History Series / XenaWarriorPrincess

* WhipItGood: Xena has a whip, which despite not making many appearances is something Xena is rather fond of. She becomes somewhat upset when Gabrielle trades it to Minya.

* HasTwoMommies
** In the episode "Cradle of Hope", Gabrielle finds a baby abandoned in the bushes and takes care of him with Xena for a while. In the end, the local king adopts the child and asks if there's any way he can repay Xena -- and she asks only that he name the baby Gabriel. The entire episode was probably the first example of blatant HomoeroticSubtext in the series.
** Eve has roughly three mommies. [[spoiler: Xena was basically impregnated by the dead Callisto, and started to raise the baby with Gabrielle as "father" [sic]. Then Xena and Gabrielle disappeared before Eve turned one, and Eve was raised by Augustus... and no mother whatsoever.]]
** During Xena's pregnancy, Ares demands to know who the father is. Xena cheekily responds that Gabrielle was. Ares' response? [[GirlOnGirlIsHot "That I would have paid to see."]]

* ContraltoOfDanger: Xena's voice is much deeper than Gabrielle's, since between the two, Xena is a seasoned fighter, while Gaby is a bard.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Alluded to in "Warrior... Priestess... Tramp":
-->'''Leah:''' Life as a priestess to the virgin goddess Hestia isn't all that hard, the most important rule is to know who you are.\\
'''Gabrielle:''' Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem.

%%* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask

* TwistingTheProphecy: In "Cradle of Hope" a king reluctantly orders the deaths of all newborn baby boys, fearing a prophecy that a boy born during that period would replace him as king. Xena eventually convinces the king to raise the kid prophesied to replace him as his son, so that when he does replace him, it will be as his heir, not as his conqueror.

* BareMidriffsAreFeminine: Bare midriffs were one of the main form of the show's {{fanservice}}. Out of the main duo, Gabrielle the bard's green halter top and burgundy skirt exposed her midriff whereas the tough warrior Xena wore a breastplate that covered it. Gabrielle's outfit got even more revealing over the seasons; eventually she switched to a red top that was barely more than a bra and a shorter matching skirt. One episode that involved Gabrielle losing her memory even [[LampshadeHanging hung a lampshade on it]]: Joxer tries to fill her in, and one of the things she learns is how her clothes have covered progressively less of her over the years. Eventually, Xena also got into the midriff-baring with her [[http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Lucy%20Lawless%20Xena%20samurai.jpg Japanese armor]] in the finale. Almost all other female guest stars and recurring characters also wore midriff-baring outfits.

* BareYourMidriff
** Gabrielle's green halter top and burgundy skirt; later, she switched to a red top that was barely more than a bra and a shorter matching skirt. [[{{Fanservice}} Not that anyone complained.]]
** Callisto's outfit also shows a decent amount of midriff.
** Xena's [[http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Lucy%20Lawless%20Xena%20samurai.jpg Japanese armor]] in the finale.
** Also fairly standard for female guest stars and recurring characters. This show '''really''' liked its {{Fanservice}}.
*** It even lampshaded it. One episode involved Gabrielle losing her memory. Joxer tries to fill her in, and one of the things she learns is how her clothes have covered progressively less of her over the years.

* YinYangBomb: Xena's upgraded chakram in season five was created by combining her original broken chakram of darkness and the chakram of light. Not only is it shaped like an actual yin-yang symbol, it now has the power to split in two. Unusually for the typical yin-yang bomb, this actually made the chakram ''weaker'' - at full power, the chakrams of light and dark had the power to kill gods. The balanced chakram doesn't.

* ShesGotLegs: Xena certainly does. Gabrielle (when her outfits got smaller, anyway) and Callisto certainly have nice sets of legs, too...
** The episode "Destiny" pretty much revolves around Xena's legs.

* AnAxeToGrind: The Horde loves throwing axes. [[spoiler:And Xena's mother killed Xena's father with one to protect Xena from him when she was a child.]]

%%* WeaponOfChoice

--> '''Eli''' "If we are united in the spirit of love, no one can stand against us. If we are joined in peace and friendship, ''[[UnfortunateImplications then we have no need of the Gods]]''." [in-universe]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xena_and_gabrielle.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Xena (right) and her [[HomoeroticSubtext li'l buddy]] Gabrielle (left)]]

* SimpleStaff: Gabrielle's WeaponOfChoice.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning. Almost everybody's style of handling any weapon, but primarily Xena's mighty physics-defying chakram and Gabrielle's sais. If you can jump and do a flip in the air, that's how the viewers know you're a badass.

** Xena (in Autolycus body) and Gabrielle's kiss in "The Quest" seems straight out of ''Film/{{Ghost}}''.

* FantasticRacism: During the 'twilight of the Gods' arc, Gabrielle and Xena come to pretty much despise all immortals, wanting to wipe out all the gods (including those who have never done them or humans any harm), saying that none of them can feel any loss - because they are immortal (??) - and considering all the Gods actions as evil and selfish... despite the fact that both Xena and Gabrielle are willing to wipe out an entire race of beings for one child (the fact that the Olympians are not only just fighting for survival but fighting ''to protect their own family and loved ones'' seems to escape Xena). This can also stretch to MoralDissonance - considering Xena's view on things ''before'' the Twilight of the Gods arc - and a DoubleStandard (for obvious reasons).

