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Callisto (Xena)
Encyclopedia
Callisto is a fictional character
in the fantasy TV series Xena: Warrior Princess
. She features as the most frequently recurring villain
ess on that show. She also makes appearances on three episodes of the parent show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
. She is portrayed by the American
actress Hudson Leick
.
's nemesis and arch enemy, motivated by a desire for revenge for the suffering Xena has caused in her own dark past. When Callisto was a child, Xena's army burned Callisto's village Cirra. She lost her family when Xena's army wiped out the village.
Callisto, a child at the time, was left trauma
tized by the attack and eventually went insane and became obsessed with getting revenge
on Xena. She displays signs of bipolar disorder
and psychopathy, manifested in a bizarre brand of sadistic
, gleeful, shrieking cruelty towards Xena and her associates.
Callisto intends to make Xena suffer as much as possible rather than killing her, and repeatedly lets chances to kill Xena pass by. This is reflected in Xena's own feelings of guilt
that cause her to spare her enemy's life as well.
She justifies herself
by blaming her evil on Xena, and refuses to take responsibility
for her own actions.
. Xena's inventive wit allows her to struggle free, and she watches as Callisto is sucked under. This causes Xena great guilt as she was once evil, but changed, but she let Callisto die, denying her that chance.
Once in the underworld of Tartarus
, Callisto works with Ares
, god of war (as he has selected her as his new potential partner) to invade Xena's dreams and switch bodies
with Xena, so that she is free and Xena is trapped in Tartarus. But Xena persuades Hades
to let her return to Earth, although still trapped in Callisto's body, she defeats Callisto and sends her back to Tartarus. Xena remains trapped in Callisto's body for one episode before Ares restores them to their normal selves.
Callisto again escapes from Tartarus on the companion show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
, by making a deal with Hera
, Queen of the Gods. Hera allows her back to Earth for one day to kill Hercules
, and promises her immortality
if she succeeds, but Callisto plans on getting immortality regardless. She poisons Hercules' family, then tricks him into accompanying her to the Tree of Life
, where one bite of a golden apple
cures all ills, but eating a whole apple turns them immortal. Hercules reluctantly agrees, but Callisto traps him, and uses him to reveal the tree and eats a golden apple, becoming immortal. Hercules escapes and fights Callisto, and traps her in the Labyrinth
. Frustrated, Callisto has only her rage to console her for what appears to be an eternity inside the ruins.
When an Amazon
called Velasca
eats Ambrosia
and becomes a goddess hellbent on killing Gabrielle, Xena makes a risky deal with Callisto. She offers Callisto a chance at the Ambrosia in exchange for her help. Xena tricks her into fighting Velasca for the Ambrosia on a rope bridge over a river of lava, where she gets it and eats it. In her moment of glorious godhood, Xena cuts the ropes and Callisto and Velasca plunge into the lava.
Callisto is later freed from the lava by Gabrielle's evil daughter Hope
, who calls her "the monster lady". In a ploy of mythical proportions, Callisto kills Xena's son Solan
, and laughs manically as Xena and Gabrielle's friendship is torn apart. However, Xena defeats her and traps her in a mine by causing a cave-in. Callisto then appears to Xena and Gabrielle as a manifestation of their own guilt in the musical episode where they eventually reconcile.
Hope later frees Callisto from the mine in an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
. Hope sends her back in time to destroy Hercules and also gives her the Hind's blood. Although she fails to kill Hercules, Callisto uses the Hind's blood to kill Strife. During her time travel, the adult Callisto killed her own father accidentally while trying to protect her family from Xena's army, and then filled with sadness and regret went on to kill her mother as well, and then left the "young Callisto" in the burning wreckage. But Iolaus also traveled in time and stopped Callisto from returning to the past, making it so that the event never happened in the first place. At the end of the episode, she is trapped in an interdimensional pocket. She then escapes from this prison right before the events of Sacrifice and the rebirth of Hope.
By this time, Callisto has had enough of the emotional pain that has tormented her since childhood. Hope spins a cocoon around herself for her transformation from child into adult. Callisto agrees to protect her until she hatches, in exchange for permanent oblivion. When Gabrielle sacrifices herself to destroy Hope, Callisto changes her mind and gleefully exclaims that she has a reason for living again. However, it proves to be a moot point, as seconds later Xena slays Callisto with the Hind's Blood Dagger.
