#Role-Reversal

[saitatsunami]

[girl4music]

“In Season 6 Gabrielle often does or says the Xena thing and Xena often does or says the Gabrielle thing” 👍🎯

The role reversing and personality swapping was no accident or coincidence. I believe that they did this purposefully because Gabrielle was to take over Xena’s mantle and continue on the Warrior Princess’ legacy and Xena was to sacrifice herself and be immediately reincarnated into her next life as the Mother of Peace.

The role-reversal transitioning was intentionally crafted into the show episode by episode for it to end this way. And it really works because they set it all up with the AU/reincarnation soulmates situations and scenarios.

Xena was neither meant to live the rest of her life with nor meant to die with Gabrielle. But you CAN’T really call it “separation” because they can’t be separated.

The whole point is that they’re together for eternity - sometimes functional as individual beings with their own roles to play, sometimes not - but always (like yin and yang) contradictory but complementary forces…because if they weren’t,… they couldn’t function at all. That’s how ‘yin-yang’ works. You can’t ever separate yin from yang or yang from yin as they’re a nondual nature but they will always appear as distinct from each other precisely because both sides pour and permeate into each other. That’s how their entire dynamic happens. Fundamentally they are whole. They are one. But the only reason they can be that way is because they play distinct dualistic roles that allows them to exist at all. People often don’t understand that about the nature of yin-yang. They see the two sides as separate from one another. As ‘yin’ AND ‘yang’. But they wouldn’t even be able to see either side if yin-yang wasn’t always whole.

So in the same way… If Xena and Gabrielle weren’t always fundamentally whole at the soul level, they could not ever be distinctly different from one another at the human level. They could not function as if separated.

It’s a very difficult thing to explain. Yin-yang is such a fascinating philosophy because in order to understand how it functions, it requires you understand balance. So it is both incredibly simple and incredibly complicated.

Basically, it depends on the perspective which is which.

That’s why yin-yang works so very well for explaining and understanding Xena and Gabrielle as a relationship because those two do not stay still yet they are always perfectly balanced within their relationship even when they’re not as individual characters within their arcs.

It’s The Way. The Tao. Or whatever you want to call it. My character study thesis on them points all this out.

That they’re the human representation of ‘yin-yang’ and are each other’s Way because they’re one soul in two bodies. They’re never separate. They just look it.

And that’s the way it is with everything in existence. That’s the nature of everything. Everything there is. It looks as if it is separate. It is actually not. It can’t be because if it was, none of it would even be there at all.

[kokodrawings]

Role reversal AU: Naruto as the ambassador of the shinobi nations

[originalartblog]

(and if you get the reference I'm giving you a cookie)

[allpiesforourown]

Role reversal au but shen Yuan gets temporarily de-aged into a 5 year old.. at first binghe is having the time of his life. His a-yuan got even cuter!! Everytime shen yuan grabs binghes robe and looks up at him with those big eyes and says "bing-gege?" Binghe wants to scream and cry and roll around on the floor from how CUTE it is

Them at qian Cao listening to the peak lord explain what curse shen yuan must have been hit with but neither of them can focus because shen yuan keeps trying to escape binghes hold and touch the medicine bottles

Unlike his adult disciple, baby shen yuan smiles wide without hiding behind a fan, tells binghe what he wants to eat instead of saying he's fine with anything, holds out his arms for hugs and cuddles 24/7... its heaven until shen yuan asks where his family is

Binghe: you... never mentioned your family

Shen yuan: oh I have a mom and a dad and da-ge and er-ge and meimei !! Meimei is only one year old and she just learned how to call me ge :D

Binghe: aww :) okay, your friend Shang qinghua is from your hometown I'll ask him where your family is :)

Shang qinghua: Okay so the thing is........... um.....

Shen Yuan sobbing uncontrollably all night because his family isn't "in this world." No amount of hugs or snacks will make him calm down. Binghe wondering how he didn't know something like that about his favourite disciple.

