Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Xena's past catches up with her in the opening story when she meets Solan, the son she entrusted to the centaur Kaleipus to raise. As Dagnine uses the Ixion Stone against the centaurs, Xena fights to protect the community that has cared for her child. Later, Gabrielle marries her childhood friend Perdicus, but Callisto escapes prison and kills him. Gabrielle asks Xena to teach her how to kill Callisto. Gabrielle ultimately cannot kill her; Callisto traps her at a stake, but Xena frees her. After a chase, Xena escapes quicksand while Callisto sinks out of sight.
Xena is gravely wounded in Destiny and reaches the healer Niklio, but asks him not to save her; she dies at his cabin. In The Quest, Gabrielle mourns her while Xena's spirit possesses the thief Autolycus; they seek ambrosia to restore Xena's life. The danger continues when Amazon Velasca eats ambrosia and becomes a goddess. Xena recruits immortal Callisto to oppose her. Hanging from a rope above a lava stream, Gabrielle gives Callisto ambrosia. Xena cuts the rope and dives to catch Gabrielle while Callisto and Velasca fall into the lava fighting each other.
The season's Horde siege pushes Xena toward her old brutality as she takes command of a depleted Athenian force. Gabrielle learns that the Horde's repeated word means water and offers it to their wounded, prompting both sides to collect casualties under a truce. The conflict resumes, but Xena defeats the Horde leader and refuses to kill him; his own warriors do. In the finale, Cupid's son Bliss's arrows cause Xena to fall for Draco and Gabrielle to fall for Joxer. Cupid restores the others, while Joxer's love for Gabrielle proves genuine.