The travels in the Norselands had the makings for a classic romantic tale: Heroes & Knights, Maidens & Monsters, True Love and Sacrifice and Magic & Enchantment. The result was a remarkable display that continued to show us just how close Xena & Gabrielle were and just how much they meant to one another.

The Hero's Challenge and Trial The classic Hero's journey begins as a call to adventure that will be thick with perilous battles and impossible challenges. The end goal of the mission is the winning of the hero's much deserved reward. The prize can be kingdoms, riches, or fame. Sometimes the rewards are less material, such as freedom, redemption, love, or a spiritual rebirth.

Back in her days as a ruthless warrior, Xena, sporting a gold ring and a chain with an intricate lock, is seen sitting by a fire, apparently waiting for something or someone. She is looking at a ring on her finger.

A huge monster approaches and Xena Skillfully maneuvers it into an abandoned mine equipped with an iron-barred gate, she secures the entrance using a raven lock to hold the bars.

The primary effects of the hero's journey are sacrifice, transformation, and a return of balance to the troubled world. These effects are as important, if not more so, than the winning of the primary goal, for in that transformation and personal sacrifice, the hero learns her life lessons and of what her heart and soul are made.

Leaning nonchalantly on the gate, Xena is astonished when the creature swipes the gleaming gold ring off her finger. Having no chance of triumph without the ring, Xena flees.

To paraphrase the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy's "Ithaca": The arrival at Ithaca is not the reward, but instead the true reward is the journey itself.

Now, 35 years later, a warrior named Beowulf approaches Xena and Gabrielle in a rustic tavern. Upon introducing himself, he pulls out the infamous lock that is engraved with two ravens, the sign of Odin. Stunned, Xena ushers him to a corner to speak with him privately. When Gabrielle inquires about the incident, Xena refuses to discuss it, telling her friend only that it involves something from her distant past.

Gabrielle awakens the next morning to find a message from Xena that she¹s gone to take care of some highly dangerous unfinished business. Though Xena implores her not to follow, Gabrielle pursues her friend for weeks, traveling further and further north.

Xena's mission of seeking her own redemption by fighting for the greater good has been a long and arduous journey. This has become her daily life. Here she is again trying to clean up her foul past by destroying an evil ring of power and ridding the troubled countryside of a rampaging beast. She is responsible for the forging of both the ring and the monster. Her struggle to right these wrongs seems so impossible as to be suicidal. Anticipating a bloody end, Xena leaves her partner, Gabrielle, behind when she sets out on her mission. Tall, dark, and dangerous is still a little dim when it comes to thinking she is leaving Gabrielle behind just because she departed alone on some fatal mission. It is very sweet of Xena to want to save her love from a dire fate, but she has tried this several times before and it did not work.

Arriving in the market of a Norse village one day, Gabrielle notices a tapestry depicting a raven-haired woman warrior, surrounded by other female warriors, all riding flying horses. She asks a merchant about a tapestry that he has on display. He tells her about the Valkyries. One of the women on the tapestry looks different from the rest and Gabrielle asks about her. A stranger approaches, introducing herself as Brinhilda. She tells Gabrielle that the person on the tapestry is Xena. At Gabrielle¹s request, the girl begins to tell the story of her friend...

Back in the past, as Xena rides through the forest, she encounters Odin, King of the Norse gods, who is on the verge of death by his own hand. Odin is distraught that he has been unable to bring peace to his people, but Xena manages to bring him out of despair by sharing with him her lust for life. In return, she is made a Valkyrie, one of Odin's elite guard. But Odin's mistress Grinhilda, the leader of the Valkyrie, soon sees how ruthless Xena can be. Odin: "And what exactly do you desire?" Xena: "Pour me some more wine, and I will show you after dinner." Odin: "Oh … Grinhilda, your late. Where have you been?" Grinhilda: "Well, I've been escorting slain soldiers to their quarter's here in Valhalla." Xena: "They're all good soldiers willing to die with Odin's name on their lips." Grinhilda: "Escorting the dead is our sacred duty. There is no joy in that duty when brave, young men are killed over a senseless battle for greed."

Xena: "Greed is one of the fundamentals of life. It's like sex. It's like the will to power. It's survival." Grinhilda: "Not their survival." Xena: "No, not theirs, but theirs is a greater reward. Dying with a sword in their hand honors their lord and master, Odin. It earns them a place at his eternal banquet." Angered by Xena¹s manipulation of Odin, Grinhilda tries to warn him, but he turns a deaf ear. Grinhilda: "Odin, this is madness." Odin: "Oh, I don't know, Grinhilda. Makes some sense to me." Grinhilda: "If you're embracing her worldview, there is no room here for me. I'll go." When Odin ignored Grinhilda's concerns, she gave up her position as lead Valkyrie and left Valhalla. Brinhilda agrees to tell Gabrielle more if she will meet up with her later.

Gabrielle: [writing in her scroll] … "I don't know the details of Xena's mission, but I'm beginning to understand the goal. She wants to correct some great wrong she did in the past. My dear friend's curse is seeking a redemption she'll never allow herself."

