Varia Vs. Velasca
Here's another one of those great comparisons that only Gary can do!
Which of these two Amazon leaders was the better one for the Amazon Nation?
We meet Velacsa first in The Quest,when Xena has apparently died in the
previous episode,Destiny,and Gabby is bringing Xena's body home to be buried
next to Lyceus.She stops at the Amazon village,since she is the next in line to Melosa,the
queen we met in Hooves and Harlots. We learn that Melosa is dead,killed in a fight for the queenship with Velasca,who was taken in when she was young by Melosa.
Ephiny tells us that there is doubt as to whether the fight was a fair one.
Velasca scoffs at her,and I agree....the fights between contenders are
always done out in front of the whole tribe,so it is hard to believe that
Velasca cheated. We see her fight later in this episode,so we know she is
capable. Velasca,in search of the Ambrosia that Xena is directing Autolycus to
find,wants it so that she can be a goddess. Her motive: Defy Artemis,the
Greek Goddess of the Amazons,who deserted the Amazon Nation and left them to
gradually die out without her leadership and protection. Velasca seems to die at the end after the fight on the ropes. Xena was saved by the Ambrosia,and we see a grasping hand for the last bit of Ambrosia. In A Necessary Evil,Velasca comes back badly wounded to the Amazon camp,and then shows the tribe the piece of Ambrosia she has. She wants revenge on Gabby who deprived her of the queenship,and eats the stuff,becoming a goddess. She has one purpose now: wreck Artemis' temple and scorn her,and then kill Gabby. I believe her motive is clear: she was a true Amazon since she was young. She saw Gabby as not the "real" queen,even tho she had the right of caste. She could have fought Gabby for it,but that obvious path was disregarded by
the writers.
Velasca is finally trapped at the end in lava with Callisto,who after
helping Xena and Gabby stop Vel,becomes a goddess herself after eating the
Ambrosia. Cal is resurrected by Dahak in Maternal Instincts,but Vel is not,even tho she has her hands wrapped around Cal's throat in the lava.
One more mention of Vel is when Charon is listing those in Tartaras....Velasca is one of them. How a goddess,an immortal,can be "dead" and in the afterworld is another Renpics slipup. Varia: This young Amazon is a good fighter,and we meet her in Dangerous Prey. Her queen,along with other Amazons,is killed by a hunter of
humans,Prince Morlock. He insists on a fair fight,so nobody is murdered.
Varia is now the queen,but Xena has to fight the guy so he will stop killing
Amazons.Varia is headstrong,and defies Xena all the time,and a good deal of time is
spent fighting Xena in the first half of the show. She finally sees the light and becomes a bit more manageable at the end. In a subsequent episode,we see that Xena's daughter Eve/Livia,is recognized by Varia as the murderer of Varia's sister when Livia was taking Amazons for slaves for Rome. Of course,Ares is involved,and Varia sees him as the Amazons' new god. This bothered me because the whole Amazon leaning was towards a feminine way of life,including their former goddess,Artemis.In the future,Artemis' half-human son kills most of the Amazons,leaving about a dozen. These women were from all Amazon tribes combined into one huge tribe,able to protect
themselves from Rome. Varia fights Gabby for the queenship,and beats her badly. Eve is saved by yet another fight between Xena and Varia. Xena would allow herself to be killed to teach Varia the right way to rule and save her nation.
Varia again sees the light,and that fight-filled ep. is over. Later on,in To Helicon and Back,Varia is kidnapped by Artemis' son,who attacks the camp and kills a few Amazons. He wants revenge on Xena and the Amazons. Xena killed Artemis in Motherhood,and the Amazons turned from Artemis,according to the warlord.
This ep. was mostly a D-Day type invasion to rescue Varia. Gabby is in command,and somehow is above all the other Amazon queens of the combined tribes. The fight scenes went on forever,with the Amaozons being wiped out with hardly any bad guys dying in their fort. Xena is unable to stop him,tho she sneaked into the fort. He turned the tables on her and had a knife at her throat. She escaped by diving out the window into the water. Varia didn't even seem to fight him,either,even tho she had loosly-fitting chains
and could have punched or kicked him,since she was a great fighter.
The whole point of Varia's foolishness is this: The warlord promises her
that he will let the remaining Amazons leave unharmed if Varia will kill
Gabby,so that he can get to Xena. Varia is let out blindfolded and tells Gabby of a path to the fort. Gabby,withh incredible stupidity,runs for the fort in broad daylight,well within range of the best archers and catapult men we have ever seen. Nobody shoots at her,tho they have incredible accuracy with their weapons. Varia
then,again right in plain sight,tries to shoot Gabby with an arrow,but is
stopped by Xena. Gabby runs back,and we see that is was obvious that the
archers could have killed Gabby in the course of the continuing battle.
Gabby takes the queenship from Varia,and we see now that the usual fight for
it is gone...Gabby takes,does not fight. Varia is ashamed,and fights well at the end,and the dozen remaining Amazons are the "strong Amazon nation".
Summary: Varia should never have been queen either by temperment or
training. Yes,she was a great fighter,but so were the rest of the Amazons.
She would kill a queen,breaking the rules,and believed that the warlord
would leave the Amazons alone if Gabby died. Being that naive,with her
fellow Amazons' lives at stake,shows us that she is immature and not really
fit for leadership. The other queens were foolish to give this new queen the
prime leadership spot.Sure,they would do anything for their queen,but even
they were immature in attacking such a well-defended fort.
Varia,even tho kidnapped,could have killed herself with her knowledge of
fighting and death,and saved her troops from attacking. Xena would have
found this out when she attacked the warlord and could have stopped the
attack. Velasca,when she killed Melosa,apparently did it in a fair fight,even tho
Ephiny hints that it was not fair. Vel fights Gabby on the ropes,even tho
Xena controls her body.At least,even when Vel becomes a goddess,does not wipe out her whole tribe. We see fireball explosions,but few,if any ,Amazons are killed.
Vel wanted to get even with Artemis,whose help the Amazons could have surely
used thru the years.Even as a goddess,she does not go around killing her Amazons. She only wanted Gabby.In the scene where the Amazons fake giving up Ephiny as a gift to her,Vel didn't want to wipe everyone out. In short,Vel didn't want to take over the world of the Amazons...she only wanted the queenhood that she was carrying when Gabby came back in The Quest. I believe that under Vel's leadership,that that particular tribe would have prospered. Vel didn't talk about fighting for loot or territory...she wanted the Amazons back in their old ways...strong and capable of protecting themselves.
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