Perdicas

 

Gabrielle had only one true love, and his name was Perdicas. Most people don’t remember his first appearance in the pilot episode “Sins of the Past”, when Gabrielle rudely ordered him away so she could speak with Xena alone, but that was his first appearance. They didn’t seem very much in love, did they?  Obviously the producers decided to develop his character a little more when he returned in “Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts”, and I’m glad they did.

 

Perdicas was a man with heart and courage, but above all else he was a man of honor. He won Gabrielle’s heart when he made what many people consider to be his first appearance in “Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts”, though he was clueless to the fact at the end.  It is unclear what happened to him from the time he left Gabrielle and Xena in the ruins of Troy to go off with Helen to help her on her new way, but he does tell us in “Return of Callisto” that he’d joined war after war, and apparently the constant battling had taken a toll on his heart.

 

In a touching scene after he’d proposed marriage to Gabrielle in “Return of Callisto”, Perdicas tells us that he’d been driven to suicide, and the only thing that had saved him had been Gabrielle’s face. This leads us to believe that even though Gabrielle had appeared uncaring toward him in “Sins of the Past”, they’d had a good history together, and they had feelings for each other. 

 

Now that he’d returned, in pain and needing Gabrielle’s innocence to heal his wounded heart, Gabrielle came to realize how much she cared for him and agreed to marry him.  Unfortunately this would mean leaving Xena to start out her life with Perdicas, and thus one powerful partnership (with Xena) would have to come to an end in order for another powerful partnership (with Perdicas) to begin.

 

Equally unfortunate was Callisto’s presence during this time. No one could have realized, least of all Perdicas, what a danger Callisto was to the newly wed couple.  It is only their second day or so of marital bliss when Callisto hunts the happy couple down and attempts to kill Gabrielle. Perdicas tries to defend her but he is no match for the skilled warrior that Callisto was.  Xena arrives just in time to save Gabrielle, but she was unable (some people believe unwilling even) to save Perdicas in the end.

 

Gabrielle’s deep and uncompromising love for her slain husband was further proven when she vowed to kill Callisto with her husband’s sword in order to avenge Perdicas’ death. I’m sure we all know that if Perdicas could have spoken with her then, he would have told her to listen to Xena’s advise and not start out on the path of hatred and murder.  Gabrielle almost fell over the edge of sanity in her quest to kill Callisto for taking the innocent life of her first love, Perdicas.

 

His time in the Xenaverse was short, but Perdicas’ influence on Gabrielle was alluded to in a few other episodes. For instance, Gabrielle tells Draco in “Comedy of Eros” that she is a widow, then in “Forget Me Not” when she was tempted to pour out her memories by the fake Ares (who is really a figment of her imagination, an extension of her own mind), if she was supposed to forget all her past loves (Perdicas was certainly one of them).  Finally in “Fallen Angel”, when Gabrielle had discovered that Xena had agreed to spend eternity in Hell to save her, she confronted Callisto saying: “You murdered my husband, and many innocent people…”

 

I personally believe that the main reason Gabrielle never fell in love with another man after Perdicas was simply because she still felt like he was her husband, and to do so would have been a betrayal. What do you think?

 

-CQF.