Gabrielle is a fictional character played by Renee O'Connor in the American fantasy TV series Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001).
The character's development and progression is a story that spans the entire show's run, with her first appearance in "Sins of the Past" seeing her as a naive farm girl, and the final episode, "A Friend In Need (Part 2)", seeing her as a fully formed but rational warrior, set to follow in Xena's footsteps.
[2] O'Connor was chosen to play the role after she impressed producers with her performance in the Hercules television movie The Lost Kingdom.
[citation needed] (This may be because in another brief musical portion of the fourth season episode "If the Shoe Fits..", Renee O'Connor's voice sounded like that of an opera singer.
[7] Later on in the series, she acquires a quarterstaff from the Greek Amazons[9] and starts to use it as both a defensive and offensive weapon, displaying some skill in using the staff.
In one episode, Gabrielle takes on numerous soldiers and single-handedly attempts to rescue Xena's presumed dead body.
After months of following her path of the Way of Love,[14] Gabrielle picks up the sword of a paralyzed Xena and fights off a large group of Roman soldiers, killing several of them.
[15] After her first kill in Season 3, she is forcibly impregnated by an evil god called Dahak, giving birth to a daughter who she names Hope.
By season 5, Gabrielle starts to fight with her sai,[16] incorporating more acrobatic abilities, such as performing a wall run and back flip.
In other episodes she wins a place in the Athens City Academy for Performing Bards,[22] is a famous playwright, is a theatrical director,[23] plays the pan pipes with considerable skill,[24] and is the only person able to recite a magical scroll with the correct accents.
[25] Despite Gabrielle's ascendancy as a warrior (in the episode "The Ides of March" she slew nine Roman legionaries), her role as a bard remains important.
This leads into an entire small story-arc in which the modern-day reincarnations of Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer meet and interact.