Xena vs Red Sonja (Xena: Warrior Princess vs Marvel/Dynamite Entertainment)
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(Studio8558)
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“The world needs strong women. Women who will lift and build others, who will love and be loved. Women who live bravely, both tender and fierce. Women of indomitable will.”
-Amy Tenney
-Amy Tenney
Xena, the Warrior Princess from Amphipolis!
Red Sonja, She-Devil of the Hyrkanian Steppes!
War, bloodshed, battle; the facets of combat remain the same, regardless of whatever lifetime emerges. From combat come legends, fables folding far longer than any foe to face them. As long as life dictates, a legend will keep heading forward, dragging their curses, bloodshed, and helms of gods behind them in their shadow. Through reincarnation or sheer tenacity, the distance a legend can reach will never amount to the distance they trekked- legends are a scarcity for a reason.
People might discriminate, but history doesn’t. And lest you bade their blades, these two warriors who leave grounds in crimson know only one will live in a DEATH BATTLE!
Red Sonja, She-Devil of the Hyrkanian Steppes!
War, bloodshed, battle; the facets of combat remain the same, regardless of whatever lifetime emerges. From combat come legends, fables folding far longer than any foe to face them. As long as life dictates, a legend will keep heading forward, dragging their curses, bloodshed, and helms of gods behind them in their shadow. Through reincarnation or sheer tenacity, the distance a legend can reach will never amount to the distance they trekked- legends are a scarcity for a reason.
People might discriminate, but history doesn’t. And lest you bade their blades, these two warriors who leave grounds in crimson know only one will live in a DEATH BATTLE!
Before we begin
For this blog, we’ll be using any information found in Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Young Hercules, and any of their video games, comics, novels, tabletop RPGs, as well as the Army of Darkness/Xena trilogy. For Red Sonja, we’ll be analyzing her Marvel and Dynamite runs, the 1980s novels by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney, Gail Simone’s Red Sonja: Consumed, the Red Sonja Unchained D&D expansion, and any crossover as long as it has basis in canon (i.e. the Spider-Man crossovers being acknowledged by both sides, Prophecy getting a dedicated flashback in the 2005 run and influencing its final arc, Age of Chaos being a sequel to Amy Chu’s run) or gives more consistency to pre-established scaling (the numerous Vampirella crossovers).
We’re also going to be doing something a bit different by allowing Xena to use all of the abilities she’s had throughout the series, including ones that she lost access to. While this might seem questionable given those circumstances, these powers were still major parts of her storyline and it could come across as overly biased if they were ignored. Plus, it helps add to the debate.
However, there are various nonstandard items that won’t be included here. For Xena, this means we won’t be giving her immortality-negating weapons like the Helios Dagger, Hind’s blood dagger, or Rib of Kronos; the Mehndi she used in India, Odin’s armor and weapons, or the Kronos Stone remnants from the RPG. For Sonja, we’re excluding the Ring of Ikribu that protects against physical attacks and harmful magic, the Mayan dagger that lets her time travel to any point she desires and teleport people across continents, and her nanotech armor that instantly creates weapons and shields which follow her every movement and automatically block attacks.
And finally, thanks to Studio8558 for the custom artwork!
“You always said that I was the brave one. Look at you now. If this is to be our destiny, let's see it out together. Even in death, Gabrielle, I will never leave you.”
In a time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings, a land in turmoil called for a hero, and the one who would answer these cries was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle. With power, passion, and danger, her courage would change the world!
However, her legend didn’t start out that way. Born in the Thracian village of Amphipolis, Xena was raised by her mother Cyrene and her father Orestes alongside her brothers Toris and Lyceus. When she was seven years old, turmoil would erupt in her home after her father- a devout follower of Ares- was told to sacrifice his daughter to the god of war. Orestes attempted to follow through with his mission, even prepared to kill his wife for good measure, but was slain instead by Cyrene with an axe.
Unaware of her father’s death and believing he had disappeared, Xena spent her childhood bonding with her brothers and training herself in combat. These lessons would prove crucial when the warlord Cortese raided Amphipolis, forcing a teenage Xena to lead Lyceus and a small handful of villagers to defend their home. While they proved successful in driving him away, Lyceus was killed in the heat of battle, causing a furious Cyrene to exile Xena from Amphipolis.
Despite being banished from her home, Xena refused to let this discourage her and began traveling the land with her army, looting and raiding villages to protect Amphipolis from potential enemies. During these raids she’d form partnerships with a Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar and a stowaway on her ship, a young Gaelic girl named M’Lila. With M’Lila’s guidance, Xena was trained in the art of pressure point combat, and in exchange Xena showed her kindness by allowing her to remain on the ship.
Unfortunately, Xena’s partnership with Caesar wouldn’t last. In his lust for power, Julius had the Romans attack Xena’s ship and ordered everyone on it to be crucified. Xena only survived thanks to M’Lila, who gave her body to the great healer Nikilo. Though he managed to restore her, it wasn’t enough to keep her at full condition, and when a group of Roman soldiers arrived to apprehend her, M’Lila sacrificed herself by taking an arrow meant for Xena.
After M’Lila’s death, Xena changed for the worse, becoming a violent and merciless warlord. She eventually seduced a military leader named Borias and convinced him to separate from his wife to join her in conquest. They went on to travel through Europe and Asia, meeting powerful figures like Empress Lao Ma (who gave her the title “Warrior Princess”), the shamaness Alti, and the Amazon queen Cyane. But despite their efforts, their plans to conquer the world would go unfulfilled, and Borias would meet his end during the Battle of Corinth, dying right as Xena gave birth to his son.
In the battle’s aftermath, Xena gave the boy to Borias’ centaur ally Kaleipus, hoping to spare him from becoming a target and inheriting her violent lifestyle. With her husband dead and her son separated from her, Xena would find comfort in an unexpected ally: Ares. Having watched her exploits from afar, he had grown infatuated with her ruthless personality and took her under his wing, even gifting her a new weapon: a razor sharp disc called the Chakram of Darkness. With the god of war now backing her, Xena assembled a new army and wrought havoc across Greece. But her rise in power would eventually come crashing down thanks to her lieutenant Darphus.
Believing Xena’s methods were too soft, Darphus began leading mass slaughters behind her back, killing entire villages of men, women, and children to spread fear. Xena was disgusted when she found out, even more so when she discovered that her men had abandoned their loyalty to her and sworn fealty to Darphus. With no other choice, Xena engaged in The Gauntlet, an endurance test meant to prove her worth as leader, and one that she barely survived.
Hoping to stop Darphus from carrying out any further deaths, Xena was forced to team up with the demigod Hercules and take on her old army, eventually killing Darphus by stabbing him through the chest. Now changed by the experience of fighting alongside Hercules, Xena ventured off to atone for her past sins, and during her travels she met Gabrielle, a farmer who went on to become her sidekick after seeing her in action.
With Gabrielle and the comedic relief Joxer at her side, Xena traveled through Greece and beyond, regularly encountering figures from her warlord days. Whether it was Ares trying to coax her back into her old self, Alti using her shamaness powers to influence the souls of the dead, or the unending persistence of Callisto (the vengeful survivor of one of Xena’s past raids gone wrong), Xena and Gabrielle would defeat them every time. But it wasn’t without its fair share of bumps along the way.
During a mission to defend Britannia from Caesar’s forces, Gabrielle was tricked into accompanying the cult of Dahak, an ancient deity that would supposedly cleanse the land of evil. In her brief time with the cult, Gabrielle was tricked into killing their priestess and unknowingly impregnated by Dahak, causing her to give birth to a rapidly aging child. This child, Hope, would go on to drive a rift between Xena and Gabrielle by killing Xena’s son Solan, and coerced Ares and Callisto into joining her side. As part of their plan, they retrieved the god-slaying Hind’s Blood Dagger and made preparations for Dahak’s revival, but these plans would never come to fruition as his gateway to the world was destroyed. Hope would then die in an unintended self-sacrifice from Gabrielle, and Callisto was slain by Xena with the blood dagger.
It would later be revealed that Gabrielle had lived thanks to Ares, just so he could use her as a bargaining chip to marry Xena and contractually bind their souls. Desperate to have her friend back, Xena agreed, but their reunion was short-lived.
In his latest bid for power, Caesar teamed up with Callisto- now a demon of Hell- to finally kill Xena. After Callisto snapped her spine with her own chakram, Xena and Gabrielle were subsequently captured and crucified, and as they died, they ascended into Heaven where Xena was given the rank of archangel. However, she was quickly forced to relinquish it and ventured into Hell to save Gabrielle’s soul from Callisto, purging the latter of any anger and hatred to convert her to the light.
Now a guardian angel, Callisto worked with the prophet Eli to resurrect Xena and Gabrielle, restoring their humanity. And to show there was no bad blood between them, Callisto somehow used her powers to make Xena pregnant and implanted her soul inside the baby, allowing her to reincarnate into Xena’s child.
This experience, combined with Eli’s spreading influence that man no longer needed to follow the Olympians, heralded an event the gods had long tried to prevent: the Twilight of the Gods. Believing “the fall of the Olympians” would mean their death, Zeus conspired to have Eli, Xena, and her baby killed, but his efforts only made things worse. Eli’s death led to him being viewed as a martyr and ushered more people into his faith, and the attempt to kill Xena ended with Zeus dying at Hercules’ hands. Realizing the gods would never give up on pursuing them, Xena and Gabrielle attempted to fake their deaths, but their plan was ruined by Ares, who- believing they were truly dead- had them entombed in ice.
When she awoke 25 years later, Xena found the world had completely changed. Caesar’s adopted son Augustus was now the emperor of Rome, and he had gotten engaged to Eve, now a brutal Roman champion named Livia. Livia would go on to kill many of Eli’s followers and Joxer, but upon recovering her past memories, she reformed. As her daughter was baptized into the Elijan way, a spirit came to Xena and blessed her with the ability to kill gods.
This signified to the remaining gods now more than ever that the Twilight was approaching. Wanting to save their own skin, Athena, Poseidon, Hades, Hephaestus, Artemis, Discord, and Deimos attacked Xena and her daughter, but her god slaying power made quick work of them. With most of the Olympians dead, Xena would find herself targeted by other enemies like the Furies and the demon Mephistopheles, and all of them would fall to her new power.
After several journeys through Amphipolis and the Norselands, Xena, Gabrielle, and Eve would be tasked by the archangel Michael to kill Rome’s current emperor Caligula, who had obtained the power of Aphrodite. Though Xena lost her god-slaying when she stopped Michael from killing Aphrodite, she still made do by humiliating Caligula until he killed himself.
After helping the now mortal Ares and Aphrodite regain their godhood with Asgard’s golden apples, Xena and Gabrielle would be drawn to an unlikely place from Xena’s past: Japan.
Years ago when she was a warlord, Xena had befriended a young girl named Akemi who had killed her murderous father, the daimyo Yodoshi. Seeking to restore her family’s honor, Akemi convinced Xena to help her commit seppuku, but Xena was later attacked by the town of Higuchi for showing honor to a woman who committed patricide. In a drunken stupor, Xena accidentally dropped a torch on the ground and set fire to the village, killing all 40,000 of its inhabitants.
Unbeknownst to her, Yodoshi had lived on as a vengeful oni and enslaved the villagers’ souls. When she discovered this, Xena set out to battle Yodoshi’s general Morimoto, taking down most of his men before eventually being overwhelmed and killed.
With her soul now under Yodoshi’s ownership, Xena was reunited with Akemi and began devising a plan to kill their “master.” Using a sacred katana and water from the fountain Yodoshi drew strength from, Xena was able to kill him and free the 40,000 souls, but at a cost. In order for them to remain free, Xena would have to stay dead to prevent them from being condemned. After a final goodbye to Gabrielle, Xena’s soul faded into the afterlife, leaving her partner to continue on in her own adventures…
At least, that’s how this would have ended if it weren’t for the comics.
Still distraught over Xena’s death, Gabrielle ignored her last request and began searching for some way to resurrect her. After traveling the globe for months, Gabrielle discovered the cave of the elder god Cthulon and made a deal to “bring everything back to the way it was.” There was just one problem: because of her poor wording, Chtulon had altered the memories of Xena and everyone else, making Xena forget her meeting with Gabrielle and turning her back into a bloodthirsty warlord.
Fortunately, Xena’s memories weren’t completely gone, and when Gabrielle sacrificed herself to save Xena from being betrayed, it inspired Xena to atone for her past. Thanks to her deal, Gabrielle’s soul was now under Cthulon’s ownership, but her words inspired him to restore things to the original timeline, this time resurrecting Xena and the gods. But even with her revival, Cthulon made sure Xena remembered everything from the altered reality, causing her to double down on her quest for redemption.
Xena and Gabrielle would then represent the Olympians in their war with the Egyptian gods, beating the Egyptian pantheon’s champions and preventing Anubis from seizing control of Olympus. Beyond that, they’d go on to have more adventures, usually battling the forces of Rome and working with the gods while doing so.
After her final death, Xena’s soul would continue to live on throughout the years, reincarnating as the Indian pacifist Arminestra, stopping a revived Ares during World War 2 by possessing one of her descendants, and defeating him again in the modern day as dentist Harry O’Casey. Though one of these battles caused her soul to swap with Joxer’s reincarnation (Annie Day), Xena- now in the “correct” body- was able to free Ares’ hold over her soul and reunited with the reincarnated Joxer and Gabrielle.
We’re also going to be doing something a bit different by allowing Xena to use all of the abilities she’s had throughout the series, including ones that she lost access to. While this might seem questionable given those circumstances, these powers were still major parts of her storyline and it could come across as overly biased if they were ignored. Plus, it helps add to the debate.
However, there are various nonstandard items that won’t be included here. For Xena, this means we won’t be giving her immortality-negating weapons like the Helios Dagger, Hind’s blood dagger, or Rib of Kronos; the Mehndi she used in India, Odin’s armor and weapons, or the Kronos Stone remnants from the RPG. For Sonja, we’re excluding the Ring of Ikribu that protects against physical attacks and harmful magic, the Mayan dagger that lets her time travel to any point she desires and teleport people across continents, and her nanotech armor that instantly creates weapons and shields which follow her every movement and automatically block attacks.
And finally, thanks to Studio8558 for the custom artwork!
Background
Xena
“You always said that I was the brave one. Look at you now. If this is to be our destiny, let's see it out together. Even in death, Gabrielle, I will never leave you.”
In a time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings, a land in turmoil called for a hero, and the one who would answer these cries was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle. With power, passion, and danger, her courage would change the world!
However, her legend didn’t start out that way. Born in the Thracian village of Amphipolis, Xena was raised by her mother Cyrene and her father Orestes alongside her brothers Toris and Lyceus. When she was seven years old, turmoil would erupt in her home after her father- a devout follower of Ares- was told to sacrifice his daughter to the god of war. Orestes attempted to follow through with his mission, even prepared to kill his wife for good measure, but was slain instead by Cyrene with an axe.
Unaware of her father’s death and believing he had disappeared, Xena spent her childhood bonding with her brothers and training herself in combat. These lessons would prove crucial when the warlord Cortese raided Amphipolis, forcing a teenage Xena to lead Lyceus and a small handful of villagers to defend their home. While they proved successful in driving him away, Lyceus was killed in the heat of battle, causing a furious Cyrene to exile Xena from Amphipolis.
Despite being banished from her home, Xena refused to let this discourage her and began traveling the land with her army, looting and raiding villages to protect Amphipolis from potential enemies. During these raids she’d form partnerships with a Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar and a stowaway on her ship, a young Gaelic girl named M’Lila. With M’Lila’s guidance, Xena was trained in the art of pressure point combat, and in exchange Xena showed her kindness by allowing her to remain on the ship.
Unfortunately, Xena’s partnership with Caesar wouldn’t last. In his lust for power, Julius had the Romans attack Xena’s ship and ordered everyone on it to be crucified. Xena only survived thanks to M’Lila, who gave her body to the great healer Nikilo. Though he managed to restore her, it wasn’t enough to keep her at full condition, and when a group of Roman soldiers arrived to apprehend her, M’Lila sacrificed herself by taking an arrow meant for Xena.
After M’Lila’s death, Xena changed for the worse, becoming a violent and merciless warlord. She eventually seduced a military leader named Borias and convinced him to separate from his wife to join her in conquest. They went on to travel through Europe and Asia, meeting powerful figures like Empress Lao Ma (who gave her the title “Warrior Princess”), the shamaness Alti, and the Amazon queen Cyane. But despite their efforts, their plans to conquer the world would go unfulfilled, and Borias would meet his end during the Battle of Corinth, dying right as Xena gave birth to his son.
In the battle’s aftermath, Xena gave the boy to Borias’ centaur ally Kaleipus, hoping to spare him from becoming a target and inheriting her violent lifestyle. With her husband dead and her son separated from her, Xena would find comfort in an unexpected ally: Ares. Having watched her exploits from afar, he had grown infatuated with her ruthless personality and took her under his wing, even gifting her a new weapon: a razor sharp disc called the Chakram of Darkness. With the god of war now backing her, Xena assembled a new army and wrought havoc across Greece. But her rise in power would eventually come crashing down thanks to her lieutenant Darphus.
Believing Xena’s methods were too soft, Darphus began leading mass slaughters behind her back, killing entire villages of men, women, and children to spread fear. Xena was disgusted when she found out, even more so when she discovered that her men had abandoned their loyalty to her and sworn fealty to Darphus. With no other choice, Xena engaged in The Gauntlet, an endurance test meant to prove her worth as leader, and one that she barely survived.
Hoping to stop Darphus from carrying out any further deaths, Xena was forced to team up with the demigod Hercules and take on her old army, eventually killing Darphus by stabbing him through the chest. Now changed by the experience of fighting alongside Hercules, Xena ventured off to atone for her past sins, and during her travels she met Gabrielle, a farmer who went on to become her sidekick after seeing her in action.
With Gabrielle and the comedic relief Joxer at her side, Xena traveled through Greece and beyond, regularly encountering figures from her warlord days. Whether it was Ares trying to coax her back into her old self, Alti using her shamaness powers to influence the souls of the dead, or the unending persistence of Callisto (the vengeful survivor of one of Xena’s past raids gone wrong), Xena and Gabrielle would defeat them every time. But it wasn’t without its fair share of bumps along the way.
During a mission to defend Britannia from Caesar’s forces, Gabrielle was tricked into accompanying the cult of Dahak, an ancient deity that would supposedly cleanse the land of evil. In her brief time with the cult, Gabrielle was tricked into killing their priestess and unknowingly impregnated by Dahak, causing her to give birth to a rapidly aging child. This child, Hope, would go on to drive a rift between Xena and Gabrielle by killing Xena’s son Solan, and coerced Ares and Callisto into joining her side. As part of their plan, they retrieved the god-slaying Hind’s Blood Dagger and made preparations for Dahak’s revival, but these plans would never come to fruition as his gateway to the world was destroyed. Hope would then die in an unintended self-sacrifice from Gabrielle, and Callisto was slain by Xena with the blood dagger.
It would later be revealed that Gabrielle had lived thanks to Ares, just so he could use her as a bargaining chip to marry Xena and contractually bind their souls. Desperate to have her friend back, Xena agreed, but their reunion was short-lived.
In his latest bid for power, Caesar teamed up with Callisto- now a demon of Hell- to finally kill Xena. After Callisto snapped her spine with her own chakram, Xena and Gabrielle were subsequently captured and crucified, and as they died, they ascended into Heaven where Xena was given the rank of archangel. However, she was quickly forced to relinquish it and ventured into Hell to save Gabrielle’s soul from Callisto, purging the latter of any anger and hatred to convert her to the light.
Now a guardian angel, Callisto worked with the prophet Eli to resurrect Xena and Gabrielle, restoring their humanity. And to show there was no bad blood between them, Callisto somehow used her powers to make Xena pregnant and implanted her soul inside the baby, allowing her to reincarnate into Xena’s child.
This experience, combined with Eli’s spreading influence that man no longer needed to follow the Olympians, heralded an event the gods had long tried to prevent: the Twilight of the Gods. Believing “the fall of the Olympians” would mean their death, Zeus conspired to have Eli, Xena, and her baby killed, but his efforts only made things worse. Eli’s death led to him being viewed as a martyr and ushered more people into his faith, and the attempt to kill Xena ended with Zeus dying at Hercules’ hands. Realizing the gods would never give up on pursuing them, Xena and Gabrielle attempted to fake their deaths, but their plan was ruined by Ares, who- believing they were truly dead- had them entombed in ice.