When shen yuan turns back to his normal adult body, binghe tentatively brings the topic up. Shen yuan opens his fan and casually says "shizun need not worry, this disciple is no longer a child." Binghe doesn't push but he does stay awake at night wondering how much pain shen yuan doesn't share with anyone else

[chloesimaginationthings]

Cassidy loves to scare the FNAF night guards..

[shepscapades]

I know Martyn hasn’t actually logged onto fantasy smp yet but. But. But. Do you hear me. Do you see my vision. Do y. Do. We could have it all

[cult-of-yuri]

Pas de deux, a troupe suicide

[alextcl]

I FINALLY FINISHED IT

i love how everyone is suffering in my main au while my swap au is just for shit and giggles

[theirondragonrants]

I love you all, but you have the wrong parallel. We love Rhaenyra asking Alicent to fly across the narrow sea and eat only cake, but it's Rhaenyra and this Alicent that mirror each other. It's the smiles, and that halting breath.

[inalandofsadclowns]

Remember when in the Sinner's Pit Hua Cheng fought Ke Mo while holding Xie Lian, and he was all "you should put me down, I can't imagine you enjoy fighting someone with another man in your arms" but Hua Cheng kept doing that, because he did, in fact, enjoy it?

Btw here's why

[girl4music]

It’s fascinating to me how they always seem to do role-reversal for Xena and Gabrielle when it comes to the AU/Uber/Reincarnation episodes with the exception of ‘When Fates Collide’ and the Harry, Mattie and Annie episodes. But ‘Between The Lines’ specifically makes that a thematic motif for Xena and Gabrielle’s next lifetimes. Shakti is a Warrior Prince and Aminestra is a pacifist guardian as the Mother of Peace. It’s not until you get to almost the end of the show that you realize that this role-reversal transition is fate and things have got to work out just so for it to be as it is with what you see in ‘Between The Lines’. Like… for example… with Gabrielle’s moral quandary in her Season 4 arc that she believes she’s using too much violence and she doubles down on the guilt of that belief because of Eli and what he says about life and love being The Truth and The Way. He shows Gabrielle that his ability to heal is all because of his conviction to non-violent methods in serving The Greater Good. So she ends up doubling down on both her guilt in using violence and in her love for Xena even though they contradict each other so she then ends up using violence because of her love for her.

But all throughout their future lives exploration in the episode ‘Between The Lines’ during the India arc, you just see her hacking and slashing away with a sword as Shakti. This feels extremely hypocritical at first… but when you watch it again after seeing the whole show you’re just like “Oh, of course” because her Way all along was to protect and defend through violence. Her next life would be the Way it is because she ends up taking Xena’s mantle and continuing her legacy as the Warrior Princess. So I wonder if she ever questions why she is who she is in her next lifetime even though she’s going through this whole spiritual journey with pacifism and would throw away her defensive weapon very soon. I wonder if she ever puts two and two together on what is revealed to her in ‘Between The Lines’ in searching for her Way. It’s just so fascinating to me how that episode is not only the one that informs us of future episodes but also brings in a new context to what we saw of past episodes. That the role-reversal transition is the fated trajectory for Xena and Gabrielle’s individual arcs because most of their alternate reality, afterlife and soul incarnation experiences would put them in a state and position where they are in opposition of each other and where their spiritual essences permeate into each other because of influencing and changing each other emotionally so much so that they become each other.

It all makes complete sense on rewatches. What seems inconsistent or even OOC at the time just turns out to be very clever retconning and foreshadowing because the two characters do eventually become each other. But I just find ‘Between The Lines’ in particular such a fascinating episode because that episode makes what was once just a fun experimentation for the creators a purposeful thematic motif that changes the character representation and development significantly for Xena and Gabrielle for the entire TV show not only forwards, but also backwards because you see that it’s actually how any of their arcs happen. It’s so damn profound.

