{"id":448,"date":"2023-07-05T05:48:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T05:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/?p=448"},"modified":"2023-07-05T05:48:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T05:48:56","slug":"origin-of-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/05\/origin-of-eve\/","title":{"rendered":"Origin of Eve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Eve<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Literally speaking, Eve is the redeemed spirit of Callisto, reborn by choice as #Xena\u2019s child. Reincarnation is part of the Elijian cosmos on this show (as it was among some early Christians). That said, there\u2019s an interesting line that gets overlooked in that ep, \u201cSeeds of Faith,\u201d in which #Xena, who doesn\u2019t trust Callisto\u2019s new perspective, dares her to get off her angelic high horse & try living in the real world again. I wonder if this put the idea in Callisto\u2019s head to accept this challenge, deciding to be reborn as her child?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If so, this casual taunt of #Xena\u2019s sets in motion some amazing events for the rest of the series, not to mention, endanger Callisto\u2019s salvation when, as Eve, she gets separated from her mother & reverts to her warlord ways. This also leads to some interesting layers in Xena\u2019s & her child\u2019s relationship, as adults. Though they don\u2019t know each other, after 25 years separation, still, there\u2019s the unusual bond between Xena & Callisto that surely must exist. In a sense. Xena is the mother of 2 people: Callisto & Eve; quite a burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the final shape of Eve\u2019s origin, but it took a while for the writers to arrive at this, given that the show changed hands during this period between its temporary show runners, & the return of R.J. Stewart from running the spin-offs. Preliminary plans were made, perhaps from Rob Tapert\u2019s notes, I\u2019m guessing, for Eve\u2019s birth, the Twilight of the Gods, & finally, the 6th & last season. Some of these were kept, but a fair amount of Eve\u2019s story was dramatically revamped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, Eve as Livia was intended to continue on through to the end of the show. She would pursue Xena & Gabrielle as Caesar\u2019s queen, while the heroes fled Greece much like they did in season 5 from the gods, under different names. A final confrontation in the series finale would end with Livia realizing who she was, and Caesar beginning the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace. I\u2019m glad they didn\u2019t do this. It\u2019s the equivalent of Gabrielle\u2019s descent into madness in The Play\u2019s the Thing, turning a show about peace into a bloodthirsty crowdpleaser, destroying the message in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob wanted Livia to last only 2 eps, ending season 5 with Eve\u2019s return, so a different idea was proposed: Livia corrupts Caesar & tries to get Ares to build a siege engine that shoots firebolts (which sounds to me very much like Ares\u2019 unsuccessful 1st appearance on #HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys ). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also reinforces an unsavory idea (to me, at least), by blaming Livia\u2019s evil on her innate evil qualities inherited from Callisto\u2019s spirit. The writers saw it as Callisto\u2019s karma she had to work off, but that doesn\u2019t make sense to me: would an angel carry bad karma? Of course, in the dvd commentary, both Rob Tapert & R.J. Stewart suggested this was so, but this is a rare moment when  I think the writers got it wrong. I think Adrienne Wilkinson got it right when she attributed it to Livia\u2019s upbringing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the most logical conclusion, & no surprise, since she would have to make logical sense of the role with her performance. This is also how I interpret Livia\u2019s downfall, & I\u2019ll talk more about this next week, when I discuss the Elijian philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are story details, but the overall arcs also help shape Eve\u2019s origins. There\u2019s the Child of Destiny, i.e., the Rosemary\u2019s Baby motif, that culminates in Eve\u2019s story, but there\u2019s also the series-long teasing of the coming of the One God to replace the Olympians that is fulfilled with Eve\u2019s character. But there is another motif as well: the Dionysus motif, which is strongly associated with Xena, but finds full expression with Eve, as she most resembles, more than anyone, the character of Dionysus in The Bacchae: the stranger who brings the new disruptive faith to town, & leads to the undoing of those who refuse it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are hints that Eve fits this pattern in her names, as well. It was Chris Manheim who originally gave her the name Livia, taking it from the BBC series, \u201cI, Claudius,\u201d & the matriarchal figure from The Sopranos. But I notice she was referred to as Lydia in one of the early drafts, making me think this was a placeholder name, which I believe was taken from The Bacchae: Dionysus declares he has arrived from his home, Lydia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eve\u2019s name has several roots, I believe. Paradise Lost was one of the sources that was required reading at this stage of the show, featuring Adam & Eve at the center of a war between Heaven & Hell. Another, I\u2019m certain, was Aristophanes\u2019 comedy, The Women\u2019s Festival, which refers to Dionysus by his other names: Evius, Evivus, & Evoe. I believe The Women\u2019s Festival was used as a source for a number of Xena episodes, including Kindred Spirits, which is where Xena took baby Eve to protect her from the gods. But there\u2019s one more major factor to Eve\u2019s origins I believe we should look at. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over at Hercules, as Xena was airing Adventures in the Sin Trade, in which Xena is separated from Gabrielle by death, there is a similar, but longer arc on Hercules, in which Herc is also separated from his friend Iolaus. That arc is much longer, & explores that idea much more fully (due to Herc having more flexibility in its format: Xena fans would not tolerate Gabrielle being out for an entire season). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, Hercules goes to Ireland, where he meets a group of druids who are very similar to Elijians: they\u2019re a new religion, threatening to the old gods\u2019 order. They send an assassin, Morrigan, to eliminate the druids, but she quickly discovers that when she kills the Druid of Justice, she must take his place. It\u2019s a role that\u2019s completely opposite to who she is, & the very idea of it makes her ill. Hercules is the mediator, the one who provides exposition by asking the druids how this all works, then talking to Morrigan in her now-weakened state, since she can no longer drink the blood that sustains her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a full season before Eve\u2019s story, but it\u2019s very similar; in fact, it gives us a few more story beats to Eve\u2019s story, should we want to extend it, & that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done in this project, using this idea of Morrigan trying to adjust to this new life of justice & peace, feeling very  unsuited to it all, but finding her motivation in the end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think this beat is missing in Eve\u2019s story, & can help provide background should we wish to expand on her story further. There\u2019s one more building block to consider, & that\u2019s the biblical source of her story. When Motherhood originally aired, it was immediately recognized that Eve\u2019s story matched St. Paul\u2019s story, in the New Testament Book of Acts. His conversion from persecutor of Christians to their greatest champion  is clearly a model for Eve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will address this more next week, but I believe she is not just modeled on a generic idea of Paul, but on a very specific literary depiction of Paul that will shed light on her & the Elijians. Understanding these sources was key to how I approached this project, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Literally speaking, Eve is the redeemed spirit of Callisto, reborn by choice as #Xena\u2019s child. Reincarnation is part of the Elijian cosmos on this show (as it was among some early Christians). That said, there\u2019s an interesting line that gets overlooked in that ep, \u201cSeeds of Faith,\u201d in which #Xena, who doesn\u2019t trust Callisto\u2019s new perspective, dares […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-xena"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}