Callisto

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But there was also the immortal, the Greek goddess, the demonically empowered character, the full demon, then the human who would have been had Xena not killed her family and then the angel.

Beyond that, there is arguably the reincarnated Callisto as Eve but I leave that out as that was a different actress and went beyond changes in Callisto.

I could have just made up the Warrior or perhaps also the Goddess. After all, the “demonically empowered” Callisto was one episode. Then she went from full demon to “the human who would have been” to the angel all in the same episode.

But it was just more fun to try to make them all up. I tried but quickly dismissed the idea of making up one all-encompassing version with notes about which version had which abilities. Rather than be driven crazy trying to keep track of what was what, I just made up a separate character sheet for each version.

Background

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Powers & Abilities

Technically, Callisto starts out with no powers though her jumping ability is extraordinary. She is in that grey area, supposedly human without powers but displaying superhuman abilities.

Later she becomes immortal, then a goddess, demonically empowered, a demon, a relatively normal human and then an angel.

It was too complicated and confusing to mix all those versions of the character together so our Game Stats section lists them separately: the human warrioress; the immortal; the goddess; the demonically empowered, the demon, the human and the angel.

History

Callisto was a teenager when her family and village were slaughtered by the murdering conqueror, Xena. A fire had accidentally started and the wind caused it to spread and kill women, children and other non-combatants.

While it was partly accidental, that would never have happened had Xena not been trying to conquer a village to win its riches and willing to kill any man who raised a weapon and tried to protect his home. As one of the few survivors, Callisto raged with the need for revenge and spent years training and preparing to hunt down and kill Xena.

Then an unexpected twist took place.

Xena changed her ways and tried to do good, repenting of her past. That did not magically undo the murders of her parents and Callisto still sought vengeance.

However, she was willing to do anything to attain it. Nor did she want to be perceived as the villain and Xena the heroine so she sought to masquerade as Xena, since most people knew her only by reputation.

First, she attacked Xena by surprise with a poison dart that incapacitated her for a time. Then she destroyed village after village, always leaving one survivor and telling that person that her name was Xena. Soon, Xena’s reputation as an evil warlord was rekindled and she tracked down Callisto.

In their first confrontation, Callisto snagged Xena’s chakram out of the air and retreated. In their next meeting, when Callisto tried to kill the Oracle at Delphi with the chakram, which would have left Xena the blame, Xena captured her when they both fell from their horses and Xena gained an advantageous position first.

She took Callisto to jail to stand trial. Callisto taunted Xena by asking why Xena had never been arrested and tried for all of her murders? Whatever the reason, Xena seemed to hold a “Get out of jail free” card while Callisto did not.

Certainly part of it was that Xena was trying to change and Callisto was not. However, Callisto soon escaped, capturing Gabrielle along the way. She held Gabrielle prisoner, forcing Xena into a fight on ladders yards above the ground.

Xena managed to rescue Gabrielle and defeat Callisto. But, as Callisto plunged towards the ground, wanting to die, Xena grabbed her and saved her. Callisto was headed back for jail, already plotting her revenge again. 

I always hurt the ones you love

Several weeks later, Callisto broke out of prison and was immediately focused on torturing Xena. She attacked a village and threw a knife at a little girl, knowing Xena would put herself into a vulnerable position to save the girl.

She got her sword to Xena’s throat but did not kill her, instead taunting her with all the lives that would be lost because Xena did not kill her.

Callisto was going to go after Xena again but then learned that Gabrielle was no longer traveling with her, having gotten married. Callisto went after Gabrielle, intending to kill her but instead killing Perdicas, her new husband.

She awoke a few nights later to find Gabrielle’s sword at her throat but Gabrielle could not bring herself to kill Callisto. Callisto was perplexed by this but used Gabrielle to bait a trap for Xena. Equally matched in battle, Callisto taunted Xena into a chariot race.

When they crashed, they fell into quicksand. Xena had both her chakram and her whip which she used to pull herself out. Without those advantages, Callisto sank, screaming for Xena to save her, taunting her that yet another victim of her slaughter of Callisto’s village was now among the murdered.

Trapped in Tartarus, Callisto could feel Xena’s guilt over what she had done. Ares could feel it too. Visiting Callisto, he hatched a plan with her by which she could be free.