* MoralDissonance: all over the place, although never present in Xena's actions (except in the 'Twilight of the Gods' arc, but everyone's actions are questionable there).
** Gabrielle has this in different times. Firstly, in season 1 and 2 she has a very BlackAndWhiteMorality spectrum, where she treats killing someone when it isn't self-defense as instant evil, despite the long-term consequences (some of which result in FridgeHorror). Then she takes the Path of Love, gets rid of her fighting stick (which she used so she could fight and ''not'' kill people), and then as soon as the Path of Love doesn't work for her, she abandons it and immediately picks up ''fighting knives'' to use in combat, killing people left and right and not even trying to find a fighting stick.
** The "Horde" revere all life... except when they slaughter all those who they consider their enemy, usually unprovoked, and then torture and crucify them. Oh but wait, it was their land and they were trying to get 'white people' to stay off it, which justifies everything...right?
*** Not that the 'white people' were any more moral, what with ''giving money for the freshly-killed bodies of their enemy''
** Eli advocates the destruction of the Gods when not only does he believe that love and compassion are the true Way (and hence destruction is anathema) but ''he is an avatar of a GOD.'' (Note that no Gods have been shown oppressing any people so far (except the Gods of War), and so the whole reason for this tirade falls flat). This is all in the name of the God of Love (i.e. the Christian God), who is ''the only God seen oppressing and forcing his/her people into a specific path of living'' (whether this path of living is beneficial or not).
** The God of Love, the being who is the source of all love and compassion is supposedly the "real" God and creator... but is so threatened by the Greek Gods that he commissions Xena to destroy them? (This all while this God is espousing a message of peace and love, and ''not'' wholesale destruction).
*** And if the God of Love is actually supposed to be the Light - Dahak's opposite force for creation - which is supposed to abhor destruction ''by its very nature'', and in fact loves and has compassion and mercy for all beings, the very ''idea'' that this God ''gives Xena the power to inordinately kill all the Olympian Gods'' is just so ridiculously out-of-character for It that it borders on insulting (the force for all Creation giving someone the ability to kill is by definition hypocritical!). So either this is a case of severe character derailment on the part of the writers, or this God is in fact ''actually'' threatened by the Olympian Gods, their message for love and compassion is false, and hence this God is actually a ManipulativeBastard trying to manipulate people to His will. YMMV on whether you prefer this God to be false, or the writers to just be stupid beyond all reason.
** Athena tells Xena that "the people need their gods, they need something to believe in," and Xena turns around, agrees that people need something to believe in but says that they have the 'Cult of Eli'... which is based in the Way of Love contingent on the ''God'' of Love! So in other words, Athena is right. However Xena goes on sacrificing the lives of people who are not warriors but are willing to fight to get rid of the Gods, ''while espousing Eli's teachings'', i.e. to turn people to ''another'' God (the power to kill Gods ''comes from Heaven itself of all places!''). No one seems to pick up on this mammoth DoubleStandard though.
** Xena and Gabrielle ''kidnap Celesta'' in order to stop death itself, something which they stopped another selfish idiot from doing in the early seasons. Despite the fact the Olympian Gods are basically trying to survive and save the family they love, which is ''the exact same thing that Xena is doing''. Her condescension to Celesta about it is appalling. Of course [[spoiler:this was just to get the tears of Death in order to do a Romeo and Juliet on the Gods]].

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent
** Several episodes were set in the present time and portrayed the show as being a re-enactment of the "Xena Scrolls" written by Gabrielle.
** "The Bitter Suite", and "Lyre, Lyre Hearts on Fire", the musical episodes.
** "'You Are There" features a modern-day reporter (played by Michael Hurst) following Xena and Gabrielle around. With no explanation.

* TakeThat: Charon's entire rant in "You Are There" where he bashes Hercules for never paying his tolls while comparing Xena more favorably against Herc was more than likely a giant TakeThat directed against Kevin Sorbo. By the time this episode had aired, Hercules had already ended and Kevin Sorbo himself had ended his Hercules stint on a very sour note with Rob Tapert. Tapert had wanted to continue Hercules for three more seasons while Sorbo himself was tired of playing Hercules and wanted to move on to ''{{Series/Andromeda}}'', in addition to already disliking Tapert, claiming that Rob had taken away money, production values, and his favorite writers away from ''Hercules'' to benefit ''Xena''. Sorbo himself admitted that things didn't end well with Rob Tapert in his autobiography and all the things Charon said about Hercules was more than likely a case of WriterOnBoard where Rob Tapert was venting and expressing his exact thoughts on how ungrateful he considered Kevin Sorbo to be.

[[caption-width-right:350:Xena and her [[HomoeroticSubtext li'l buddy]] Gabrielle]]

* HumanMomNonhumanDad
** Xenan, son of Ephiny (human) and Phantes (Centaur).
** And, of course, Hope, whose mother is Gabrielle and father is [[GodOfEvil Dahak]].
** Then there's Eve whose mother is Xena and her father is implied to be God.

* FakeBetterAlternateTimeline: In an episode of Season 2, Xena accidentally wishes to the fates that she had never become a warrior and done all the horrible things that haunt her with guilt now. For most of the episode, this alternate episode seems better, even after the fact that she never stood for her village gave a chance for three notorious warlords to join forces and Gabrielle was enslaved by them (she still intends to find a way to stop them, to her it's just like any other problem she's run into). The only thing that finally convinces Xena not to stay in this universe is [[spoiler: Gabrielle accidentally stabbing a man, thus getting blood on her hands]].