A big issue for an Eve fanfic writer is translating Eve’s character from a supporting character to main character. In my story, I carve out space for Eve to have enough independence from Xena so that she can emerge on her own.

Eve is quite a formidable character: she had expanded Rome’s empire, nearly became its empress, was feared by the ruler of Hell, her blood has the power to make the infernal incarnate, she can see into people’s hearts, literally, & is willing to go toe to toe with Lucifer & Caligula without batting an eye. Then she talks Emperor Claudius into sending a peace mission to the very Amazons who’ve vowed to kill her if she returned, & this is just getting started! She did this without friends or soulmates. She has her mothers, & she has the love of Eli, but these make her dependent, in our eyes, important as they are. 

As I see it, though, it’s all about framing. In The Gauntlet, Xena is a villain, but she transitions to being a hero. Part of that process was the traveling salesman, Salmoneus, who saw her good qualities before anyone else, thanks to his keen sales instincts. He offers to become her publicist, which sounds silly, but it’s what every good hero needs when they’re establishing themselves. And for Xena’s pilot, she indeed gets her own publicist, in the form of aspiring bard, Gabrielle. That entire 1st season has Gabrielle talking up Xena non-stop. Eve doesn’t have this, but her evil counterpart, Livia, does! Livia gets a triumph in Rome, a salute by Caesar, thanks of the Roman people, makeout sessions with Ares, the works!

Eve really only gets one outright endorsement, of sorts, & it’s from Mephistopheles, lord of Hell! Everyone else greets her with yawns or sarcasm, o r the odd blow to the head. True, Livia killed Joxer, which should’ve hurt her likability with the audience, but it’s Eve who apologizes for it, making her look weak—in entertainment terms, of course. Objectively, Eve is the stronger of the 2; she has to juggle a lot while on very shaky ground, while Livia is a tragic figure who’s vulnerable to Ares’ whims & treacherous Roman politicians.

Eve does very well: she only backslides once, when her mothers seem to withdraw their support, in Heart of Darkness, but she bounces back quickly. So the challenge for Eve fanfic writers is to give Eve credible publicists, & chances to express her strengths through action.

I’ve no doubt that the Eve spin-off intended to do these things, most likely in the form of disciples constantly defending her, & strong opponents overcome by her. I think we already saw one of them on #Xena: Archangel Michael clearly resented Eve, & it’s hinted he resented Eli, too. The exaltation of all these humans into the ranks of the divine hierarchy must’ve grated against his angelic sensibilities, & I suspect that was set up to be developed on Eve’s own show. 

The earlier drafts of The God You Know depict Eve as much more subject to manipulation than we saw, & I suspect it was removed because it made her look weak. It would be around this time that the producers would be thinking of a spin-off,& you can’t be weakening the lead character like that. Instead, it now looks like Eve was betrayed by Michael, but not fatally, & would be much the wiser around him in future. Eve’s faith in Eli wasn’t fatalistic, but decisive, & we can assume that it was rewarded, after all, in spite of Michael.

So, you have to be a bit of a salesman, like Salmoneus, to sell a hero, & that’s one of the reasons I felt he’d be a perfect guest star on an Eve-centric ep!