumanly fast speed. Later, although deceased, Alti is able to wreak havoc on Xena, Xena's unborn child Eve, and Gabrielle from the Spiritual Realm.cite episode|title=Them Bones, Them Bones|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=1999-11-01] Also, the Mother of Peace, Xena's next life, tells the hero, Gabrielle's next life, that "Alti's evil just moved on to the next life", which credits that Alti's powers do extend beyond just one lifetime.

The Darsham, Naima, a spiritual wise woman from India tells Xena that no matter what happens in the Karmic Cycle, Xena will always stop Alti in every lifetime as soon as Alti discovers her powers. This has been true; in each episode that featured Alti, Xena stops her before she could do anything else.

In Season 4, after Gabrielle falls in Dahak's lava pit with Hope,cite episode|title=Sacrifice, Part 2|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=1998-05-11] Xena travels to the Northern Amazon territory and defeats Alti.

Alti appears again when she tries to take over the spirit of Xena's unborn child in Season 5.

In Season 6, Alti returns reincarnated as the brilliant genetic engineer "Alexis Los Alamos". In this episode she clones both Xena and Gabrielle into the present time.cite episode|title=Send in the Clones|series=Xena: Warrior Princess|serieslink=Xena: Warrior Princess|airdate=2001-04-23] Her final appearance is in this Season 6 as the High Priestess of Rome in an alternate reality created by Julius Caesar, after he tampers with the three Fates and their loom and changed the course of history. That reality is ultimately destroyed when Gabrielle destroys the loom, marking the final appearance of Alti.

Appearances

* "Adventures in the Sin Trade, part 1"
* "Adventures in the Sin Trade, part 2"
* "Between the Lines"
* "Them Bones, Them Bones"
* "Send in the Clones"
* "When Fates Collide"

References

External links

* [http://www.angelfire.com/tv/alti/ Alti's Dog House]