Xena: Warrior Princess/Tear Jerker

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Marcus' death and funeral in "The Path Not Taken".
    • It gets even more heartwrenching in "Mortal Beloved", in which Hades agrees to restore Marcus back to life, but only for 48 hours, so that he and Xena can retrieve Hades' stolen helmet (without it, he is nearly powerless). When Marcus is nearing the end of his second chance at life, he and Xena kiss, before she plunges a dagger into his heart. Then she tearfully pleads with Hades to send Marcus to the Elysian Fields, rather than allow him to spend eternity in Tartarus. He judges Marcus as worthy for the Elysian Fields, but of course Xena can't stay... cue another emotional goodbye. *sniff*

Gabrielle: You'll be together again one day.
Xena: (fighting back tears) We'll never be apart. (holds her fist to her heart) He's in here, forever.

  • Xena trying to revive Gabrielle in "Is There A Doctor in the House?". Of course, Gabrielle gets better, but still:

Xena: Come on, Gabrielle, wake up. Come on, wake up! Come on, wake up! Your scaring me! Wake up! Wake up! Gabrielle, breathe. Breathe!

  • Gabrielle's death at the end of "Sacrifice, Part II".
  • The ending of "Death in Chains", when Celesta takes Talus to the Underworld while Gabrielle looks on, absolutely devastated.
    • It gets even more heartwrenching when she collapses into Xena's arms, sobbing against her chest.
  • "The Greater Good". Believing Xena to be dead, Gabrielle manages to hold herself together for a little while... until she goes out to the woods and starts beating a tree with her staff, screaming and crying.
  • Xena finding her son Solan dead at the end of the second act of "Maternal Instincts". Her screams of absolute anguish are heartwrenching.
  • Despite being a very bizarre episode, "The Bitter Suite" had its moments such as Xena and Gabrielle's confrontation in the Hall of Echoes.

Xena: It echoes whenever we talk about the past. Tell me something not in the past!
Gabrielle: I hurt inside! Don't you?

  • The end of "Forgiven" when Xena refuses to undergo Apollo's ritual of forgiveness and just walks away.
  • "One against an Army" where Gabrielle, delirious from poison, tells Xena that she wants to join her adventures just like the first time they met.
  • This troper always thought that Hope and her son The Destroyer dying in each other's arms was sad. They did an excellent job of giving it an air of tragic pathos.