When she awoke 25 years later, Xena found the world had completely changed. Caesar’s adopted son Augustus was now the emperor of Rome, and he had gotten engaged to Eve, now a brutal Roman champion named Livia. Livia would go on to kill many of Eli’s followers and Joxer, but upon recovering her past memories, she reformed. As her daughter was baptized into the Elijan way, a spirit came to Xena and blessed her with the ability to kill gods.
This signified to the remaining gods now more than ever that the Twilight was approaching. Wanting to save their own skin, Athena, Poseidon, Hades, Hephaestus, Artemis, Discord, and Deimos attacked Xena and her daughter, but her god slaying power made quick work of them. With most of the Olympians dead, Xena would find herself targeted by other enemies like the Furies and the demon Mephistopheles, and all of them would fall to her new power.
After several journeys through Amphipolis and the Norselands, Xena, Gabrielle, and Eve would be tasked by the archangel Michael to kill Rome’s current emperor Caligula, who had obtained the power of Aphrodite. Though Xena lost her god-slaying when she stopped Michael from killing Aphrodite, she still made do by humiliating Caligula until he killed himself.
After helping the now mortal Ares and Aphrodite regain their godhood with Asgard’s golden apples, Xena and Gabrielle would be drawn to an unlikely place from Xena’s past: Japan.
Years ago when she was a warlord, Xena had befriended a young girl named Akemi who had killed her murderous father, the daimyo Yodoshi. Seeking to restore her family’s honor, Akemi convinced Xena to help her commit seppuku, but Xena was later attacked by the town of Higuchi for showing honor to a woman who committed patricide. In a drunken stupor, Xena accidentally dropped a torch on the ground and set fire to the village, killing all 40,000 of its inhabitants.
Unbeknownst to her, Yodoshi had lived on as a vengeful oni and enslaved the villagers’ souls. When she discovered this, Xena set out to battle Yodoshi’s general Morimoto, taking down most of his men before eventually being overwhelmed and killed.
With her soul now under Yodoshi’s ownership, Xena was reunited with Akemi and began devising a plan to kill their “master.” Using a sacred katana and water from the fountain Yodoshi drew strength from, Xena was able to kill him and free the 40,000 souls, but at a cost. In order for them to remain free, Xena would have to stay dead to prevent them from being condemned. After a final goodbye to Gabrielle, Xena’s soul faded into the afterlife, leaving her partner to continue on in her own adventures…
At least, that’s how this would have ended if it weren’t for the comics.
Still distraught over Xena’s death, Gabrielle ignored her last request and began searching for some way to resurrect her. After traveling the globe for months, Gabrielle discovered the cave of the elder god Cthulon and made a deal to “bring everything back to the way it was.” There was just one problem: because of her poor wording, Chtulon had altered the memories of Xena and everyone else, making Xena forget her meeting with Gabrielle and turning her back into a bloodthirsty warlord.
Fortunately, Xena’s memories weren’t completely gone, and when Gabrielle sacrificed herself to save Xena from being betrayed, it inspired Xena to atone for her past. Thanks to her deal, Gabrielle’s soul was now under Cthulon’s ownership, but her words inspired him to restore things to the original timeline, this time resurrecting Xena and the gods. But even with her revival, Cthulon made sure Xena remembered everything from the altered reality, causing her to double down on her quest for redemption.
Xena and Gabrielle would then represent the Olympians in their war with the Egyptian gods, beating the Egyptian pantheon’s champions and preventing Anubis from seizing control of Olympus. Beyond that, they’d go on to have more adventures, usually battling the forces of Rome and working with the gods while doing so.
After her final death, Xena’s soul would continue to live on throughout the years, reincarnating as the Indian pacifist Arminestra, stopping a revived Ares during World War 2 by possessing one of her descendants, and defeating him again in the modern day as dentist Harry O’Casey. Though one of these battles caused her soul to swap with Joxer’s reincarnation (Annie Day), Xena- now in the “correct” body- was able to free Ares’ hold over her soul and reunited with the reincarnated Joxer and Gabrielle.
Red Sonja
Know, o reader, of an era long forgotten… a time where heroes walked the land in search of fortune, a time of gods, monsters, and ancient magics. Hither came Red Sonja, warrior woman of majestic Hyrkania. Blessed by the red goddess with a skill in swords unparalleled by man, the crimson mercenary journeyed the gleaming kingdoms of Hyboria in search of adventure!
But before she was the fearsome warrior of legend, Sonja of Hyrkania was raised as the sole daughter among a family of farmers. An eager youth, Sonja spent her nights sneaking out of her home to practice with the swords her father (a retired commander) had used to train her brothers. Though this made her an oddity among the more feminine and romantic Hyrkanian women, Sonja was still content to follow in their footsteps as a mother who would stay at home and raise her children. However, this would change some time after her seventeenth birthday.
One night, a group of wandering mercenaries happened upon her village, led by her father’s former second in command. The mercenaries slaughtered Sonja’s family before her eyes, and Sonja herself was brutally raped by their leader, who left her to die by setting fire to her house.
Upon escaping her burning home, Sonja was visited by Scathach, who became infatuated with her desires for revenge. The goddess blessed Sonja with a warrior’s strength on one condition: she must never allow another man (or woman) to bed her unless he (or she) has first bested her in combat.
From that day forward, Sonja honed her skills as a warrior until she was unmatched by man or woman. Her reputation grew along with her exploits, and she was soon hired by King Ghaniff of the Hyrkanian city-state Pah-Dishah. Under Ghaniff’s orders, she was to lead his armies and steal a serpent tiara from the neighboring city of Makkalet. During this quest, she would encounter the Cimmerian barbarian Conan and begrudgingly work with him to obtain the tiara and slay its monstrous true form. However, she’d ultimately give Conan the slip and desert him, taking the now inert tiara for herself.
Though she returned to the king successful, Ghaniff wasn’t satisfied with just having the tiara and tried to enslave Sonja as part of his harem. This greediness would later prove his undoing when Sonja killed him and his guards before escaping into the night.
She’d later return to aid Conan against the undead sorcerer Costranno, leaving him on more friendly terms this time. They’d go on to have more adventures together, and each one would end with her somehow tricking the Cimmerian and giving him the slip.
After several years of adventuring, Sonja returned to her home, curious to see how things had changed in her absence. Her curiosity would lead her to a mysterious cave, and upon venturing inside, she discovered a tribe of bronze-skinned people with hair as red as her own. This tribe was known as the Favored, a sub-race of humanity created by Scathach and blessed with unmatched skill in weaponry, all for the purpose of slaying the flesh-eating cave dwellers known as Drommach.
And among these discoveries, Sonja would learn of her true origins. Years ago, Scathach had decreed a prophecy that in their final days, the Favored would die in battle, led by a pale-skinned member of their kind heralded to be their destroyer. This prophecy struck fear into the rest of the Favored, and when Sonja was born with her naturally pale skin, her own people turned on her. As punishment for their “sin,” Sonja’s birth parents were slaughtered, and the infant Sonja was abandoned to suffer at the Drommachs’ claws. Yet, through either miracle or divine intervention, Sonja survived, and her return threw the Favored onto a frenzy.
Wanting to prevent the prophecy from passing, the Favored’s leader Tamil attempted to sacrifice Sonja to Scathach, but her efforts were rendered futile when Sonja’s jailer (and supposed sister) Zora took pity on her. In a strange twist of fate, the Drommach invaded their cave at the same time, and as her own people were slain, Sonja confronted Scathach, who revealed that her ties to Sonja’s past ran deeper than expected.
As it turned out, Scathach had lied to her this entire time. The vow Sonja had made all those years ago hadn’t granted her any strength. In reality, Scathach had used her godly abilities to purposefully inhibit Sonja’s natural strength and skill. Not only that, but everything Sonja experienced, including the deaths of her foster parents and being raped, had been orchestrated by Scathach for the purpose of turning her into the perfect weapon!
Disgusted by this revelation, Sonja renounced her devotion to Scathach by destroying her temple and led the Favored into battle against the Drommach. Unfortunately, her involvement would only fulfill the goddess’ prophecy, as all but Sonja and Zora were slain.
With Zora as her new companion, Sonja continued her adventures, all while teaching her cave-dwelling “sister” about the outside world and concepts like stranger danger or hangovers. Sadly, their time would end in tragedy during an escort mission with Lord Daquis, which ended with Zora taking a crossbow bolt meant for Sonja.
Though she mourned Zora’s death, this didn’t stop Sonja from continuing her adventures. She even gained companions in the form of the wizard Achmal and the Alwazarian warrior Galon, though they were eventually slain in battle. Shortly after, she’d find herself engaged in battle with Vassilisa Iceheart, sorceress queen and sworn enemy of Scathach. With aid from the ghost of Achmal (in reality a servant of Scathach), some new companions, and the blessing of Scathach, Sonja slew the dark sorceress, earning favor in Scathach’s eyes.
Following this, Sonja went on to have many adventures even into her 60s, where she coerced Conan into joining her on a quest just like old times. And much like those old times, she wound up playing him for a fool and escaping.
Much of Sonja’s life afterwards is shrouded in mystery, though it is known she eventually had a child, and one of her descendants would go on to become Red Sonya of Rogatino. However, Sonja’s story didn’t end there.
Through reincarnation, Sonja began life once more in Hyrkania, where events would play out similar to before. From a young age, she trained to become a warrior, which inspired her father to take Sonja hunting on her 13th birthday. Upon returning home, they were ambushed by followers of the wizard Kulan Gath, who slaughtered Sonja’s family, raped her, and left her to die by setting fire to her home. Like before, Sonja survived and Scathach appeared before her, comforting her and granting her the honor of becoming her champion in exchange for a vow of celibacy. After agreeing to these terms, Sonja slew the bandit leader and stole the talisman on his neck, swearing she’d one day find the man who caused all this.
Upon proving her worth by passing Scathach’s trials, Sonja began honing her skills until she became a warrior unmatched by man or woman. These skills would later be put to the test when Scathach assigned Sonja to prevent Kulan Gath’s revival by slaying his follower, the Borat-Na Fori. Though she managed to do so, this only succeeded in reviving Gath, who captured Scathach and began spreading his influence to rule the world as a god.
When the two finally met, Sonja was whisked away by Gath’s magic to visit Scathach, now trapped in a distant, nigh-unreachable mountain. And it was there that Sonja discovered the truth behind her origin. In reality, Sonja was created by Scathach to get revenge on her former lover, Kulan Gath.
Disgusted by this revelation, Sonja renounced her faith in Scathach (again) and abandoned her. However, while she may have discarded her faith, she still sought vengeance against Gath. With blade in hand, she sacrificed herself to end Kulan’s reign of terror. But like before, her journey still wasn’t finished.
After being judged by Death, Sonja was deemed worthy of reincarnation. Now free from any memories of her past lives, Lady Sonja Hampton of Dorn was raised as a noblewoman and married the handsome king Lord Daniel. However, her life would change when Daniel’s expedition to uncover the legendary Blood Dynasty resulted in a pirate attack that ended with his death and the fall of Sonja’s kingdom. Angered by the losses she’d suffered, Sonja swore revenge and dedicated herself to the life of a warrior.
With Osin (a companion from her previous life) acting as her trainer, Sonja became well-versed in the use of a sword, aided in part by subconscious memories of her past selves. Upon learning her husband’s killer, Lucan Martur, had also kidnapped her sister Verona, Sonja stormed his castle, only to learn the two were actually in league. While there, she’d also discover one of Lucan’s most guarded treasures: the armor and sword of the mythical hero Red Sonja. Stirred by subconscious memories, Lady Sonja donned the armor, and in doing so, fully regained her past memories.
Though Verona and Lucan escaped, Sonja and Osin followed after them, intent on avenging Daniel and recovering the Blood Dynasty. However, through Suumaro’s long dead ghost, Sonja would learn the truth: the gemstone she was searching for wasn’t the Blood Dynasty. That was merely the source of its power. In truth, she was the Blood Dynasty. And before ascending to the afterlife, he left her with a warning: since she hadn’t received Scathach’s training, she no longer had the balance or focus of her past lives and could become evil if she wasn’t careful.
While Suumaro’s warning weighed on her, Sonja did what she could to remain on the side of good. She even freed a camp of slaves, and in the process got revenge on her sister. With the aid of two united armies, Sonja traveled to Lucan’s current dwellings: the cave where Scathach had been housed for all these years. Driven mad from the isolation, Scathach enchanted Lucan as her new champion and ordered him to kill Sonja. But even with the blessing of a goddess, Lucan found himself quickly slain, with Scathach following him soon after.
Now free from her shackles to the false god, Sonja and Osin ventured off to forge their own destiny and continue their adventures. Though it’s unknown what happened to them afterward, Sonja would continue to reincarnate throughout time. Some remained mercenaries, while others became generals or even queens, but regardless of her path in life, Sonja remained a formidable warrior. And after countless lifetimes of bloodshed and war, her story would eventually reach its end.
Thousands of years after her own time, Sonja would be resurrected in modern day New York when her soul unknowingly possessed the body of Mary Jane Watson. Wielding her former blade, the She-Devil teamed up with the Amazing Spider-Man to battle a resurrected Kulan Gath. With their combined strength, Sonja put an end to the sorcerer’s reign of terror, allowing her vengeful soul to finally obtain peace.
This training has made her well-versed in the art of combat, with statements declaring her a warrior of unrivaled acclaim, a master of every weapon, and deadly in all forms of combat. She’s bested fellow pressure point users, defeated an entire army solo, fended off three armies at once, taken down entire groups of warriors even while insane, poisoned, blind, or taking care of a baby; defeated a warlord while pregnant, and beat three versions of herself that all shared her strength and skill. There was even a warrior who repeatedly fought her and spent an entire month studying her fighting style until he identified her weak spot, but when it came time to fight, she defeated him without breaking a sweat. She humiliated him so badly that he decided it was better to avoid her entirely than fight her! If that’s not enough to sell you on her skill, there’s the time a warrior named Rocky spent three years training to kill Xena, but when he saw her in action against some bandits, he immediately gave up because he wouldn’t be able to hurt her.
She’s even won fights while not in her own body, like when she defeated a warlord and his men in a child’s body, or when she bested Callisto after they swapped bodies. That last one is particularly notable since Callisto had been training to kill her since childhood, yet Xena’s beaten her time and again.
But her accomplishments don’t end at just mortals. She’s overpowered demigods like Hercules and Bellerophon, repeatedly defeated the Amazons and their queen despite them being trained in combat from birth, and defeated gods of war like Athena and Ares even while afflicted with insanity. The official RPG guidebook even states if you fight Ares and you aren’t Xena, you won’t stand a chance. The later seasons went further by having her fight beings from other religions and cultures, like the demon Mephistopheles, the monstrous Grendel, the archangel Michael and the Hindu demon king Indrajit. She even fought a legally distinct Predator in one of the comics!
The only thing wider than Xena’s range of opponents is her enormous resume. She’s been a warlord, a medic, and served as one of Odin’s Valkyries for years. And one time when she died and went to Heaven, she passed the test to become an archangel.
Part of these accomplishments are thanks to her intellect. She’s an expert at pulling off strategies mid-battle and manipulating her enemies, whether she’s severing tendons to prevent escapes, killed the giant Gareth by tying a kite to his back and tricking him into entering the middle of a storm, ricocheting her chakram to where the Furies will show up, tricking Lucifer into committing the Seven Deadly Sins to trap him in Hell, or luring others close by feigning injuries and unconsciousness.
Her ingenuity in battle has also made her an expert at improvising, able to form intricate traps and weapons (2:10) out of her surroundings. Even the most mundane objects can become deadly in her hands.
Such feats would include her slaying Trolus, who’s been bred to sword fight since he was born, and the vampire Uathacht, who has been around for centuries and is so old “the stars have forgotten [her] birth.” In her second incarnation as Red Sonja, she killed thousands in battle, and was said to have a trail of blood longer than her life. As Sonja of Dorn, her body count increased to ten million.
With a body count that high, it’s only natural that she’s fought a wide variety of opponents. She’s defeated swordsmen, spearmen, archers, sorcerers, werewolves, giant trolls, four-armed giants, alchemicmonsters, robots, three elemental dragons that are centuries old, and giants like Surtur, the sea god Leucoth, and a planet-sized mech of herself called Planet Sonja! She’s bested multiple doppelgangers even when they had all her memories and were enhanced by magic, defeated the monstrous swordsman Claw while he was holding nothing back, casually defeated the similarly empowered Crimson Katherine, and overpowered Scathach’s champions and the goddess herself on two different occasions. That last one is particularly impressive since one of them was during a time where Sonja wasn’t empowered by her.
Making her even more dangerous is her sense of pragmatism. She’s willing to do anything to win a fight, whether it’s using human shields, exploiting her surroundings, kicking and throwing dirt or entrails into eyes, going for bites, headbutts, and low blows like the crotch, pulling hair to drag enemies into attacks, feigning loyalty to enemies to make them lower their guard, using mundane objects as makeshift weapons, or stealing weapons from others. She can even fight by using a sword with her mouth!
If that wasn’t impressive enough, she’s been able to fight while blind, has fought others while topless and completely nude, took down a pirate crew while seasick, led a 14 hour long battle while suffering a broken arm, fought off an ambush from assassins while drunk, defeated several guards while in shackles, held her own in the afterlife against an army of all of her past victims (albeit briefly), and killed an entire clan of ninjas in a life where she didn’t have Scathach’s training. And in an alternate timeline, she led humanity in a war against an army of futuristic robots for years.
Under Marvel, Sonja continued to serve as a mercenary even into her 60s, and she was still in her physical prime. However, Dynamite went a different route by having Sonja reincarnate into multiple lives, with each one carrying the memories of her past selves. According to the comics, this reincarnation cycle has occurred since the dawn of mankind, happening countless times across time and space, and could even spread through other dimensions! Their skills range from ninjas to legendary monster slayers or even queens.
She’s willing to exploit an opponent’s pride and arrogance to goading them into disadvantageous situations, has severed tendons to prevent others from fighting, killed a sphinx after distracting it with a riddle, used the reflection in her sword to find an attacker, and can identify potential weaknesses and how to exploit them.
Even when equipped with ancient relics that she knows nothing about, like the Asp, Sonja has proven a consistent thief, outwitting Ysidra the ex-Queen and her Wolf Pack. Not only by exploiting emotions and logic, but seeing through plans and battles and battling undead foes 7 - 8 feet in height through planning and arduous logic. Even Tol, a being who endured centuries of toil and planned to return hell to Makkalet, a geokinetic schemer who unleashed the king’s bombastic plan back onto his own people, was outsmarted and outplanned by Sonja the Red. Makes sense why Prince Arahka asked her to lead his men to victory and prosperity.
But before she was the fearsome warrior of legend, Sonja of Hyrkania was raised as the sole daughter among a family of farmers. An eager youth, Sonja spent her nights sneaking out of her home to practice with the swords her father (a retired commander) had used to train her brothers. Though this made her an oddity among the more feminine and romantic Hyrkanian women, Sonja was still content to follow in their footsteps as a mother who would stay at home and raise her children. However, this would change some time after her seventeenth birthday.
One night, a group of wandering mercenaries happened upon her village, led by her father’s former second in command. The mercenaries slaughtered Sonja’s family before her eyes, and Sonja herself was brutally raped by their leader, who left her to die by setting fire to her house.
Upon escaping her burning home, Sonja was visited by Scathach, who became infatuated with her desires for revenge. The goddess blessed Sonja with a warrior’s strength on one condition: she must never allow another man (or woman) to bed her unless he (or she) has first bested her in combat.
From that day forward, Sonja honed her skills as a warrior until she was unmatched by man or woman. Her reputation grew along with her exploits, and she was soon hired by King Ghaniff of the Hyrkanian city-state Pah-Dishah. Under Ghaniff’s orders, she was to lead his armies and steal a serpent tiara from the neighboring city of Makkalet. During this quest, she would encounter the Cimmerian barbarian Conan and begrudgingly work with him to obtain the tiara and slay its monstrous true form. However, she’d ultimately give Conan the slip and desert him, taking the now inert tiara for herself.
Though she returned to the king successful, Ghaniff wasn’t satisfied with just having the tiara and tried to enslave Sonja as part of his harem. This greediness would later prove his undoing when Sonja killed him and his guards before escaping into the night.
She’d later return to aid Conan against the undead sorcerer Costranno, leaving him on more friendly terms this time. They’d go on to have more adventures together, and each one would end with her somehow tricking the Cimmerian and giving him the slip.
