Caesar and Borias: The Betrayers by Gary
Two of Xena's most influential lovers have changed her life. Xena's
continual mention of Caesar's betrayal of her avoids the betrayal by
Borias, Oo.
Caesar:
Xena meets Caesar in Destiny/The Quest. She is a piratess and is threatening
a village with retribution if they ever try to attack her home village of
Amphipolis. There are fires in the background, and she and her small one-ship
pirate crew has just looted the place. There are screams in the background.
Enter Caesar: he is going to be beheaded by Xena's ship captain. C. does not
flinch and awaits his death with bravery. Xena tells the captain not to kill
C. because of the fine clothes C. is wearing. She knows that there will be a
big ransom for a Roman nobleman.
Xena was already a killer and had no trouble taking over one town after
another to "protect" Amphipolis,which,as she said,was "razed to the ground"
by Cortese....so why protect which no longer existed?
Xena gets the money and lets C. go. He promises that he will find her, and
they part. When he was a captive in chains on Xena's ship, he said the HE had
a destiny to rule the world, which he eventually did for a short while. He
never said that it would be himself and XENA who would rule jointly. He had
legions and ships of his own, and Xena had only one ship and about twenty
pirates under her command. She was incredibly naive to believe that this Roman would give her half of the world for a night of lovemaking.
He does return and captures her, then has her crucified, with her legs broken
by his men. Crucifixion was common back then, so was not an unusual punishment
for capturing a Roman nobleman. She is rescued by M'Lila and hates C. all the more when the girl dies saving Xena's life.
Caesar had every reason to kill Xena, since as we see in Endgame, those who he
cannot control are a threat and must be eliminated. Xena even knows she must
kill Caesar in Ides of March if she and Gabby are to survive.
Xena sees C. again in Deliverer, and could have killed him with her
Chakram...instead she tears up his flag/banner. They never speak.
In When in Rome, she takes C. to the ship while leaving Gabby as a hostage
for Rome. Caesar does not have Xena followed to see which ship is Xena's
containing Crassus...he keeps his word. He could have gone back to the
palace and then captured Xena...he already had Gabby...he did not betray
her.
In A Good Day, there is a three-way fight with Xena, Pompey, and Caesar. They
do not fight in the battle aboveground. C. may have had a couple men
hiding, which Xena found, but Xena had her own trap set with the catapults she
stole from Pompey.
In Ides. ordered all of Eli's followers killed, even Gabby. New religions
were not tolerated. He did not mention Xena because she was still loose in
Rome after trying to kill him with her Chakram. Callisto stops the
assassination by catching the Chakram.
In When Fates Collide, C. wanted a world where he did not crucify Xena. She
was the Empress of Rome, and only because Alti told Xena about the real past
did Xena want out. At least when C. chained up the Fates and changed the loom, his intentions
were the same, but wanted a strong supporter on his side instead of against him.
I would say that he was no different from any other king...he wanted to rule
and he let everybody know it. He acted as all tyrants did and still do...all
for themselves. Xena could not be betrayed knowing that he was typical of
power-hungry people of any age.
************************************************************************Borias:
I liked him when we first saw him in the Debt. There was the first mention
of him in Orphan of War when we see Solon, the son of Borias and Xenia the
grave of Borias and of his "mother" who does not have a name. Borias is
described as the "friend of the Centaurs" by Kaliepas.
Back to the Debt: Xena and Borias are raiding towns and are allied with Ming
T'su, a warlord who gets a big share of the spoils. Borias' main theme in
every episode is to make alliances and then later turn on his partners in
one way or another.
When Xena spoils the deal with Lao Ma, Borias tells Xena to get out of the
camp or he will kill her. She was jealous of Lao Ma's attentions to Borias
during an alliance negotiation.
Xena goes into business for herself. She kidnaps Ming T'Su's son and says
she will cut Borias in for a part of the spoils. He then betrays her by telling Ming that he will give the kidnapper, Xena, to him for the ransom. Ming agrees, and Borias has Xena clubbed to the ground. He later punches her in the face, knocking her out. Ming then uses Xena as
the prey in a hunt...her death, however unsporting, will satisfy his need for revenge.
