Xena: Warrior Goddess, She who Empowers, and Bestower of Many Skills.
Here is a picture I've been wanting to draw for ages. I always wanted to see Xena as a goddess and it was fun to finally put my thoughts on what that might look like into color!
I like to think that XWP was all about self empowerment and becoming the strongest version of yourself that you can be. Xena was always a symbol of that and even as a character she was able to defy every limit to turn into such a powerful warrior. She also gave other people that power too though, like Gabrielle, Akemi, and Eve, but even the baddies like Caesar, Alti, and Callisto. So I figured if she were to ever be a goddess then that's what should would rule over! She would give people the skills needed to succeed and empower them to become great!
I think Xena already dresses like a goddess so I didn't want to change her armor too much. But I thought the colors were really important. I wanted to pick ones that she would normally wear when she's out of her usual costume so I picked black, white, and red, with gold accents.
Black/purple represents xena's dark past.
White is her redemption and bright future. I thought it would be really cool to show her as a goddess of duality that is a balance between the two instead of just being good or evil.
Red is power and blood. She would be a goddess that deals in mortal blood like Ares and Athena but because she has duality she would be able to take the blood of life through violence or to save it through healing. Her fingers are red to show the blood that she'll never wash off her hands.
Gold is Xena's divinity and heroism. I wanted her armor and weapons to be gold since they are more like symbols now than actual tools. I also wanted the gold of her chakram to circle around the black and white to show that she became balanced in her fancy godliness.
She's wearing a crown of hyacinth and cinnamon. Salmoneus said that she smelled like that in Unchained Heart. Greeks also used hyacinth and cinnamon as funeral scents to cover the smell of burning or decaying bodies. I like how dark that makes it why Xena would smell that way. Wearing it as a crown could show off her duality again as something really beautiful but also so close to death.
Some of Xena's many skills are shown around her in the border. These are some of the things that people might pray to her for. I picked 6 because there are 6 seasons of XWP but we all know she has way more than that.
From top left to bottom right her skills are battle, healing, strategy, crafting (embroidery), magic or shamanism, and music.
I'm going to try and not make this a really really long post but this was a lot of fun to make and think about. I love this show so much.
What do y'all think Xena would be the goddess of? Or how she would even end up turning into one?