By tricking Xena, while she was dreaming, into admitting that allowing Callisto to die when she could have saved her was just a psychological means of justifying it but it was really still murder, Ares was able to free Callisto from Tartarus while trapping Xena there. But the only way he could do it and slip it past Hades was to switch their bodies.

On Earth in Xena’s body, Callisto went on a rampage, killing her former lieutenant and taking back her army. She then captured Xena’s home village and intended to burn them and Xena’s mother. Ares warned her that Xena had convinced Hades of what really happened and was free of Tartarus but only for a day.

All Callisto need do was avoid Xena for that time and she would be free on Earth in Xena’s body while Xena would be trapped in Tartarus.

But Callisto was obsessed with personally destroying Xena by making Xena watch as her mother and village were destroyed as Callisto’s village and family had been. But, when they finally fought, Xena was able to knock Callisto out and send their minds back to Tartarus.

There, Xena played on Callisto’s suppressed guilt. This caused all of the souls of the people Callisto had killed to start appearing along with Callisto’s mother. Confronted with her crimes, Callisto denied her guilt verbally but, inside, could not entirely deny it.

That was all it took to cause her to be trapped in Tartarus again but still in Xena’s body.

Subsequently, events that took place on Earth caused Callisto and Xena to be switched back into their proper bodies although Callisto had nothing to do with the events except that Xena’s mind was in Callisto’s body when they happened.

Let’s make a deal

Then Hera appeared to Callisto in Tartarus and offered her both freedom and immortality if she would kill Hercules. Arriving at a party being set up for Hercules although he was not there yet, she snuck poison into a drinking bowl causing his mother, Jason, Iolaus, Iphicles and the visiting “cook”, Falafel, to fall unconscious.

When Hercules arrived, she told him that the only cure was to get one of the Apples of the Hesperides which grew on a tree in a sacred cave. A dying person would be healed if they took a bite. A person who was healthy would become immortal: ageless, immune to diseases and unkillable. But she could not get by the defenses while he could.

Of course, once they reached the tree, she double-crossed him. Causing him to be caught in one of the traps, she took a bite of one of the apples and then started burning the tree. He broke free and, in an almost berserk rage at the danger to his family, punched her all-out, sending her flying like a blur into the rock wall.

But she stood up unharmed, immortal. He grabbed one of the apples before it burned and managed to get out of the cave before the exit collapsed, leaving her trapped there in her rage while he got to his family in time to save them.

Callisto was amazed when Xena showed up and offered to get her out of the cave she was trapped in. But Xena explained that a renegade Amazon named Velasca had become a deity and was hunting down Gabrielle and the Amazon tribe she used to belong to.

Velasca still had a little of the ambrosia she had used to become a goddess. Callisto knew that, if she got that ambrosia, she too would become a goddess. So she teamed up with Xena. Of course, she tried to double-cross her and switch to Velasca’s side at the first opportunity.

When Xena sabotaged that by making it seem like it was a trick to make Velasca drop her guard, Callisto and Xena kept retreating. Finally, Callisto and Velasca ended up fighting on a bridge over a river of lava.

Callisto got her hands on the ambrosia and ate it, becoming a deity. But Xena threw her chakram, cutting the bridge and sending Callisto and Velasca plunging into the lava, hopefully trapped forever.

Callisto was freed from the lava by what appeared to be a girl. But this was really Hope, the daughter of Gabrielle that the evil deity, Dahak, had supernaturally impregnated her with. Hope made a deal with Callisto, to give her what she wanted most in return for her loyalty now.

Armed with the knowledge that Xena had a son, Solon, she set out to hurt Xena in the worst way possible, by killing him. As it turned out, Xena helped him elude her but Solon was killed by Hope.

Xena lured Callisto into a fight in a cave. Callisto admitted she thought making Xena suffer the losses she suffered would be a grand victory but it did not make her feel any better. She still felt nothing.

The enraged Xena tricked Callisto into bringing down the cave roof. Xena escaped but Callisto, who was a fledging goddess who still had not learned to use all of her powers, like teleporting, was again trapped.

No sooner was Hope’s body burned than she traveled in disembodied form until she found someone and drained his life essence to partly rejuvenate herself. Hope then freed Callisto and again promised her to fulfill her greatest longing. Only this time, the target was not Xena but Hercules.

Following Hope’s plan, Callisto went to Ares. They combined their powers to open a dimensional gateway into the “Mirror World” where Hercules was an evil warlord called the Sovereign. More accurately, they opened a gateway to the “purgatory” between worlds where he had been trapped, bringing him into their world.

