Tumgik
#Gabriel price
artist-issues · 15 days
Text
break the cycle. it's been "Why do I feel this way? -> is it ever going to get better? -> Wow, I'm messed up -> I'm insecure about that -> But I'll share my mess with others because the insecurity doesn't control me -> they like it & feel it too -> but if they like it because we're all messed up, then aren't I just secure in my mess? Am I afraid to get cleaned up because then they won't connect with me anymore? -> so then my insecurities do control me -> Why do I feel this way? -> is it ever going to get better? -> Wow, I'm messed up -> I'm insecure about that ->" for as long as I can remember.
Let Him break into the cycle and give you a security in Him, not in your mess. An identity in Him, not in your issues. He's got to take your hand and lead you up, step by step, growing and healing away from that cycle. The cycle shouldn't be who you are. Your support shouldn't be your support just because they have the same mess in common. You shouldn't be worried that by getting a wound healed and moving on, you're giving up your Wounded Support Group.
break the cycle by surrendering to God, who is outside of the cycle and can and does make you a new creation.
what would it be like if you stop looking so much at how you feel, and how you think, and how you are, and start talking about something other than your own psyche? Other than what your psyche has in common with others' psyches? You're so profound when you talk about your thoughts and the people who have the same kinds of thoughts as you. What would it be like if you started looking at something outside of yourself and talking about that?
44 notes · View notes
simmyfrobby · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's, / and nothing can we call our own but death
hockey poetry post 104/?
thank you @kitebird-hockey for your help <3
248 notes · View notes
Note
Imagine gabriel doing someone's top surgery with his swords
.
87 notes · View notes
8bit-mau5 · 10 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Collection of all the discounted colored sketch bust comms I've done this Monday and Tuesday!
I'm also a bit short for my meds, so I'm taking 1 more of these busts for 45 USD, just DM if interested! Comes with both the uncolored + colored versions
71 notes · View notes
bunnyreaper · 8 months
Text
in the most self indulgent turn of thoughts:
cod x overwatch crossover where you start out at overwatch, following reyes to blackwatch too and being so loyal to your commander and your team, until everything falls apart--overwatch falls, reyes dies and your heart is broken seeing the man you love die under a pile of rubble, dying without knowing how you really felt about him.
in the fallout you're scooped up by the 141, finding solace in your new team and the resolute captain price, getting dirty so the world can stay clean. there's no discord or disharmony like there was in blackwatch, and it feels so fucking solid.
and you hate yourself when you notice price the same way you'd noticed reyes, and you hate it even more when you notice the similarities--in their leadership style, in the fucking cigars they smoke, in the way they capture your heart and mind.
it's not long into your tenure that new problems pop up for the world, vigilantes and terrorists, namely reaper, and there's just something familiar about him that has you convinced it's gabriel.
price is the only one who believes you, and backs you on trying to track reaper down since you're familiar with him, but when reaper realises, he's tracking you back.
both commanding officers want their loyal soldiers, their girl by their side. you all end up trapped in this cycle, reaper wanting you back, price not willing to let you go.
169 notes · View notes
loverjareau · 15 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
space between. descendants 2 soundtrack. 2017.
photo credits - paul sancya / stephen r. sylvanie / paul sancya / colorado avalanche on x / ap photo / christinne muschi / giuliano fantilli / nbc sports / bally sports / colorado avalanche on x / yong kim / capitals on x / josie lepe / christopher hanewinckel / john e. sokolowski / jeff vinnick / michael martin / joe sargent
61 notes · View notes
tokillamockingbird427 · 2 months
Text
Ykw, Logan and Keegan can't do the stupid lighter+cig dynamic thing but you know who can?
Rorke and Elias.
And Rorke ain't the one who smokes fellas.
Oh! But also Elias could be the lighter to Price's cigar. Just realized.
27 notes · View notes
rorkegirly07 · 1 month
Text
Part Four
part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 5
Tumblr media
John Marston:
Kieran Duffy:
Mary-Beth:
Sean MacGuire:
Tumblr media
22 notes · View notes
a-ramblinrose · 4 months
Text
Tumblr media
"For Terry Pratchett and Colin Kent, fathers who encouraged their daughters to keep their minds open to magic and wonder, and not to forget to do the hard work. Raising a drop of Special Sheep Liniment in their names."
29 notes · View notes
Text
Ode (Any M Character X AFAB Reader)
Warning: female anatomy description using vulgar language
He's made to please you. He's convinced of it.
His lips aren't plush and soft, and admittedly they're chapped (even with that lip balm you give him, you sweet thing) but they're pink. Like the flowers on the sidewalk you enjoy looking at and picking, with stars in your eyes. Like the pink of your cunt, sweet, wet, and so pink, the prettiest, juiciest of fruits.
