Valerie Estelle Frankel - Xena and the Heroines Journey: Symbols, Archetypes, and Deeper Meaning

by

Valerie EstelleFrankel

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Xena and the HeroinesJourney is an unauthorized guide tothe Xena television series and related works. None of the individualsor companies associated with this series or any merchandise basedon this series has in any way sponsored, approved, endorsed, orauthorized this book.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2016 Valerie Estelle Frankel

All rights reserved.

LitCrit Press

Print ISBN: 978-1541394193

Contents

When Xena: Warrior Princess aired in 1995,the heroines journey was rare to television. Superheroines wererare at all, and the few shows theyd had (Wonder Woman, TheBionic Woman, The Avengers) tended to be episodic with actionrather than growth and depth. The great mythic arcs of the herobattling his dark side were reserved for the men.

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

While the heros journey focuses on the boy takinghis fathers sword and battling the evil tyrant (Voldemort, DarthVader, Mordred) the heroines journey has different elements. Shereceives a different weapon or tool, often round like the lifecycleshe embodies. While she sometimes brings down the patriarchy, shesmostly called to defend the helpless, saving others until sheascends to divine matriarch, the queen or goddess who protects alllife. Her enemies thus are the killers of the innocent the WickedWitch of the West or Queen of Narnia who freezes the world inperpetual winter. As Xena battles her dark side and all thecharacters who reflect it, she embarks on a perfect heroinesjourney arc.

Gabrielle does as well, creating an intriguingdouble journey rare even in epic fantasy. While Xena is coming froman adult perspective, seeking redemption for her past, Gabrielle isthe ingnue seen more in heros and heroines journey tales as theadolescent leaves home and finds his or her destiny. She grows frompeasant girl to Amazon queen and a warrior strong enough to battlegods. Beside Xena, she discovers her true calling and destroys allthe Olympic pantheon to protect their new child in the motherssacred mission. Together the two women defeat gods and angelsalike, ascending to true divinity then relinquishing their power tobe simply Xena and Gabrielle eternal heroes that inspirecountless generations. Its a journey of daughter, mothers,grandmothers, and goddesses female relationships and femalestruggles breaking new ground and emphasizing heroism is a pathfor the women as much as for the men.

In the earliest days, Xena actually was a princess,with a mysterious missing father to quest for. Her father is saidto have been a Spartan King, but no one knows her origins forcertain, explains Card #6 of the Hercules Trading Cards. This isfitting for more than the shows title. Epic heroes are frequentlythe long-lost child of royalty (as in King Arthur) or bornsemi-divine with fantastic powers (the demigod Hercules strangledsnakes in his cradle).

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

As far as Xenas other paternal options, Xena hassuperhuman abilities, made clearest when she defeats Ares in TheFuries and kills most of the Pantheon in season five. Some criticsmake the case that Xenas lookalikes could be her half-sisters bythe same godly parent (Matthews). Xena has other marks of divinityas Hades, Ares, and Aphrodite beseech her help on occasion.Certainly, mythic heroes all over the world are generally demigods,and Xenas ignoring of gravity during battles alone is superhuman(to say nothing of her precision with the chakram). Ares romanticfeelings for Xena make his fathering her unlikely. Zeus is theobvious candidate for a demigods parent, but one assumes that ifHercules suspected such a connection, he wouldnt pursue her.Likewise, Zeus spends God Fearing Child (512) feuding with hisson rather than Xena. Going down the list of male gods and theskills they would have passed on (Xena, for instance, seems to haveno especial affiliation with the sea and Apollo themusician/archer/healer never appears on her show), one critic makesan interesting case for Hades:

Hades is a definitepossibility. Why? We know that before he met up with Persephone, hewas lonely, so perhaps he had a few nights out. Also, Persephoneseems a gentle soul. He obviously likes that type, so selectingCyrene as female company does not seem out of character for him. Asmentioned above, one could assume Diana and Leahs mothers would besimilarly gentle souls, and maybe Meg does not take after her mumat all. Perhaps Megs mum was a sweet young thing. We may neverknow.

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

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