After several years of adventuring, Sonja returned to her home, curious to see how things had changed in her absence. Her curiosity would lead her to a mysterious cave, and upon venturing inside, she discovered a tribe of bronze-skinned people with hair as red as her own. This tribe was known as the Favored, a sub-race of humanity created by Scathach and blessed with unmatched skill in weaponry, all for the purpose of slaying the flesh-eating cave dwellers known as Drommach.
And among these discoveries, Sonja would learn of her true origins. Years ago, Scathach had decreed a prophecy that in their final days, the Favored would die in battle, led by a pale-skinned member of their kind heralded to be their destroyer. This prophecy struck fear into the rest of the Favored, and when Sonja was born with her naturally pale skin, her own people turned on her. As punishment for their “sin,” Sonja’s birth parents were slaughtered, and the infant Sonja was abandoned to suffer at the Drommachs’ claws. Yet, through either miracle or divine intervention, Sonja survived, and her return threw the Favored onto a frenzy.
Wanting to prevent the prophecy from passing, the Favored’s leader Tamil attempted to sacrifice Sonja to Scathach, but her efforts were rendered futile when Sonja’s jailer (and supposed sister) Zora took pity on her. In a strange twist of fate, the Drommach invaded their cave at the same time, and as her own people were slain, Sonja confronted Scathach, who revealed that her ties to Sonja’s past ran deeper than expected.
As it turned out, Scathach had lied to her this entire time. The vow Sonja had made all those years ago hadn’t granted her any strength. In reality, Scathach had used her godly abilities to purposefully inhibit Sonja’s natural strength and skill. Not only that, but everything Sonja experienced, including the deaths of her foster parents and being raped, had been orchestrated by Scathach for the purpose of turning her into the perfect weapon!
Disgusted by this revelation, Sonja renounced her devotion to Scathach by destroying her temple and led the Favored into battle against the Drommach. Unfortunately, her involvement would only fulfill the goddess’ prophecy, as all but Sonja and Zora were slain.
With Zora as her new companion, Sonja continued her adventures, all while teaching her cave-dwelling “sister” about the outside world and concepts like stranger danger or hangovers. Sadly, their time would end in tragedy during an escort mission with Lord Daquis, which ended with Zora taking a crossbow bolt meant for Sonja.
Though she mourned Zora’s death, this didn’t stop Sonja from continuing her adventures. She even gained companions in the form of the wizard Achmal and the Alwazarian warrior Galon, though they were eventually slain in battle. Shortly after, she’d find herself engaged in battle with Vassilisa Iceheart, sorceress queen and sworn enemy of Scathach. With aid from the ghost of Achmal (in reality a servant of Scathach), some new companions, and the blessing of Scathach, Sonja slew the dark sorceress, earning favor in Scathach’s eyes.
Following this, Sonja went on to have many adventures even into her 60s, where she coerced Conan into joining her on a quest just like old times. And much like those old times, she wound up playing him for a fool and escaping.
Much of Sonja’s life afterwards is shrouded in mystery, though it is known she eventually had a child, and one of her descendants would go on to become Red Sonya of Rogatino. However, Sonja’s story didn’t end there.
Through reincarnation, Sonja began life once more in Hyrkania, where events would play out similar to before. From a young age, she trained to become a warrior, which inspired her father to take Sonja hunting on her 13th birthday. Upon returning home, they were ambushed by followers of the wizard Kulan Gath, who slaughtered Sonja’s family, raped her, and left her to die by setting fire to her home. Like before, Sonja survived and Scathach appeared before her, comforting her and granting her the honor of becoming her champion in exchange for a vow of celibacy. After agreeing to these terms, Sonja slew the bandit leader and stole the talisman on his neck, swearing she’d one day find the man who caused all this.
Upon proving her worth by passing Scathach’s trials, Sonja began honing her skills until she became a warrior unmatched by man or woman. These skills would later be put to the test when Scathach assigned Sonja to prevent Kulan Gath’s revival by slaying his follower, the Borat-Na Fori. Though she managed to do so, this only succeeded in reviving Gath, who captured Scathach and began spreading his influence to rule the world as a god.
When the two finally met, Sonja was whisked away by Gath’s magic to visit Scathach, now trapped in a distant, nigh-unreachable mountain. And it was there that Sonja discovered the truth behind her origin. In reality, Sonja was created by Scathach to get revenge on her former lover, Kulan Gath.
Disgusted by this revelation, Sonja renounced her faith in Scathach (again) and abandoned her. However, while she may have discarded her faith, she still sought vengeance against Gath. With blade in hand, she sacrificed herself to end Kulan’s reign of terror. But like before, her journey still wasn’t finished.
After being judged by Death, Sonja was deemed worthy of reincarnation. Now free from any memories of her past lives, Lady Sonja Hampton of Dorn was raised as a noblewoman and married the handsome king Lord Daniel. However, her life would change when Daniel’s expedition to uncover the legendary Blood Dynasty resulted in a pirate attack that ended with his death and the fall of Sonja’s kingdom. Angered by the losses she’d suffered, Sonja swore revenge and dedicated herself to the life of a warrior.
With Osin (a companion from her previous life) acting as her trainer, Sonja became well-versed in the use of a sword, aided in part by subconscious memories of her past selves. Upon learning her husband’s killer, Lucan Martur, had also kidnapped her sister Verona, Sonja stormed his castle, only to learn the two were actually in league. While there, she’d also discover one of Lucan’s most guarded treasures: the armor and sword of the mythical hero Red Sonja. Stirred by subconscious memories, Lady Sonja donned the armor, and in doing so, fully regained her past memories.
Though Verona and Lucan escaped, Sonja and Osin followed after them, intent on avenging Daniel and recovering the Blood Dynasty. However, through Suumaro’s long dead ghost, Sonja would learn the truth: the gemstone she was searching for wasn’t the Blood Dynasty. That was merely the source of its power. In truth, she was the Blood Dynasty. And before ascending to the afterlife, he left her with a warning: since she hadn’t received Scathach’s training, she no longer had the balance or focus of her past lives and could become evil if she wasn’t careful.
While Suumaro’s warning weighed on her, Sonja did what she could to remain on the side of good. She even freed a camp of slaves, and in the process got revenge on her sister. With the aid of two united armies, Sonja traveled to Lucan’s current dwellings: the cave where Scathach had been housed for all these years. Driven mad from the isolation, Scathach enchanted Lucan as her new champion and ordered him to kill Sonja. But even with the blessing of a goddess, Lucan found himself quickly slain, with Scathach following him soon after.
Now free from her shackles to the false god, Sonja and Osin ventured off to forge their own destiny and continue their adventures. Though it’s unknown what happened to them afterward, Sonja would continue to reincarnate throughout time. Some remained mercenaries, while others became generals or even queens, but regardless of her path in life, Sonja remained a formidable warrior. And after countless lifetimes of bloodshed and war, her story would eventually reach its end.
Thousands of years after her own time, Sonja would be resurrected in modern day New York when her soul unknowingly possessed the body of Mary Jane Watson. Wielding her former blade, the She-Devil teamed up with the Amazing Spider-Man to battle a resurrected Kulan Gath. With their combined strength, Sonja put an end to the sorcerer’s reign of terror, allowing her vengeful soul to finally obtain peace.
Experience, Intelligence, and Skill
Xena
Xena has been many things in her time as a Warrior Princess, from a conqueror, to a Valkyrie of Asgard and an accomplished hero. During her travels, she received training under the pressure point masters M’Lila and Lao Ma, the shamaness Alti, and the All-Father Odin.This training has made her well-versed in the art of combat, with statements declaring her a warrior of unrivaled acclaim, a master of every weapon, and deadly in all forms of combat. She’s bested fellow pressure point users, defeated an entire army solo, fended off three armies at once, taken down entire groups of warriors even while insane, poisoned, blind, or taking care of a baby; defeated a warlord while pregnant, and beat three versions of herself that all shared her strength and skill. There was even a warrior who repeatedly fought her and spent an entire month studying her fighting style until he identified her weak spot, but when it came time to fight, she defeated him without breaking a sweat. She humiliated him so badly that he decided it was better to avoid her entirely than fight her! If that’s not enough to sell you on her skill, there’s the time a warrior named Rocky spent three years training to kill Xena, but when he saw her in action against some bandits, he immediately gave up because he wouldn’t be able to hurt her.
She’s even won fights while not in her own body, like when she defeated a warlord and his men in a child’s body, or when she bested Callisto after they swapped bodies. That last one is particularly notable since Callisto had been training to kill her since childhood, yet Xena’s beaten her time and again.
But her accomplishments don’t end at just mortals. She’s overpowered demigods like Hercules and Bellerophon, repeatedly defeated the Amazons and their queen despite them being trained in combat from birth, and defeated gods of war like Athena and Ares even while afflicted with insanity. The official RPG guidebook even states if you fight Ares and you aren’t Xena, you won’t stand a chance. The later seasons went further by having her fight beings from other religions and cultures, like the demon Mephistopheles, the monstrous Grendel, the archangel Michael and the Hindu demon king Indrajit. She even fought a legally distinct Predator in one of the comics!
The only thing wider than Xena’s range of opponents is her enormous resume. She’s been a warlord, a medic, and served as one of Odin’s Valkyries for years. And one time when she died and went to Heaven, she passed the test to become an archangel.
Part of these accomplishments are thanks to her intellect. She’s an expert at pulling off strategies mid-battle and manipulating her enemies, whether she’s severing tendons to prevent escapes, killed the giant Gareth by tying a kite to his back and tricking him into entering the middle of a storm, ricocheting her chakram to where the Furies will show up, tricking Lucifer into committing the Seven Deadly Sins to trap him in Hell, or luring others close by feigning injuries and unconsciousness.
Her ingenuity in battle has also made her an expert at improvising, able to form intricate traps and weapons (2:10) out of her surroundings. Even the most mundane objects can become deadly in her hands.
Red Sonja
Sonja is considered one of the greatest warriors of her time, and for good reason. Scathath, the goddess who provided Sonja her strength, declared that she would become the equal of any man or woman she meets. Right after receiving this boost, she was able to slay a trained mercenary with ease. Her training for the next five years would only further improve her skills, to the point that early in her career she could become captain of a military force within a week with only half of her feats.Such feats would include her slaying Trolus, who’s been bred to sword fight since he was born, and the vampire Uathacht, who has been around for centuries and is so old “the stars have forgotten [her] birth.” In her second incarnation as Red Sonja, she killed thousands in battle, and was said to have a trail of blood longer than her life. As Sonja of Dorn, her body count increased to ten million.
With a body count that high, it’s only natural that she’s fought a wide variety of opponents. She’s defeated swordsmen, spearmen, archers, sorcerers, werewolves, giant trolls, four-armed giants, alchemicmonsters, robots, three elemental dragons that are centuries old, and giants like Surtur, the sea god Leucoth, and a planet-sized mech of herself called Planet Sonja! She’s bested multiple doppelgangers even when they had all her memories and were enhanced by magic, defeated the monstrous swordsman Claw while he was holding nothing back, casually defeated the similarly empowered Crimson Katherine, and overpowered Scathach’s champions and the goddess herself on two different occasions. That last one is particularly impressive since one of them was during a time where Sonja wasn’t empowered by her.
Making her even more dangerous is her sense of pragmatism. She’s willing to do anything to win a fight, whether it’s using human shields, exploiting her surroundings, kicking and throwing dirt or entrails into eyes, going for bites, headbutts, and low blows like the crotch, pulling hair to drag enemies into attacks, feigning loyalty to enemies to make them lower their guard, using mundane objects as makeshift weapons, or stealing weapons from others. She can even fight by using a sword with her mouth!
If that wasn’t impressive enough, she’s been able to fight while blind, has fought others while topless and completely nude, took down a pirate crew while seasick, led a 14 hour long battle while suffering a broken arm, fought off an ambush from assassins while drunk, defeated several guards while in shackles, held her own in the afterlife against an army of all of her past victims (albeit briefly), and killed an entire clan of ninjas in a life where she didn’t have Scathach’s training. And in an alternate timeline, she led humanity in a war against an army of futuristic robots for years.
Under Marvel, Sonja continued to serve as a mercenary even into her 60s, and she was still in her physical prime. However, Dynamite went a different route by having Sonja reincarnate into multiple lives, with each one carrying the memories of her past selves. According to the comics, this reincarnation cycle has occurred since the dawn of mankind, happening countless times across time and space, and could even spread through other dimensions! Their skills range from ninjas to legendary monster slayers or even queens.
She’s willing to exploit an opponent’s pride and arrogance to goading them into disadvantageous situations, has severed tendons to prevent others from fighting, killed a sphinx after distracting it with a riddle, used the reflection in her sword to find an attacker, and can identify potential weaknesses and how to exploit them.
Even when equipped with ancient relics that she knows nothing about, like the Asp, Sonja has proven a consistent thief, outwitting Ysidra the ex-Queen and her Wolf Pack. Not only by exploiting emotions and logic, but seeing through plans and battles and battling undead foes 7 - 8 feet in height through planning and arduous logic. Even Tol, a being who endured centuries of toil and planned to return hell to Makkalet, a geokinetic schemer who unleashed the king’s bombastic plan back onto his own people, was outsmarted and outplanned by Sonja the Red. Makes sense why Prince Arahka asked her to lead his men to victory and prosperity.
Equipment
Xena
Leather Armor
The outfit that Xena regularly wears during her adventures. Its lightweight nature helps improve her agility, while also providing light protection from damage.
Xena’s signature weapon, a razor sharp disc that can ricochet off many targets and angles and is able to fly for a seemingly endless time and distance.
Xena originally wielded the Chakram of Darkness, a weapon given to her by Ares. It had the ability to destroy the armor of the gods and weapons forged by Hephaestus, whose craftsmanship was near-indestructible and superior to mortal steel. After discovering its opposite half, the god slaying Chakram of Light, she merged them to create the Balanced Chakram (also called the Chakram of Balance or Yin-Yang Chakram).
While this merge cost the “super chakram” its god slaying abilities, it’s still capable of deflecting their energy blasts, and it gained a new ability to make up for it. Its twin halves can split apart, which Xena’s used in close quarters and long range. It can do this mid-flight to avoid her allies, restore itself when thrown separately, and return to Xena without ricocheting.
A custom sword that serves as her main weapon in close quarters.
Often kept at her side, Xena can use her whip to pull herself and others closer, disarm enemies, throw weapons back to their owner, restrain people, and perform hangings. She can even use two at once.
Whether she’s using one of her own or stealing them from her enemies, Xena’s extremely skilled with throwing knives, able to hit distant targets with ease and throw them fast enough to intercept her chakram.
In the event that she or someone else has been bound, Xena can use the daggers hidden in her breasts and boot to cut the ropes. The breast dagger is especially notable, as its unpredictable location makes for a good sneak attack.
While she typically goes into battle with just her fists, sword, and chakram, there have been occasions where Xena has used shields to defend herself. She can even combine it with her acrobatics to block multiple crossbow bolts.
Useful for defending against attacks and bludgeoning others from a distance. It’s noted to be effective against Amazons.
Amazonian escrima sticks used during her battle with Queen Melosa.
Used during her gladiatorial fight in the Coliseum and while fighting Belach’s men. She typically doesn’t use the bladed end and often wields it more like a staff. She’s used it to overpower groups of fully grown men, knock horsemen off their steeds, and can improvise if it’s split in half.
Xena’s used bows numerous times during battle, whether at long range or close range.
The daughter of Xena’s deceased original steed, Argo II serves as Xena’s main method of transportation, responding to her whistles and commands without question. Being a horse, she should be able to reach a speed of 44 mph and kick with 2000 lbs of force.
Near indestructible chains that are capable of ensnaring gods, mortals, and immortals alike. If the one caught is a god or immortal, the chains will suppress their powers and be impossible to escape from. However, there is a slight loophole to this, as a god can give up their immortality to easily escape it.
Technically not standard since she only used it twice, but I wanted an excuse to talk about it.
A sacred katana capable of killing malicious spirits. Xena wielded it during her final battle with Yodoshi, and eventually finished him through impalement and decapitation.
Grant Xena the strength to push and pull boulders.
Let Xena walk through lava unharmed.
Increases the damage of Xena’s sword attacks.
Reduces the amount of damage Xena takes.
An elixir that automatically replenishes Xena’s health whenever it lowers by 20%,
An enhanced, golden chakram scattered across various levels. It tracks the nearest enemy regardless of where it’s thrown, then ricochets to hit up to two more before returning to Xena.
A green gemstone that acts as the checkpoint system in the PS1 game. Whenever Xena dies in battle, one of the Resurrection Jewels will revive her and send her back to the last checkpoint.
For 16 seconds, any successful hit with Xena’s weapons will rapidly freeze the enemy’s body and shatter them.
Imbues Xena’s weapons with fire for 16 seconds, letting her set enemies ablaze.
Upon using it, a bolt of lightning strikes Xena’s sword, enhancing its strength and imbuing it with an electric element for 16 seconds. During this period, she can discharge electricity from her body to knock others back, and anyone struck by her sword will be electrocuted.
When activated, Xena turns yellow and gains invincibility for up to 30 seconds.
Chakram
Xena’s signature weapon, a razor sharp disc that can ricochet off many targets and angles and is able to fly for a seemingly endless time and distance.
Xena originally wielded the Chakram of Darkness, a weapon given to her by Ares. It had the ability to destroy the armor of the gods and weapons forged by Hephaestus, whose craftsmanship was near-indestructible and superior to mortal steel. After discovering its opposite half, the god slaying Chakram of Light, she merged them to create the Balanced Chakram (also called the Chakram of Balance or Yin-Yang Chakram).
While this merge cost the “super chakram” its god slaying abilities, it’s still capable of deflecting their energy blasts, and it gained a new ability to make up for it. Its twin halves can split apart, which Xena’s used in close quarters and long range. It can do this mid-flight to avoid her allies, restore itself when thrown separately, and return to Xena without ricocheting.
Sword
A custom sword that serves as her main weapon in close quarters.
Whip
Often kept at her side, Xena can use her whip to pull herself and others closer, disarm enemies, throw weapons back to their owner, restrain people, and perform hangings. She can even use two at once.
Knives
Whether she’s using one of her own or stealing them from her enemies, Xena’s extremely skilled with throwing knives, able to hit distant targets with ease and throw them fast enough to intercept her chakram.
Daggers
In the event that she or someone else has been bound, Xena can use the daggers hidden in her breasts and boot to cut the ropes. The breast dagger is especially notable, as its unpredictable location makes for a good sneak attack.
Shield
While she typically goes into battle with just her fists, sword, and chakram, there have been occasions where Xena has used shields to defend herself. She can even combine it with her acrobatics to block multiple crossbow bolts.
Staff
Useful for defending against attacks and bludgeoning others from a distance. It’s noted to be effective against Amazons.
Chobos
Amazonian escrima sticks used during her battle with Queen Melosa.
Spear
Used during her gladiatorial fight in the Coliseum and while fighting Belach’s men. She typically doesn’t use the bladed end and often wields it more like a staff. She’s used it to overpower groups of fully grown men, knock horsemen off their steeds, and can improvise if it’s split in half.
Bow
Xena’s used bows numerous times during battle, whether at long range or close range.
Argo II
The daughter of Xena’s deceased original steed, Argo II serves as Xena’s main method of transportation, responding to her whistles and commands without question. Being a horse, she should be able to reach a speed of 44 mph and kick with 2000 lbs of force.
Chains of Hephaestus
Near indestructible chains that are capable of ensnaring gods, mortals, and immortals alike. If the one caught is a god or immortal, the chains will suppress their powers and be impossible to escape from. However, there is a slight loophole to this, as a god can give up their immortality to easily escape it.
Technically not standard since she only used it twice, but I wanted an excuse to talk about it.
Katana
A sacred katana capable of killing malicious spirits. Xena wielded it during her final battle with Yodoshi, and eventually finished him through impalement and decapitation.
Magic Gloves
Grant Xena the strength to push and pull boulders.
Salamander Skin Boots
Let Xena walk through lava unharmed.
Sword Increases
Increases the damage of Xena’s sword attacks.
Armor Defenses
Reduces the amount of damage Xena takes.
Health Potion
An elixir that automatically replenishes Xena’s health whenever it lowers by 20%,
Super Chakram
An enhanced, golden chakram scattered across various levels. It tracks the nearest enemy regardless of where it’s thrown, then ricochets to hit up to two more before returning to Xena.