His body is worn. His skin has protrusions, scars from childhood and adult injuries, some hyperpigmentation, some spots that just exist, and stretch marks that come with puberty, from his growth in time that led him to you. His body is worn but it is strong, it carries you and makes you laugh when he spins you for a hug, his body shaped to fit into your embrace perfectly, just right to melt into you and wrap around him like a koala when you're both being playful. He's proportioned and shaped for your pleasure, body ready to please and continue to please you, made for your love and safety.
His hands are not soft, roughened by years of labour, grip firm and tight, sure of force. But they are tender for you, and their history marks them for you to know that this roughness is complementary to yours. His rough hands are perfect for cupping your face for a kiss, to give you a cup of coffee in the morning, to hold your things for you or keep them above your head when he's teasing. His hands encircle and embrace you, their most sacred treasure, as he makes you fall apart, showing you an infinite world of pleasure and holding you to his heart when you finish, his hands are made to please and serve you in all ways.
Whenever he looks in a mirror, and wonders what you see in him, why others may look at him differently, you remind him his purpose is not living to please others, that he exists for himself. He thought it was true, but he knows better now.
Home is not a place but a person. He is not a celebrity and never will be a model, he is an ordinary man that you somehow treat like a king, when you, his goddess, are all he needs. He lives for you, to worship and adore you. His body, his face, it didn't matter what others thought of as attractive or undesirable in him, no one matters. But he is molded in the image of what you like, of what Heaven believes you would find lovable, and when he looks at you, he knows his being is built for you, because you're everything he has wanted, and he feels divinely enjoined when it is his eyes you stare into with such love.
He's made for your pleasure, and he will live up to what you deserve.
76 notes · View notes
rat-loves · 4 months
Text
okay... technically this was going to be a valentines thing but im exhausted and i will explode/forget if i wait another two weeks
been thinking about @bunnyreaper and her shotgunning blurb from october... bunny ilysm 🫠
tap and zoom for better quality! i didnt mean to make it so damn dark lmao im sorry 😂
Tumblr media
34 notes · View notes
faith-skull · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media
🦋About my blog🦋
I go by she/her and you can call me Kaizeril or Kai
I write for different cod characters I do not write NSFW content I only write SFW content
‼️ please DO NOT be weird or request weird stuff‼️
Characters I may write for (you can request whatever cod characters you want!!):
Jason Hudson
Russell Adler
Maxim Antonov
Ingo Beck
William Peck
Lev Kravchenko
Vladimir Makarov
Grigori Weaver
Nikolai
David Mason
John Price
Gabriel T. Rorke
Dimitri belikov
Vadim Rudnik
"Bell"
Mendo Garcia
Victor Zakhaev
Philip graves
Tumblr media
(I'm sorry if this intro thing sucks I'm new to writing..)
23 notes · View notes
kingkenzieofmold · 10 months
Text
Hello! Here is the first batch of Original Characters from @fluvvie, go check them out!
Tumblr media
Characters Left to Right: Hazel Price Benjamin Suave Charlene Doves Blair Hex Flame Ghost Denise Clovers
Tumblr media
Characters Left to Right: Ethan Galeforce Valeera Cinder Gabriel Saints Bloody Ghost Harley Stickmin Hayden Curtis
I hope you enjoy!<3
67 notes · View notes
8bit-mau5 · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
I’m a tad late with this one, but I’m finally done with my 2nd Clown Bust adoptable! I’ll be releasing these every so often to get designs i got in my brain out my system, cos i had Such strong inspiration for this guy.
I’m in a financial emergency and really need him to sell, so if you can’t afford him, I’d greatly appreciate a boost!
VENETIAN CLOWN - @/kaiiijuu
DM me if interested!
[Rules under cut!]
You may gift them, but under no circumstances are you allowed to resell them.
NONE of my art or adopts are to be minted as N/F/Ts.
You may not edit the original art in any way, shape or form.
You may not reupload the non-watermarked file anywhere, as that’s for your own personal use and viewing.
You MAY, however, reupload the watermarked version for the sake of judgement memes, select and bio pages, asks, and ToyHouse, where you can credit me under the same URL as my tumblr 8bit-mau5.
If you do not want them anymore, you can donate them back to me or trade them off to someone else! Be sure to let me know of the new owner if you trade or gift them away.
Don’t claim design as your own, and must credit me when you first draw them.
You have a maximum of 24 hours to send payment once approved. If you don’t send it within that time frame, I open them back to the public.
Transparent unwatermarked files will be sent only after payment has been received.
Feel free to change the gender, clothes, etc however you want, so long as the design is still recognizable.
You may NOT change the skin tone, whitewash them, or change their facial features, as most if not all of my adopts are coded as POC (obviously the facial features rule doesn’t apply to chibis, as those guys have no drawn distinct facial features).
