Joxer - Character Biography

Character Biography

The third son of a warlord and a musician, Joxer tries (unsuccessfully) to prove himself as a mercenary warrior. When he tries to serve the evil warlord Callisto, she orders him to kidnap Xena's companion, Gabrielle. He fails twice, and both he and Gabrielle are captured by Callisto and later rescued by Xena.

He then decides that he wants to help people and 'do good', and travels around the villages enthusiastically offering his services. But Joxer's ideas of being a fierce, super-sexy warrior exist only in his fantasies. In reality he is foolish, klutzy and usually outclassed, but often very lucky and funny and not completely helpless. These qualities can be endearing, and his real quality is as a charmer: he can befriend almost anyone he chooses. He frequently gets himself into near-fatal situations, and in desperation, talks his way out of them; several times he tries to bring peace to warring families; on many occasions, he proves useful to Xena in winning people over.

In "For Him the Bell Tolls", Joxer appears again in a comedic role, when Aphrodite casts a spell on him to turn him into a romantic, exceptionally talented swordsman with irresistible sex appeal. He is able, for one episode, to be the type of person that he always wants to be. The fourth season episode "The Convert" sees him killing, albeit inadvertently, a warlord named Kryton who'd been terrorizing a local village. Though hailed as a hero by the villagers for ridding them of Kryton, and finally achieving some of the glory and acclaim he had always wanted, he then has to deal with the consequences and grief of knowing he took a human life, even if the man he killed was evil and arguably deserved his fate. Xena sympathizes and tries to help him during his ordeal.

As time goes on, Joxer becomes a loyal and good friend to Xena and Gabrielle. It is probably his love for Gabrielle, which begins in the episode "A Comedy of Eros", that sustains Joxer in his delusions; but he keeps it secret. She is sometimes very insensitive to him, generating more sympathy from the viewer. After the season 3 cliffhanger, when Gabrielle plunges to her death in the lava pit, it is Joxer who mourns her by dropping daisies, her favourite flower, into the pit every day. After the season 4 cliffhanger, when Xena and Gabrielle are crucified by Julius Caesar, Joxer persuades Amarice and Eli to return their bodies to Greece.

In season 5, when Xena and Gabrielle fake their deaths, Joxer searches in vain for their bodies for a long time. Twenty-five years later we see a much older and wearier Joxer married to the ex-harlot Meg. They run a tavern dedicated to the "Warrior Princess and the Battling Bard", where they bicker unhappily; against her wishes, we see him spending their life's savings on one of Gabrielle's scrolls. They have three children: two boys and a girl, whom he dotes on. His eldest boy is Virgil, the warrior poet.

Discovering that Xena and Gabrielle are alive, his eyes light up and he is again filled with youthful enthusiasm. Joxer and Virgil travel with them in search of Eve, Xena's daughter. They discover that Eve is now known as "Livia, the Champion of Rome", an awesome warrior with many of Xena's skills and Ares's attention. During the fight with her, he charges at Livia to save a captive Gabrielle, blocking Xena's chakram throw. Livia turns around and stabs him through the chest. He dies moments later, surrounded by his friends, Xena and Gabrielle, and his son, Virgil. But his efforts did prevent Livia from killing Gabrielle - although ineffective (true to his character), he dies the hero he always wanted to be.