Najara:
This warrior-woman was one of the best guest stars on the show. She had
everything in battle skills that Xena had, and even beat her in a fair fight
at the inn. Gabby in fact had to save Xena from Najara by saying she would
go with her if she did not kill Xena.
Xena had made fun of Najara as a “whacko” but when Najara said she knew from
The Jinn that Xena would die with Gabby, Xena had not told her that, so The
Jinn must have been real and Najara was not imagining things.
The two episodes with Najara were Crusader and The Convert, the latter being
such a corruption of the fine character of Najara and a format for Xena’s
constant rant about jailing Najara.
It is ironic that The Destroyer of Nations wanted to jail someone who fought
slavers and murderers. When Xena and Gabby went on their merry way at the
end of Crusader, they left the area without any protection from Marat. Xena
had him and let him (and his thugs) go. The one who FOUGHT the bad guy was
jailed and treated as if she was a murderer.
Read my reviews on these two shows.
In Convert, Xena uses non-lethal force to drive away the KILLERS of the
monks, but when outside and the Novitiates were being kidnapped, she THEN
draws her sword and starts killing. She makes the choice of who lives and
dies at will. She later condemns Najara for doing the same thing.
In Xena’s back-stories, we see her as a piratess who took over neighboring
towns and made them pay tribute, with the warning not to get her angry. We
see flames as she burns down their towns.
She then kidnaps Caesar, and did this only when she saw his fine clothes.
She knew she would get ransom that way….other than that, she would have let
her captain murder a helpless captive.
Thalassa, in Locked Up and Tied Down was left by Xena as food for the
sea-crabs. This is after Thalassa’s beauty was ruined by being slashed
across the face at Xena’s command.
Xena’s wholesale slaughter of the Northern Amazon Queens just about
destroyed the race entirely.
Xena kidnapped the Chinese boy, Ming T’ien, who later grew up to capture
her. Xena also murdered the kid’s father at Lao Ma’s place during a proposal
of unity.
Xena kidnaps Akimi from a warlord after he refuses a paltry bounty for the
girl. Xena kills him with The Pinch and goes alone to Japan with the girl to
collect the ransom. Borias stays aboard ship.
In The Debt, Xena is saved from the hunting party out to kill her. Lao Ma
becomes Xena’s mentor and even fixes Xena’s broken legs. Xena’s first act
was then to stomp Borias, who had been invited to join with Lao Ma as her
co-rulers. Xena was to be her Warrior Princess. Xena repays all these acts
of kindness with murder in Lao Ma’s house and a life of continued murder and
mayhem with Borias until she later had him killed by Dagnon.
Xena tried to wipe out the Centaur race in the same episode, and Borias
leaves with the Centaurs. He later comes back as Xena is delivering Solon to
the world.
Xena destroyed Cirra and left a few survivors, namely Callisto, who asked
“why?”.
Callisto, when she grows up, vows revenge and eventually helps Hope in the
killing of Solon. She protected the young Hope as the girl killed Solon.
Xena murders helpless captives in the Debt. Two of the vanquished surrender,
and Xena stabs one to death. Borias saves the other one who runs away to
tell his masters not to mess with Borias and Xena. Xena cuts off the heads
of the dead and puts them on stakes.
Note: This is important, and it shows that Xena, as usual, decides who lives
and dies. Xena later acts as if Najara is evil to the core in Najara’s
dealings with her captives.
Najara: She is a fine warrioress and beats Xena in a fair fight. Xena blames
this on her own preoccupation with Gabby, who is made out to be a millstone
around Xena’s neck and a distraction. Gabby was not that way in even episode
one, Sins of the Past. We even see Gabby stop Xena from being stoned to
death by her former villagers. Cyrene, Xena’s mother, even holds Xena’s
sword to her daughter’s throat because of this: Xena had gotten the village
of Amphipolis to stand and fight against the warlord Cortese. Lyceus, Xena’s
younger brother, dies in this fight. In Death Mask, Toris, the older
brother, laments that he was scared and ran. He proves he was no coward.