They took the Hind’s blood that he carried in a phial around his neck, blood that could kill a god. Then they let him go, knowing he would create havoc and that it would bring Hercules. It happened precisely as predicted.

Hercules and Iolaus managed to capture the Sovereign and they brought him back to the place where the gateway originally opened. Then Ares and Callisto appeared and opened the gateway, trapping Hercules and the Sovereign between worlds. Callisto and Ares then fought for possession of the Hind’s blood.

Though toying with her at first, Ares then unleashed everything he had and defeated her. But as Callisto lay beaten, Hope appeared and imbued her with a portion of Hope’s own power. Suddenly, as they fought again, Callisto seemed temporarily twice as powerful as before.

She beat Ares and took the Hind’s blood medallion, using the blood on a knife to kill Strife, a minor deity of annoyance. Hope then sent her back in time to kill Hercules while he was still in the womb by killing his mother.

The Grandfather Paradox

Ares sent Iolaus back in time to try stopping Callisto. But she toyed with him for a while and then killed Alcmene, Hercules’ mother. Callisto then time traveled to her hometown at the time Xena’s army was attacking. She accidentally killed her own father and then killed her mother.

Then she tried to do what Hope promised her she would be able to do. She left her younger self to die in the fire instead of escaping so that she would never exist and hence her pain would be gone.

However, after she left, Iolaus rescued the younger Callisto. Because history had been changed, he no longer had the power to time travel that Ares had given him as Ares himself had been changed.

But Iolaus then found the Kronos Stone and used it to time travel to just before Callisto killed Alcmene and he saved her. Returning to his present, he found himself confronting Callisto who was furious with him because she still existed thanks to his interference.

Just as she was going to kill him, Hercules broke free from the “purgatory” and confronted her. She seemed to be back to her normal godly power level and Hope chose not to power her up this time. Hercules defeated her and cast her through the gateway, trapping her between realities.

However, this “Purgatory” was not able to hold a full god. It took some time but she forced her way through the barrier. Nothing was ever said but an amusing thought was that she was trapped in there with the Sovereign so either he was probably making plays for her and annoying her or, once he saw her power, was avoiding her.

She seemed able to sense where Hope was. Having been poisoned to death and then burned, Hope had partially resurrected but was in a protective cocoon, completing her regenerative process. Callisto tried to protect her until it was complete but Xena again outmaneuvered her and caused her to be trapped in a rockslide.

She broke free just in time to see Hope emerge healed – because Ares had switched sides and protected her – and looking exactly like Gabrielle.

Callisto had exacted a promise from Hope that Callisto’s existence would be obliterated as if she had never existed. But Hope kept stalling her and saying it would happen once Hope was done with her. Callisto was beginning to suspect Hope was stalling.

It really “hit the fan” when Callisto found out Hope had made a deal with Ares and one that included Ares and Hope “rolling around like crazed weasels” to produce a child.

She switched sides and chose to help Xena, though her help was minimal. She suspected Xena knew where the dagger with the Hind’s blood was, a dagger that could give Callisto close to what she most wanted. Though it could not perhaps give her complete non-existence, it could kill her.

In a pitched battle against the minions of Dahak, Gabrielle sacrificed herself by tackling Hope and sending them both plunging to their fiery deaths.

In the aftermath, Callisto laughed that seeing Gabrielle do something so “stupid” as to sacrifice herself to save someone was so funny that it finally gave her a reason to live and made her feel something. In a fit of rage, Xena spun and stabbed her with the dagger, finally ending her existence.

A hell of a time

Except it did not end. Callisto found herself in what she described as a place worse than Tartarus, a place called Hell. She seemed bereft of her godly powers but still had her abilities as a warrioress and was trapped with a man who was always trying to get her into bed.

Part of his curse was to be trapped with a woman who had no interest in him and could physically resist him while part of her punishment was to be constantly annoyed by him. However, the scars and cuts she bore implied far worse tortures.

But the “Master” of Hell sent word that he would make her an offer. He wanted Xena’s soul and also wanted a man named Julius Caesar ruling Earth. Because she raged with such hatred for Xena, he would allow her to return to Earth, restoring her powers and granting her a couple of more besides.

But there were absolute restrictions. She could not physically harm Xena in any way. She had to act through others. She had to convince Xena to make a deal with her, to accept her help and her Master’s, in return for a mortal life of happiness with Gabrielle.

