MovieChat Forums > Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) Discussion > Did Zeus have a point/was correct?

Did Zeus have a point/was correct?

posted 9 years ago by seekquaze125
10 replies | jump to latest

I admit Zeus is usually full of crap. Many of the problems in both shows, Hercules and Xena, are caused by his neglect of his wife, children, and godly responsibilities. Yet by the end of Hercules he appeared to finally be getting his act together and Hera reformed. It looked like things would be finally getting better.

Then the episode "God Fearing Child" came along that started the whole "Twilight Of the Olympians" story arc that got mixed reviews to say the least. In that episode, Zeus claimed that Xena's child was sired sired by a force more destructive than you can imagine. Hera claimed Zeus was telling the truth. After viewing all of season five and six was Zeus correct or at least have a point?

While the show was always vague on how its mythologizes related to each other, for story purposes the Olympians created humanity and made the world better than when it was before them. Remember, Dahak wanted to revert the world back to the way it was before the Olympians came to power. The Olympians have reigned for thousands of years and built a thriving civilization. They tolerate the existence of other beliefs and for all the claims of them being oppressors do not actually cause that much trouble. Most of the problems both teams of heroes deal with are humans. Humanity itself is given a large degree of freedom without the Olympians really dictating that much to them. Ares and maybe a couple of others are the only gods that truly cause problems for humans.

The One God is supposed to be a better alternative, but the further the concept was explored the more negative it got. It was a usurper who came long after the other gods did all the work. Instead of tolerating the existence of other gods religion is limited to just worshipping him. Instead of accepting a number of middle grounds like the Olympians it deals only in extremes of good and evil. The whole "seven deadly sins" angle dictates a specific, oppressive sounding lifestyle. It wanted Aphrodite despite her having helped Xena in the past and her relative innocence...apparently because it did not want any rivals. By the end, even Xena became disillusioned with it since she resorted Ares and Aphrodite to Olympus. And apparently because they were necessary despite supposedly being no longer needed.

So, did Zeus have a point about Eve's sire being a force of destruction? For a god of love and creation who originally claimed the Olympians would fade away, it required the obliteration of the Olympian gods and the order they had built. It easily comes across as an intolerant extremist usurping the work of others. One fanfiction I came across even had Eli's god being Dahak in disguise.

So, was Zeus correct or at least have a point?

[–] enyala 9 years ago

Of course he had a point, considering his people were on the line.

You can't build a new world without destroying the old one first. The Olympians were far too influencial in people's lives to the point where they couldn't survive without a seeding Goddess of Love/God of War.

As far as the Twilight itself, it didn't mean the gods literally had to die. Athena & co brought it on themselves by trying to kill Eve. Xena had to protect her daughter & retaliate.

And remember, Aphrodite & Ares weren't the only ones left behind. Hermes, Demeter, Apollo and Dionysus weren't killed. The Twilight was simply a time when humans would realize they don't need the Gods.

Lakremos wasn't killed either, despite pie-ing Xena.

[–] seekquaze125 9 years ago

But that is the irony isn't it...within the show mankind still needs the Gods. All the Twilight accomplished is replacing worship of many gods with one god. And even with that Xena needed to restore Ares and Aphrodite to Olympus to restore balance to the world.

If you consider the episodes that take place in the future with Ares still alive that means the other gods that survived are still around influencing humanity. They did not fade away into nothing like Eli predicted. They are still manipulating the world. All the Twilight accomplished was destroying open worship of them. Mankind is still not completely free of them. All the death and destruction caused by the Twilight was for nothing which is ironic considering Eli was so against violence and said all humanity needed was love to shield them from the gods.

For that matter, in Seeds of Faith Eli says "The gods have no
choice but to give us what is rightfully ours." What did the gods have that is rightfully humanity's?

[–] enyala 9 years ago

Well........take anything Eli says with a few grains of salt. You're familiar with the term "religious zeal". Religion and logic never mix.

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[–] seekquaze125 9 years ago

Worship is needed to keep The gods in power and without it goes godhood. In time as the one God gains power and influence the other gods won't be needed

Except as pointed out Ares still possesses a good deal of power in the far future. And Xena at least lost faith in the new god of love as being any better than the others.

The gods were petty and cruel when they wanted to be. Hera killed Hercules family, Athena tried to kill a whole village over a baby, Ares did many evil things along with his worshipers being barbarians attacking innocents.

Humans can be petty and cruel when they want to be. Contrary to what many would like the Olympians are not human so one shouldn't judge them strictly by human morals. Ares is the God of War, and embodiment of the darkness of humanity, how should such a being act? He could just as easily help defenders of a city as he could the attackers. And a lot of the times the warlords did things without any motivation on his part.

Athena did try to kill Xena's baby...just like Xena tried to kill a baby Hope once she realized Hope was literally born evil and destined to bring about the end of hte world. As far as Athena knew, Eve was destined to bring about the destruction of the Olympian gods and bring about the end of their world.

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[–] seekquaze125 9 years ago

The gods are suppose to be on another level then humans as divine creatures. Yes ares was God of war but Aphrodite was the goddess of love and tries to set up psyche with an old slob to prevent Cupid from being with her. Zesus drive the Hein out of existence out of fear. Heck even here's opening says a time of myth and legend when the ancient gods were petty and cruel.

Nobody said the gods were perfect. And this is assuming a human idea of the divine actually matches up with the actual divine. Aphrodite represents both the ideal love and the selfish, jealous, fickle side of love. So from that view her actions make sense. Zeus is a king in charge with protecting his kingdom. The golden hinds were a threat. And some of the gods were petty and cruel, the only ones Hercules and Xena regularly deal with are Hera and Ares. The rest for the most part left humanity alone or sometimes helped it sometimes caused problems. So it is not nearly so black and white.

Humans can grow to be better people but the gods never changed or know what humanity is like except Ares who forgot once godhood was restored.

Except gods can change. Hera reformed from her hateful, vengeful shelf to embracing the mother aspect of her divine role to the extent of risking her life to defy Zeus. Aphrodite became less selfish as the series progressed. Zeus was at least attempting to change before he heard a prophecy that indicated his entire family was going to be killed and the whole world he spend centuries building was going to be destroyed. So gods can change and be better.

The whole "Twilight" is more grey morality basing it on Xena's past actions. Xena once tried to kill a child because she thought it was born evil. Zeus thought the same thing of Xena's child

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[–] kellymariekitty 8 years ago

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Usually full of crap? Hahaha lovely start :)