Last November, at the 2022 Salute to Xena in Los Angeles, Adrienne Wilkinson asked the crowd which version of her character, Xena’s daughter, they preferred? Was it Livia, Commander of the Roman Army & the Bitch of Rome? Nearly all stood up & cheered.
Or,
Was it Eve, her redeemed, pacifist counterpart, disciple of the prophet Eli? About half a dozen folks stood & cheered. I was one of them! Just 2 days prior, I had finished writing the 1st draft for this webcomic, but I was neither surprised nor disappointed.
I’d been in the fandom for decades, & knew that folks preferred Livia’s entertaining villainy, her cruel snark, explosive action scenes, not to mention, love scenes with the handsome god of war, Ares. And Eve? No romance, no action, no humor (except at her expense), & only the purest feelings of love for mankind. Surely her character was unsustainable? After all, Gabrielle began in a similar way: determined to follow the path of peace & love, until she was betrayed, taken advantage of, then followed Xena’s path as a warrior.
That’s usually how these arcs work out on tv shows. Peace & love is synonymous with naïveté; eventually, such a character learns that the only practical answer to violence is more violence, hopefully as little as possible. So I was very surprised that Eve stuck to her path.
She had one moment of weakness, in season 6, & a tongue-in-cheek moment later on, but the powers that be kept her true to path. I was really surprised by that, when it 1st aired. There was almost something transgressive about it. Some folks even thought producer Rob Tapert was trying to sneak a Christian message into the story (he was actually very concerned not to cross that line). I thought that was a very gutsy move, featuring a pacifist on a show that relied on action for its appeal.
Eventually, as I learned more about pacifism, I realized it’s not as strange as I 1st thought. I’ll talk more about that this week & next, but let’s get back to that half dozen of fans vs. 100s at the convention. If that ratio holds up in the fandom in general, then most folks reading this must wonder what appeals to us about Eve? My goal with this project is to fully communicate that appeal. But maybe I can give some idea of that now. There’s an old story about a man who has to choose between 2 doors. Behind one is a tiger. Behind another, is a lady. Choose the tiger, he’s dead. But choose the lady, & he must marry her. He asks his lover, a princess, who knows the answer, to tell him which door to pick. Whichever one she picks, she’ll lose him. So what does she tell him? We have to guess, & the answer tells us something about ourselves.
As I see it, Livia is the tiger, Eve the lady. Which do you choose? Pick the tiger, & the story is over quickly. Pick the lady, & you must endure seeing a character you love living another life. But, of course, that life is long, & full of interesting twists & turns, who knows what’s in store for you both? The lady offers a future; the tiger does not. But I would say you don’t have to choose, because in this case, the lady & the tiger are one & the same! There is only 1 character. Livia never goes away, & I believe Eve was never entirely absent either.
This is true on the show, as well. Ask Lucifer or Caligula if Livia’s spirit is gone for good. And ask Livia herself, who believed her own heart was a traitor. The best part of this project was writing for her character through the eyes of both, & the possibilities seem endless. Livia is much easier to write for, because she sticks to the script. There’s no limits to what she’ll do for you. She’ll kill anyone you want, betray anyone you like. But Eve doesn’t: she’ll befriend the opponents you write for her, mess with the allies you send to her aid, knock down any walls & break through any doors you set in her path. Try to contain her, & she’ll become bored & listless, until you see things her way. Trust me, it’s better to just let her figure things out herself. It’s awesome, in fact!
This week I’ll look at what shaped Livia/Eve’s creation, issues in writing for her character, challenges in expanding her character while matching the show’s arc. I’ll conclude with the music video that inspired me while writing for her.