125 notes · View notes
bunnyreaper · 7 months
Text
kinktober 15 - shotgunning
john price x reader x gabriel reyes
(18+/mdni, smoking, dubcon, d/s dynamic, shamelessly self-indulgent)
the mildest sense of confusion filled you as you approached the captain's door--a call to his office so late meant either a reprimand or a social call, and you know which one you'd prefer at this moment. you also know which one there have been so much of recently, and social was a polite descriptor for your visits to the captain's office as of late.
an overwhelming smell of cigar smoke lingers outside the door as you approach, your hand knocking hesitantly as you call out, "captain?"
"come in." your captain's voice calls out, compelling you to open the door and step into the cloudy room.
your eyes drift over to your lover, noticing the way he's lounged with a cigar from his lips, and the base's special visitor is sitting across from him.
"oh, commander reyes." the man's appearance makes you straighten up, makes you worry this isn't a social call after all, but then the way the smoke swirls around the two men is anything but professional.
his smile is tight-lipped behind his trimmed goatee. "gabriel is fine." he says, a hint of sincerity to his voice. 
you turn your attention back to john, trying to determine where you stand and what the visit is about. you'd long stripped out of your work clothes when you got your captain's message, so now you stand before the two men in nothing but a thin cotton t-shirt and a pair of sweats--feeling horrifically out of place. 
"what can i do for you captain?" you ask, voice professional. 
john smirks around his cigar, amusement clear as he plucks it from his lips and flicks it into an ash tray. "the commander and i were just talking about you, love." 
your stomach drops. your relationship with your captain is a secret, and from the predatory look gabriel is giving you, him being told about it only means one thing.
"john was telling me about your special relationship." he purrs, his handsome brown eyes roaming over your figure. you appraised the man too, while he was older than john, he still had his looks, bulging muscles and a dangerously magnetic look in his eyes.
"hmm, thought you could come join us for a cigar." john mumbles, coaxing you over to him, his words subtly commanding. "just like I showed you." 
he pats his thigh, making room for you you perch yourself in his lap as smoke billows around you both. 
"okay." you whisper, settling yourself atop of him as your eyes flicker to his lips, watching the way he puffs. arousal already shoots through you, from the hardness pushed against you and the heady atmosphere of being put on display for the commander.
john cups your chin gently, tilting it up to give him access to your mouth.
"ready?" he asks, voice low and soft. when you nod meekly, eyes shy and unable to meet his, he takes a puff of the cigar and blows out the smoke. in turn, you suck it in, delicate lips only milimetres from his. his next words are whispered against your lips. "atta girl."  
"enjoy it?" the commanders voice cuts through, a lazy, amused smirk on his lips as he spreads his legs and adjusts. "cuban, brought them with me." 
admittedly, you didn't like it all that much, but that's perhaps because you'd gotten so used to the taste of john's cigars. you look back to john, uncertain if your truth is what is being asked of you right now, but you go for it anyway. "it's not as nice as your usual, i think i prefer the maduro." 
that gets a chuckle from both men, gabriel's eyes especially burn as he takes a satisfied drag of his light-leafed cigar. "you have her well trained, captain." 
you don't miss the proud smile on john's face, yet he urges you back to your feet, steady you on your shaking legs. 
"see how you like it from the commander, love." he urges, and it's now gabriel's turn to pat his thigh temptingly.
the newness of the situation, the implication of everything from here on out makes you dizzy, uncertain. 
"go on." john speaks once more, and you won't disobey him again. 
you wobble over to the american, only to be pulled into his lap and secured over his own growing bulge. "i don't bite princessa, unless you want me to." 
he parts your lips with his thumb, his skin tasting like the harsh tobacco as his smokey breath fans across your face. "now open that pretty little mouth for me."
96 notes · View notes
girl4music · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
MY TOP 10 FAVOURITE EPISODES OF ‘XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS’ AND WHY I LOVE THEM SO MUCH
(CONTAINS A LOT OF SPOILERS)
'Xena: Warrior Princess’ is a very influential, inspiring and impactful TV show for me. It is my favourite piece of art/entertainment of all-time and it is the backbone and foundation behind my entire philosophy as a human being on this planet. All the show is great, but it’s the episodes that have given me deep life lessons and helped me understand more about myself and the world around me that matter the most to me. I will give a lengthy explanation as to why each one of these specific favourite episodes in my TOP 10 mean so much to me or what it is about them it’s taught me that has made me a better and more evolved version of myself. There is 134 episodes all in all. From most favourite to least favourite, here are my TOP 10 most favourite episodes of 'Xena: Warrior Princess’ and why I love them so much.