Resurrection Jewel
A green gemstone that acts as the checkpoint system in the PS1 game. Whenever Xena dies in battle, one of the Resurrection Jewels will revive her and send her back to the last checkpoint.
Frost Biter
For 16 seconds, any successful hit with Xena’s weapons will rapidly freeze the enemy’s body and shatter them.
Promethean Blade
Imbues Xena’s weapons with fire for 16 seconds, letting her set enemies ablaze.
Hand of Zeus
Upon using it, a bolt of lightning strikes Xena’s sword, enhancing its strength and imbuing it with an electric element for 16 seconds. During this period, she can discharge electricity from her body to knock others back, and anyone struck by her sword will be electrocuted.
Golden Shield
When activated, Xena turns yellow and gains invincibility for up to 30 seconds.
Anything she can get her hands on
As previously mentioned, Xena has the uncanny ability to weaponize anything she touches, making even the most mundane item into a devastating weapon. This includes rats, fish, diapers, nails, frying pans, candelabras, wet rags, benches, harps, toys, and (in a clone’s case) props, among MANY other examples.Red Sonja
Bikini Armor
Sonja’s worn many different outfits throughout the years, but this is by far her most iconic and consistent. Its origin has varied over the years, from being an outfit from a dead royal who tried to make her a concubine, a final keepsake from her dead boyfriend, or crafted by the armorsmith (and former adventurer) Gerd. While typically depicted as chainmail, Red Sonja Unconquered described it as leather (though all of the book’s art shows otherwise), Amy Chu’s Sonja used scale mail, and the 2021 Holiday Special had a mesh that used metal from a meteor. In the last one’s case, its smith designed it to be impenetrable, ensuring that arrows, swords, and poisoned daggers wouldn’t break through. Some of its portions are even razor sharp.
While some have criticized the armor as being impractical, it protects Sonja’s vitals and groin to prevent her from bleeding out, while also letting her retain her speed and mobility. She also wears it to show her body as a way of letting others know they lack the power to have her. The bikini is particularly useful for distracting wandering eyes during battle and luring rapists to their deaths like a siren’s song.
Chainmail Shirt
Prior to gaining her bikini armor, Sonja wore a metal tunic that provides the top half of her body with protection. The novels also introduce a sleeveless variant made of scale mail.
Pelt of Bhamothes
A blue fabric tunic Sonja began wearing during volume 2 of her Marvel series. Originally the pelt of the werewolf demon Bhamothes, it was cursed and unable to be removed normally, transforming Sonja into a more bestial werewolf form. However, after Sonja destroyed Bhamothes’ soul, it became a regular tunic with no special properties. The most unique thing about it now is that it’s more practical than her bikini and less prone to chafing.
Armored Gloves
Introduced in the Gronbekk run, these gloves have armored sections that can hold up against axes.
Fingernails
Even without her sword on her, Sonja’s fingernails are sharp enough to slit a man’s throat.
Broadsword
Originally wielded by her deceased father, this double-edged broadsword is Sonja’s trademark weapon. Its blade is strong enough to cut through armor like butter, can hold up against axes without breaking, support the weight of Sonja and a grown man, and it even makes for a good ranged weapon. She can further add to these capabilities by tying a rope around its hilt. And as a lesser known fact, it seems to be able to absorb lightning.
Her skill with it is so incredible it’s been rumored the sword is enchanted with magic that makes its wielder invincible in battle and that it’s drank the blood of so many sorcerers and demons that it can strengthen other sorcerers’ magic.Though Sonja generally denies these claims, its magical abilities may have basis. Thanks to how the spirit realm operates, Sonja can carry it into the afterlife following her death and use it to kill souls.
Should Sonja die in its presence, her sword can somehow be used to store her soul, allowing her to live on by possessing other women.
Scimitar
On occasion Sonja has been shown wielding a scimitar in place of her usual broadsword. She’s even dual wielded them against a stone monster after her normal sword was destroyed in battle.
Hyrkanium Sword
Granted to her by Hyrkania’s king following Thulsa Doom’s defeat, this broadsword is forged from Hyrkanium, a strange metal said to turn wizards into gods and answer the riddle of steel.
Magic Sword
A sword forged by a skull-faced sorcerer for Sonja’s battle with Thulsa Doom and the resurrected Atlanteans. Its vibrating steel blade allows its slashes to create shockwaves that cover a surprisingly wide distance.
Blessed Sword
After setting her sword atop a sacrificial fire and invoking various gods, Sonja received their blessings, imbuing it with electricity and giving it a holy nature that lets it slay evil or demonic beings. She can guide the electricity to attack specific targets or unleash them as massive AOE blasts.
Lightsaber
No, I’m not kidding. This actually happened.
Originally wielded by one of the many counterparts sent to kill her, Sonja used this extensively during a multiversal battle royale, decapitating her other counterparts with it, clashing with them, harming a planet-sized mech, and ultimately using it to kill the Godhead.
This isn’t standard equipment by any means. I just wanted to bring up how bizarre it is to see Red Sonja wielding a lightsaber.
Whip
Gained during a bar fight, Sonja used this to hold off some unwieldy patrons. She can use it for quick lashes or strangling.
Dagger
Sonja has wielded daggers numerous times throughout the years, either by stealing them from enemies, taking them from the surrounding battlefield, using the two kept at her side, or the one under her pillow. Regardless, she can use them in the event that she’s disarmed, needs to disarm or steal from others, perform a quick kill, or hit a target from afar.
The Price of Blood miniseries had it upgraded by the spy Fyat, who coated it in a poison so potent that spilling even a single drop of blood brings instant death.
Knife
Sonja has several knives hidden in her clothes, including her loincloth, cuffs, and boots. They make for great surprise attacks at both close range and long range.
Shield
Though she doesn’t wield them that often, Sonja has occasionally been depicted with a metal shield, which she can use to block swords or a triceratops’ horns.
Horse
Sonja is often depicted on horseback when traveling to other locations and sometimes into battle, with the horse usually appearing black, white, brown, or spotted. Much like Xena’s Argo II, it should be able to reach a speed of 44 mph and kick with 2000 lbs of force.
In the Queen Sonja series, her horse is given armor and a metal chariot whose spiked wheels can rip enemy soldiers to shreds.
Axe
Sonja has wielded axes on numerous occasions, which can be used with one hand or two. They cut through armor like butter and can split the skulls of giants like Raka.
Spear
Discovered in underwater ruins, Sonja has used this to kill sharks and whales. An earlier incarnation also used one to impale a spectator in a coliseum.
War Scythe
Usually wielded while on horseback, Sonja can use this to impale a target and hoist them through the air for a slow, painful death.
Mace
A bludgeoning weapon Sonja can use to completely destroy the heads of giant monsters.
Bow
Sonja’s used numerous bows during battle, both at long range and close range.
Lesor
Created by the wizard Achmal, the lesor is a hollow, cylindrical weapon disguised as one of Sonja’s bracelets. When thrown, it becomes a fast-moving projectile capable of destroying bronze shields and cleaving skulls from up to 30 yards. It can even ricochet off surfaces to return to her.
Bone Pouch
Given to her by a dying wizard, Sonja can toss these bones into the air, transforming them into an undead army. These skeletal soldiers are all armed with swords, shields, and axes, and will obey Sonja’s every command. However, they are not permanent and will dissolve once the battle ends.
The skeletal army have shown the following abilities:
- Self-Sustenance: Being undead, they have no need for food or water and are unable to tire.
- Non-Physical Interaction: They can harm and slay incorporeal spirits.
Grappling Hook
Used to scale up walls.
Grappling Rope
A deadlier version of the above.
The Blood Dynasty
A legendary red gemstone said to have existed before the universe. Housed in the middle is a mysterious drop of blood theorized to belong to the creator or the world itself. The Blood Dynasty is said to be the most powerful artifact in the history of the world able to grant its wielder absolute power.
Contrary to the legends, the gemstone itself is not the Blood Dynasty. The true bearer of the moniker is Sonja herself. The stone was just a weapon she used across several incarnations.
Asp
In “Red Sonja: Consumed” the main object that kickstarts the story is known as an Asp. While initially seen as something useless and just a fancy trinket, it proves itself dangerous with how it can summon the dead. Through necromancy, dwyers and spider/human hybrids called gaunts can be made through the Asp, and she can also revive dead people (like Ysidra) or summon the spirits of lost innocents to cast hell upon the damned. Though this is something she outright hates and doesn’t like to use.Anything she can get her hands on
While she doesn’t use it as often as her opponent, Sonja has been known to weaponize everyday objects during battle. These include her cloak, diamonds, pokers, pikes, skewered meat, a horse’s reins, bowls, an IV drip, a drumstick and flagon of ale, and a severed head.Abilities
Xena
Pain Tolerance and Endurance
Xena has regularly shrugged off battle damage with little to no issue, not even showing signs of fatigue for most of her fights. The only exception was during a gauntlet of nine back-to-back raids on Parcaelion, but even then she still saw it through with Gabrielle’s help.
But what’s really impressive here is her pain tolerance. She’s powered through being shot by arrows, remained conscious after her arms were severed, and was back in fighting condition shortly after being crucified and having her legs broken. She’s even continued fights while forced to relive her worst injuries and being inflicted with the worst pains she’d suffered in the past and future.
Agility
Thanks in part to the training she’s received from the Amazons, Xena is a master when it comes to acrobatics, able to cross a bridge by walking on its ropes, flip over entire crowds of people, parkour up falling rocks, jump from the water in a moat to the top of a palace wall, leap over monsters that are at least double her height, and steer massive boulders with her legs. But her most insane feat was the time she flipped from a tree branch, sending herself across an entire forest and down a cliff onto the ropes of a distant ship.
She's also no stranger to using her agility in battle. She’s fought numerous enemies while swinging, performed bicycle kicks and psycho crushers, taken out groups and armies while running on walls and spinning on poles, and defeated enemy soldiers by running on their heads, chests, or flipping off of them.
Swordsmanship
Throughout the years Xena has become an accomplished swordswoman. She’s held off three armies at once, defeated the conquerors Caesar and Pompey in a 2v1 fight, and slain master assassins and warriors empowered by the gods. Even Ares was quickly overwhelmed when he tried to engage her in a sword fight. And as an added bonus, the PS1 game expands on her skills by having her learn the spinning slash.
Weapons Mastery
Gabrielle has stated Xena is skilled with every form of weapon and all manners of combat. In particular, she’s shown to be skilled at using swords, daggers, knives, chakram, escrima sticks, spears, staves, whips, maces, and hammers. And while she technically isn’t the same person, a clone of Xena was able to figure out how guns work and use them.
Close Quarters Combat
Xena is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, usually fighting her opponents with martial arts, though she has been known to occasionally mix things up by incorporating wrestling moves (which she’s a fan of), boxing, armlocks, and Amazonian techniques. But by far, she has the most expertise in pressure points.
Pressure Points
Thanks to the lessons she received from the martial artist M’Lila, Xena has become just as, if not more skilled than her former master. By hitting certain points on the body, Xena can induce a wide variety of effects within her victim, ranging from beneficial to violent. These points can even affect nonhuman opponents, like the bronze automaton Talos.
Xena’s most famous usage of this is “The Pinch,” where she strikes a victim’s throat, cutting off the blood flow to the brain. Those affected by “The Pinch” will be left paralyzed and suffer a nosebleed within 10 seconds, and if delivered with lethal intent, it will kill within 20 seconds or a minute. Xena initially used this for killing, but after reforming, she switched to using it for interrogation, and even then it’s only as a last resort. Though she has still been known to occasionally threaten people with it.
Aside from The Pinch, Xena and Gabrielle (who received training from her) have shown numerous abilities with her pressure points. They’ve been used to paralyze enemies, force them to kick involuntarily, induce numbness and muteness, knock out others with a touch, stop hearts, cause instant death, stop wounds from bleeding, cure seasickness, and resurrect those killed by pressure points.
While there aren’t many other pressure point users in the Xenaverse, it’s likely Xena could perform similar feats to them, either because she’s bested them in combat or trained under them. This would include Sinteres disabling entire limbs and causing the brain to explode, M’Lila breaking and restoring legs, and Lao Ma rendering her husband comatose.
Leadership
Having spent years as a warlord, Xena has become a natural at leading others to victory during battle, whether she’s commanding soldiers, Amazons, or a small group of villagers.
Marksmanship
Xena’s skill with ranged weaponry is nothing short of absurd. She’s thrown her chakram with enough precision to sever hands, slit throats, break swords, and intercept arrows; knocked and landed several arrows at once, accurately hit men and animals in the heart, thrown and caught her chakram while blind, knocked soldiers out by throwing an eel at them, broken falling rocks by bouncing her chakram across them, thrown a rat hard enough to dislodge her chakram and snap chains, ricocheted her chakram between pillars, sent it across an entire room to hit a chandelier, and once ricocheted it across an entire city to perform a rescue.
Stealth
Xena’s able to move around areas without being seen or heard, able to disappear from sight in an instant, infiltrate palaces, trail others undetected, or take out enemy soldiers from behind without being noticed.
Trapping
Created elaborate traps while preparing to fight Mavican.
Seduction
Should the need arise, Xena is more than willing to use her good looks to manipulate others. She often uses this as a means of distraction to get others to lower their guard.
Medical Knowledge
Aside from using pressure points to heal wounds, Xena knows a lot about aiding others medically. She’s stitched up wounds, performed c-sections and surgeries, and knows the correct way to remove an arrow.
Fire Breathing
By combining a swig of alcohol with a nearby torch or candle, Xena can spew fire to drive her enemies back or kill them. It even makes for a good surprise attack, as demonstrated when she killed Hades.
Fun fact: Lucy Lawless can do this in real life.
Instinctive Reactions
Can act on reflex in combat even after losing her memories.Enhanced Senses
Xena is able to recognize poisons through scent and taste, and her hearing is enhanced to the point of letting her hear snow falling on trees and the heartbeats of others. Her awareness of her surroundings is so precise it borders on being a sixth sense, as she can sense oncoming danger, tell when others are watching her even if they’re hidden or invisible, and detect inhuman presences. She’s even regularly shown the ability to see and hear the gods, who are normally invisible and inaudible to humans.
Acausality
When Caesar’s altered reality was undone, Xena and Gabrielle still remembered everything that happened in it.Non-Physical Interaction
Could physically harm Mnemosyne and Tethys while they were merging into vapor.
Sound Manipulation
At the end of the Further Adventures of Xena story “Came the Dawn,” Xena screams loud enough to blow the leaves off an entire grove of willows. In terms of non offensive uses, she’s canceled out the Sirens’ hypnotic song with her own voice.
God Slaying
As a result of a spirit sent by the archangel Michael, Xena was blessed with the ability to kill gods, as well as otherwise immortal beings like angels and demons, as long as her daughter Eve is alive. With this, any injury Xena inflicts- whether she uses a fist, weapon, or deflects a projectile- will bypass their immortality and regeneration, causing the same pain as if they were mortal. Even debris from her deflecting an attack can inflict death. In addition, she can bypass mystical enchantments and kill the likes of Grendel, whose ring made him invincible. However, she permanently lost this ability when she attempted to kill Michael.The Power
By training with the Chin queen Lao Ma, Xena learned how to manipulate her own chi. Chi is extremely versatile in its uses, though it can only be used when one has obtained purity in both mind and spirit. While Xena has used it before, these stipulations make it extremely difficult for her, and she eventually lost the ability entirely. In the few instances she could use it, she displayed the following abilities:
- Flight
- Chi Blasts: Xena can throw energy blasts strong enough to blast holes in stone walls and destroy throne rooms. If she wants to hit multiple targets, the blasts can split off and home in on them.
- Chi Canceling: She can disperse opposing chi blasts on contact.
- Telekinesis: Xena’s used this to send an executioner’s tools flying into him and free herself from restraints. She also tried using it to move a vase, but was unsuccessful.
- Aerokinesis: Sucked all the air out of a tent to save Gabrielle and Lin Chi from a bomb.
- Energy Shield: Xena can unleash a dome of chi that shields her from explosives and reflects them.
- Petrification: By focusing her chi onto specific people, Xena can turn them to stone, which she used on a rabbit and to transform Khan’s 100,000 man army into statues.
- Precognition: Can receive visions of the future.
Shamanism
Thanks to the tutelage of the shaman Alti, Xena was able to master the art of Shamanism, which gives her the following abilities:- Astral Projection: Xena can force her soul out of her body and into the spirit world, which is the same as the physical world but now she can fly. While in the spirit world, any injuries sustained will transfer to the physical body (5:11).
- Soul Absorption: Her astral form can absorb deceased souls from the physical world (0:57), though the participants have to be willing for it to work.
- Object Summoning: Xena can pull objects from the spiritual plane to the physical one.
Runes
An ancient power Xena learned while under Odin. It allows her to create flames anywhere she desires, and with enough practice she’d learn to transform her body’s energy into a fire that would burn for as long as she wished. However, Xena never progressed that far due to a lack of interest, and she only used it to burn some flowers.
Possession
While Xena’s soul usually enters the afterlife upon dying, there have been three occasions where she stuck around by possessing others from beyond the grave. The first was when she controlled Autolycus’ body like a puppet. In this instance she could communicate with him telepathically, subconsciously influence his actions, and even take full control by talking through him. However, her possession was only temporary and her control became weaker the more he resisted, forcing her to possess Gabrielle instead.
The third time she showed this ability was when she possessed her descendant Melinda Pappas after her broken chakram was restored. Unlike before, this time she retained full control over her host body without any interference.
Reincarnation
Years after her final death, Xena’s soul would reincarnate into different bodies, including the Indian pacifist Arminestra and modern day dentist Harry O’Casey. These new incarnations lack any memories of their past lives, though methods like hypnotherapy can overcome this.
It’s worth noting the reincarnation only applies to the physical body, as Xena’s soul still has her appearance.
Red Sonja
The Oath to Scathach
Following her survival of her parents’ home being destroyed, Sonja swore an oath to the red goddess Scathach to gain the strength and abilities of a warrior in exchange for a vow of celibacy. As Scathach was a goddess of war, the oath of celibacy decreed that Sonja could only lie with a man (or woman) who had proven her better in combat.
Marvel would later retcon that Scathach had mystically inhibited Sonja’s bloodborne strength and skills and that the deal only restored them, but Dynamite’s 2005 run would play it straight that Sonja’s strength and skill were direct blessings from her oath.
Since this oath was sworn under the idea that Sonja wouldn’t freely lay with any man or woman, you’d naturally assume that Sonja would lose her powers if she lapsed in her faith. While this concept has been discussed before in her Marvelrun, volume 1of Dynamite, and the D&D campaign Red Sonja Unconquered, their answers are all different.
Marvel: An early story heavily implies she (while brainwashed) had sex for several nights, yet she still has her powers during and after this. There’s an arc in Conan where Sonja is raped by one of the villains, and in her next battle, she’s physically unable to pick up a sword, causing her to believe she lost her ability to fight. However, dialogue from the other characters implies this is just the result of her recent trauma, which is later proven when Sonja regains her strength in a fit of rage and is fully restored by the end of the story.
Red Sonja Unconquered: The book spells out its version of the oath very clearly. Sonja’s character page says her power lies solely in the promise she made years ago. “Keep to that promise and your strength shall hold. Forget that promise, and you will be like any other powerless wench, caught by the grip of helplessness and servitude.”
The oath receives its own dedicated section explaining that “she may not compromise herself in any way to further her goals,” and while she can seduce men with her feminine wiles, ”If Sonja abuses her power over men during the adventure, she will lose some of her exceptional abilities for the rest of the adventure.” More specifically, her strength falls from 14 to 8, dexterity from 17 to 11, constitution from 11 to 7, she loses 8 luck points, her health decreases from 75 to a maximum of 35, and her chances of becoming surprised (being unable to move or attack at the start of a battle) are increased.
Dynamite: The 2005 volume has Sonja still retain her battle prowess after having sex with Kaleval, who had previously defeated her in battle, and Scathach directly tells Sonja there would be no punishmentif she violated her oath. The Queen Sonja miniseries gives further proof when she sleeps with Kane, who- like Kaleval- had defeated her beforehand.
The spinoff series Red Sonja: Vulture’s Circle has Sonja take down an army despite losing Scathach’s blessing and being deemed unworthy of her power by getting with a manwho hadn’t defeated her. Sonjaversal has a similar situation where Scathach deems Sonja as unworthy of her power, but it’s revealed that Scathach can only grant Sonjas their powers and any threats to take them back are empty. It’s even said the Sonjas can reject their oaths entirely and they’ll still keep their powers!
