Thesis and Antithesis In XENA:   WARRIOR PRINCESS
Why Xena Needs Callisto
or
Callisto on the Screen is Money in the Bank

By Jack Shaver

Good story telling needs dramatic conflict to be interesting.  Callisto must return because she is central to the themes that make XENA work.  A discussion of the many aspects of this follows.

Xena as Thesis

HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS is about a nice and heroic man who wants to help people but would rather get married, settle down, and raise kids; the same goes for his sidekick. That's why it's not nearly so interesting as XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. XENA is about a very bad woman who turned over a new leaf, fell into super-heroics almost by accident, and who is constantly tempted to do the easy thing and fall back into her old evil, childish ways. Aristotle (one is tempted to apologize for bringing actual Greek thought into this) tells us that drama shows us thesis, or meaning, and antithesis, it's opposite. That's where Callisto, and to some extent Ares, are essential to the telling of Xena's story.

Characters who always do the right thing are rare in fiction because they're usually boring. Captain America and Superman spring to mind as two of the few who succeed at all, probably because of their two-valued comic book milieu. Doc Savage is another, getting away with pulp wonderfulness because, once you wade through the turgid writing, the plot advances quickly enough to give the audience little time to think. The works of Edgar Rice Burroughs rely on an amazing and detailed background to distract us from noticing what improbable and arrogant pricks Tarzan and John Carter are.

Hercules, on the other hand, moves through a very phony ancient Greece that constantly reminds us it isn't real through elements such as characters with modern tattoos, who say things like "bummer". (Really; Salmoneus must go.) An uninteresting hero, in a badly thought out world, fills time conversing with bit players until a usually thin plot finally brings him to victory over a usually lame villain. One hopes that a revamped sidekick, in the form of the timid mirror-universe Iolus, will supply improved dramatic conflict, or at least be funny.

Xena and her show could almost have answered to the same description had not her low origins brought an interesting dramatic conflict to the character, and given the story of her present heroic stature meaning. XENA is about growing up. A casual examination of her history demonstrates this.

As a warlord, Xena was a poor planner. We first met her carrying out a murky scheme to get Hercules by knocking boots with Iolus for a week and getting them to fight; a silly plan that failed.  We've seen a childish Xena during the siege of Corinth, too determined to carry out her every whim to spare a few centaurs, avoid falling out with her partner, and dividing her forces into a second battle. Corinth held her off. She repeatedly raised an army, laid waste to the countryside, was too eager to press on to the next target to consolidate her gains, never established a permanent power base, and found herself without an army again as soon as she took heavy losses. She had a real problem making or maintaining alliances which could have saved her from starting from square one each time. Some conqueror. What she was, was a middlin' destroyer of nations, very id driven. All that takes is a talent for violence, and a lack of conscience.

When her conscience finally caught up with her in the course of the loss of another army, this time to mutiny, life suddenly became difficult. In turning over a new leaf, she had to think about what to do moment to moment, for the first time as an adult. It WAS her first time as an adult; she'd lived as a powerful, capricious child. When you're able to avoid the consequences, going with your violent impulses is easy; it takes strength to be peaceful. Especially when you have the choice.

XENA is about growing up; doing what's right, not what's easy. (So is "Always Outnumbered", a delightful movie starring Lawrence Fishborne as a murderer returning to society from prison, filled with anger, but haunted by his crimes and resolved to "never hurt anyone unless it's to do good." See it.) She sometimes fails to do the strictly moral thing, as when she killed the emperor of Chin. Her intense bond with Gabrielle is centered around her desire for what comes too easily to Gabby; a firmly held belief system. (And Gabby's desire for Xena's adventurous life.) They are very different women, and each would rather be what the other is.   Their relationship is therefore inherently full of the conflict of opposites that makes for effective melodrama.

The series' strong thematic spine is bolstered by the frequent presence of other sorts of opposites. Autolycus, it could be argued, is someone so skilled at avoiding the consequences of his actions that he never had to grow up. He is always irresponsible, always in trouble, and always a pain to be entangled with. Another sort of arrested development is represented by Joxer, who is just too dumb and clumsy to ever evolve.