Stripped of her powers as a goddess, Callisto is condemned to eternal torment as a demon
of Hell
. She is, however, given the opportunity to return to the living if she can corrupt Xena and install Caesar
as emperor
of Rome
. She is required to do this without hurting Xena physically, but as a result of her blind rage for Xena she fails at both tasks. She defeats Xena by breaking her spine with Xena's own chakram
. Callisto is returned to Hell, but her actions set into motion the events leading to Caesar's, Xena's and Gabrielle's deaths. Xena lies critically injured on the ground and Gabrielle tries to defend her, but they are captured by the Roman guards. On the Ides of March
, as Caesar declares himself emperor and is murdered by his peers, Xena and Gabrielle are also crucified
at Caesar's command.
After her death, the angel Xena encounters the demon Callisto. As an act of redemption for her own guilt at Callisto's suffering, she purges Callisto's guilt, and brings her back to the light. Callisto is lifted up and becomes an angel, utterly devoid of the pain and torment that she had always known, and in exchange, Xena is turned into a demon, sacrificing her own eternal happiness to save her.
Xena is later resurrected by the power of Eli
's God of Love, acting through the angel Callisto. Callisto now exudes such light and goodness that even Gabrielle cannot believe it. She then went into Heaven to be with her family.
Soon after Xena and Gabrielle are resurrected through Eli's efforts and Callisto's spiritual aid, Xena becomes pregnant with Eve
. But Xena does not know how it could have happened. It is later revealed that the angel Callisto caused it: Callisto herself will be reincarnated
as Xena's child. Callisto's gift of Eve to Xena is also something of a way of making amends for Solan's death. So in a peculiar way, Callisto gives Xena back the child she killed and Xena gives Callisto the family that she killed.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the fantasy TV series Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
. She features as the most frequently recurring villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
ess on that show. She also makes appearances on three episodes of the parent show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a television series, filmed in New Zealand and the United States. It was produced from 1995, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles...
. She is portrayed by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress Hudson Leick
Hudson Leick
Heidi Hudson Leick is an American actress, known for her role as villain Callisto in the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess. She is a certified Yoga instructor and intuitive counselor at the Healing Heart Yoga Center.-Biography:...
.
Character description
Callisto is XenaXena
Xena is a fictional character from Robert Tapert's Xena: Warrior Princess franchise. She first appeared in the 1995–1999 television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before going on to appear in Xena: Warrior Princess TV show and subsequent comic book of the same name...
's nemesis and arch enemy, motivated by a desire for revenge for the suffering Xena has caused in her own dark past. When Callisto was a child, Xena's army burned Callisto's village Cirra. She lost her family when Xena's army wiped out the village.
Callisto, a child at the time, was left trauma
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
tized by the attack and eventually went insane and became obsessed with getting revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
on Xena. She displays signs of bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
and psychopathy, manifested in a bizarre brand of sadistic
Sadism and masochism
Sadomasochism broadly refers to the receiving of pleasure—often sexual—from acts involving the infliction or reception of pain or humiliation. The name originates from two authors on the subject, Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch...
, gleeful, shrieking cruelty towards Xena and her associates.
Callisto intends to make Xena suffer as much as possible rather than killing her, and repeatedly lets chances to kill Xena pass by. This is reflected in Xena's own feelings of guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
that cause her to spare her enemy's life as well.
She justifies herself
Theory of justification
Theory of justification is a part of epistemology that attempts to understand the justification of propositions and beliefs. Epistemologists are concerned with various epistemic features of belief, which include the ideas of justification, warrant, rationality, and probability...
by blaming her evil on Xena, and refuses to take responsibility
Moral responsibility
Moral responsibility usually refers to the idea that a person has moral obligations in certain situations. Disobeying moral obligations, then, becomes grounds for justified punishment. Deciding what justifies punishment, if anything, is a principle concern of ethics.People who have moral...
for her own actions.
Vengeance
Callisto's first appearance was in the episode The Greater Good, where she shot Xena with a poisoned crossbow bolt, although this wasn't revealed until the next episode, which shared her name. In that episode, Callisto has recruited a small army and spends her days training hard with them until she is 'as good as Xena'. She begins her campaign of revenge by raiding and burning villages and savagely slaughtering people in Xena's name. She hopes to revive Xena's reputation as a villain; planning to kill Xena after destroying her reputation. Xena has no choice but to engage with her, and in a close fight Xena beats her, but cannot kill her. She hands her over to the authorities, who throw her in jail. However, Callisto later escapes, weaponless, easily crippling and killing her guards. She finds Xena, but is still unable to defeat her, and instead makes her suffer by plunging her sword though the heart of Gabrielle's recently-wedded husband, Perdicas. Xena catches her again, and is wracked with guilt as Callisto taunts her about her past. A fight ensues, and Xena and Callisto fall into quicksandQuicksand
Quicksand is a colloid hydrogel consisting of fine granular matter , clay, and water.Water circulation underground can focus in an area with the optimal mixture of fine sands and other materials such as clay. The water moves up and then down slowly in a convection-like manner throughout a column...
