18 June 2001
What do you say when the show that you loved for 4 years ends the way it did. The rumours were correct and Xena did die and stay dead - I hoped the rumblings were wrong. The way Xena died was the way of the warrior but her death was brutal and one in such a fashion that I dissolved into tears. She was heroic to the very end.
Rob Tapert had a vision and despite what we all think of his vision, it’s his creation to do as he pleases. I don't agree with his vision but it’s his right. He created Xena and Gabrielle. I am a fan and as a fan I feel a sense of deep loss that I can only compare with losing a loved one for that is what these characters were.
In my heart I firmly believe Xena and Gabrielle will never die - nor in the hearts of the many millions of fans who have embraced them. To the many who went to conventions, to xenafests, to Xena parties. The fans that set up web pages, created artwork and fan fiction in honour of this ground breaking show, to the millions of people who tuned in each week in 115 countries. To those people these characters are part of their lives and will remain so. Rob Tapert should have remembered the many thousands of fans who helped save his vision, who battled to get the Way back, who stood by him and the show when things were tough. Who said "have faith, it will get better", who held on to their faith through Season 3 when things looked rocky and Season 5 when it became more rockier. To the many who faxed SUSA when things looked grim for Season 6.
Watching the Xenaverse implode has been one of the darkest days of my association with this fandom. A sad day indeed when rock solid fans crumbled from the pain of watching Xena die and the death of the relationship that in TPTB's words a "love story". Why couldn't this love story have a happy ending? We deserved that much.
Personally I love these characters and what they stood for. I loved the relationship, the tough female warrior searching for redemption and the battling bard who got her wish of becoming like Xena. How the girl became a woman and the warrior found a soulmate.
Xena and Gabrielle will live on.. They will live on in fan fiction and poetry. They will never die for as long as there are bards who want to tell the tale of Xena The Warrior Princess, they will live.
Mr Tapert had a vision but it’s the fans who hold the legacy of that vision and will carry it forward.
This site will not close. It will continue because I love this show and in my mind, FIN1 and 2 never happened. I will end Season 6 and the entire series with When Fates Collide and the last images of Xena and Gabrielle on top of Argo ll through the misty forest on to their next adventure.
Battle On!