Just to be clear, not all versions of Sonja have their combat skills because of an oath. After Sonja dies in the 2005 run, her reincarnation, Lady Sonja of Dorn, explicitlylacks Scathach’s blessing, and gains her skills through training and subconscious reflexes. Once the 2005 run ended, the idea of Scathach empowering Sonja was completely abandoned for any main series. Its only acknowledgements afterward are from side series like Sonjaversal and Unbreakable Red Sonja, or a Reddit AMA from Amy Chu that revealed her Sonja is a regular human who mistakenly attributes her talents to Scathach.
Pain Tolerance and Endurance
To put it bluntly, Sonja’s endurance is completely insane. She has survived being cut and stabbed by enemy blades, supported herself with a broken wrist; can keep fighting after being shot in the shoulder, side, leg, or boob; was unaffected after having her heart torn out, stood back up and killed Thulsa Doomafter he broke her leg, and once fought and fled from a group of monsters despite her arms and legs being weakened from getting digested by a clam.
But most impressive was her display against Apah Alah’s cursed crown. Just holding onto it filled her with a pain that eclipsed anything she’d felt before, yet she held on even as the crown’s influence nearly broke her spine, and then she endured it aging her until she was a skeleton. Even in this state, she lived long enough to keep holding on to it until she eventually died (she was revived a few seconds later).
Stamina
Much like her pain tolerance, Sonja has some impressive showings when it comes to stamina. She’s participated in dozens of Olympic events without tiring, could still fight after going four days without sleep, defeated a skilled huntress after an entire week without food, and survived for several days without any food or water; though it did start to affect her by the end of it. One of her past lives even fought for three days and three nights straight against a giant sea god, killed it, and only died the next day from exhaustion.
In the final fight of Red Sonja Consumed, she fought many gaunts (7 feet tall beasts), killed Sudhi-Ya (the Mother of Monsters), outmaneuvered Tol (their leader), offed the assassin Sylus, and then spent the rest of the night murdering and hunting gaunts in the area until all houses were clear. This was after a week of having to run for four days with no proper rest, getting captured and forced to fight in an arena, escaping and having to control her steed over extreme terrain for several hours, fighting an army of gaunts, and engaging in intercourse and thus not getting much proper rest the night before the war.
A middle-aged Sonja the Red could carve through an entire army of undead, fighting for so long that “her shoulders scream in protest” and her old battle wounds from years earlier reopen.
Even the comparatively weaker Lady Sonja could carry 300 dead people in her homeland and dug graves for each one over the course of several days.
Agility
Sonja’s able to jump dozens of feet through the air, and can leap over a massive castle door, frost giants, and entire armies of soldiers. She’s avoided killing blows by jumping over, flipping over, spinning between, or backflipping away from opponents, even doing so while wearing a chainmail shirt. She’s even used this offensively by cutting through Atlanteans while upside down and flipping through the air.
Intimidation
Thanks to her reputation, just mentioning her name is enough to frighten others into avoiding conflict, and she’s forced a group of ruffians to run away just by telling them to.
Swordsmanship
Sonja’s years of training have made her an expert when it comes to dueling with blades, able to fight with one sword or dual wield if she feels like it. Her prowess is said to make hera devil at swordplay, the equal of the greatest swordsmen, able to “shame many a male,” and it’s said no man could beat her. Some have even declared her among the best swordsmen they’ve met, which is no small statement considering she’s bested veteran swordsmen like Prince Olin while holding back and has never been beaten in a fair fight, only losing when her enemies employed underhanded tactics. She’s precise enough that this impalement somehow isn’t lethal, and skilled enough to coach rebels in different forms of swordplay.
Weapons Mastery
In her first incarnation as Red Sonja, her status as one of the Favored gave her a natural affinity for weaponry and proficiency with whips, chains, javelins, bows, and axes.
Even without that status, she’s wielded a wide variety of weapons with relative ease, such as maces, spears, hammers, and kusarigama.
Close Quarters Combat
Even without her sword, Sonja is shown to be a beast in close quarters with a proficiency in unarmed combat. Her skills have let her take down the likes of palaceguards, the sorceress Sortilej (who was previously shown to match her physically), and Conan. She can also disorient opponents with strikes to the throat.
Leadership
With her years of skill and finesse on the battlefield, Sonja has become a capable leader able to rally troops and command them in battle. She’s successfully ambushed enemy armies by splitting into groups, and just being in her presence inspired those in homeland to join her.
Marksmanship
Sonja has been shown to have consistent accuracy when hitting targets from afar or behind, even doing so in complete darkness. While she usually does this with daggers or her lesor, she’s occasionally used her broadsword as well.
She’s trained in archery and javelin throwing, and is fast enough to be mistaken for a group of archers or even an entire army. She can split another person’s knife by throwing hers, hit multiple targets at once, perform accurate kills while blind and poisoned, down an entire army pursuing her, land a headshot from across a campground while drunk, and is precise enough to cut the wings off a fly.
Stealth
Sonja’s been shown to observe others from afar, sneak up on them, ambush them, infiltrate hidden areas, listen inon conversations, or kill, all without being noticed. She’s also escaped completely undetected while under cover of darkness and in plain sight, and could avoid mercenaries and enemy soldiers for several days. She could even sneak up on a man who’d gone undetected while sneaking around a camp.
In the event that she needs to blend in with a crowd or find information, Sonja is willing to don disguises, like dressing as a harem girl to pass information to a king or disguising herself as a mistress to enter a city.
Thievery
While most versions of Sonja have been known to steal weapons from opponents, the Queen Sonja iteration is most notable in this regard. Growing up in Pah-Disha, she became an expert thief despite being self-trained, and regularly stole from others without being caught. After receiving training, she became one of the best and was able to steal from royalty three times before escaping without a hitch.
Trapping
Thanks to her father’s training, Sonja is an expert when it comes to setting up traps. Though she mainly does this while hunting, she can also use it to capture potential stalkers.
Battle Tactics
With her father’s training and her own experience, Sonja has become an expert at employing tactical moves both before and during battle. She knows how to scout a location, camouflage herself and remain in the shadows, poison dams, fend for herself in the wilderness, disguise herself, and remain undetected on the battlefield. She can also perform these strategies when leading an army, and has devised complex strategies just by looking at her enemies, whether they’re a squad of mercenaries or an army.
Mark Russell’s run gives her even better showings thanks to her training from the Khitai warmaster Domo. She’s tricked armies into entering ambushes, distracted them with decoy trails or decoys of her, snuck up on them from behind or below using the environment, and even burned her surroundings to prevent enemies from seizing anything or to back them into a corner.
Seduction
Sonja is well aware of her good looks and willing to exploit it, either to gain an advantage in battle or obtain information. It’s said that neither man nor god is able to deny her, and she’s used this to seduce a sultan before killing him.
Statistics Amplification
Sonja’s body is able to draw upon her latent strength during lengthy events, and in times of desperation, she can call upon Scathath to enhance her strength and endurance.
Battle Instincts
Sonja has instinctively punched others while waking up from unconsciousness and used her instincts to predict the actions of a vampire too fast to hit normally. Her skills as a warrior are so ingrained that she can subconsciously recall them upon reincarnating and still used them even after her memories were erased.
Enhanced Senses
Thanks to her warrior’s training, Sonja’s senses are sharpened to the point where she claims she can hear colors and see sounds and smells. She can identify the necessary moves to disarm others and trail others from afar with her sense of smell, but the best of her senses is her hearing.
It’s enhanced to the point of being comparable to a wolf’s, letting her hear others watching her from a distance or trying to sneak up on her even if it’s been several days.
Non-Physical Interaction
Sonja has physically harmed ghosts and done the same to damned souls while in the underworld.
Extrasensory Perception
Sonja was able to see and hear Scathach, who can’t be perceived or heard by normal people, and could do the same with invisible spirits like Achmal’s ghost, who couldn’t be perceived even by sorceresses who regularly interact with spirits.
Underwater Breathing
Thanks to Suumaro sacrificing himself to perform a dangerous spell, Sonja was granted the ability to breathe and speak while underwater.
Animal Empathy
Sonja can quickly form bonds with wolves and use them as allies, even commanding them to kill targets for her.
Praying
By praying to Scathach, the goddess will provide her with blessings, such as summoning a forest fire from the mountains to incinerate an army.
Healing Factor
Sonja’s arm has healed itself seconds after being cut, and her body pushed a bullet out of her shoulder a few minutes after she was shot.
This healing factor is boosted in the spirit realm to the point where she can heal from impalement near-instantly.
Immortality
Sonja from the first Dynamite volume had her heart and soul torn out, but could go on without them as if nothing was wrong. It took the complete destruction of her body to kill her.
It should be noted that this immortality only applies to this Sonja, as later runs like Gronbekk’s had her die from getting stabbed through the chest.
Reincarnation
Upon dying, Sonja will be ferried into the afterlife, where she receives two options: rest eternally or be reincarnated into a new life. By choosing the latter, her soul will be reborn in a few years time under a new identity (usually a descendant’s). While most incarnations aren’t given an exact timeframe between their death and rebirth, her second one was stated to take 20 winters (or 20 years).
Each reincarnation starts off by retaining some memories of her previous life, and upon regaining her full memories, she can instantly recall any battle experiences from prior incarnations. Though it’s worth noting she doesn’t retain the relationships of her past selves and has been unable to recall once familiar faces or names.
Spirit World Powers
Because the spirit world is considered a manifestation of one’s will, Sonja retains her appearance, weaponry, and ability to damage others while there. She also gains the ability to heal wounds near-instantly. However, these abilities also apply to her enemies, and it’s still possible to die in the spirit realm through decapitation or splitting skulls.
Mental Manipulation and Possession
Should Sonja die in the presence of her sword, her soul will manifest inside of it and lull a nearby woman into a hypnotic trance that forces her to pick up the sword. Upon doing so, Sonja’s soul will possess the woman and transform her body accordingly.
During this time, Sonja will remain in control of her host’s body while the host’s consciousness is placed in some sort of limbo. However, the host can still subconsciously influence Sonja’s actions and emotions, and in the right circumstances they can even converse and view each other’s memories.
The possession will last as long as Sonja desires, though she can willingly leave her host if need be.
RPG Abilities
The comic series Pathfinder: Worldscape transforms Sonja into a tabletop RPG character and gives her many new abilities. You can find them here.Resistances
Xena
Extreme Temperatures:Can be dipped in lava without issue and come out unharmed from being frozen solid.
Poisons (debatable):
When she was hit by a lethal poison dart, Xena revived herself post mortem and overcame its effects, though the poison still affected her for a long period of time and she explicitly needed to die to fight it.
Hypnosis and Mental/Empathic Manipulation (high difficulty):
Xena has resisted the effects of hypnosis and lotus fruits, and once overcame a telepathic assault through sheer willpower. She even briefly held off the curse of a Fury that infected her with murderous rage. However, excluding the lotus fruits, all of these still affected her to some degree or required immense concentration to overcome.
Soul Manipulation:
Forced her soul back into her body after Tuatarius tried to absorb it.
Red Sonja
Extreme Temperatures:
Has stood next to molten lava and monsters made of it without being burned, and endured reentry speeds in nothing but her bikini. She had no issue fighting in her bikini after the battlefield was covered in snow or wading through freezing water while completely naked. She’s even admitted she doesn’t feel cold in her bikini.
Poisons:
A spiked ale meant to knock her out for a sacrifice only worked for a few seconds. She’s also suffered no ill effects after getting bitten by a snake with deadly venom, powered through multiple scorpion stings, and overcome a hydra’s venom through sheer willpower even though it was supposed to kill her.
Acid:
Was submerged in a giant sea monster’s stomach acid and suffered no injuries.
Curses:
Was unaffected after playing the Horn of Nergal, which normally kills those who play it. Was also able to overpower Tol’s wards from the Asp during her war against him, unflinching despite previous interactions having hurt and knocked her out before.
Illusions:
Sonja is able to dispel illusions by clearing her mind.
Hypnosis, Possession, and Mental/Empathic Manipulation:
In her early appearances, Sonja could snap out of brainwashing of her own accord, though she couldn’t control her body. She also retained her mental faculties while under a sorceress’ hypnotic spell, but was unable to control her movements.
As time went on, she’d gain more impressive showings, such as:
- Her body continued to fight on its own after her mind was separated from it.
- Broke free from a demon’s control after it spent several days manipulating her emotions and draining her willpower.
- Was completely immune to the sirens’ hypnotic song.
- Resisted the hypnotic allure of the jaws of Death.
- No-sold a sorcerer’s hypnotic spell through sheer willpower.
- Survived looking at Pelides’ face, which is so hideous it drives men mad.
- Overcame a vampire’s hypnosis through primal instincts.
- After being purged of the vampiric influence that previously let him overcome her “iron will,” Sonja was unable to be hypnotized by Dracula.
- Forcibly regained her faculties after exposing herself to a blossom that drives its victim mad and fills them with bloodlust.
- Sonja‘s determination and sheer force of will made her completely immune to the Netherborn’s planet wide possession.
- Kulan Gath is unable to possess her.
Soul Manipulation:
Under Marvel, when a wizard botched a spell to summon Red Sonja, he accidentally split her into five aspects: body, humor, spirit, mind, and soul. Since her soul was among those split and the rest of the Sonjas could act without it, this implies Red Sonja could survive without her soul.
Dynamite would later have a more concrete showing of this where Sonja continued to act after her heart and soul were ripped out, endured hellfire that burned her body and soul, and could only have her soul absorbed when she allowed it.
Forms
Xena
Avatar of Kali
After having her arms severed by the demon king Indrajit, Xena invoked the name of the Hindu deity Krishna to become the avatar of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, power, and destruction. This transformation restored her lost limbs and granted her two extra ones, each armed with a deadly blade, which she used to overpower and kill Indrajit. While in this state, Xena becomes more violent and brutal.
Full Karma
In the PS1 game, Xena possesses a karma meter that can be filled by doing good deeds (sparing enemies instead of killing them, saving hostages, etc). Once it’s full, her body will become surrounded in a golden glow for 30 seconds, doubling the strength of her attacks and making her invincible.
Ghost Form
During the series finale “A Friend in Need Part 2,” Xena was able to manifest as a kimono-clad ghost after Yodoshi absorbed her soul. While her body appears visible to others, it's actually just an illusion, though she can still physically interact with the world and fight others. However, she's unable to use her chakram in this state and strangely enough she can still be knocked out.
After regaining her freedom, she returned to her regular clothing and gained new abilities like flight and spinning her body to transform into a fiery tornado.
Red Sonja
Vampire Sonja
During the events of Prophecy, Dracula revived Sonja after she sustained a mortal wound, transforming her into a vampire. While in this state, Sonja is constantly fighting her urges to drink blood, but she will eventuallysuccumbto them sooner or later. Initially the only way to snap her out of this was to physically or psychically overwhelm her mind with pain. However, she later gained full control over it thanks to a serum that cured her bloodlust and eventually burned the vampirism from her system.
Vampirella/Red Sonja had this transformation return when Vampirella bit her on the neck, turning her into a Drakulonian vampire (aka an alien vampire). However, she lost it when a sorceress retconned the series out of existence.
This transformation gives Sonja all the abilities of a vampire, which include:
- Superhuman strength and speed
- Heightened senses
- Night vision
- An enhanced healing factor
- Telepathy
- Vampirism: By biting another person, Sonja will transform them into a vampire slave who’s completely subservient to her.
- Shapeshifting: Sonja can turn into a bat and fly, much like Dracula and Vampirella, who have also been depicted growing wings and transforming their bodies. These bat forms come complete with echolocation.
- Immortality: Sonja was unharmed when a group of villagers tried to burn her at the stake, and her aging slowed to the point that she lived to be hundreds of years old.
- Enhanced healing factor: Seemingly regenerated instantly when a giant attempted to crush her.
- Hypnosis: Dracula was able to hypnotize Sonja into joining him, and Vampirella could lull people to sleep, force them to obey her commands, and forget what they were doing.
- Hemokinesis: Dracula could control Sonja’s blood after she was cut.
- Resistance to vampire weaknesses: Though she couldn’t do so at first, Sonja eventually gained the ability to exist in the presence of sunlight without issue and survived being blasted by Scathach’s divine energy. In addition, other vampires like Vampirella are unaffected by religious symbols.
Werewolf Sonja
Because of her cursed blue tunic, in the event that blood stains its fabric, Sonja’s body will be transformed into a werewolf. This transformation greatly enhances her strength and lets her track others by scent, but at the cost of being possessed by Bhamothes, turning her into a feral beast.
The more Bhamothes kills people and consumes their souls, the more control he’ll gain over Sonja’s body. Meanwhile, Sonja’s consciousness/soul will be placed in the spirit realm, where she’ll have to fight off his guardians and Bhamothes’ soul. However, she can break the curse and regain control of her body by destroying Bhamothes’ soul.
Mother of Vengeance
By surrendering herself to Scathach’s will, Sonja undergoes a transformation as her body bursts into flames, burning away her clothing and turning her into a golden-skinned, red-eyed agent of vengeance. This form merges Sonja’s conscience with Scathach’s, with Scathach’s taking prominence while Sonja’s struggles inside. As a result, the Mother of Vengeance considers herself a different personfrom Sonja and lacks the emotional bonds of her past relationships, even threatening her allies if they displease her. Though Sonja’s influence isn’t completely gone, as the Mother still retains her sarcastic sense of humor, and under the right circumstances, Sonja can overcome Scathach’s influence to regain control. She used this to permanently sever their merging and revert to normal.
In this state, Sonja gains the following abilities:
- Flight
- Extrasensory Perception: Can sense other people’s souls and the sins they’ve committed.
- Battlefield Omniscience: Is aware of any actions others have taken during battle.
- Pyrokinesis: Can manipulate fire to create streams, a barrier, or an enormous AOE explosion of fire.
- Energy Manipulation: Can enhance her sword’s strength by coating it in energy.
- Electrokinesis and Energy Absorption: Can expel electricity from her body to create AOE explosions and enhance her strength by absorbing lightning or electricity.
- Possession and resistance to Soul Manipulation: Sutekh was only able to absorb her soul when she purposefully allowed him to, at which point she took over his body and turned it into her own.
Feats
Xena
Overall
- Has defeated Ares, Callisto, and Alti on multiple occasions
- Sieged and burned numerous villages during her time as a warlord
- Became one of Odin’s Valkyries
- Upon reforming, she defeated Draco, one of her ex-lovers from her warlord days
- Became Queen of the Amazons by defeating the previous ruler, Melosa
- Defeated the Persian army on her own
- Prevented Dahak’s return by stopping his cult
- Killed Alti in the Spirit World
- Created the Terracotta Army by petrifying Khan’s army
- Brought about the Twilight of the Gods by giving birth to Eve
- Killed Poseidon (by proxy), Discord, Hephaestus, Hades, Deimos, Artemis, Athena, and the Furies during the Twilight of the Gods
- Beat Caligula in a chariot race so badly that he killed himself out of humiliation
- Restored Ares and Aphrodite’s godhoods after retrieving the Norse Golden Apples
- Killed the Yokai-Daimyo Yodoshi and freed the 40,000 souls he’d enslaved
- Was one of the warriors chosen to represent the Greek gods in their war with the Egyptian pantheon
- Helped Discord regain her godhood after it was removed by Zeus
- Helped Hercules save Mount Olympus after it was taken over by the Titans
- Killed the Minotaur, a renegade Amazonian tribe, and their rogue goddess Kalabrax
- Her adventures inspired Gabrielle to pen the Xena Scrolls, which would later inspire the in-universe Xena: Warrior Princess series
- Defeated Ares (albeit a heavily weakened one) when she reincarnated as Harry O’Casey
- After having her soul swapped with Annie’s (the reincarnation of Joxer), she defeated Ares again by destroying the contract he held over their souls
- Ranked number 1 on Syfy Magazine’s Top 10 Fantasy Women, beating out the likes of Arwen from Lord of the Rings, Valeria from Conan, and even Red Sonja
Strength
- Is said to have the strength of ten men.
- Impales a man through his armor.
- Casually snaps a man’s neck.
- Can split skulls, decapitate a skeleton with a backhand, and throw her chakram hard enough to decapitate skeletons.
- Has sliced through chains several times.
- Sends people flying with her bare hands, kicks, and slashes.
- Can cut through rapiers and short swords.
- Mutilates Cerberus with her sword.