1. S03E12: THE BITTER SUITE
‘The Bitter Suite’ is a musical episode. It combines my love for music and drama into one excellently written, produced, directed and composed episode of the show. But that’s not entirely the reason why it makes the very top of my list, although that’s a huge factor. ‘The Rift’ (as Xenites call it) between Xena and Gabrielle all throughout Season 3 is dealt with and put to rest in this episode. The writers use Yin and Yang and the polarities of love/hate, good/evil and peace/war to represent the importance of friendship, honesty, forgiveness and the ability to put someone you love and care about over yourself in their time of need despite whatever animosity you feel towards them due to past circumstances and situations that broke your heart. They use Yin and Yang several times in the show to give such strong and substantial messages, however, this time takes the winning spot for me. The friendship between Xena and Gabrielle is put to the ultimate test when they fall into this dimension of reality called ‘Illusia’. In this strange, whimsical and colourful place everything is designed to be expressed in song and theatrics. It’s such a clever, artistic and extremely thought-provoking episode. There is a lot it taught me that I unconsciously crafted into my own philosophy of life throughout the years. Also, it was the very first episode I ever saw of the show. They were airing Season 3 in the United Kingdom when I came across it at 5 years old in 1997. Its lessons have remained with me since then but I definitely understand it a lot better now I am a grown adult. If there was ever any episode that you should watch of Xena to introduce you to it… and you really don’t care about spoilers… make it this one. I promise you… you won’t regret it.
2. S03E14: FORGIVEN
‘Forgiven’ deals with the themes of forgiveness and redemption. As you may know, the entire concept to the show is about a Warrior Princess named Xena who fights for the good of mankind to redeem herself from her past sins and be forgiven by the world of which she caused immense damage and pain to. So redemption and forgiveness are the biggest and most reiterated themes and overall messages in the show. But never more so prominent and profound than in this episode. We meet a young girl named Tara that reminds Xena of how she used to be before she became an evil warlord. Lost and confused, hanging around the wrong people, doesn’t understand the difference between right and wrong. She picks a fight with Gabrielle to show Xena she’d make a better sidekick. Initially this girl really pissed me off. I thought she was very arrogant and well out of her league to think that she could replace Gabrielle in Xena’s life. But like Gabrielle, I warmed up to her when she crumbled down in tears and confessed that she hates the way she is and wants to change herself. Become a good person. Just as Gabrielle does in the episode, I judged her too quickly. She had a story that hit me hard due to the way I treated people in my own life. It was a real wake up call to me at the time. One I really needed cause gods know I couldn’t be reached otherwise. I was so far beyond real help.
There’s a line in the episode that has really stuck with me throughout the years and still is something I remind myself of even now as often as possible.
XENA: “You are what you do. You can recreate yourself every second of your life.”
3. S01E22: CALLISTO
‘Callisto’ is about a new character we meet late in Season 1. This character becomes the main antagonist of 'Xena: Warrior Princess’ and my favourite character besides the main two leads in the entire show. In the episode before it, ‘The Greater Good’, Xena gets shot in the neck with a poisoned dart and it is revealed to us in this episode who it was that targeted her. Now I don’t just want to talk about the character but also the actress that portrays her as well because that is a massive reason why this episode stands out so much to me over others in Season 1. Hudson Leick plays Callisto and delivers such a remarkable acting performance that gives her character layers and layers of depth, expression and personality. She’s easily on-par with the leads, if not better. I love watching her perform. She’s fantastic!
Excerpt taken from my character study thesis; Section 4: A dark heart is shadowed until the light shines in.
[The introduction of the character Callisto to the show adds a much heavier layer to what is already an overwhelming story of redemption, vengeance, love, forgiveness and balance, which are to me, the main themes in the show that are reiterated repeatedly as it progresses in writing, production and direction. Callisto becomes the main villain in the show, but she isn’t your run-of-the-mill evil villain. Oh, no, no, no. I like to think of Callisto as more of an antagonist than a villain. She has an extremely complicated storyline of her own that inexplicably ties in with Xena’s because Xena murdered her family, or so that’s what she adamantly believes. It’s hard to explain or understand just how much this character is an integral reason for Xena’s reformation from being an evil warlord to a heroine for good, and how the consequences of her dark past have really screwed Callisto up and turned her into, for lack of a better word, a psychopath who is absolutely bent on destroying everything that makes Xena who she is. Starting with her reputation, and eventually escalating to the people she loves and cares about in all the world. This character is so crucial to ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’, that there is never any way to stop her even when she dies. She’s that dedicated to ruining Xena and Gabrielle’s lives. Callisto doesn’t just want to kill Xena. She wants to kill her soul because that is what Xena has done to her. It’s hard to think of Callisto as any kind of villain because you develop such sympathy for her throughout all her appearances in the show. She’s so messed up in the head that you just don’t think of her as an evil person, just an extremely depressed and misunderstood one. What happens to her, in the end, is something that needed to happen, and I was unbelievably happy did. She did terrible things, but she needed the opportunity to be saved and forgiven as Xena did, and fortunately, the show’s producers gave her the ending she deserved.
