Ask the Oracle: Is Xena’s Chakram a “Magic” Item?
Posted on 15 June 2010 by Brent Hartinger, Editor

Q: Was Xena’s chakram a “magic item,” or was she just really, really, really good a physics? — Mark, St. Louis, MO

A: Really, really, really good at physics (probably).

The chakram is, in fact, an historical weapon, used primarily by the Sikhs of Punjab (though not until many centuries after Xena existed).

That said, Xena’s particular chakram does have a supernatural origin: Xena doesn’t possess the weapon when she’s with Borias in Chin, but when she turns up in Norway and confronts the god Odin, she has it; later, in the “Chakram” episode, we learn it was given to her by Ares, who stole it from the gods.

But there’s still no evidence that it’s a “magic weapon” per se. It only seems to work when wielded by people of exceptional skill — Xena, of course, and Callisto, Eve, and (finally, in the finale) Gabrielle.

In “Chakram,” Xena mixes her original “dark” chakram with a chakram of “light,” creating a new weapon with two parts that can be split apart (much like Xena’s own two sides), with a design that seems based on the yin/yang philosophy of her mentor Lo Mao.

This new weapon restores Xena’s lost memory, implying it does have some magical powers (or maybe not: maybe just the familiar act of using it restored her memory). Either way, it seems to work as a weapon solely as a result of Xena’s skill. Source (Reported by Barbara Davies)