- Her kicks can snap Cerberus’ ribs and knock over Titans like Hyperion and Porphyrion.
- Places Sevdis in an armlock that forces her to yield.
- Throws an Amazon into a stone pillar hard enough to break it.
- Matches Goliath’s kick with her sword.
- Knocks out a man wearing the Armor of Hephaestus, which lets its wearers shrug off piercing weapons.
- Staggers Velasca with a kick and matches her strength in swordplay.
- Throws a staff hard enough to embed it in a ceiling and beats Joxer with another one.
- Can throw spears and kick her chakram hard enough to embed them in stone
- Decapitated a skeletal dragon, a hydra, and two of Cerberus’ heads.
- Dismembered a multi-armed T-Rex man with her chakram.
- Cuts Callisto to pieces.
- Broke out of an ice coffin after waking up from a 25 year long coma.
- Decapitates Discord.
- Pulls one of Hephaestus’ legs out from under him and kicks him in the head.
- While the narration and Xena state that she can’t defeat Hephaestus, she and Gabrielle were able to overwhelm him in a later adventure (2:04 - 2:15), and Xena later killed him by throwing his hammer into his chest.
- Stabs Athena in the stomach.
- Overpowers Yodoshi in their tornado forms and during both sword fights, kicking him across a forest twice before decapitating him.
- Sends a satyr flying into a thick wooden beam hard enough to break it.
- Kicks Ares and stomps on his neck hard enough to choke him.
- Kicks the Titan Crius hard enough to bruise his knee and make him scream, and later wounds him with her chakram.
- She and Hercules stagger a powered-up Porphyrion by kicking him.
- Lifts Crius’ massive foot, throws him off balance, then kicks him into Tartarus.
- Kicks Mnemosyne and Tethys’ merged form.
- Bisects Anubis while he was amped.
- Can throw her chakram hard enough to cut through chains.
Speed
- Can throw her chakram fast enough to cut down crossbow bolts, intercept arrows from a single archer or an entire legion, destroy two fireworks, or ricochet at almost FTE speeds.
- She’s also dodged her chakram while it was ricocheting “with no noticeable loss of speed” and deflected several of them from evil versions of herself.
- Has caught crossbow bolts several times, even doing it with her teeth.
- Regularly catches arrows, can duck under them, block and cut them from behind, and even deflect them using her chakram, sword, or bare hands. Gabrielle has even commented on it.
- At her best, she’s caught multiple arrows with her bare hands.
- Has a habit of catching knives, and has also jumped over or deflected them.
- Caught and blocked blow darts.
- A guy that fought her when she was a warlord claims she killed his partners before they could even blink.
- Outsped Hercules in CQC (0:45 - 1:04).
- Keeps up with Velasca during a sword fight
- Dodged and matched the strikes of Draco.
- Ducked and weaved under Najara’s sword swings.
- Has repeatedly shown that she can dodge energy blasts.
- Can dodge and deflect telekinetically thrown weapons.
- Outran an explosion of Greek fire.
- Goes from several feet behind Amarice to in front of her when Amarice turns her head.
- Intercepted Alti mid-movement despite Alti having super speed at the time.
- Dives out of the way before a spaceship in reentry can hit her. (Mach 22.8)
- Dodges attacks from the Titans.
- Catches a whip mid-swing.
- Outruns a swarm of bees.
- Reacts to a blinding flash of light from Kalabrax.
- Leapt away before Callisto’s lightning could hit her and dodged Yat’s lightning. (Mach 523.223) (See “Before the Verdict”)
Durability
- Battered against a cliffside while being carried by a giant eagle, but quickly recovers and takes control of it.
- Survives falling from the sky to the ground, then gets caught by Hercules without suffering any whiplash.
- No-sells three punches from a buff monster.
- Scratched on the arm by Cerberus.
- Can take Callisto’s punches, fireballs, concentrated blasts, and a massive explosion from her powers short circuiting.
- Has taken multiple hits from Olympians like Ares, Athena, and Bacchus.
- Gets back up after Hephaestus slams her into a pillar hard enough to break it (0:39 - 0:46).
- Hit by a combined attack from Hades, Athena, and Hephaestus.
- Shot in the side by an arrow, but pulls it out and keeps fighting.
- Repeatedly survived telekinetic attacks from Hope, whose telekinesis could break stone.
- Is uncut when her chakram is thrown into her hard enough that it snaps her spine, though she’s left paralyzed.
- Has her chakram telekinetically thrown into her, launching her several feet, but isn’t cut by it.
- Survives a temple collapsing and exploding.
- Has continued fighting even after being forced to relive some of her worst injuries (including broken legs) and being magically inflicted with injuries she’s sustained in the past and future.
- Falls from the sky to the ground, then gets back up without any trouble.
- Shrugged off hits from Grendel and Grinhilda, including being knocked through several trees.
- Survives being caught in this massive explosion, then gets shot by multiple arrows while fighting an army of samurai, though she’s eventually overwhelmed and dies.
- Gets whipped by Yodoshi’s fire whip (Ghost form)
- Sent flying by an explosion from Yodoshi’s fire breath and hits her head against a rock, though it knocks her out for some time (Ghost form)
- A clone of Xena is engulfed in a propane explosion (1:04) and emerges seemingly unharmed (2:16).
- In-game, she can survive ballista explosions from catapults, the Minotaur charging into her, being frozen solid, and electrocution.
- Gets up after the Minotaur backhands her.
- Survives a temple collapsing on top of her, which creates a shockwave. (.026 tons of TNT)
Red Sonja
Overall
- Can outdrink even the strongest man
- Is so intimidating that the mention of her name can frighten others into refusing to fight her
- Has slain Kulan Gath multiple times
- Killed her first man immediately after making her vow
- Led Hyrkania against Sultan Yezdigerd and his Turanian army
- Helped Conan fight off an army of Turanians
- Recovered the serpent tiara for King Ghaniff and successfully tricked Conan
- Assassinated Ghaniff after he tried to turn her into his concubine
- Helped the rest of the Favored kill the Drommach, and was one of the only survivors of their war
- Defeated Conan in a fair fight
- Fought the she-pirate Valeria to a draw
- While serving as a mercenary for Lord Olin, she killed a man so thoroughly it convinced an entire tavern of warriors to join Olin’s crusade
- Teamed up with Vampirella, Dracula, Pantha, Eva, Athena, Herbert West, and Ash Williams to stop Kulan Gath from destroying Earth in 2012
- Sacrificed herself to stop Kulan Gath and became an inspirational legend among the people of Hyboria
- As Lady Sonja, she avenged her husband’s murder by killing the pirate crew responsible
- Killed Scathach and her new champion, who’d masterminded her husband’s death
- While possessing Mary Jane, she briefly fought Spider-Man and would’ve killed him if MJ’s influence hadn’t stopped her
- Helped Spider-Man fight Venom and the mystically transformed Scorpion, Lizard, and Hobgoblin
- With Spider-Man’s help, she defeated a resurrected Kulan Gath and returned New York to its former state
- Ranked 1st in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics," beating out the likes of Wonder Woman, She-Hulk, Emma Frost, Power Girl, and Zatanna
Strength
- After making her vow, she’s able to lift her father’s sword as if it were a twig.
- Casually snaps a man’s neck and can do itwith her thighs.
- Severs a man’s legs with one swing despite him wearing armor, then slices another in half.
- Bifurcates two men in a single swing.
- Cuts a rock monster to pieces and reduces its skeleton to dust with one strike.
- Kills Qin Loby throwing her sword.
- Kills Khala (her clone) by stabbing her in the gut.
- Slams Vampirella against a wall and into the ground.
- Slams Kulan Gath onto an altar and stabs him to death.
- Decapitates Kulan Gathon two separate occasions, and cut out his heart at one point.
- Punches a shark.
- Shoulder tackles through a wall and kicks a steel door off its hinges.
- Pulls a boat to shore during a storm.
- Tackles a man off his horse, stabs him to death, then trips another man and stabs him into bloody chunks.
- As the Mother of Vengeance, she creates a massiveexplosion of lightning. (977.95 tons)
- Cuts through the gold-plated skin of the serpent tiara’s monster form.
- Topples a dinosaur statue with her legs.
- Stabs a man with enough force to splinter his spine, though he’s unharmed because he already died.
- Beatson Conan, then flips him with her legs and knocks him down.
- Overpowers Conan and knocks him out of his chair.
- Decapitates a dragon that had trapped Spider-Man, then severs a demon’s arm.
- Knocks Spider-Man out with the butt of her sword.
- Cuts Spider-Man with her sword and draws blood, then beats him with physical blows.
- Kicks Venom in the face, slices his back open, then cuts him across the side.
- Cuts Hobgoblin and nearly decapitates him.
- Cuts Thulsa Doom in half and later cuts across his stomach.
- Severs Thulsa Doom’s hand, slices across his chest, and decapitates him.
- Clashes with a Scathach-empowered Lucan and kills him.
- Decapitates Scathach and kills her true form.
- Her sword clashing with Conan’s is said to have made mountains quake in fear.
- Cuts Conan across the chest, draws blood by biting him, then simultaneously breaks his nose and knocks him out.
- Stabs an amped Vampirella in the chest, killing her
- Harms Planet Sonja off panel.
- Worked with the rest of her counterparts to kill Zhaogeth, whose stomach is actually Hell (See Scathach’s portion in the Scaling section for details)
Speed
- Has consistently moved FTE multiple times even while depowered and has statements describing her attacks as such.
- Repeatedly matches Khala's speedon two occasions.
- Cansplitarrowsin halfbeforetheycan hit her, and hasdodged them at close range, the last second, or from behind.
- Caught arrows from behindand from her blind spot.
- Blocked multiple arrows from a legion of archers.
- Catches a crossbow bolt in midair.
- Dodges Loki’s electrokinesis several times.
- Dodges a blast from a massive Atlantean tank, then reaches its cockpit by the time the blast ends.
- Deflects a crossbow bolt with her shackles.
- As a trapdoor falls beneath her, she manages to grab her sword and use it as support before she can fall through.
- Ducks under a sword swing while on horseback.
- Reacts to a bolt of lightning, though the art makes it hard to quantify.
- Keeps up with Conan during their battle.
- The speed of Sonja thrusting her blade is described as “a streak of silver silence.”
- Catches Conan’s dagger mid-flight.
- A man prepared to attack her is killed before he can swing his sword.
- Is said by the narration to have “lightning fast reflexes” and can swing her sword “with lightning speed.” (Likely hyperbole)
- Casually dodges a swordsman’s attacks, then moves fast enough to create afterimages. When he attempts to catch her off guard, she attacks him before he can swing his sword.
- Dodges a kick from Spider-Man.
- Leaps away before Venom can tackle her, then dodges a claw attack.
- Dodges Scorpion’s tail.
- Intercepts a pumpkin bomb from Hobgoblin.
- Avoids being shot by crossbow bolts from behind, then blocks another with a stick.
- Simultaneously dodges an arrow and catches another, then ducks under a mace.
- Avoids a slash from Conan, with the narration saying she’s faster than him.
- Dodges a shot from a radium bullet.
- Dodges Tarzan’s attacks despite him being faster than her.
Durability
- Could continue fighting after taking arrows to the leg, side, or boob
- Has been backhanded by Conanon two occasions and was only angered.
- Survived electrocution from a giant eel and being struck by lightning.
- Takes a punch from Cavvalus, who was strong enough to break her sword.
- Gets back up with no issue after hitting her back against a tower wall and falling on a rooftop hard enough to crater it.
- Takes a kick from Khala that leaves her spitting blood.
- Attacked by Vampirella and scratched by her, but shrugs it off.
- Sliced across the sideand ignores it.
- Powers through being slashed across the stomach.
- Can go several days without food or water, though she’s left weakened by the end of it.
- Withstands swinging off a cliff using a chain, though the recoil nearly rips her arm out of its socket.
- Gets bitten by Apah Alah’s snake form, noted by the narration to have deadly venom, but suffers no ill effects.
- Survives holding onto a cursed crown that fills her entire being with a pain said to be far greater than anything she’s endured, slams her into nearby walls “with sledgehammer force,” bends her back to the point of breaking (which she barely reacts to), and rapidly ages her via magic until she’s reduced to a still living skeleton.
- While she dies a few seconds later, she still endures the pain of holding the crown even after she’s revived.
- By receiving Scathath’s blessing, Sonja’s granted the endurance to withstand Vassilisa’s magic blasts.
- Survives falling 100 feet into a pool of water.
- Takesa beating from two martial artists and remains conscious.
- It’s said she can keep fighting even after being rendered a human pincushion full of arrows.
- Shot in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt.
- Survives having her heart ripped out.
- At ground zero of this explosion and comes out completely unharmed.
- Takes a backhand from Spider-Man, then gets kicked and punched in the stomach.
- Keeps fighting after being shot in the shoulder.
- Tanks two massive blasts of magic from Kulan Gath.
- Is only pissed off after being crushed by a massive stalactite.
- Has her leg broken by Thulsa Doom.
- It’s implied she survived the sinking of Atlantis.
- Unaffected by Leucoth’s stomach acid.
- Gets slashed across the stomach and lives, though she needs medical attention.
- Survivesstabbing herself in the heart and being at the epicenter of an explosion of lightning. (977.95 tons)
- Powers through being impaled through the stomach. (Spirit World)
- Falls from a great height that craters the ground and breaks her bones, only to keep fighting. (Spirit World)
- Endures being choked by a chain and impaled by multiple spears, then has them pulled out. (Spirit World)
Scaling
Shared
Ash Williams
Thicc Grimes here…. Surprised? This is fairly straightforward, but still worth noting. Sonja never directly battles Ash, but rather fights the same enemies. Both killed one of the death gods summoned by Kulan Gath, while Xena directly stalemated Ash in a fight.
While I think it's clear that Xena has better showings against The Hero from the Sky, they both reasonably should scale to some of Ash's greatest feats from both main and Dynamite comics canon.
- Ash scales to Deadites and various other demons, who can physically harm and even destroy the Necronomicon.
- Pulled himself out of a “blackhole” made by one of the Tomes of the Necronomicon.
- Could fight Freddy Krueger, who could throw a house into space. (234.172 megatons and 2% lightspeed)
- Can move in tandem with Demi-Eligos’ lightning strikes
- Upscales from Sir Arthur’s knights, who moved with lightning. (Mach 79)
- Reacted to and tracked a beam of light as it came down from the sky. (87% the speed of light)
- Could take attacks from The Necronomicon and people empowered by it. The Necronomicon:
- Can cause earthquakes
- Created holes within the earth. (1.5 - 13.4 tons)
- Used to summon storms by Ruby (5 megatons) and the Dark Ones.
Xena
Hercules
Xena has proven herself comparable to Hercules either through fighting him directly or fighting those comparable to him like the gods.
- Young Hercules:
- Is said by Iolaus to have the strength of 20 men, though this might be an exaggeration.
- Threw the Kronos Stone across the ocean.
- Fought Apollo in a close battle, though he lost. In a later rematch, Hercules won.
- Dodged lightning from Ares and blocked some from Discord. (See “Before the Verdict”)
- Survived being launched by Apollo’s fireballs and Ares’ lightning.
- As an adult he’s stated to have the strength of a thousand men, but this could also be an exaggeration.
- Throws a giant cyclops several meters.
- Destroyed part of Ares temple by pushing two pillars.
- A depowered Hercules beat up Strife, survived a beating from him, then curbstomped him upon regaining his powers.
- Fought Hades to a standstill and took his strongest blows.
- Has consistently defeated Ares whenever they fought and survived beatings from him.
- Defeated Apollo in two punches and later one-shot him.
- Casually lifts and carries a boat that requires ten men to haul.
- Unfroze a lake with astral projection. (280.17 tons of TNT - 2.8 kilotons)
- Has destroyedand repaired the Kronos Stone, which could create a massive fissure (172 megatons) and has the power to destroy Earth. (Inapplicable; See “Before the Verdict”)
- Caught a knife.
- Caught arrows mid-flight.
- Could track the movements of a ricocheting bullet.
- Pushed Serena away before lightning could hit her. (24 m/s)
- Reacted to natural lightning and dodged Zeus’ lightning from a close distance. (Mach 202.59)
- Raced with Apollo and reacted to events while on his surfboard.
- Could avoid and intercept attacks from Dahak.
- Survived a blast of Thor’s lightning that launched him out of a house and across a forest.
- Tanked multiple strikes from Zeus’ lightning, which can knock over pillars, obliterate them, and destroy statue heads.
- Unharmed despite being at ground zero of an explosion from the Necronomicon’s magic, which destroyed the top of a pyramid. (4.98 tons)
- The same magic was used to summon a storm. (63.98 kilotons - 10.1 megatons)
Ares
Xena has regularly held her own against the god of war and beaten him numerous times.
- Launched Hercules through the air with a punch and kicked a rock hard enough to make it explode.
- Beat Hercules down and withstood beatings from him.
- Traded blows with Hercules when he temporarily became a god, but was eventually defeated.
- Held his own against Hercules’ evil counterpart, the Sovereign, and killed him.
- The Sovereign is equal in strength to Hercules and has fought him several times, with one of those fights ending in a double KO.
- Completely vaporized a cow. (1.2 tons)
- Destroyed rocks with his blasts.
- Matched the strength of Porphyrion.
- Can call down lightning from the sky. (Inapplicable; See “Before the Verdict”)
- Took one of Hephaestus’ grenades to the chest, though he fled when threatened with another.
- Survived having his own blasts reflected back at him and being launched a far distance by three of the Four Horsemen, who can incinerate people and destroy boulders. However, both instances knocked him out.
Gabrielle
Xena is explicitly shown to be Gabrielle’s superior, with even a post Season 6 Gabrielle admitting she can’t beat Xena in a fair fight.
- Kicked a man onto a table hard enough to break it.
- Fought off an army of horny centaurs, albeit briefly.
- Gave Callisto a black eye.
- Broke a crossbow with her staff.
- Matched the strength of a man that knocked out Joxer in one hit.
- Beat up several grown men in the time it took a sack to fall.
- Helped Xena overpower Hephaestus (2:04 - 2:15)
- Blocked an arrow from behind.
- Caught Xena’s chakram as it was flying toward her.
- Hit by Hyperion kicking through a stone wall.
- Survives being dragged by Argo for a long distance, all while her body slams into pottery, wood planks, a firepit, and a rock.
- Slammed onto a stone bench hard enough to shatter it.
- Hit by a combined attack from Hades, Athena, and Hephaestus.
- Survived hits from Grendel.
- A clone of Gabrielle is engulfed in a propane explosion (1:04) and emerges seemingly unharmed (2:16).
- Survived the universe being destroyed and reset when she burned the Fates’ loom. (Inapplicable; See “Before the Verdict”)
- Even if we assume it only affected the planet, the loom’s destruction caused Earth to explode and unleashed a massive shockwave (75.72 tenatons and 77.78% the speed of light)
Callisto
Xena’s repeatedly defeated Callisto even in instances where they switched bodies or when Callisto became a god.
- Her pyrokinesis reduced a grown woman to ash in seconds.
- Blew up barns and destroyed statues’ heads.
- Blasted a hole through a stone wall.
- Incinerated a buzzard while angry.
- Held her own against Ares and eventually defeated him in hand-to-hand combat.
- A single blast launched Ares and left him weakened.
- Melted the Kronos Stone. (See “Before the Verdict”)
Velasca
Xena’s matched her strength and speed and dodged or survived her attacks while Velasca was trying to kill her.
The Gods
Xena has fought them, killed several of them, and survived their attacks.
- Individual gods can create storms and tornadoes, and Zeus’ death created a massive storm. (At least 63.98 kilotons since they reach the horizon)
- Zeus’ lightning can knock over pillars, obliterate them, and destroy statue heads.
- Apollo could blow up rooftops, carts, stone walls, and houses with his fireballs.
- Athena destroyed a marble pillar with one blast.
- Aphrodite beat up Nemesis, who could incinerate grown men in armor and destroy metal statues.
- Hephaestus can create volcanoes and survived being thrown out of Olympus, but was left with amnesia.
- Hermes running is compared to a bolt of lightning.
- Triton’s death would cause the seas to die with him
- The following feats are more contentious (See “Before the Verdict”)
- The war between the gods and Titans shook the Earth, and the war with the Egyptian gods shook the heavens and Earth. (1 teraton together, lower individually) (Inapplicable)
- Hephaestus is said to disintegrate mountains and unleash flows of lava when angry. (1.46 - 1.75 gigatons going by the vaporization and atomization yields on this page)
- Hades’ energy blast destroyed Poseidon’s body (86.16 gigatons and Mach 16) (Imgur archive) and he survived that same energy being reflected back at him, though it knocked him out.