What happened after that was another matter. Callisto also had to make sure Caesar became Emperor of Rome and ruler of the world.

Xena and Gabrielle had separated for a time because Gabbie had experiences in India that caused her to become a pacifist, believing she could not change the world if she committed any violence.

With her powers, it was easy for Callisto to appear to Caesar and convince him how valuable her help would be. He already intended to dissolve the Senate and declare himself Emperor.

Callisto easily found Gabrielle with her powers and led Roman soldiers to capture her and her friends, the Amazon Amarice and the healer Eli. They were taken to a prison and scheduled to be executed on the day Caesar declared himself Emperor. He knew that would distract Xena and force her to make a choice between attacking him or saving her.

Bad Deal

Certain that Caesar was safe as long as she kept Xena away from him, Callisto concentrated on trying to get Xena to accept a deal to save Gabrielle’s life. But she saw it was not going to work. When she saw Xena was going to succeed in freeing Gabrielle and escaping, she went berserk and threw the rules out the window.

She took Xena’s chakram and threw it at her, severing Xena’s spine. As Xena lay helpless and was about to be killed, Gabrielle also threw her rules out the window. Throwing a spear and then picking up a sword, she slew a dozen guards protecting Xena before she was brought down, as Callisto watched genuinely amazed.

As Xena and Gabrielle were being crucified, Callisto taunted Xena that she should have made a deal. She said her Master might be mad but what he wanted the most was for Caesar to rule the world so he would not be too mad.

What Callisto did not know was that Xena had convinced Brutus, Caesar’s second-in-command, that Caesar was going to declare himself absolute ruler and then eliminate all potential rivals. This was true and Brutus convinced the Senate of it. As Caesar started declaring himself Emperor, the senators all attacked with knives, killing him.

Sacrifice and Redemption

Callisto found herself back in Hell. Far from rewarded, her eternity in Hell was assured when she found herself transformed into a full demon. Along with her peers, she was ordered to attack a band of angels. She was elated to see that Xena and Gabrielle were among them since their bodies had been killed on Earth.

She tried to do what she was ordered to do, bring Xena and Gabrielle to Hell. But she could only get Gabrielle. There she tempted Gabrielle to eat the food of Hell so she would begin to become a demon. It worked though Gabrielle as a partial demon began to mock Callisto about the loss of her family.

Then the angels, led by Xena who had become an Arch Angel, attacked to get Gabrielle back. They succeeded but, in the battle, Callisto confronted Xena. Defeated by Xena, Callisto cried out for Xena to finish the job and kill her.

She proclaimed that she would never stop hating Xena and trying to destroy everything she loved because Xena had destroyed everything Callisto loved including the person she would have been had Xena not murdered her family.

Xena had been warned that, upon seeing the suffering in Hell, she would be tempted to free one of the suffering but the only way she could do that would be to take that person’s place.

As Callisto proclaimed what a joke this whole Heaven/ Hell thing was, with people who slaughter others getting last minute reprieves and those who seek revenge for being wronged being condemned, Xena touched Callisto. Xena was transformed into a demon.

Callisto found herself in Heaven, having been lifted and carried away by the angels. However, she was not an angel but a human being again. She remembered everything from her early life up until just before Xena attacked her village.

Everything after that was “confused” and vague. She had become the person she would have been had Xena not killed her family. She apologized to Gabrielle for what she had done in the past. Gabrielle finally forgave her and that was the test that earned Gabrielle her wings as she became an angel.

Callisto watched from a distance as Gabrielle, Michael and the other angels joined in battle against the demons now led by Xena who intended to conquer Heaven. As Xena and Gabrielle were well on their way to killing each other in battle, Callisto was overcome with compassion.

It was this that transformed her into an angel. She traveled to Earth, appearing to the healer Eli. She convinced him to go to the bodies of Xena and Gabrielle. She then channeled her powers through him, bringing them back to life.

At that time, Michael decided it was time for Callisto to put her past behind her and know peace. She was reunited with the spirits of her family.

Full Circle

As an angel, Callisto was sent to inspire Eli when he began to have doubts about his mission. He was beginning a peace movement that would ultimately break the power of the gods. But he knew he had to die for the movement to grow and spread to the point that it could not be stopped.

