Themes and motifs on Xena

Xena: Warrior Princess included numerous themes and repeating motifs over its six-year course.

• Self-reliance
  • Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts
• Self-reliance versus spirituality and reliance on the gods (e.g., Eli episodes)
• Mistrust of zealotry
• Death of polytheism and forthcoming monotheism/Judeo-Christianity
• The path of nonviolence, peace, and pacifism, versus the path of violence, war, and violence
• The friendship, close relationship, and lesbian subtext between Xena and Gabrielle (see Xena-Gabrielle relationship)
• Relationships between women (see Significant female-centered episodes and characters on Xena)