That is betrayal...Xena trusted Borias...it was not a one-night stand with
him...they had a history.
Later, when Lao Ma fixes Xena's legs and gives her a purpose for
living, Borias arrives. Xena fights him, and Lao Ma tells them to get along if
they want to help rule. In the dice game, Xena wants revenge on Ming. She and Borias kill Ming and his bodyguards and leave Lao Ma, later to be murdered by her own son. There
was no gratitude in Xena then for being saved and cured by Lao Ma. That
alliance fell apart at once.
In Sin Trade, we see the racy scene of Xena and Borias' lovemaking under the
furs. Alti arrives and knows that Xena is pregnant, so some time has passed
since Chin. Again, Borias is trying to make an alliance, this time with the Northern
Amazons, but Xena spoils this one, too by spying on Cyane and finally killing
all the Queens in an ambush. Alti needs the Queen's blood to further her own
designs. She will make Xena the Destroyer of Nations, which does happen. We
see no more of Borias in that episode.
We see in Past Imperfect, the death of Borias. He had said he didn't like
killing prisoners at the river(the human ones),but really got angry when he
saw that Xena wanted to kill a few captured Centaurs. Borias escapes with
the Centaurs...some of his followers evade Xena for a later attack on her
camp when Borias wants her so that he can have his son, which is due to be
born soon. Borias' running away with the Centaurs betrays Xena again.
Note: Borias had to be gone for a while...Xena was not due to give birth for
a while. He was at the Centaurs' camp. I never put this together before, but
during that time, he was scheming again. Pretending to be an ally of the
Centaurs, he had to have learned of the Exion Stone and the caverns. Strange
how the Centaurs never found the caverns, let alone the stone, but Borias did.
He hid the stone in his sword hilt and left the sword at the camp. Solon
inherits the sword years later after Borias' death.
Borias betrayed the Centaurs by not telling them he found the caverns, by not
telling them he had the stone, and by keeping it for himself. I do not
believe he wanted to be an evil Centaur himself, as Dagnon did, but he wanted
it as a bargaining chip for future dealings with others or to even blackmail
the Centaurs.
In Last of the Centaurs, yet another back story shows himself and Xena having
an open affair at his war camp, right near where his wife and young son were.
Xena convinces him to leave his wife and son, steal the money he was going to
use to pay his army, and to run to Chin where they could raise a new army. He
does so without hesitation. This is betrayal of his army and family.
In Friend in Need, he goes with Xena to buy Akimi from a warlord so that THEY
can get the ransom. Borias helps kill the guy and some of the guards, but
lets Xena go alone with the girl. He stays aboard ship, probably knowing that
Xena cannot take on the whole country of Japan. He knows when to cut and
run.
Each back story tears apart what I liked about the guy from the first, just
like the endless back stories that demeaned Xena and made her less than a
Warrior Princess, fighting for the Right...she was just brutal and
bloodthirsty, and RenPics did this on purpose from midway in Season 4 until
the end.
In conclusion, Xena's rage and hate at Caesar was way out of proportion
considering the betrayer(Borias) she stayed with for years. Borias did more
to her that Caesar ever did. Caesar told her from the first that HE would
rule...Borias always made it seem as if it were an alliance, which he breaks
with impunity.
One real act by Caesar, more of revenge and convenience was seen by Xena as
unforgivable, but when Borias has her sold as prey in a death-hunt, she ends
up kissing him at Lao Ma's place.
Borias betrays his wife, son, army, the Centaurs, Lao Ma, Ming, and Xena. He would
have done the same to the Northern Amazons had he had the chance.
Xena should have hated Cortese more than anybody else...Toris did. Cortese
killed Lyceus and destroyed Amphipolis, which set Xena off on her killing and
looting spree.
Caesar merely did what Xena herself always did...eliminate a threat.
Borias was the worst betrayer of all, and Xena talks of Borias to Solon as if
he was a great and good man. He was not.
Gary in Vermont.
Non-fiction Thoughts
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