Callisto was mostly in the background but she appeared after Eli’s death to show Xena and Gabrielle he had made the right choice. She revealed to Xena that she had magically caused Xena’s pregnancy. She had destroyed Xena’s life by killing her son even as Xena had destroyed Callisto’s life.

But Xena had freed Callisto of her pain and now Callisto chose to give her back that freedom through a child. But it went further. Callisto herself was the child. She was the soul of the child all along and merged herself with the child, saying she could think of no better mother than Xena to guide her through a new life.

Her last appearance (though it was really clips from the previous appearance) was when she appeared to Xena’s grown up daughter, Eve, when she was 25 years old. Callisto reminded her of who she really was and brought her back from the path of darkness Eve had been on.

She showed her that she was Callisto reincarnated, as well as visions of her infancy and how much Xena loved her

Description

Callisto is an extremely attractive woman. She’s usually wearing some armor during her warrioress phase although it tends towards the “chainmail bikini” style. Her hair is long. She carries a sword slung over her back. She wears essentially the same outfit as an immortal and a goddess.

In her one appearance as “demonically empowered”, she wore a white robe. As a demon, she was clad in black rags and had horns, black wings and a very non-human appearance. As an ordinary human, she again wore white robes while, as an angel, she wore the same robes and white wings grew from her back.

Personality

Throughout most of her appearances, Callisto was mad with hatred, filled with pain over what had happened to her parents and the destruction of her life.

She was obsessed not only with killing Xena but destroying her life in every possible way. When she was finally freed of that hate and the memories, she became the loving person she would otherwise have been.

Quotes

Xena: “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you without a fair trial.”
Callisto: “You know, there used to be a little respect mixed up in my hatred for you, but not anymore. Your petty scruples are embarrassing. As a villain, you were awesome. As a hero, you’re a sentimental fool.”

“The sight, just the sight, of Xena, Warrior Princess, arguing on my behalf amuses me, so let me tell you, let me answer your question about what I’d do if you let me go. You let me go and I’ll dedicate my life to killing everything you love. Your friends, your family, your reputation – even your horse. I’m being so honest with you because the idea of your pity is worse than death for me. You see ? You created a monster with integrity, Xena. Scary, isn’t it ?”

“You want it ? Come and get it.”

Xena: “What happened to you was terrible. It was my fault and I’m sorry.”
Callisto: “Oh, well. That makes all the difference. And now we can be the best of friends.”

Callisto (caught in a jail cell that is on fire as Xena stands outside): “Perfect. I’m going to die like my family. Kind of full circle, isn’t it ? Don’t worry. I won’t be screaming like my sister.”

“You’re beginning to hate me. You’ve fought it because of some silly sense of guilt. But now I’m becoming a painful memory of what you used to be. And now, you’ll never leave it behind.”

“In a way, I’m disappointed in you, Xena. Part of me had hoped that you would win and put out the rage in my heart. Sometimes, it even scares me. Then I get over it.”

Callisto: “You’re not falling in love with me, are you ?”
Theodorus: “And what if I was ?”
Callisto: “Then I’d have to kill you. Love is a trick nature plays on us to get us to reproduce. I want no part of it.”

(To Gabrielle): “How have you been ? Any new husbands since the last one I killed ?”

“Oh, come now. This won’t hurt – much.”

DC Universe History

The history established by Xena and this version of Hercules really does not fit into the DCU version of Greek Myth, of course. But just because the Heracles of DC is not the most savory individual does not mean there could be no Xena or Callisto worked into it.

One could ignore the idea that Hercules set Xena on the path of good and instead just assume that meeting Gabrielle did that. It does not change the story of Callisto all that much.

Given the nature of the DC Heracles, he might even team up with someone like Callisto though it is unlikely she would be interested in him “like that”.

But the DC Ares might find Callisto a fascinating individual and he might find Xena to be the same. Since War is his reason for existence, he might even have been the secret cause of the fire that Xena did not intend, the one that destroyed Callisto’s village.

With that hate within her, Ares could lead her to becoming a powerful conqueror even while doing the same with Xena, all the while intending to make them both have huge armies that will eventually meet in a massive series of battles that will ravage the world since war for its own sake is his main goal.

By Doug Mertaugh.

Source of Character: The Xena Warrior Princess and Hercules the Legendary Journeys television shows. Callisto was played by Hudson Leick.

Helper(s): Ethan Roe, Sébastien Andrivet.

Writeup completed on the 11^th of July, 2013.