Because XENA is about doing what's right, not what's easy, Ares is an essential source of conflict. He embodies the constant temptation Xena feels to chuck it all and go on a rampage. Whatever scheme he embarks upon, he invariably attempts to woo her back to the dark side, most successfully after the death of her son Solon, when she drug Gabby miles behind a horse. Had Gabby died, Xena would surely have given up on goodness if not life. From a thematic standpoint, it seems significant that Ares is so good looking; again, he embodies the longing Xena feels for doing things the easy way. It is also significant that he apparently never manifested to Xena until she resolved to study war no more. He didn't need to whisper in her ear and flex his pecs in person when she was doing what he wanted. In deserting his ways, she became irresistible, indeed an obsession. There is a clear attraction between him and Xena. With Ares and Gabrielle embodying warring sides of her psyche, all Xena's story needs is an ultimate example of what she isn't any more.

Callisto as Antithesis

Which finally brings us to Callisto. Hercules's perfect opposite would be evil, naturally, as well as interesting and exciting, something Sovereign never was. Callisto is not Xena's antithesis because she's evil. Xena is, morally, a bit gray. While Xena as a person might be called a work in progress, that is precisely what Callisto never was. She is this story's perfect example of arrested development because she is, far more than Autolycus or Joxer, exactly what Xena used to be. She kills even her own henchmen on a whim. She burns villages. She is a sorry warlord who seemingly can't keep an army for long. Her partnerships never last because she is a poor, faithless, ally.

It is ironic that in an obsessive quest for revenge upon Xena, Callisto, with all deliberation, essentially became Xena. It seems likely that a woman who proclaims herself opposed to love, reproduction, and by implication sex, first fooled around with Ares not just to insult Xena's body, but to claim something of Xena's. Just as she stole Xena's chakram in her first appearance, she wanted Ares because, in a way, he belongs to Xena. Indeed, the only times she touches men in her own body, it is to kiss Hercules, and later, to make out with Ares again.  It could easily be concluded that her careful and thorough modeling of herself after the person she hates most is an attempt to gain power over a world that suddenly didn't make sense after the destruction of Cirra. To a traumatized child, probably overcome with fear as well as a rage for revenge, a study and imitation of Xena might seem an excellent path to power. Her quest for power and revenge is driven by the most primal of instincts, moderated by neither conscience or intellect. Xena's own career as a warlord was motivated by traumatic incidents earlier in her life and a desire to take back the power. She, too, let few ethical considerations and little considered thought stand in her way. Both women were, in a word, childish. For Xena, only after years of enjoying power over her own environment did Hercules's influence and an emerging conscience allow her to grow past an emotional adolescence. It is Callisto's total lack of any trace of conscience that is the only important difference between her and the old Xena. It is also what insures she can never reform and ruin a perfectly good villain. Xena, after all, is already doing the growing up bit.

They are also opposite in their reaction to virtue.   Xena loves Gabby and Herc because she wants to be like them.  Callisto finds them aggravating and goes to considerable trouble to torment them verbally at any opportunity.  Likely, to her they're unbearably shallow; she wouldn't be the only one to think so.

One wonders about Callisto's life between the death of her family and her first appearance. Is it significant that she mostly kills men? After all, why kill Perdicas when killing Gabby would have bugged Xena a fair bit more? In her first episode the first thing she did was kill a man and leave a woman alive.  Is it possible that her rare attempts to murder women failed because her heart wasn't in it?   There's an intriguing reference in the truth or dare scene in "Necessary Evil" to a mother and sister;  it could be significant that she omitted mention of the father.  If puberty hit well before she gained her fighting skills, one shudders to think what must have happened to her, wandering about unprotected and looking like Hudson Leik. It might explain her disdain for love. It could also explain her reckless, often self-destructive behavior, seemingly inconsistent with a survivor's desire for power as a means of feeling safe. Subsequent and repeated traumas could have completely unhinged her, in which case it seems safe to assume that the hypothetical rapists died really unpleasant deaths before she went after Xena.