. Xena's inventive wit allows her to struggle free, and she watches as Callisto is sucked under. This causes Xena great guilt as she was once evil, but changed, but she let Callisto die, denying her that chance.
Once in the underworld of Tartarus
Tartarus
In classic mythology, below Uranus , Gaia , and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld. In the Gorgias, Plato In classic mythology, below Uranus (sky), Gaia (earth), and Pontus...
, Callisto works with Ares
Ares (Hercules and Xena)
Ares is a character on the television shows Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Young Hercules. He was portrayed by New Zealand actor Kevin Tod Smith...
, god of war (as he has selected her as his new potential partner) to invade Xena's dreams and switch bodies
Body swap
A body swap is a storytelling device seen in a variety of fiction, most often in television shows and movies, in which two people exchange minds and end up in each other's bodies. Alternatively, their minds may stay where they are as their bodies adjust...
with Xena, so that she is free and Xena is trapped in Tartarus. But Xena persuades Hades
Hades
Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
to let her return to Earth, although still trapped in Callisto's body, she defeats Callisto and sends her back to Tartarus. Xena remains trapped in Callisto's body for one episode before Ares restores them to their normal selves.
Immortality and godhood
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a television series, filmed in New Zealand and the United States. It was produced from 1995, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles...
, by making a deal with Hera
Hera
Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her...
, Queen of the Gods. Hera allows her back to Earth for one day to kill Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
, and promises her immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
if she succeeds, but Callisto plans on getting immortality regardless. She poisons Hercules' family, then tricks him into accompanying her to the Tree of Life
Tree of Life
The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
, where one bite of a golden apple
Golden apple
The golden apple is an element that appears in various national and ethnic folk legends or fairy tales. Recurring themes depict a hero retrieving the golden apples hidden or stolen by a monstrous antagonist...
cures all ills, but eating a whole apple turns them immortal. Hercules reluctantly agrees, but Callisto traps him, and uses him to reveal the tree and eats a golden apple, becoming immortal. Hercules escapes and fights Callisto, and traps her in the Labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
. Frustrated, Callisto has only her rage to console her for what appears to be an eternity inside the ruins.
When an Amazon
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
called Velasca
Velasca
Velasca is a fictional character in the popular TV series Xena: Warrior Princess. In her tenure on the show, she served time as the Amazon Queen after defeating her adoptive mother Queen Melosa for the crown. Also during her time as a deity, she dubs herself the "Goddess of Chaos"...
eats Ambrosia
Ambrosia
In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia is sometimes the food or drink of the Greek gods , often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it...
and becomes a goddess hellbent on killing Gabrielle, Xena makes a risky deal with Callisto. She offers Callisto a chance at the Ambrosia in exchange for her help. Xena tricks her into fighting Velasca for the Ambrosia on a rope bridge over a river of lava, where she gets it and eats it. In her moment of glorious godhood, Xena cuts the ropes and Callisto and Velasca plunge into the lava.
Callisto is later freed from the lava by Gabrielle's evil daughter Hope
Hope (Xena)
Hope is a fictional character in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess. She is the daughter of Dahak, born of Gabrielle. Hope is a recurring villainess in the third season, portrayed by Amy Morrison and Renée O'Connor.-Character history:...
, who calls her "the monster lady". In a ploy of mythical proportions, Callisto kills Xena's son Solan
Solan (Xena)
Solan is a fictional character in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess, he is played by David Taylor, and later by Nicko Vella.-Biography:...
, and laughs manically as Xena and Gabrielle's friendship is torn apart. However, Xena defeats her and traps her in a mine by causing a cave-in. Callisto then appears to Xena and Gabrielle as a manifestation of their own guilt in the musical episode where they eventually reconcile.
Hope later frees Callisto from the mine in an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a television series, filmed in New Zealand and the United States. It was produced from 1995, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles...
. Hope sends her back in time to destroy Hercules and also gives her the Hind's blood. Although she fails to kill Hercules, Callisto uses the Hind's blood to kill Strife. During her time travel, the adult Callisto killed her own father accidentally while trying to protect her family from Xena's army, and then filled with sadness and regret went on to kill her mother as well, and then left the "young Callisto" in the burning wreckage. But Iolaus also traveled in time and stopped Callisto from returning to the past, making it so that the event never happened in the first place. At the end of the episode, she is trapped in an interdimensional pocket. She then escapes from this prison right before the events of Sacrifice and the rebirth of Hope.