This leads me on to what happens when Callisto meets Xena face to face for the first time in the late Season 1 episode, titled ‘Callisto’, and how Gabrielle plays a part in stopping Xena from crumbling down in guilt and regret and letting her go because of it once they captured her. Xena doesn’t blame Callisto for how she ended up, knowing that it was her own fault she became that way in the first place. Even if she didn’t mean for her family to be killed in the fire her own men started against her orders all those years ago in ‘Cirra’, Callisto’s hometown, she still felt solely responsible for the consequences that followed.
There is a very important scene, which I call ‘The Promise’ scene, from this episode where Gabrielle asks Xena to promise her that if anything happened to her in their travels together, that she would not turn away from her path of atonement, and rampage like a raving blood-lusted lunatic the way Callisto was. You see for the first time Xena’s vulnerability and struggle with sensitivity. She was finding it so difficult to cry in front of Gabrielle. She tries to send her off to bed before she could see the tears streaming down her face, but Gabrielle wasn’t having it. She made sure she promised her, and that she was sincere with the words. She sees the tears and tries to brush them away from her face. Xena immediately turns away from her and tells her to go to bed, but she doesn’t move. Gabrielle just sits there by her side sharing her pain and accepting her for who she is now, which I find extremely powerful and beautiful. Xena has probably never encountered acceptance like that in her life before, or she wasn’t paying enough attention to see it. The fact that Gabrielle refuses to leave her must have thrown her off. She left herself unguarded for the very first time in her life in front of this young woman. As the flickering flames danced before them, illuminating their faces, we see the Warrior Princess’ walls down for the very first time. The Bard had succeeded in bringing out her sensitive side, if only just for a moment. This would be the beginning of a transformation so intense, it would completely change Xena’s personality and mindset forevermore. Love and forgiveness would be her saving grace, and the beautiful soul sat across from her would be the reason why it happened at all.]
Furthermore, in this episode we also meet Joxer, who becomes the main comic relief in the entire show and gave Gabrielle the chance to be taken seriously as a character instead of the “irritating blonde”, as she’s so often called by other characters in the show, much to my distaste. So because of the introduction of two incredible recurring characters, especially Callisto, this episode ranks high on my list.
4. S05E02: CHAKRAM
‘Chakram’ goes back to the Yin and Yang representation of the show. They use it as the main plotline of the episode in that there is a Light and Dark chakram and the plot was to retrieve the chakram of Light from the temple of the Tao because Xena has always had the Dark chakram and it broke earlier in the show. It’s one of the many episodes in the entire show where the character Ares: The God Of War represents Xena’s Dark side and Gabrielle Xena’s Light side. But this time with a little bit of a twist, as it is Gabrielle that directs Xena back to her Dark side again due to Xena having lost her sense-of-self and the memories of who she was in her past after the both of them were crucified at the end of Season 4 and were brought back to life again through another new character in the show, Eli, at the start of Season 5. This episode means a lot to me because it really clarifies how important it is to have balance in your life and in yourself. A balance of Light and Dark to really understand both and be whole with everything you are as a soul. All that makes you you.
There is a really great scene in the episode, that’s probably my favourite scene, where Xena is praying to some kind of deity, most likely the ‘One God’ of Eli’s religion. It is never revealed who or what exactly she’s praying to but Gabrielle notices and is concerned about her because Xena won’t defend herself when she is attacked anymore, nor does she remember anything violent or negative about herself and her past. Xena questions her whether they’re doing the right thing in restoring her darkness and how that could even be a good thing to do. Gabrielle replies in such a way that is very philosophical and wise that you don’t hear from her in quite awhile in the show. She says “I think it’s vital. I know that sounds strange, coming from me. I think you have to know the darkest part of yourself to be whole.” Xena exclaims back “But this way, I harm no one!” Gabrielle counters “But Xena, what about the people who harm others? Xena, you have this balance of lightness and darkness. Without both of those, the very best in you is defenceless.“ That scene and that dialogue helped me to realize something amazing about myself and the way I look at everything negative I do as something that takes away from who I am as a soul. But really it’s just giving the way to the rise of something much more positive and helping me to understand myself better and recognize the importance of polarity and the teachings of Yin and Yang. It’s a meaningful and motivating episode to me because it represents what I call ‘The Grey Area’ in the best way that I could never explain myself. 
Also, Xena gets a cool new and improved chakram with the Yin-Yang design when she neutralises the Light and Dark chakrams together, which brings her back to her former self again, so that was awesome too. I love the way they did this episode so much. I especially love that both lead characters evolved because of the need to be there for each other. The need to protect and defend one another. That’s precisely what their relationship is fundamentally about and they hit it on the nail with this episode. Who said Season 5 didn’t show the love between them? Look deeper. The love is there, it’s just not in the way that you expect. It’s in the themes represented. It’s in the fundamental message that someone that cares about you has to put aside what scares them about you and do what’s best for you.