The ultimate culmination of Callisto's quest for revenge on Xena came in "Maternal Instincts" with her involvement in the death of Xena's son. (It's too bad this came in an episode centered on Hope, who was never an antagonist of Callisto's stature.) Just as when Xena was forced to confess her crimes publicly in "Necessary Evil", Callisto found herself ungratified. It is the moment she admits herself unfulfilled by Xena's pain that contains her doom. On first viewing, I mistakenly assumed that it was her spectacular failure to save her family while time traveling in the HERCULES two-parter "Armageddon Now" that led to her wish for oblivion in "Sacrifice", but that was a last grasping at straws after her failure to achieve a sense of completion from revenge. In fact, her desire for oblivion is clearly stated before the time trip. The biggest mistake made with the character besides killing her off was in not making "Armageddon Now" (a plot centered on Callisto with Hope in the background) an episode of XENA, because after her semi-accidental killing of her family, it would have been the perfect point to conclude her story. Instead, the greatest villain XENA will probably ever produce saw her swan song in "Sacrifice", another Hope centered-story.  At least she got a good death scene.

Death:  Why, and How to Deal with it

So she's been dead before, but this time she's not merely dead, she's clearly dead, she's really most sincerely dead. And there are several apparent story reasons she should be. When she was disappointed with her ultimate revenge, (One wonders why she didn't go after Xena's mother to be sure; perhaps because she gets no kick from killing a woman.) her entire purpose for existence had been removed; all she had left was her attempt to erase her primal trauma. When that failed disastrously, her story had run its course.  From a characterization standpoint, she had to go. (Of course, the writers painted themselves into that corner starting in "Maternal Instincts".)  Another reason to do her in was the writing problems caused by making her a god. Ares has a vested interest in Xena alive, as well as generally not wanting to blow up the world; how would he get his jollies watching people fight if he killed everyone? All the nasty gods have similar vested interests, except Callisto. (And Dahak, who's been unbearably over-used and hopefully has also run his course.) What can you do with a crazy, evil, revenge-bent god that leaves your hero alive for next episode?

So word is, she's dead for good this time. Other fans seem so certain of this that I wonder if everyone else knows something about a contract or money dispute that I don't. Is everyone just assuming this because of the Hind's blood business? Is it because Callisto's story seemed so thoroughly completed? Leaving aside the possibility of behind-the-scenes reasons, the rest isn't that difficult to deal with.

The most compelling reason to bust Callisto back out of hell doesn't really fit this article. I'm not that much of a XENA fan. I'll likely watch an episode with Ares, Autolycus, or Joxer. I probably won't watch one without them unless Callisto is there. She is the only rock-solid guarantee that I will be there, and the other guys provide no certainty I'll sit through the whole episode (and see all the ads.) I feel dirty for advancing this argument, but as an under-employed actor with a degree in broadcasting, I can assure the rest of you that this is what really motivates producers. The horde of Callisto web-sites proves she has a real-life army of followers she won't soon lose. Callisto on the screen is money in the bank. Better, but less business-oriented reasons follow.

Xena still  needs Callisto for all the reasons I've discussed. It's an ongoing series. Were it a movie or other limited form, Callisto's permanent demise would be proper. But a series vying for top-rated show in the world doubtless has a few years left in it. XENA still needs a foil of Callisto's caliber. No surrogate could possibly be so perfectly suited to the meaning of the story without seeming contrived, and no way is lightning going to strike twice with such perfect casting.  Callisto must return because she is essential to the interesting thematic spine without which XENA does not work.

Callisto's godhead is no real barrier to using the character; just take it away. The seeming completion of her story is more of a problem, but not much tougher to overcome. Getting her out of being thoroughly dead is something any soap opera hack could pull off credibly without even invoking hoaxes or dead doubles.

There are a million ways to bring her back, especially when we saw a stabbing, but not the body disposed of. Okay, Hind's blood kills gods; this was demonstrated when Callisto killed Strife.  (If you ignore that he was still around in modern times in "Yes Virginia, There is a Hercules".)  But he was born a god and she wasn't. Her existence predated her godhead; maybe she just fell into a coma while her god-powers died. Not good enough? No sweat; thanks to eating the golden apples (someone's confused their Greek and Norse mythology) she was immortal before she became a god. She could already take a stabbing and keep on blabbing. Maybe Xena kicked the body into the fiery pit/portal to Dahak's realm. Yeah, like he wouldn't take advantage of that. He'd feed on her powers, and either spit her back out or use her as an agent or pawn. (Not my favorite idea; they've gone to the Dahak well way too often lately and to mix metaphors, the beaten horse is dead - but any port in a storm.) Seems likely Hind's blood daggers still have to inflict a fatal injury to kill; Callisto appeared to have only taken a gut wound. Any of these factors could have left her where a god could resurrect her as a mortal. The possibilities begin to seem endless, and you can mix or match.