- Poseidon enchanted Nautica so that her presence would warm the seas and taking her out would freeze the oceans. It’s even shown that being placed back visibly affects the ocean. (16.8 teratons)
- Apollo directly affected the sun based on his emotional state (0:05-0:21) and by flying into it (0:50), causing nearby structures to combust and the oceans to steam (1:32-1:45). (29.43x FTL for flying into the sun, 142.8 petatons for making the sun darker)
- The death of a minor god like Strife created storms and violent quakes that could be felt as far as the Sovereign’s prison, which exists between universes and outside the timeline. (Inapplicable)
The Titans (live action)
Xena’s harmed Hyperion, who killed another Titan named Crius, and has matched Hercules, who could harm other Titans and match them in strength.
- All of the Titans worked together to defeat Dahak, though they were left heavily weakened.
- According to Hyperion, there are hundreds of Titans.
- Even in their weakened state, Zeus needed an amp from the Kronos Stone to defeat them.
- Hyperion wrecked a village and kicked through a wall.
- Hyperion’s fight with Crius shook the cave they were in and could be felt some distance away.
- Helios and Oceanus could transform into pillars of fire and water, and their collision generated a massive cloud of steam (0:41). (.005 tons of TNT for Helios’ transformation)
The Titans (animated)
Xena’s harmed all of the Titans and dodged their attacks, even doing so when they were amped by the Kronos Stone. (Inapplicable; See “Before the Verdict”)
- Porphyrion could crater stone.
- Mnemosyne destroyed a pillar with a kick.
- Porphyrion and Mnemosyne could tank Zeus’ lightning.
- Crius created a massive tornado.
- Crius and Mnemosyne could dodge and catch Zeus’ lightning bolt, respectively.
Dahak (downscaling) (debatable)
Just to preface, this is a major stretch, but you can make an argument for it even if it kiiiiinda violates the series’ internal logic. While Xena hasn’t fought Dahak herself, she has fought The Deliverer, his servant who was being empowered by him, and Talisman of Fate has her defeat Despair, another servant of Dahak. Hercules, who Xena easily compares to, defeated a servant that underwent a similar transformation to The Deliverer and (alongside Iolaus) was ultimately responsible for throwing Dahak to his death. Therefore, it would make sense to scale her to at least a portion of Dahak’s power. See “Before the Verdict” for whether or not this is usable.
- Caused widespread destruction across Sumeriaas a side effect of his fight with their gods.
- Altered the weather and created a solar eclipse to signify his presence. (42.796 zettatons and Mach 203.54 - 64.26 zettatons and Mach 249.40) (Imgur archive)
- Was so powerful the Greek godsfled to another universe instead of fighting him and just being in his presence weakened Ares.
- Claimed he’s turned oceans to sand in a single breath.
- Moved so quickly he appeared to be teleporting.
Miscellaneous
Anything listed here can be summed up as “Xena is comparable or superior to the characters who performed these feats.”- Goliath can shatter a stone pillar.
- Grendel and Grinhilda could knock down trees.
- Michael created a massive explosion when he landed on Earth. (0.6 - 1.34 tons)
- Famine destroyed an entire field of crops by throwing his spear.
- Anubis backhanded Hades and tanked Zeus’ lightning after getting amped from conquering Hades’ domain.
- Draco caught three arrows at once.
- Najara can catch a crossbow bolt.
- Fodder Israelite soldiers can reflect sunlight with their shields as soon as it appears. (Mach 46.2)
Red Sonja
Conan
Sonja has regularly harmed and bested the Cimmerian in both swordplay and close quarters, whether he’s from Marvel or Dark Horse. Even the novel covers get in on this by describing Sonja as an opponent Conan cannot best.
Marvel
- Has torn through metal with his bare hands and broken arms in a way that’s beyond healing.
- Lifts boulders larger than himself.
- Throws a massive stone coffin lid and bends the bars of a mausoleum.
- Shattered the Star-Stone, which contains a pocket universe.
- Fought and killed the Devourer of Souls, who at the time had absorbed the power of Sedrick and Solaise, whose power could consume universes and destroy all creation.
- Even without that, the Devourer could cause massive explosions and destroy entire kingdoms.
- Critically wounded Kulan Gath and killed him several times in the past. Even after Kulan absorbed the powersof Shuma Gorath, Conan could still harm him.
- Held his own against Wolverine. Wolverine has:
- Withstood being punched from the X-Mansion to Georgia (1.3 - 333.5 tons of TNT)
- Survived a blast from an enemy that can vaporize a city block (140.74 tons of TNT)
- Dodged Cyclops’ optic blasts, which move at the speedof light. (2.09x FTL)
- Bashed Deadpool against a cell door until his mutilated bits could push through.
- Deadpool tanked being in the epicenterof this massive explosion. (5.63 tons)
- Has dodged arrows and attacked others while doing so.
- Survived being exposed to a demon’s aerokinesis which destroyed the city around them.
Dark Horse
- Can casually lift and decapitate grown men and giant ogres.
- Took the brunt of the damage when he and Sonja were at ground zero of this explosion.
What If? Conan
This one’s a bit weird, but hear me out. While these are different versions of Conan, they shouldn’t be too different from the original. They’re still the same guy, just with an alternate history. In fact, one of those What Ifs take place during a story that Red Sonja was originally part of.
Additionally, this helps add more credibility to the street tier scaling already established during other crossovers between the Hyborian age and Marvel.
When transported to the modern day, Conan flipped a car with his bare hands. This isn’t all that impressive compared to everything else. I just felt like bringing it up because it looks cool.- Defeated Captain America in a fight.
- Captain America can hit with the force of a 5 ton meteor (72 tons of TNT).
- Defeated a time-displaced Wolverine and “killed” him.
- Has dodged bullets, even at near point blank.
Kulan Gath
Sonja killed Kulan Gathearly in her career as a warrior in Marvel and has killedhimtimeandagain in Dynamite.
Marvel
(See “Before the Verdict”)
- Was able to conjure a massive pillar of energy in New York.
- Takes a punch from Spider-Man, with Sonja stating he can recover as long as he has his amulet.
- His magic transformed cities, all of Manhattan, and all of New York, and will eventually spread to the entire planet.
- Tortured Spider-Man and later killed him.
- Was so powerful Doctor Strange needed the combined power of the X-Men and Avengers to defeat him.
- Crushed Doctor Doom’s arm through his armor and drew blood from him.
- Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom combined were unable to defeat him.
- Strange admits Kulan is the strongest wizard on Earth and that if he completely consumes Shuma Gorath, reality would be broken beyond repair.
- Shuma is said to manipulate magic on a planetary scale, and a small portion of his power gave Doctor Strange the power to destroy galaxies.
- After absorbing Shuma’s power, Kulan demolished a combined army of heroes and villains, is said to have enough power to cast Earth into the sun, and burns Doctor Strange to death.
- Shuma strangled and was explicitly stated to be superior to Dormammu, whose power could destroy the Dark Dimension, which exists above the sixth dimension.
Dynamite
- His magic threatened to cause the Mayan prophecy, which would cause time to devour itself, tear Earth apart, and give him the power to remake the world.
- Destroying Gath’s amulet would break time and consume the entire timeline.
Scathach
Sonja has obtained her power by merging with her and killed her in battle twice.
- Her magic coveredan entire island. (271.45 tons of TNT)
- Overpowered Kulan Gath when they clashed and claims she could kill him.
- Summoned a forest fire from the mountains, burning an entire forest “with fantastic speed”
- Gave her power to countless Sonjas across the multiverse. This includes Hell Sonja, who created a planet that’s connected to the entire multiverse.
Thulsa Doom
Sonja has fought Doom before, having drawn blood from him and inflicted mortal wounds.
- Can cut grown men in half.
- Can destroy stone giantswith a single energy blast.
- Raised Atlantis from the ocean depths, creating a massive flood that engulfed the surrounding area. (22.01 megatons - 88.04 megatons)
- Absorbed the power of a godthat incinerated Atlantis, which he was at the epicenter of and came out unharmed. (15.05 gigatons)
- Can catch arrows mid-flight.
Spider-Man
Sonja and Spider-Man have crossed over on two occasions, which are both considered canon to Marvel and Dynamite. The first team-up had Sonja kill demons that were said to be capable of killing Spider-Man, and the second had her hold her own against him and his villains, even nearly killing them at points.
- Pushed Hulk out of the way of an antimatter bomb. (1.2 kilotons and Mach 409.51)
- Survived a mountain exploding. (606 kilotons)
- Fought Luke Cage and matched his strength, to the point he was worried they’d wind up killing each other.
- Luke survived an explosion from Ultron’s sentries that destroyed Manhattan. (3.23 kilotons)
- Survived being hit with enough electromagnetic energy to destroy a city. (10 megatons)
- Tanked a blast from the Scepter of the Manticore, whose energy could power the Sandman, which requires 1 exajoule of energy. (239 megatons)
- Has regularly beaten Electro, who could power a Quantum Particle engine that would destroy New York. (316.5 megatons) and once absorbed all the energy in New York City. (754 megatons)
- Dodged Lightmaster's light beams.
- Has dodged lasers explicitly stated to be light speed.
- Blitzed Daredevil, who could barely track Spider-Man with all his speed and reflexes.
Venom
Sonja’s fought Venom before, even drawing blood from him and dodging his attacks while he was bloodlusted.
- Has been consistently shown as stronger than Spider-Man, even with just the symbiote, and Peter’s admitted Venom could easily kill him. He’s also shown to be way faster, and has stated Spider-Man’s movements are in slow motion to him.
- While weakened, he lifts up a collapsing ferris wheel, and was confident he could have supported its weight without Spider-Man's help.
- The average ferris wheel can weigh between 32-35 tons.
- Should be superior to other counterparts such as Ultimate Venom, who caused damage on a city block during a casual stroll (27.43 tons), and Mac Gargan Venom, who survived an explosion from Mar-Vell. (1.83 kilotons)
- Tanked a sound blast that broke windows for 10 miles. (47.4 - 106 kilotons)
- Fought Jack O’Lantern, who can harm suits capable of withstanding 50 megaton nukes.
Vampirella
Sonja and Vampirella have fought each other multiple times, with Sonja being on par with her at minimum. She’s managed to defeat a bloodlusted and pissed off Vampirella despite admitting Vampi had a physical edge over her, killedher in their rematch while Vamprella was amped, and defeated her when briefly turned into a vampire.
- Snapped a man’s fingers by grabbing his hand and can rip people to shreds.
- Her claws can tear through a car.
- Pushed the Lincoln Memorial, which weighs 175 tons counting the pedestal.
- Moves at super speed and is a casual bullet timer.
- Throws a grenade back at some guards and seemingly tanks the explosion.
Miscellaneous
Anything listed here can be summed up as “Sonja has fought the characters who performed these feats, killed them, or should naturally be superior to them.”- Ariok can cut crossbow bolts out of the air and attack others at FTE speeds.
- Suvara can slice men in half and cut their heads in two.
- Sotha created and manipulated a light that spread across the sky even at night, stretched from horizon to horizon, grew brighter as time went on, and lasted 20 hours, which dispersed upon his death (5.53 tons of TNT)
- Qin Lo summoned stormswith his presence, which is also confirmed by the narration. (At least 63.98 kilotons since they reach the horizon)
- Tendra can level a mountain with even a fraction of her power.
Weaknesses
Xena
Xena may be a dangerous warrior, but she is still human at the end of the day and has died before, whether through poisons, crucifixion, decapitation, slicing her throat, or being stabbed in the back. And despite her endurance and stubborn willpower, sufficient enough damage or getting shot in the chest will put her down like anyone else.
In terms of mental weaknesses, while Xena might be able to resist the effects of brainwashing or mind control, that doesn’t make her immune. There have been a few instances where the gods or other entities have manipulated her via brainwashing and empathic control. She also has a tendency to be impulsive and hot headed, which has led to her losing her more powerful abilities in the past. There have also been times where she’s lapsed into her more brutal warlord persona, though it mainly crops up when leading armies and became less of an issue as the series went on.
Even her weapons aren’t without their downsides. Her sword and chakram have broken against or failed to cut through tougher opponents and metals, with the chakram in particular suffering from this the most. Some opponents have caught it mid-flight without being cut, even when it split in half, and at one point it failed to break through a door.
Red Sonja
Though she’s certainly a fierce warrior, Sonja is far from infallible. She’s been beaten before and has died from blood loss, decapitation, being stabbed through the chest, and overexerting herself in the past. And while she resists them to an extent, poisons will still affect her just like any other man or woman, as will drugs, powders, and sleep potions. Some Sonjas have even shown seasickness (though this seems to vary depending on the incarnation) or leek allergies.
Another inconsistency is her temper. While some versions of Sonja can remain calm and collected even in the worst situations, others are more hotheaded and reckless. Examples include Sonja the Red killing a persistent suitor while drunk, Lady Sonja challenging a giant sea monster to a fight and accidentally wiping out the surrounding city, or Gail Simone’s Sonja going berserk in battle and immediately eating shit.
The potency of her resistances also tends to vary. Unlike her Marvel counterpart, Dynamite’s Sonja has fallen victim to illusions before, and there have been times where she’s been mind controlled, possessed, or hypnotized despite resisting them in other stories.
And while her broadsword is extremely durable, it’s not indestructible and has been destroyed plenty of times during battle. Though this hasn’t stopped her from using it anyway.
Art
(Studio8558)
Before the Verdict
Xena
The Xenaverse heroes’ higher tier durability feats
Before we go all in discussing feats from the Xenaverse’s gods, let’s talk about its main heroes. They’ve displayed some impressive feats of durability, but there are a few that particularly stick out.Let’s start with Hercules. The episode “City of Evil” has him tank an explosion from the Necronomicon’s magic, which was calculated at almost 5 tons of TNT. Not that impressive compared to some of the other feats we’ll talk about, but you could arguably get it higher since that same energy created a storm calculated anywhere from nearly 64 kilotons of TNT to a little over 10 megatons.
This isn’t the first time Hercules has taken attacks from these kinds of artifacts either. He’s survived being blasted by Gimle’s horn, which completely froze Asgard, and an explosion from Atlantean crystals that powered a death ray capable of blowing up an island. However, the attacks he survived were nowhere close to their full output. The worst Gimle’s horn did was shake the cave he was in, and while he was completely unharmed by the Atlantean crystal, its explosion only destroyed a small carriage.
When it comes to Xena: Warrior Princess, the best durability feats from its main cast are Xena, Gabrielle, and an army surviving this massive explosion and Gabrielle tanking the universe being destroyed and reset, which both have major issues. Xena, the army, and especially Gabrielle weren’t at the point of impact for the explosion, so even if we’re generous and assume the explosion was in the kiloton range, the output they took would be drastically lowered by surface area. Meanwhile, Gabrielle’s universe feat is a major outlier that’s way above what she or anyone else in the franchise has normally shown. Not only has she been consistently knocked out by far less, if we took this feat at face value, it would put her beyond even top tiers like Dahak, which doesn’t make any sense.
Can Xena scale to Poseidon’s death?
If you’ve been paying attention, you’d notice there are a few feats in Xena whose results stick out like a sore thumb, which starts with the death of Poseidon. Though it might not seem that impressive visually, the god of the seas being evaporated by a stray blast gets an absurdly high number when calculated. By considering factors such as the distance in the horizon, the change in temperature of Athens, and the kinetic energy of Poseidon’s oceanic body moving, the end result of that blast’s power is high into the gigaton range. It’s FAR beyond the gods’ usual feats of destroying buildings and making storms, so it begs the question: is this feat usable for powerscaling?Arguments for it
While it’s true this is one of the rare times an Olympian displays this kind of power on screen, the feat itself should still be valid. The energy generated from the feat comes from Xena smacking away Hades’ fireball into Poseidon, and even if we say Poseidon evaporating was the result of Xena’s god slaying ability, the fireball being able to move that much water still backs up the result.
The fact this happens during a story that kills off several major characters means it isn’t some minor event. And while the god slaying gave Xena the ability to kill gods, she still held her own against them numerous times without it. The gods should also be capable of replicating this feat since Zeus had to make a rule preventing them from killing each other and Hades’ fireball caused Poseidon’s death in the first place.
As for the feat reaching into the gigaton range, there are several examples you could use to support this.
Hephaestus’ statement of disintegrating mountains could also reach the gigaton range depending on how you interpret “disintegrate,” and you can argue it’s consistent since the novel treats this as a recurring event.
Poseidon and his offspring have displayed oceanic feats similar to his death, like how it was said his son Triton’s death would cause the oceans to die, or how he enchanted his granddaughter Nautica with a heart that warms the seas and would freeze them if she were ever removed. We even see her visibly affect the seas when placed back in, which has been calculated to 16.8 teratons. This surpasses Poseidon’s feat by over 1000 times, meaning it more than backs up the output.
But we’re still not done because there’s a feat that could get even higher than that! In his self-titled episode, Apollo was able to directly affect the sun with his emotional state (0:05-0:21) and by flying into it (0:50). Considering the sun produces 3.8 x 10^26 joules of energy (or 90 petatons) every second, this means to make it darker, Apollo would need to output 142.8 petatons of TNT, which is millions of times stronger than Poseidon’s death. Keep in mind that’s a low end for him making it darker. And you could easily make an argument for Xena scaling to it since she’s around the same level of power as Hercules, who has casually beaten Apollo on multiple occasions.
TL;DR
Even if you want to argue the attack that killed Poseidon was amped, it doesn’t change anything. The yield for his death is still valid since Hades’ fireball moved his massive, watery body, the other gods could replicate it since they can kill each other, and they can reach similar or higher outputs individually.
Arguments against it
Though the above section gave lengthy arguments to justify why Poseidon’s death feat is usable, there are several problems with its arguments and some of the feats used to justify its consistency.
Let’s start with the main focal point of this debate: Poseidon’s death itself.
In the scene where he died, Xena possessed her god slaying ability, which she demonstrated multiple times against the Olympians. This is the same power that ensures any damage she inflicts, even if it’s as incidental as a deflected attack creating debris, will kill a god. And what caused Poseidon’s death? An energy blast from Hades that Xena deflected, meaning the attack was amped at the time. Why do I say that? Because an earlier episode depicts Xena without the god slaying ability deflecting Hades’ blast back at him, and it merely knocks him out. So this feat comes from an amp that nobody else would scale to.
This should be enough to discredit it, but let’s go over the rest of the arguments listed and see if they check out.
Hephaestus statement: While it’s not unheard of for novel adaptations to provide major buffs, Hephaestus being able to destroy mountains is a bit hard to swallow. Even taking into account that the narration says he’s done it multiple times, it’s far beyond anything he’s done on screen, where his best feats are destroying a rock and hitting Xena with enough force to shatter a pillar (0:39 - 0:46). But for the sake of argument let’s assume the mountain statement is usable. Using it as evidence for consistency is still a bit shaky when both ends of the mountain disintegration come out at low gigatons vs the 86.16 gigaton output from Poseidon, meaning there’d be a 49x difference at minimum between the main feat and the statement used to support it.
Poseidon's descendants affecting the ocean: These do back up the idea that his death feat could be used for scaling, given hisson and granddaughter have multiple statements of affecting the oceans, with Nautica’s enchantment visibly doing so when she returns. Since Poseidon was the one that gave her this ability and it’s been calculated at thousands of times stronger, you could argue this makes his death’s output consistent even if Nautica’s feat isn’t necessarily combat related. It’s just that the context given above makes it extremely fishy to use Poseidon’s death feat.
TL;DR
Poseidon’s death feat is caused by an amp that nobody in the series should scale to. However, his descendants and fellow gods can back up or even surpass its yield via statements, Nautica warming the sea, or Apollo affecting the sun.
Whether Hephaestus’ mountain busting is usable depends on how much you value lore scaling vs visual feats. It’s consistent going by the lore but inconsistent with the feats he’s shown on screen.
The Gods’ Earth shaking statements
In the series finale of Legendary Journeys and the 2006 Xena comic, we get two statements about the gods shaking the Earth during their wars. The first comes from Ares stating the war between the gods and Titans shook the Earth, and the second comes from the narration describing “And a war was sparked which shook the very heavens and all the Earth.” Considering the output such a feat would require, this sounds like it could be used as support for the Poseidon feat listed above, especially since it would’ve been a group effort. So why are we giving it its own section? Well, when you dig deeper, the statements completely fall apart.The most obvious problem is these statements are nothing more than hyperbole.