5. S02E15: A DAY IN THE LIFE
‘A Day In The Life’ is a comedy episode that centers around Xena and Gabrielle’s average day of fighting for the innocent. Now while this episode is highly regarded in the fanbase because of the hilarious things Xena and Gabrielle do to each other to affectionately aggravate one another that drives them both crazy like a squabbling old married couple, it’s also got a very inspiring moral to it at the same time. That you do not need to make yourself the victim in thinking of yourself as unworthy or unappealing to the one you love, and that you have your own strength to fight your own battles and don’t necessarily need someone to defend or protect you all the time. You see, in this episode you are introduced to a couple, Minya and Hower, that fall into somewhat of an estranged relationship when Hower falls in love with Xena as soon as he meets her. Hower is the first person of the couple you get to know, but when you meet Minya, you find out she’s a big fan of the Warrior Princess, but begins to view her with disgust and jealousy when she realizes her boyfriend is attracted to her. Xena and Gabrielle, while occupied with their own married couple problems, have to sort this out and make it clear to Hower that he has no chance with Xena. Xena gives some advice to Minya on how to handle men and she becomes this strong, independent and extremely confident woman that knocks a warlord to his feet that impresses Hower and she no longer feels victimised by him or anyone else. This ignites the flame in their relationship again and Xena and Gabrielle learn to overcome their own differences in the meanwhile because of being inspired to by them.
Furthermore, Xena, the brilliant strategic thinker she is, finds a way to kill two birds with one stone by stopping both an army and defeating a giant. There is this cute little moment in the middle of the episode where she tells Gabrielle that by defeating the giant Gareth, she will be repaying an old friend back from having to fight against him for ‘The Greater Good’, which ultimately led to his death. I thought that was very endearing. It’s a great episode. Funny, yet has a lot of substance to it. At least to me it does. It’s definitely my favourite comedy episode in the entire show and it is another great introductory episode to come to know the comedy and campy side of Xena because Xena isn’t dramatic and serious all the time and that’s part of its charm as a 90’s show. 
6. S04E07: LOCKED UP AND TIED DOWN
‘Locked Up And Tied Down’ has Xena dealing with the justification for her regretful past. She is convicted and tried for a murder she committed to a young woman years ago, that has only just seemed to follow her up now. I thought that was quite weird at first, but it’s explained why later on. The build-up of the episode has her boarding a boat shackled in chains and leaving a grief-stricken Gabrielle behind to carry out her sentence: life imprisonment on Shark Island. Gabrielle follows her, of course, and tries to free her while masquerading as the new healer for the prisoners. It is here the sudden event of Xena’s conviction begins to make sense, as Gabrielle discovers that the person Xena, apparently, murdered, is the one who condemned her. It’s an episode where the empathetic ways of Gabrielle transform someone into finding their power and peace again, the way she has done for Xena.
Meanwhile, the opposite is happening to Xena. She feels an immense amount of contempt in herself for all the horrible things she’s done. She’s so disgusted with herself, that she takes accountability for any kind of punishment or chore any of the prisoners are given while on Shark Island, along with her own. For me, that was an extremely painful thing to watch. My hero literally just giving up everything, including Gabrielle, because she hated herself. It was awful to watch how she just let the guards order and push her around like that and have all authority over her. But as painful and awful as it was to watch, it made me understand that forgiving yourself isn’t easy when your past sins follow you around and weigh you down when you’re trying to climb back up in your life. It’s not justice to just feel remorse for what you’ve done. You have to pay for those sins and accept the consequences of the pain and damage you’ve caused to others. You don’t get a free pass just because you believe you’ve repented for your sins. Others make that decision for you. Which means redemption is not earned and can’t be. It’s decided by others. It’s not a nice lesson to learn, but it is an important and realistic one. What’s more is you need to stop seeing yourself as a victim, because nobody is going to have mercy on you if you’ve done wrong. You have to own up to your crimes and deal with the consequences of your own actions. It’s a very dark, twisted and dramatic episode, but that’s just the kind of TV that I love to watch. That’s why this episode is one of my absolute favourites. This show is not afraid to tell the truth of the darkness of its themes or let the leads off for doing questionable things, unlike 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’, and because of it, it is far superior to it in writing, directing and acting.
7. S06E02: THE HAUNTING OF AMPHIPOLIS 
‘The Haunting Of Amphipolis’ sees Xena, Gabrielle and the newly reformed daughter of Xena, Eve, go back to Xena’s hometown after over 25 years to find that something has gone terribly wrong. Xena’s mother, Cyrene, is dead and the entire town has been wrecked and abandoned. There is a great evil that has permeated it and wreaked havoc that turned it into a hell hole of death, torture, pain, grief and just outright carnage. 'Xena: Warrior Princess’ finally gets a HORROR story. My favourite producer, Sam Raimi, who executive produces the show along with Rob Tapert, had a lot to do with this episode and you can tell because it’s his sort of episode. His creative area of expertise. Horror, just without the comedy, although there is some well-hidden dark humour in there that only an enthusiast of the original Evil Dead film series will pick up. And I am somewhat of a fan.