Note: the survivors of the raid had to run away, including Xena, because as
Xena said, Cortese “razed the village to the ground.”
There are more instances of Xena using people for her own aims. Even Alti
was used….Alti would ensure Xena would be the Destroyer of Nations if Xena
killed the Amazon Queens, mostly the head Queen, Cyane.
Xena headed up the largest army the world had ever seen, under the ultimate
command of Ares, God of War. She did destroy nations, and with each
back-story, I disliked Xena even more. In Bitter Suite, I hated her for
dragging Gabby almost to her death in the Gabdrag. It was amazing that the
Warrior Princess I loved dearly was now an object of hate. Even at the end,
I still couldn’t believe Gabby could forgive that.
Comparison: Najara and her small band of men fight Marat’s thugs, who are
raping, murdering, stealing, and kidnapping villagers to be sold as slaves.
Najara, a great fighter, frees these villagers and they all love her. She
also wants to open a hospice for them. Gabby is attracted to this and Xena
knows Gabby will leave her for Najara.
See my reviews on Convert and Crusader for more details. The gist is this:
Xena either kills or punches, even letting murderers go as in Convert. She
does, however, try to drag Najara back to prison for the following reason:
Najara fights the thugs in battle, and the survivors are given three days to
reform---even join Najara as some of her own men did. After that, the bad
guys are killed if they do not convert. There is hardly any law around
during that time, and the thugs are certainly guilty beyond a shadow of a
doubt.
Xena is told this at first by Marat, who Xena handcuffed and then punched
out. He is left in his camp with his army. They still have their leader and
will continue to wreak havoc on the innocent.
Gabby says that Najara is perfect except for that one thing, even though Xena
does this all the time, even killing an unarmed priest in Sacrifice One.
Najara says that some areas support slavery, that judges (if any ) can be
bribed, and that the thugs can keep killing even if they are let loose. Her
way gives them a better chance at life than Xena did in most of her own
fights.
Najara says she kills only bad people….Gabby is wrong in saying that the
thugs should be brought to trial. Even in The Reckoning, Ares kills three
farmers and Xena gets the blame. The crude farming village is no real
courtroom, and Xena is condemned. Each town has its elder and the laws, if
any, vary.
Xena’s hatred for Najara, including the constant ranting about bringing
Najara back to jail, was sickening. Najara looked like Joan of Arc chained
up at the end of Crusader. She knows Xena’s job is to hurt, even kill
Gabrielle.
In summary, Najara was the better warrior and person as compared to Xena.
Najara fought to save people and Xena had years of murdering and destroying
nations. Gabby is able to forgive Xena that long history, but instantly
dumps Najara when Najara admits that she sends the bad guys to The Light
either way.
Najara,, with herself jailed and her army scattered, is no longer able to
help the people or run a hospice as Xena and Gabby head towards their next
adventure.
I wonder who is going to testify at her trial. She is certainly convicted,
tho, but of WHAT? Killing bad people who have murdered and enslaved a lot of
innocents?
Where were the grateful people she had saved in many fights who could have
come to her defense? The show missed out on that basic premise. This simple
fact is the crux of my argument and shows Xena’s hypocrisy. She does not pay
for HER OWN crimes. I do not believe that killing murderers is a crime. Was
Najara supposed to leave them so they could escape and kill again? How can
she find any real law or court in that remote area?
Najara was my favorite heroine in the series. She even offered her sword to
Xena as a symbol of trust, plus command of her army. Xena took command and
later betrays Najara. She could have seen Najara as one, like Xena, may have
made mistakes, but Xena’s mistakes centered around her own quest for power.
Najara merely wanted to help people at the risk of her own life. Xena’s
motive was greed and the lust to rule, while Najara wanted justice.
Xena, when she had Cortese, who killed her brother Lyceus and destroyed
Amphipolis and killed a lot of her fellow villagers, does not have the
hatred for him as she has for Najara.
I believe Xena saw someone who was in fact better than she ever could be,
and wanted her out of the picture. The series, making Najara look stupid in
Convert, just ruined a great character.
Gary in Vermont.