By this time, Callisto has had enough of the emotional pain that has tormented her since childhood. Hope spins a cocoon around herself for her transformation from child into adult. Callisto agrees to protect her until she hatches, in exchange for permanent oblivion. When Gabrielle sacrifices herself to destroy Hope, Callisto changes her mind and gleefully exclaims that she has a reason for living again. However, it proves to be a moot point, as seconds later Xena slays Callisto with the Hind's Blood Dagger.
Damnation and redemption
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
of Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. She is, however, given the opportunity to return to the living if she can corrupt Xena and install Caesar
Caesar (Xena)
Caesar is a fictional character from the television series Xena: Warrior Princess loosely based on Julius Caesar. He is portrayed by New Zealand actor Karl Urban. Caesar is a recurring antagonist in seasons two and three, with a guest appearance in season six as well as being the main antagonist of...
as emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. She is required to do this without hurting Xena physically, but as a result of her blind rage for Xena she fails at both tasks. She defeats Xena by breaking her spine with Xena's own chakram
Chakram
The chakram , sometimes called a war quoit, is a throwing weapon from India. Its shape is of a flat metal hoop with a sharp outer edge from in diameter...
. Callisto is returned to Hell, but her actions set into motion the events leading to Caesar's, Xena's and Gabrielle's deaths. Xena lies critically injured on the ground and Gabrielle tries to defend her, but they are captured by the Roman guards. On the Ides of March
Ides of March
The Ides of March is the name of the 15th day of March in the Roman calendar, probably referring to the day of the full moon. The word Ides comes from the Latin word "Idus" and means "half division" especially in relation to a month. It is a word that was used widely in the Roman calendar...
, as Caesar declares himself emperor and is murdered by his peers, Xena and Gabrielle are also crucified
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
at Caesar's command.
After her death, the angel Xena encounters the demon Callisto. As an act of redemption for her own guilt at Callisto's suffering, she purges Callisto's guilt, and brings her back to the light. Callisto is lifted up and becomes an angel, utterly devoid of the pain and torment that she had always known, and in exchange, Xena is turned into a demon, sacrificing her own eternal happiness to save her.
Eli (Xena)
Eli is a fictional character from the television series Xena: Warrior Princess. He is portrayed by American actor Timothy Omundson.-The Devi:...
's God of Love, acting through the angel Callisto. Callisto now exudes such light and goodness that even Gabrielle cannot believe it. She then went into Heaven to be with her family.
Soon after Xena and Gabrielle are resurrected through Eli's efforts and Callisto's spiritual aid, Xena becomes pregnant with Eve
Eve (Xena)
Eve | Livia is a fictional character created by Robert Tapert for the popular TV series Xena: Warrior Princess. She is portrayed by Adrienne Wilkinson...
. But Xena does not know how it could have happened. It is later revealed that the angel Callisto caused it: Callisto herself will be reincarnated
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
as Xena's child. Callisto's gift of Eve to Xena is also something of a way of making amends for Solan's death. So in a peculiar way, Callisto gives Xena back the child she killed and Xena gives Callisto the family that she killed.
Powers and abilities
Callisto is an amazing fighter, on par with Xena. She can also hold her own against Hercules. She shows herself to be able to catch and throw the chakram with the same skill as Xena, a feat that only two others were ever able to replicate, one being Gabrielle. Callisto's fighting style is very similar to Xena's with the exception that she often becomes unfocused and carried away in a blind insane rage while fighting. After eating the golden apple, she became immortal, becoming immune to injuries. Later on in the series, Callisto attains the powers of a Goddess, after eating Ambrosia, and defeats Ares in combat, though she had the help of Hope at the time. She is generally seen producing lightning bolts and more commonly, fire blasts.Xena: Warrior Princess
- 1.21 The Greater Good (foreshadow)
- 1.22 Callisto
- 2.5 Return of Callisto
- 2.7 Intimate Stranger (Xena in Callisto's body)
- 2.8 Ten Little Warlords (Xena in Callisto's body)
- 2.14 A Necessary Evil
- 3.11 Maternal Instincts
- 3.12 The Bitter Suite
- 3.21 Sacrifice (Part I)
- 3.22 Sacrifice (Part II)
- 4.21 Ides of March
- 5.1 Fallen Angel
- 5.9 Seeds of Faith
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
- 3.12 Surprise
- 4.13 Armageddon Now (Part I)
- 4.14 Armageddon Now (Part II)
See also
- Woman warriorWoman warriorThe portrayal of women warriors in literature and popular culture is a subject of study in history, literary studies, film studies, folklore and mythology, gender studies, and cultural studies.-Archaeology:...
- List of women warriors in folklore
- List of female supervillains