This drawing from Battle of Amphipolis (from the #Xena Virtual Season) shows teen Xena in her mother’s tavern trying to convince her fellow villagers to defend themselves against the warlord Cortese en route with his army. Her admiring brother, the noble Lyceus, looks on. It’s a sequel to Death Mask, but I thought it did well to incorporate what we learned in other eps, like Sins of the Past & Forgiven. It helps shed light on her dilemma: in Death Mask, Xena explains that her pursuit of Cortese led her down the path to warlordism. But here, we see that there’s more going on.

We see that the qualities that make her such a formidable opponent of Cortese also alienates her fellow villagers. Xena’s no role model. She’s a lot like Tara, from Forgiven, a wild girl who’s regarded with suspicion by the others. She thinks the villagers are cowards, but they think she’s reckless. 

The more she argues, the more she pushes them away. She’s right, but it costs her dearly. Her brother dies fighting at her side, & she’s blamed for that. This script picks up on some of the complexities of Xena’s character that Death Mask hints at. In Xena’s mind, Lyceus is forever young, innocent & trusting.

Toris is not: he’s angry, judgmental & bitter. He & Xena blame each other, but they’re more alike than they’d like to admit. Their relationship rings true to me. The question I have with Death Mask is what would’ve happened if Lyceus survived? I think there’s 3 possibilities. 

1st, he continues to follow Xena in her quest against Cortese until he gets killed. 2nd: he continues until he becomes like her, a warlord. 3rd: the most likely scenario, he parts ways with her at some point, & becomes repulsed by the person she’s become. In other words, he becomes like Toris.

There’s a 4th option: he convinces her to give up her obsession with Cortese, but this is unlikely.  Xena is just  too big for her village, & Cortese is also a pretext for her to leave it. To not answer that call is to deny herself. We see a similar scenario play out in Remember Nothing, where she’s given the option to do just that. Walking away from her dark side means walking away from her better side. In a way, her 2 brothers represent the light & the dark, & she struggles to accept balance in that as well, in Battle of Amphipolis.