Gabrielle - from farm girl to warrior
When Gabrielle first meets the Warrior Princess, Xena, she is a farm girl living in the village of Potidaea. She and her sister Lila, along with several other village girls, have been kidnapped by the men of the warlord, Draco, to be sold as slaves. Xena intervenes and rescues them. Awed by her fighting skills, Gabrielle decides that she wants to become a warrior too. She also wants to avoid the marriage that her parents, Herodotus and Hecuba, have arranged for her with her childhood friend Perdicas. Gabrielle insists on following an initially reluctant Xena on the road. The two women soon develop a strong bond of love and friendship. Over the six years of the series, Gabrielle evolves from a naive, idealistic teenager into a fully fledged, but deeply conflicted warrior fighting alongside Xena.
The Battling Bard of Potidaea
When I first met you, you barely had the skill to skip a rock. I guess Xena's been a positive influence on ya after all.—AresSeeds of Faith
Gabrielle starts the series as a young girl who more or less stands behind Xena, and relies on Xena to protect her. Later on in the series, she acquires a fighting staff from the Greek Amazons, and starts to use it as both a defensive, as well as an offensive weapon, displaying some skill in using the staff. As the series goes on, Gabrielle's skills with the staff continue to develop. In one episode, Gabrielle takes on numerous soldiers single-handedly in an attempt to rescue Xena's presumably dead body. Two episodes later she is seen blocking an arrow in flight with her staff. Later on, Gabrielle also adds kicks and minor acrobatics to her fighting abilities.
While in India, Gabrielle is thrown through time by a Darsham to save Xena's soul. It is said that their souls are together throughout time. In this next life Xena is the Mother of Peace, Arminestra and Gabrielle is Shakti, a Warrior Prince of India. At the end of season 4, Gabrielle shows a leap in her warrior abilities. After months of following her path of the Way of Love, Gabrielle picks up the sword of a paralyzed Xena and fights off a large group of Roman soldiers, killing several of them.
By season 5, Gabrielle starts to fight with her sais, incorporating more acrobatic abilities, such as performing a wall run and back flip. In addition to sais and sometimes a new casual staff, she can use a large array of weapons with proficiency. Gabrielle also fights against warriors with notable skill; she defeats the warrior Mavican and stands against Ares and Hades (two gods) in battle for a period of time, before they defeat her. She also fights in a sword duel with Brutus, Caesar's former right hand and one of the leaders of Rome, eventually killing him. Gabrielle's abilities throughout the series are noticed by the God of War who seeks her out as his new protégée. It is mentioned later by Gabrielle that Xena trained her throughout the years, although there have only been a few episodes that actually show Xena giving her any sort of martial arts training.One of Gabrielle's biggest fights in the series is her fight against fellow Amazon queen, Varia. They fight in an enclosed arena in a match in which Eve's life is at stake, and they appeared to be at a stand-off before she is beaten by Varia. Gabrielle takes the loss graciously and continues to grow in skill over the remaining season.