Yuku free message boards

I agree with everything you said except the false prophet bit. In Crusader, there was no telling what was powering Najara's insight. How did she know about Gabrielle and Xena's past just by looking at them? How did she know about Xena's vision without Xena saying a word? She purposely lies within that ambiguity to make it seem like she has been gifted, and even in Convert after she was revealed insane there was still no explanation of her miraculous foresight.

I've also already stated that Najara's opinions are flawed, her agenda is bigger than her motives, and her ability to mesmerize almost anybody to join her cause is amazing and atrocious. Gab was probably her greatest trophy, but you could also interpret that Najara wanted to hold her up as a symbol of the Light's goodness working at its purest. To some extent Najara did have good intentions, otherwise she wouldn't have advocated anti-slavery or a hospice in the first place. And for a commoner who wouldn't travel with her, the Light is an uplifting thing.

The point of this post was to find a lasting spirituality that Gab can continue on her path with Xena, because it once again highlighted a frustrating naivete of hers. Every time Gab has been attracted to a new shiny spiritual path, she joins without thinking, without questioning, without breaking down her mentor using the healthy skepticism Xena has espoused. And every time the mentor has turned out to be something else, or had motives Gab disagrees with, she leaves probably even more frustrated that she was suckered again. And Xena probably gritted her teeth every time thinking "Here we go again." In the case of Eli, where the mentor genuinely had the world's interests at heart (and not exclusively Gab's), Xena suffered for it and Gab was forced to react or watch her friend die. In other words, it took immense pain and suffering on someone's part through every one of Gab's spiritual explorations for her to find that Xena was her object of devotion. Every one of her former mentors also ended up dead or incapacitated, though you might argue that Eli's death strengthened his cause.

But Gabrielle has a problem that she can't have a spirituality or religion without that mentor figure constantly reassuring her of her goodness and deeds. I reiterate that's why The Light seems simple enough that Gab could take it for herself and redefine it away from Najara's cruel ethics and apply it to the typical lifestyle she and Xena live. It's spiritual, moral, and practical, in line with everything that Gab and to an extent Xena, stand for. Moreover, it proves her inner strength that she mustn't rely on a body to ensure that she's doing the right thing. Under her advocacy people could follow The Light as they chose without fear of penalty, no one would have to travel with her and be a burden on her or Xena, her relationship with Xena would not be compromised, she could uphold the same ethics she had all along, and she could still be a warrior. But Xena and Gab in the end were extremely mistrusting of any spirituality, only placing faith in humans and in each other.

I don't consider the "Way of Friendship" to be a spirituality or religion in the same way that Eli and Dahak were. It's a title Gab made up on the spot to define that bond she and Xena share and that vocally sways her purpose off the Way of Love to fight to protect Xena.

Oh sorry yeah that's what I meant. The words "Way of Friendship" were just something she made on the spot to compare it to what she had followed before, but the purpose of it transcends spirituality or religion. Gab wasn't suckered again after she made this choice; she deliberately put her search behind her and found comfort, strength, and duty in something that went beyond her old perception of "spirituality." The bond they share is akin to a spiritual path, but not one directly.

That was one of the problems I had with The Way. You can attach pretty much any noun to The Way and it becomes one. Obedience, Love, Friendship, Honesty, Honour, until you're attaching Final Fantasy character classes and you have the Way of the Warrior, the Bard, and the Mage. I wasn't comfortable with it being so abstract yet so engrossing to everything the characters stood for. You could basically say prior to this Gab had been on the Way of the Bard, or the Way of Loyalty, and Najara on the Way of the Light, even though they didn't acknowledge it as one of the Indian Ways.

What you pointed out though is one of the reasons why I doubt a character like Najara would have worked as a mesmerizer if she were brought in during Season 5 and 6. By that time Gab's purpose was solidified and there was no way in hell she was going to deviate from it, and she'd probably declare Najara a wacko right off the bat. But she's such a chameleon and burrows deep into the ethics Xena and Gab live by that I wish they'd squeezed out at least one more ep where she really tried to convince Gab one last time, or even found redemption and become a temporary ally.

*wriggle* I love Najara. And all this complexity from just 1.5 episodes.