Borias

Borias
First appearance The Debt, although mentioned by name in Orphan of War
Last appearance A Friend in Need 2
Created by Robert Tapert
& John Schulian
Portrayed by Marton Csokas
Information
Species Human
Occupation Warlord
Affiliation Xena, Alti, the centaurs

Borias is a fictional character in the cult television program, Xena: Warrior Princess. He is portrayed by Marton Csokas. A warlord of unidentified ethnic origin, Borias has the distinction of being the only major recurring character to appear in the series finale, and is the only major recurring character to appear exclusively in flashbacks.

Overview

The warlord Borias, possibly of Hunnish descent, plundered many cities and villages in ancient Greece alongside Xena. They had a passionate affair from which she became pregnant.[1] She cut her ties to the warlord after he betrayed her, when he defended the Centaurs against her reckless cruelty.[2] Borias later came for Xena, as she was about to give birth. He planned to take her and his child away, but was killed before he could carry out his plan.[2]

Character history

Borias meets Xena

When Borias first met Xena, she was able to seduce him away from his wife and child, and even away from his army.[1] She persuaded him to form their own army and set off to conquer Asia. Borias met Xena during the most destructive period of her life. While Borias has a calming influence on Xena, he was not able to control her wild urges altogether.[3]

Journey to Chin

Borias and Xena left Greece and headed east across the Mongolian steppes, slaughtering anyone who stood in their way. Upon their arrival in Chin, Borias set about securing an alliances with two wealthy Chinese houses, the houses of Ming and Lao.[4] Xena ruined his plans by kidnapping Ming T'ien the son of Ming Tzu, the head of the house of Ming. For this act Borias betrayed Xena to Ming Tzu, and gave her over to him in exchange for money and horses.[4] For a time this saw an end to the alliance between Xena and Borias.[3]

Alti and the Amazons

Some time later Xena and Borias united once again, at this time he had fallen in love with Xena and soon joined forces with an outcast Amazon shaman woman Alti and her apprentice, Anokin who has won Xena's affections, but Anokin was later killed. Borias took a dislike to Alti and begins to realize Xena's change .[5] Alti promised to make Xena the Destroyer of Nations. The Amazon queen Cyane, saw the good in Borias and told Xena, "He's trying to change, Xena. Let him. If you two stay together, you'll just end up killing him."[6] The prospect of becoming a father caused Borias to seek peace in his life, and he protected the young amazon, Otere, from Alti and Xena, who planned on killing her because Alti predicted that "she will take your power from you one day". Borias tried to forge peace with the Amazons, but Xena betrayed them and killed all the elders of Cyane's tribe.[3]

Jappa and Akemi

After leaving Qin, Borias and Xena headed to Jappa when Borias told Xena about a young girl named Akemi, who was kidnapped by a Chinese warlord and that her father would pay well if they return her to him. Kao refused to trade Akemi to them for 50 bags of gold because he claimed her as his property, Borias and Xena killed Kao and the other warlords, they then took Akemi who had won Xena's affections. While heading back to her father on a ship, Borias laughed when Xena tried to teach Akemi fighting skills and told Xena that she could not teach a dog to bark. Before Xena went to Akemi to meet her father, Borias told Xena to remember that he gets 10% of the ransom.

Borias and the Centaurs

During this time, Borias and Xena had split their army but Xena's army was much more powerful. When Xena planned to lead an attack on the centaurs, Borias, unable to tame Xena's violent ways, broke away from her for the last time.[2] She turned on him, but he did not turn his back on her because of their child.[3] Xena ordered Borias captured unharmed, but when Xena was about to give birth, he pleaded with her to go with him saying, "Before Alti, before all this, we had love, Xena. Maybe we confused it with power, but it was there, is still there. For the sake of our son, and us, I'm taking you away."[7] He then tried to rescue her, and his child, from the army camp where she was planning her attack on the Centaurs, but just as he saw his newborn son, he was killed by Xena's lieutenant, Dagnine and a slave woman, Satrina.[2][3]

Borias' legacy

The Cenaturs and Xena were deeply saddened by his death. Kaliepus told Xena that even though Borias is dead, his legend will live on forever with his people. When Xena confronted Satrina, she told her that if she did not kill Borias then he would have changed everything for her and Solan may have been still alive. Xena would not kill Satrina as revenge over Borias' death, because she did not want to taint Borias' memory and that she was not worth it. Xena tells Gabrielle that Borias showed the hatred Xena had for herself and showed her the love that someone could have for a child. Xena's tells Xenan that the blood of Borias is in his son. When Borias' older son Belach kills the Centaurs, Xena is deveasted because Belach had destroyed his father's legacy. Borias' grandson is named after him.

Appearances

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Last of the Centaurs". Xena: Warrior Princess. 2001-04-30.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Past Imperfect". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1999-01-04.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Stoddard Hayes, K. (March 2003). "Characters - Borias". Xena: Warrior Princess: The Complete Illustrated Companion (Paperback). Titan Books. pp. 196–197. ISBN 1-84023-622-1.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Debt". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1997-11-03.
  5. ↑ "Adventures in the Sin Trade, Part 1". Xena: Warrior Princess. 1998-09-28.
  6. ↑ "Transcription of Adventures in the Sin Trade II". Whoosh.org. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  7. ↑ "Transcription of Past Imperfect". Whoosh.org. Retrieved 2006-11-04.

External links