Future Directions

So now that you've got her alive in some form, how do you do something interesting and new with her? What if all that survived was her spirit, which possesses someone?  (A look-alike, naturally; I swear, if she came back played by someone else, I'd never watch the show again.  Is the sister whose screams she's mentioned really dead?   Iolus saw no sister when he was at the destruction of Cirra, but then not being home would have been an excellent survival strategy.) This could be even against Callisto's wishes. Certainly, her non-psychotic host doesn't want to share. A struggle for control/split personality ensues. This would embark the character onto a new story, add useful elements to the one-note revenge motivation, and give Ms. Leik something new and even challenging to chew scenery over. What if the sister was nice, shy, and dressed modestly when in control? Callisto's  perfect opposite, in other words.

Or, and I prefer this, partly because it doesn't need an improbable live sister or more improbable double, what if we got an intact Callisto, sans powers - and without memory of the the death of her family and subsequent events. We don't know what Cally was like before; she could have been a bad seed in the first place. That wouldn't really be anything new, though. Better is the notion of someone naive, sweet, and demure, improving on the sister scenario. Any way it's played, the antithetical arrested development theme is extended even further. For interest and conflict, make the amnesia a bit sporadic. Occasionally, sweet little Cally, an innocent in a devastatingly gorgeous woman's body, turns briefly back into Callisto: Warrior Queen (tough to ignore, forget, or survive.) Most of the time, the milk chocolate don't melt in little Cally's mouth. She innocently wanders into a tavern, looking like she does, and the thugs get fresh with her; keep in mind my speculation about her lost years. Here comes trouble! Oooh, what a mess.

How would Xena react to a helpless innocent in the (hot) body of her greatest enemy? How would Gabby react to a charming, blameless child who happened to also be the murderer of her husband and a bitch for all seasons? I think they'd have a lot of angst while they looked for her a home. They could hardly abandon a girl who looked like that and had the survival instincts of a sheltered 12 year-old. Xena's longing for innocence and redemption wouldn't permit it, any more than Gabby's glib values would. They'd ditch her the moment they could do so with clear consciences, though; the memories are too raw, and Cally, skipping and giggling as they travel, really creeps them both out.  (We even saw something similar in her "la la la"-ing as she walked with Herc in "Surprise".)

A few episodes later, they run into little Cally again. Mysteriously, the nice people they found to take her in got real dead, and Cally doesn't know how she got here. Eventually, they find out Callisto's still buried inside, and they'd better not ditch her with anyone they like. Jails can't hold her for long, and few men can be trusted alone with her; Xena and Gabby have to keep her for a while while they figure out what to do. Some of this would play out more effectively if it built over several episodes. Along the way, they might run into evidence of the horrors of Callisto's lost years, both as victim and victimizer. Perhaps they meet the rapist who got away and save him from Callisto/deal with him. Cally wouldn't remember anything in the morning; her amnesia is probably a psychotic withdrawal. But a good episode dealing with issues internal logic demands the show ought to might be had by all in the meantime. In a humorous turn, what if in the course of an adventure, they needed Callisto? To try to draw her out, Xena has to abuse a sobbing Cally and feel like a heel; she's had to do worse to do good. Finally Gabby, figuring Joxer expendable, has him pinch Cally's butt. Here comes trouble! In the end, the main villain disposed of, they have to catch her and bring back little Cally before someone gets killed. Only a bouncy rendition of "Joxer the Mighty" draws out the playful Cally in time to save his life.

At last, they realize Echidna and Typhon are the perfect caretakers. They love children (though their parenting track record leaves story possibilities for the future) and she can't easily hurt them. Typhon is too damn big to try anything sleazy with Cally, and too tall to easily outrun. Xena and Gabby leave happy and relieved, viewers have orgasms of joy, Renaissance Pictures gets half a season of story ideas and plot complications for free, ratings go up, as do ad rates, and everyone dies content someday. Make me proud, boys and girls.

In conclusion, Callisto on the screen is money in the bank.  I can't say that too often.