Although she may not mark herself as such, Gabrielle is a hero in her own right. While she is not seeking out rings or monsters, she is a warrior for the greater good who has adopted one of the most perilous missions of all: to travel at Xena's side. What Gabrielle knows, and we know, but Xena is still learning, is that Xena is Gabrielle's mission. Xena has attempted to keep her partner safe by leaving her behind, but that hardly breaks Gabrielle's stride when it comes to denying her partner's wishes and following after her. Gabrielle has always had a stubborn streak. This doggedness combined with her unconditional love for her partner will be a good quality for Xena in the coming perils.

However, whilst Gabrielle is waiting, Brinhilda attacks her and they fight. After foreseeing a stalemate, Brinhilda offers her hand and explains to Gabrielle that she has proved herself worthy of following Xena. Brunnhilda continues her tale later that evening, after Gabrielle agrees to let her tag along as she tracks Xena.

In the past once again, Xena complains to Odin that she is dissatisfied with the powers he's bestowed on her as a Valkyrie. When Odin refuses to divulge the secret of the Rheingold, she feigns a broken heart. Ultimately, he tells her enough for her to begin her quest, warning her that the Rheingold is very dangerous to someone who has not forsaken love.

Grinhilda: Xena is moving up the Rhine searching for the Rhine Maidens. How does she know about the maidens?" Odin: "…" Grinhilda: "You told her. She knew you wouldn't tell her if you though she had forsaken love. So, she acted as if she was in love with you, didn't she?" Odin: That's ridiculous. How would she know about that the power of the Rheingold is only available to those who have forsaken their love?" Grinhilda: "Everybody knows what the gold does to another's heart. The local bards sing songs about it." Odin: "The local bards know this?" Grinhilda: "You ought to mix more with the people, Odin. What they don't know is how to find the Rheingold. Now, however, Xena does. Give me back command of the Valkyrie. I can stop her." Brunnhilda: "So, Xena headed for the Rhine River and hoped she could get the Rhine maidens to lead her to the gold. But Grinhilda and the other Valkyrie weren't far behind." Gabrielle: "They couldn't get stop her though, could they?" Grinhilda: "Get her!"

Xena knocks a few Valkyrie off their horses. She and Grinhilda duke it out and Grinhilda throws herself at Xena knocking them both off their flying horses. They plummet to the waiting ground below. Xena and Grinhilda fall to the ground, cushioned by a few tree branches. Xena gets up from the snowy ground and retrieves her sword. She approaches a crawling Grinhilda and raises her sword to kill her, but decides to just knock her unconscious. She then flies off on her trusty flying steed.

Back in the present, when Gabrielle mentions Beowulf and the lock, Brunnhilda declares that Xena has embarked on a "suicide mission." Meanwhile, Xena, hiking along the Rhein River with Beowulf, lapses into a series of flashbacks of her swimming with three Rhein Maidens.

Convincing the First Rhein Maiden to take her to the Rheingold, she¹s led to an underwater cavern where the Maiden points out a box concealing the infamous gold. When the Maiden warns her not to touch it, Xena cruelly tosses her aside, declaring that the Rheingold can do her no harm since she¹s already forsaken love.

Brunnhilda: "A ring forged by the Rheingold would give Xena ultimate power. And once she put it on, she became invincible." Gabrielle: "Xena wouldn't need a ring. She's a great fighter, probably the best." Brunnhilda: "You love her very much, don't you?" Gabrielle: "She's my best friend. I know her like I know my own heart." Brunnhilda: "A friendship like that is something to be envied." Gabrielle: "It has a price, like everything." Brunnhilda: "A price you love paying." Gabrielle: "Yeah."

Xena melts the gold and molds a powerful ring from it. Brunnhilda: "She feels the same?" Gabrielle: "I hope so." Brunnhilda: "She must. She must be on a very dangerous mission, otherwise, she wouldn't have left you behind." Gabrielle: "That's what her note said."

Again in the present, Xena and Beowulf approach a house with bloody limbs strewn about the yard. Bravely the two enter and wait for the beast to emerge. We do not know much about Beowulf, where he came from, or what will become of him. More is learned of him through his behavior as the story progresses. He is like Xena in that he does not bend his knee before gods. Pragmatic and a realist, Beowulf understands this journey may end with his death, however, he is too noble not to fight the odds. A monster no one can stop, except perhaps the very demon who made it, is slaughtering his kin and comrades. Strong, quiet, dignified, honorable, and out for bloody revenge, he travels miles and miles to find Xena. He lays the broken lock of Odin before her, challenging her to return to a distant land and fight a creature that will most likely slay the both of them.

Meanwhile, Brunnhilda briefs Gabrielle on Grindl, the creature Xena locked up more than three decades earlier in the mine. Brunnhilda explains that legend has it that Grindl was once a loving creature, but finally gave up love after such a lengthy imprisonment and was then able to use the power of the ring to escape.

Inside the house, Grindl attacks Xena and Beowulf mercilessly. Beowulf attacks Grindl from behind, only to be tossed aside like a rag doll where he is buried by a few falling rafters. Bleeding and broken, Xena can only watch as Grindl approaches her again. When Gabrielle and Brunnhilda finally arrive, they find a bloody Beowulf, who sadly tells them that Xena was hauled off by the monster. Beowulf: "It dragged her off. I don't know whether she's dead or alive."

Gabrielle: "Xena? … [looks around and finds Xena's breastplate, which is covered in blood] … No. Xena."