Gabrielle is a fictional character in Xena: Warrior Princess, played by Renée O'Connor. She is referred to, by fans, as the Battling Bard of Potidaea. Her trademark weapons are the Amazon fighting staff and the sai.
Renée O'Connor was chosen to play the role after she impressed producers with her role in the Hercules television movie The Lost Kingdom.
Her name is the feminine of Gabriel, from the Hebrew, which means "messenger of God". That is the name of the chief of Archangels, and during the show, Gabrielle becomes an Archangel. While Gabrielle is typically a French given name, it has a grammatically correct Greek feminine ending and contains no anti-Greek sounds (pronounced as Gab-ree-el-lay). Also, the Greek version of "Gabrielle" is Γαβριήλα, (Gavrila).
In the two musical episodes, Gabrielle's singing voice was provided by Susan Wood.
Introduction
Gabrielle joins Xena in the first episode as her traveling partner and sidekick, and remains with her until the end of the show. It is this partnership which forms the premise of the show.
When they meet, Gabrielle is a young, innocent, and idealistic scholar. She studies maps and the stars, reads mythology, writes stories, and dreams of traveling beyond her village to see the world. She wants to be a traveling bard. She also has strong ethical beliefs. She believes in the essential goodness of every person and is willing to put her life on the line for that.
In stark contrast, Xena is cynical, hard, and world-weary. Xena has killed thousands of people and, overcome with guilt, is returning home, perhaps to give up her own life. But on seeing Gabrielle's willingness to sacrifice herself for others, she is inspired to spend the rest of her life redeeming herself, and this becomes the driving theme throughout the show. Together they embark on an arduous, spirited adventure lasting over 30 years. Gabrielle acts as Xena's guiding light, keeping her dark memories at bay and reminding her of the goodness that she had once possessed. In return, Xena provides Gabrielle with travel and great adventures, teaches her about survival and the fighting arts, and acts as her protector, both physically and spiritually.
Gabrielle's story is one of growing up. Life with Xena is extreme in many ways, and traveling together often proves more dangerous than she had initially bargained for. Their friendship grows quickly, and they both overcome doubts, grief, loss of hope, and even death. As a burgeoning warrior, Gabrielle becomes more useful to Xena in combat and is increasingly treated as an equal. Eventually they learn that their destiny is woven together, in this and all future lives.
By the end of the series, when Xena dies and in the process finally redeems herself, Gabrielle has been transformed into a tough and courageous leader, a woman of the world, and a great warrior in her own right.
Character History
Gabrielle - from farm girl to warrior
When Gabrielle first meets the Warrior Princess, Xena, she is a farm girl living in the village of Potidaea. She and her sister Lila, along with several other village girls, have been kidnapped by the men of the warlord, Draco, to be sold as slaves. Xena intervenes and rescues them. Awed by her fighting skills, Gabrielle decides that she wants to become a warrior too. She also wants to avoid the marriage that her parents, Herodotus and Hecuba, have arranged for her with her childhood friend Perdicas. Gabrielle insists on following an initially reluctant Xena on the road. The two women soon develop a strong bond of love and friendship. Over the six years of the series, Gabrielle evolves from a naive, idealistic teenager into a fully fledged, but deeply conflicted warrior fighting alongside Xena.
Gabrielle becomes an Amazon when she defends a dying Amazon Princess during an ambush. Before she dies, the Princess Terreis passes her "right of caste" to Gabrielle, and Gabrielle inherits her rank and possessions. This leaves Gabrielle the heiress presumptive to the Amazon Queen, Melosa. Melosa's adopted daughter Velasca, becomes a rival for the position of Queen of the Amazons after Melosa's death, but Velasca's schemes (which include aspirations to godhood) are foiled by Xena and Gabrielle. As Gabrielle wishes to travel with Xena rather than rule the Amazons, she appoints her friend Ephiny to act as Amazon Queen in her place.
Gabrielle learns how to fight with a fighting staff from the Amazons. With Xena's encouragement, she develops a philosophy of fighting for the Greater Good without killing.