It’s like what they say about time-travel. If you see what is to come for your future, you can change the present. But then,… if you change the present,… then you also end up recontextualizing the past because that’s fate. That’s how fate works. It’s the destined path that is created by their present and future experiences which seems completely coincidental to them at first UNTIL they get a look-in on it ahead of time and they make changes based on the experiences and knowledge they’ve accumulated from that look-in. I’ve always understood that that’s what ‘Between The Lines’ - or even the whole India arc - is. It’s the look-in to their individual changes going forward. But it specifically hits more with Gabrielle than it does with Xena because Xena’s changes aren’t so shocking. They’re significant changes too but the thematic visual of it doesn’t hit anywhere near as hard as it does with Gabrielle’s changes because her changes are a sensurround jolt that impact you when they happen. You feel those changes as if they’re happening inside your body. It’s a visceral experience with Gabrielle, whereas with Xena, it’s just a visual experience because we’re used to the chaotic tumultuous drama with her. Not with Gabrielle.

Her karmic cycle is that of not just becoming a warrior and hero, but also validating that masculine and active transition within her that you see happening because of becoming the warrior and hero. The Warrior Princess as Gabrielle or Warrior Prince as Shakti. Her destined Way. Her path, direction, trajectory, truth. That core being and nature that she was searching for and working towards in Season 4 in the India arc - of which she only gets wrong initially because she ignores what Shakti taught her and relies more so on what Eli teaches her when it’s the mehndi that contains Truth to who she is.

I think the message is very telling. Follow your own Way. Don’t follow someone else’s because they inspire you. That Way might actually go against your soul’s karma. You can be inspired by a person but you don’t need to emulate them or take on their lifestyle and worldview. See, Gabrielle never just had that problem with Xena, although that was the most obvious. Almost anyone she came across that she was in awe of she tries to be like and so struggles to gain their approval when she fails - as she inevitably would because it’s not right for her.

The only reason why Gabrielle takes on Xena’s mantle is because Xena is already so much a part of her core self as her soulmate. As her other half to a whole. As her Yin. None of this really makes any sense until her endgame where it is confirmed without a doubt that she’s Yang. If the Yin-yang chakram represents who these characters were, then it must also represent who they will become because Yin-yang is a thematic and symbolic visual in TV art/entertainment for change and evolution of Self.

The human representation of Yin-Yang is embodied through the lead characters and the lead characters are represented through the visual symbolism of Yin-yang. But it’s Gabrielle that truly makes that apparent within the overall story of what ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ is as both the author of The Xena Scrolls and the successor of the Warrior Princess’ legacy. In Gabrielle’s next life (as Shakti) she will follow Xena (as Arminestra) 50 years later but she will be an active party instead of a passive one - as rightfully shown in the episode ‘Between The Lines’ where they also reveal to us that their respective karmic cycles are eternally intertwined. That they do literally share the same soul and were just waiting for one another to meet in every lifetime, be it the past, present or future so they could bring out the best in each other whether as friends, lovers or even enemies. The point is for them to always learn from the presence of each other and that’s why they’re The Ultimate Ship.

[chami-2024]

FEMALE NEW WORLD ORDER 💋

Women are supreme - ගහැණුන් උත්තරීතරයි

https://t.me/femalenewworldorder

https://t.me/fnwochatgroup

[kokodrawings]

Role reversal AU: Sakura as Orochimaru's student 🐍

(and Sasuke as Tsunade's successor)

[scarlettphantoms]

+

the sillies

[allpiesforourown]

*head disciples meeting*

Shen Yuan: you know when your cultivation increases a little bit and your shizun demands to know if you dual cultivated with someone to improve and he can't calm down until you say no and then he tries to laugh the whole thing off . Shizuns am I right?

Liu Qingge: that's not normal

Qinghua: Okay I'm glad you said that because...

Qingge: normal shizuns just throw their disciples off the peak and see if they survive

Yue Qingyuan: hmm. Not sure about that