Okay, so I’m cheating a bit here. This episode isn’t really all that inspiring or really teaches you anything of any importance whatsoever. It’s just… I love horror basically, and I was waiting for Xena to have some sort of episode where they show blood, guts and gore since it’s done every other genre known to man. If you read my writing about my favourite art/entertainment, you would know what I’m like with begging creators to incorporate versatility. It’s a big drawing card for me when it comes to art/entertainment. There’s not much else to say. There’s a lot of weirdness, disturbing and creepy crap that goes on in it that is right up my alley. It makes my TOP 10 because it’s just something that I enjoy watching and suits my passions for TV media in general. It’s my niche. There’s no moral or message of significance. Honestly, I am just a sick person who loves watching sick stuff. So there you have it. It is an acquired taste and not for the faint-hearted, so I probably wouldn’t recommend watching this one if you do not like or are not familiar with horror. It’s a great one to watch for Halloween though, which I’m sure was the intent behind creating and airing it.
Oh, and Xena finally teaches Gabrielle ‘The Pinch’. One of Xena’s trademarks in her “I have many skills” repertoire. Or at least she teaches her how to take ‘The Pinch’ off. Good enough for me. Xena teaches her everything she knows in the end anyway.
8. S01E24: IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?
‘Is There A Doctor In The House?’ finds our heroines, Xena and Gabrielle, in the middle of an ongoing civil war between the Mitoans and the Thessalians. They end up bumping into a friendly face in the name of Ephiny, an Amazon in Gabrielle’s tribe, who is extremely pregnant and about ready to have her baby. They capture a Mitoan commander and take refuge in a Thessalian temple where the wounded, sick and dying are being treated. This episode is very upsetting. To cut to the chase: SPOILER ALERT! Gabrielle dies. Not only do you get to see Xena’s impressive demonstrations of medical aid, surgery and respiratory reparation, but you also come to see the incredible influence Gabrielle has had on her life throughout Season 1. Xena showcases such vulnerability, compassion and even fear while begging and pleading for Gabrielle to wake up. She absolutely crumbles down in emotion the likes you’ve never seen from her in the show thus far, and you realize that this adventurous and naive young woman she helped on to the back of her horse, Argo, not too long ago, has had an unbelievable effect on her mindset and personality. She has fallen completely in love with her and her ways of empathy and understanding of ‘The Greater Good’ and she just can’t let her go peacefully. She demands for her to return to the land of the living, screaming “Don’t leave me! DON’T LEAVE ME!”. Through much persistence and determination Xena’s remarkable medical and healing skills somehow miraculously bring her back to life again. Don’t ask me how, she just does it, and Xena claims it’s entirely Gabrielle’s doing. I disagree. I think it was Xena that achieved that feat because her love for Gabrielle guided her efforts. Their relationship reaches even greater heights. At least from Xena’s point of view it does. 
Elsewhere in the episode, before that dramatic and climactic ending, that I also thought was a great addition to the theme, we go back to Ephiny and watch her talk with the Mitoan general named Marmax, who the Amazon has been put in his care. Ephiny has developed a hatred for the Mitoans because they killed her husband, but is able to tolerate Marmax because she wanted him to understand something about hatred. That the war has to end somewhere for their children’s sake. She challenges him by asking “Is bloodshed all you want them to know?” and the scene cuts out. I thought that was very powerful and it made me appreciate the episode all the more. This episode inspired me a lot and makes it on my TOP 10 because of it.
9. S02E20: THE PRICE
‘The Price’ is an episode about understanding what it means to be human and the price you pay if you’re ignorant to the truth because you’re blinded by hatred and anger. Xena and Gabrielle stumble into dangerous waters and come across The Horde. Xena remembers this barbaric tribe from when they annihilated her army sometime after the Battle of Corinth. She doesn’t have any understanding or knowledge on them other than what she knows from her past when she was the Destroyer of Nations, and claims they have no will other than to kill everything and anything they come into awareness with. They pick up a wounded soldier in their canoe and bring him into the Athenian Army battlement camp while the war still rages on. Xena becomes ruthless whenever she has an army around her and something to hate and direct her anger at and Gabrielle never likes or accepts it. While Xena is taking command of the Athenian Army to try to destroy The Horde by any means she can, Gabrielle is tending to the wounded in an old armoury unit where there are no doctors or healers and she takes the initiative to be the lead nurse to care for those who are dying and need help. This is where you come to see that Xena cannot stay on the right path for herself and would easily just as go back to her dark days if not for Gabrielle’s hold on her guilty conscience. Gabrielle argues with Xena that maybe The Horde want something and if they had it, they would leave them alone. Or maybe they could find common ground if they learn to understand their ways first. Gabrielle finds the answer when Xena captures one of them and she’s ladling water right next to the tied up Horde. He was breathlessly repeating “Kaltaka”, which is what all the dying Horde chant endlessly on the battlefield. She previously believed it was the name of their god and it was the clue she needed. It translated to water. They just wanted water because the Athenians poisoned the rivers. They didn’t want to fight anymore, they were just desperate for a way to keep themselves alive. Gabrielle defies Xena and goes out into the battlefield to feed the dying Horde weaponless and The Horde crowd around her but don’t hurt her. They notice she was just trying to help. Through this act of kindness towards the opposing side Xena comes to her senses and realizes she’s wrong about them. She goes back to the captured Horde and experiments with her newfound theory that maybe they have a code of conduct that is in common with her own. A Warrior’s Code. She understands him and releases him. Then she goes out to fight The Horde Leader who is the one causing all the trouble for the tribe and defeats him. As she’s walking away with her back turned to the entire Horde tribe, they raise their bows and arrows and Gabrielle screams out “LOOK OUT!”. They don’t target Xena. They target The Horde Leader who was screaming in anguish at being defeated. Xena was now their leader by defeating their previous leader. That was their Warrior’s Code. No real difference to the Amazons, an indigenous tribe they knew so well and wore just as much war paint.
The message is self-explanatory: Don’t judge a person by their race, religion, language, culture, colour, sexuality, gender, or by what you ignorantly think you know about them without getting to know or understand them. You risk losing your humanity.
10. S01E02: CHARIOTS OF WAR
‘Chariots Of War’ is about compliance and expectations from relationships that affects our choices and perceptions of reality. Xena gets herself caught up in a situation where she’s trying to stop these two warlords ravaging a settlement where a community of villagers were trying to build a new home for themselves and Xena takes an arrow to the chest and faints. A single father takes her into his home and cares for her because she saved his young son from being crushed by the newly built settlement that one of the warlords pulled down. While injured, Xena learns of this family’s plight and tries to put it right for them, promising not to use violence to do it, obeying the wishes of the one who took her in who does not want another war. She becomes very affectionate with the father and his family and finds it a struggle to leave them because of it. 
Meanwhile, Gabrielle meets one of the warlords in the inn she takes refuge in because a smelly and disgusting drunk keeps hitting on her. She tells a lie that she already has a boyfriend and he is with them in the inn. To prove it, a bold as brass Bard walks right up to this warlord and complete stranger and kisses him on the mouth and requests that he pretends he knows her to keep away from the horny drunks. They start a conversation about what they do and the warlord, who’s name is Sphaerus, tells her that he works for his father, but he makes him do things he doesn’t like and doesn’t want to do and this insightful conversation between them happens that I really love and relate to myself…
GABRIELLE: “My mother always wanted me to get married and have kids. And I remember telling her that I’d always be grateful for the way that she raised me, but she couldn’t expect me to pay for that with my future.”  
SPHAERUS: “That’s very insightful.”
GABRIELLE: “It’s a gift. Well, anyway, I came to a point in my life when I had to make a choice and I thought about who I really was, and I made it.”
I’ve written an entire article about this that was inspired by this episode and this is a piece of that article where I explain the moral to the episode because, for me, that’s part of the reason why this episode is so damn brilliant and one of the best.
[The moral to this episode is about what is expected of us to comply to by our family, our employment, our sociality and our romantic relationships and trying to apply it to who we are, how we choose to view reality and how we live by our own perceptions. I tend to think the more we empathise with the people that love or care about us and that we love and care about, the better our relationships become. The reason why I think this is because you can only walk a mile in someone’s shoes once you have begun to understand them… But that doesn’t mean you should take on their beliefs… their perceptions… or their lifestyle. You have your own to live by, and that’s how it should be. What you believe in and what lifestyle you choose to live by is what is your truth. And no one should take that away from you. Not even those closest to you.]
Another reason I love it is because the writer, Josh Becker, did something very clever with it in setting up the idea of Xena and Gabrielle being each other’s Yin and Yang before they even realize that for themselves. And he does it by using none other than their MALE COUNTERPARTS and LOVE INTERESTS. It is ingenious writing and something you will only pick up on with multiple rewatches of the show.
—————————————————————————–
That’s my TOP 10 favourite episodes of 'Xena: Warrior Princess’. It’s probably not the list that you were expecting since Gabrielle is my favourite character. You would think I would go with Gabrielle-centric episodes. But when it’s your favourite show, you don’t necessarily care about how much screen-time your favourite character has or hasn’t. What you care about is how well your favourite character is integrated into each episode and there is a lot of episodes that are extremely well written in character representation and development so it’s not a factor.
I’ve already written a hell of a lot so I’ll just end it briefly. Thank you for reading. I hope you check the show out for yourselves if you haven’t seen it and come to love it as much as I do. And if you’ve already watched the show all the way through once or more, what is your TOP 10 favourite episodes? Feel free to express why as I have done. I’d love to know how this show has impacted you the way it has impacted me.
Thank you.
- Girl4Music 
19 notes · View notes