Ares’ is delivered in a tone that’s clearly meant to sound impressive and build up hype. Even if we assume he’s speaking truthfully about the war between the gods and Titans shaking the Earth, the lore adds in a ton of variables that make this statement far less impressive. Not only were there hundreds of Titans, they were already weakened at the time from battling Dahak, and Zeus- who’s meant to be the strongest of the gods- still needed an amp to defeat them. So not only do we have a vague number for how many were involved in this “feat,” one party was drastically weakened while the other required a nonstandard amp.
However, these problems don’t apply to the Greek and Egyptian war. Not only are the two pantheons depicted as relatively on par with each other, we can use what’s shown in the comic to say there were at least 14 gods involved overall. Dividing the teraton result of the Earth shaking feat between them, this means each god would have to be exerting a force of 76.13 gigatons. This is only a 1.13x difference between this feat and Poseidon’s death… but there’s still the problem of context. The comic’s narration is all we have to go off of for how destructive the war is, and while we do get a montage of the Greek and Egyptian gods fighting, the end results aren’t really all that destructive. The worst that happens is a village gets burned down, and that could just be chalked up to collateral damage. So unfortunately, both of these statements are completely bunk.
Dahak scaling?
Going off the above explanations, you might be wondering why we included Dahak among the characters Xena would scale to. If he’s superior to the Olympians by feats and from a narrative perspective, how would Xena be able to scale to him?Well, the thing is she wouldn’t scale to him fully. It would be more accurate to say that she would downscale from Dahak to a degree. This might seem weird seeing how they’ve never actually fought each other (the closest they get is Xena destroying the portal meant to summon him), but there are a few throughlines. The start of the Dahak storyline in Xena has her battle The Deliverer, a servant who’d been empowered by the dark god. When the Dahak storyline continued in Legendary Journeys, Hercules fought and killed Gilgamesh, another servant of Dahak who’d undergone similar enhancements, and even defeated Dahak himself.
Granted, Herc never really fought Dahak physically and spent most of it dodging his attacks (0:34-0:37, 0:48-1:02), but he did survive getting impaled by his pincers (0:16-0:23) and worked with Iolaus to throw him off a cliff (1:05). It’s not exactly 1:1 scaling, but the fact that Hercules could survive Dahak’s attacks at all is still impressive. Just being in the same building as Dahak left Ares incredibly weakened, and Dahak wasn’t even in his true form at the time! Meanwhile, Hercules was completely unaffected even against his vessel and true form.
Since Xena is shown to be on roughly the same level as Hercules, it would make sense for her to be comparable to this. Especially when you consider that both of them have harmed and endured attacks (0:41) from the Titans, the same people that defeated Dahak through a team effort. Admittedly, this is a bit of a stretch when you factor in the Titans numbered somewhere in the hundreds and they were all weakened from fighting him, but it would still prove Hercules and Xena can downscale from him.
Does any of this make sense narratively? No. Even ignoring the question of how far they would scale down, this argument would mean that Hercules and Xena are more powerful than the Olympians as a whole. While it’s true they’ve defeated some of the gods one-on-one, saying they’re above all of them combined is ludicrous.
However, with what we’re shown of their fights with Dahak’s servants and the brief struggle between him and Hercules, it’s clear they can still contend with Dahak and those he empowers. Thus it’s plausible they would downscale to some nebulous, unknown degree.
I’ll admit the arguments here are a bit shaky, but we’re mainly including them to balance out the arguments for Sonja scaling to the top tiers of her universe.
Are the effects of Strife’s death consistent for the gods?
In the Legendary Journeys episode “Armageddon Now,” Callisto uses the Hind’s Blood Dagger to kill the minor god Strife, resulting in storms and violent quakes that reach as far as the Sovereign’s prison, which exists between worlds and is outside the timeline. This is arguably the highest feat shown by any character in the Xenaverse, and given that he’s a minor god, it would be natural to assume the deaths of other, stronger gods would cause equal if not greater devastation. Unfortunately, the franchise repeatedly contradicts itself in this regard.Whereas deities like Zeus could cause storms upon dying, there are numerous occurrences where a god’s death causes little to no destruction or fanfare. Hera dies in the same episode as Zeus and nothing happens afterward. Numerous Olympians are killed off in Xena’s season 5 finale, yet the worst that happens are a few mild tremors and flashes of lightning. You could chalk this up to that season’s depictions of the gods being inconsistent with how they were previously, but the lack of spectacle in their deaths precedes even this arc.
The Xena episode “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” aired over a year prior to “Armageddon Now,” and it depicts Bacchus dying without any effect on the world. Later episodes have gods like Callisto and Kal bite the dust, and the worst that happens is lightning or their body getting incinerated. Even in episodes that take place after Strife’s death, Legendary Journeys has several gods die on screen, yet there aren’t any aftereffects, making Strife’s death feel like a bizarre outlier. And Strife himself isn’t consistent with this, either. The Young Hercules episode “Mila” has him, Ares, and Discord all get disintegrated by a giant explosion, but nothing happens in response. Considering the deaths shown above, this should have killed them, but all three show up perfectly fine later in the timeline.
Apollo’s flight to the sun
Since we’re on a roll talking about consistency with the gods’ feats, let’s talk about Apollo. His self-titled Young Hercules episode has a scene where he leaves a beach party by flying into the sun. Considering he reaches it in about 17 seconds, this would come out to a little over 29 times the speed of light.“But that’s just Apollo’s travel speed. He doesn’t necessarily have those kinds of reactions. Even if he did, would anyone scale to him?”
He kinda does. A later episode of Legendary Journeys has him and Hercules engage in an extremely low budget race on their surfboards, during which they’re shown reacting to the events around them. With this example, you could easily make an argument for Apollo’s sun trip applying to his reaction speed. And since Hercules kept up with him during the race and in battle, he could scale to this as well. This in turn would let Xena scale since she was on par with Hercules in speed, if not faster than him.
“But isn’t this like with Strife’s death where this one feat is drastically above all others in the series? Doesn’t that make this an outlier?”
While there aren’t any equivalents shown on screen, we do get some backing evidence from the Legendary Journeys novel “The First Casualty,” where it’s stated that only a god is able to fly to the moon. The wording is a bit vague, but it does support the gods being able to pull off similar feats. However, much like Hephaestus’ mountain statement, there aren’t any on screen feats to make it consistent. Even factoring in extended media, the highest feat you can use, Xena dodging lightning, is still over 49,000 times slower than Apollo’s feat. With a difference that big, there’s no other choice but to label this as a major outlier.
And speaking of lightning…
Lightning feats in the Xenaverse
Some of the best speed feats in the Xenaverse involve the use of lightning, whether it’s Ares calling it down from the sky, teenage Hercules dodging and blocking lightning attacks from the gods, older Hercules pushing his ex-wife Serena away before lightning can strike and dodging Zeus’ lightning from a close distance, or Xena dodging bolts from Callisto and Yat’s lightning attacks.It’s happened enough to be consistent, but you might have noticed only the Yat feat was given a calculation. Why is that? In order to calculate speed, there needs to be multiple frames to prove that someone or something is moving in tandem with a person or object. If the thing being dodged travels within a single frame, there’s no way to prove in tandem movement. And unfortunately, that rule applies to the clips of Ares summoning lightning, Hercules pushing Serena, and Young Herc dodging those bolts.
The only clips where this rule wouldn’t apply are the lightning dodge from Xena’s PS1 game, Hercules dodging Zeus’ lightning, and, surprisingly enough, Young Hercules blocking Discord’s bolt with a log.
But what about when Xena dodges Callisto’s bolts in “Maternal Instincts”? Unfortunately, when inspecting the footage closely, this becomes a bit harder to quantify. The first bolt is fired after Xena finishes her cartwheel, and since it travels within one frame, there’s no way to prove in tandem movement. The second bolt has similar problems. Even though Xena actually moves some distance to avoid it, it also travels in one frame. And the last two bolts miss Xena entirely because she was already out of range when they appeared on screen, which prevents her from having in tandem movements or reactions to it.
Aside from the log feat and Xena outrunning lightning, the only other lightning feats that can be calculated are Hercules pushing Serena and moving in tandem with Zeus’ lightning. Of these two, that first feat is less impressive, as it’s only calculating how fast he would’ve been moving before the lightning flashes on screen. That comes out to 24 m/s. Certainly impressive by real life standards, faster than Usain Bolt’s highest speed of 10.44 m/s, but it’s nothing compared to some of the other speed feats we’ve covered in this blog.
With Hercules moving in tandem with Zeus’ lightning, we’ve actually got something notable. Going off what’s presented in the scene, Hercules would’ve been about 3.474 meters from Zeus and the lightning would’ve reached him in 50 microseconds. For him to move in tandem with the lightning as it’s moving toward him would require speeds around Mach 202.59. This is only a 2.58 times difference compared to Xena’s lightning dodge, but the gap can be lowered even further.
Dahak moving the moon to create a solar eclipse gets higher numbers of Mach 249, lessening the gap to 2.1 times. While this comes from an explicitly high tier character, it’s also an extremely casual feat and not so big that the rest of the cast couldn’t scale.
TL;DR
Most lightning feats in the Xenaverse can’t be quantified because they only happen in one frame, but the few that can back up the Mach 523 feat from Xena’s PS1 game.
The Kronos Stone and the canonicity of Battle for Mount Olympus
One of the most important artifacts in the Xenaverse is the Kronos Stone, most prominently featured in Hercules and Xena: The Battle for Mount Olympus, where the entire plot hinges around it. The film’s opening narration declares “He who held the stone held the world,” and various statements throughout the movie say it’s the source of the Olympians’ powers and whoever wields it shall rule the universe. Considering this is mythology we’re talking about, surely this must mean the stone has some control over the universe and would be universe level, right?Sad to say, but no. The best we get for it is Porphyrion stating he’ll use it to destroy Earth. In terms of actual feats, the stone’s highest showing is creating a fissure deep inside Earth when it breaks in half, which would come out to 176 megatons of TNT. Still, considering Xena and Hercules could fight the Titans while they were amped by this power, this gives them some decent buffs.
Unfortunately, these buffs are hampered by the fact that Battle for Mount Olympus is entirely non canon. Neither series acknowledges its events, and the few references we do get aren’t all that convincing. One of the movie’s Titans, Mnemosyne, later shows up in the Legendary Journeys episode “Let There Be Light,” but she has nothing in common with her movie self outside of the name. Her design is completely different, her prison is depicted as a cave rather than the center of the Earth, and the episode treats it as the first time she and Hercules have met. The only other explicit reference to the movie is the in-universe producers of Legendary Journeys pitching it as a project while Kevin Sorbo is unavailable. In other words, anything that comes from this movie is rendered null and void. It’s canonically considered a fictional spin-off in-universe, and the one thing that did cross over into the show doesn’t match her movie self at all.
Even without that, the movie itself heavily contradicts how the Kronos Stone and Titans are depicted in Hercules and Xena’s series.
The Titans in the shows are generally shown to be serious and level headed, while their cartoon selves spend most of their screen time acting like immature, bumbling idiots. Granted, there are Titans like that in Legendary Journeys, but these traits don't apply to the ones adapted into the movie. The most notable among them is Crius, who appeared in Xena two years prior. And whereas the movie depicts him as a dimwitted Titan of wind, Crius in the show lacks any special powers and seems to be decently intelligent. There’s also the slight problem that he dies in his debut episode, making his appearance in Battle for Mount Olympus canonically impossible.
Even if we ignore that, there’s still the problem that the Kronos Stone’s powers don’t match between the movie and the shows. The Kronos Stone shown in Legendary Journeys and Young Hercules grants its user control over time and the powers of a god, including their ability to shoot lightning. When wielded by a god, their energy blasts and strength are enhanced, granting Zeus the strength to defeat the Titans and making the other gods stronger than him.
Meanwhile, Battle for Mount Olympus’ Kronos Stone gives control over the Titans, the ability to change sizes, evolve into stronger forms, turn others into animals, and nullify the Olympians’ powers. And whereas breaking it caused widespread destruction in the movie, its live action counterpart is broken and destroyed on several occasions with no ill effects. Its introductory episode even has it shatter and lose its powers from a horse stepping on it, and nothing bad happens.
And that’s without bringing up another major contradiction, that being Hera in Battle for Mount Olympus freely using the Kronos Stone after stealing it. The Young Hercules episode “The Prize'' establishes that the only way a god can use the Kronos Stone is after they freely receive it from a mortal. It’s even stated at the beginning of the episode that if the gods violate this rule and take the Kronos Stone for themselves, it will be powerless.
TL;DR
Battle for Mount Olympus could potentially buff Xena to planet level, but it’s a non canon movie that heavily contradicts its source material and is considered a fictional spin-off in-universe.
Sonja
Compositing Red Sonja
One thing you may have noticed in this blog is how there have been several references to Sonja’s differing histories and reincarnations. It begs the question, do these different histories and versions conflict too heavily to composite Sonja?The answer to that is a bit complicated. When they first published Red Sonja’s comics, Dynamite heavily implied their series was meant to serve as a continuation of the character’s adventures in Marvel. This is most explicit when looking at the blatant references to those adventures throughout the run, issue 12’s notes page, and Kulan Gath’s profile in the Prophecy miniseries. which references his bone dragon being his method of long distance transportation.
But in spite of these references, Dynamite’s later issues muddy those claims. Sonja’s origin is noticeably different from Marvel’s telling, and Suumaro is treated as someone Sonja had just met, whereas his Marvel counterpart had a long history with Sonja, which- if it’s meant as a continuation- should have already happened in the established timeline. This is even more apparent considering the references to Marvel Sonja are stories that take place long after Marvel Suumaro’s death. And it’s not a case of two characters coincidentally sharing the same name since bothversions are said to be the son of Quillos.
However, these contradictions are mended in issue 29, where dialogue between Sonja and Scathach features some interesting implications. Scathach tells Sonja “You are not the first vessel to carry this warrior soul, and you will not be the last” and when Sonja renounces Scathach, the goddess responds “This is not the first time we have played this scene [out],” a subtle reference to when these same events happened in Marvel. Issue 34 also has a disguised Kulan Gath reveal that he and Sonja have talked before in one of her previous incarnations, and that she reincarnates each time she dies. This is even shown at the end of the issue.
Later series further expand on the reincarnation. Volume 4 issue 13 has Sonja say that she’s gone to Hell “more than once,” with the art drawing parallels to her trip in volume 1, and issue 14 has Charon reference meeting her soul in the past. Red Sonja: Black, White, Red issue 2 features a story where an older Sonja admits she’s died and been reborn multiple times, and the story ends with her fading away to be reincarnated. Issue 4 depicts an elderly version of Sonja where the narration says she’s lived countless lives across time and space. The Sonjaversal series goes even further by revealing that Sonja’s reincarnations span across universes.
Even without blatantly spelling it out, Sonja’s writers have had her reference events or crossovers from previous runs despite all of her solos completely overhauling her backstory and established history. You could argue this is just a coincidence, but there’s still a way to argue for most Sonjas scaling to each other.
Despite their differing backgrounds and personalities, they’re ultimately not too different when it comes to feats and abilities. Even taking into account that some of them are blessed by Scathach, all Sonjas have shown the same level of skill, possess similar feats, and multiple iterations have been shown killing Kulan Gath, who remains the same throughout all his resurrections. This includes Amy Chu’s Sonja, who killed Gath on two separate occasions despite being a regular human with no powers or godly blessings.
TL;DR
There’s a basis in canon for Sonja being continually reincarnated whether it’s blatantly spelled out or done by referencing events the current run’s Sonja couldn’t have experienced. Additionally, most incarnations have accomplished or should generally scale to similar feats.
Scaling Sonja to Marvel’s Kulan Gath
One of the more questionable aspects of Red Sonja’s power scaling comes in the form of the wizard Kulan Gath. On the surface, it might not seem too bad since she’s stated to have killed him in Marvel and has explicitly killed him several times in Dynamite, so that should imply they’re on a similar level of power. However, there’s a pretty big elephant in the room.During the Savage Avengers series, Kulan Gath is revived, and he gains a massive buff compared to his previous appearances. He takes on the likes of Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom and overpowers them, is called the strongest wizard on Earth, and demolishes a combined army of heroes and villains after eating Shuma Gorath. It’s a bit different from the old days where he was getting punched out by Spider-Man and killed by Sonja.
Stranger still is that the series has several references to Kulan’s previous, comparatively weaker appearances in Uncanny X-Men. There’s an entire flashback in issue 0, Strange referencing it in issue 8, a shot of him looming over a crucified Spider-Man in issue 11, or Captain America referencing that encounter in issue 24. Yet none of it explains the massive power gap between his last appearances and this one. While there is an explanation given for how his power continually rises throughout the series (Kulan feasting on Shula Gorath to amp himself) he only begins doing this after his battle with Strange, Doom, and Conan.
With this in mind, it begs the question, should Sonja scale to Kulan’s showings of power during Savage Avengers?
To be honest, there are arguments that could be made for either side.
On one hand, Kulan’s Savage Avengers feats are far beyond what he had shown during his previous appearances, and an older Conan blatantly stood no chance against a peak, Shuma-amped Kulan. He needed Doom’s enchanted armor and several nonstandard items to stand a chance, and he still lost. Even the comic says that Kulan had killed Conan countless times.
However, while the above statement is true, the series also states that Conan has killed Kulan several times. And it should be noted there is context behind the fight between older Conan and Kulan. The nonstandard items were necessary because Conan had grown weaker in his old age, and his goal wasn’t to kill Kulan. It was merely to buy time for Kang to enter the past.
Even if his goals were to kill Kulan, the fight pitted an older, weaker Conan against a Kulan who was amped beyond his normal power. When that same amped Kulan went back in time, a prime Conan put up a better fight and mortally wounded him without any amps or special equipment.
Marvel Zombies scaling?
Thicc Grimes here once again. Through both of their crossovers with Ash Williams, it should be mentioned that Ash himself has tangled with Marvel characters in the past.I have already gone over this in the Ash Williams VS Frank West blog, but in short, this scaling specifically is usually taken out of context. The two most notable are Ash taking a hit from The Sentry and punching Spider-Man. The Sentry thing is just simply not a feat, as Ash was already dead and in the afterlife at the moment.
You could argue it as a feat for Ash's soul, but that's not something either of these ladies should scale to and even then, it's obvious Sentry wasn't taking Ash very seriously there. As for punching Spider-Man, ignoring that this is already an alternate universe counterpart and just wouldn't have 616 stats… Spider-Man as a character is notorious for holding back and was currently already heavily injured. So Ash sucker-punching him has little ground to stand on for scaling.
TL;DR
Scaling to Marvel feats through this specifically is moot for the most part.
Verdict
Ah, Xena vs Red Sonja. One of the classic legacy matches in the VS community, and one that hasn’t really been looked into all that well. Sure, there’s been a Comicvine thread that debated this match a decade ago and a Xena respect thread that covered her in-depth, but in terms of overall powerscaling, nobody has bothered to do a modern deep dive into either of these series to figure out who wins or how powerful their universes are.
After spending over a year of research on Sonja’s side and months of sifting through various shows, novels, comics, and games, I think it’s time to finally settle the age-old question of who would win in a fight: the Warrior Princess or the She-Devil with a Sword?
Stats
In terms of direct feats, they’re mostly comparable. Xena’s been able to knock around a man wearing armor, snap ribs, split skulls, decapitate several monsters, cut a grown woman to pieces, and knock over giants. That’s all well and good, but Sonja has some impressive feats of her own like cuttingthrough metal armor, pulling a boat to shore, demolishing walls, sending steel doors flying, or cutting through gold skin. Though when it comes down to it, none of Xena’s direct strength feats are quite on the level of “swinging a sword hard enough to damage a planet sized mech.”That last feat is something even Xena’s best scaling can’t match, but I’ll put that aside since I want to talk about the rest of their stats.
Their durability is a completely different story. Both have shown some impressive pain tolerance, with Xena enduring things like being shot by arrows, getting smacked into a pillar hard enough to break it (0:39 - 0:46), telekinetic attacks that could break stone, being crucified and having her legs broken, her spine getting snapped by her own chakram, having a temple collapse on her hard enough to create Small Building levels of energy, and being caught in this massive explosion that incinerated some horses and soldiers. Fairly impressive, but Sonja’s endured the same kind of punishment and worse, such as being shot in the shoulder, side, leg, and boob; being crushed by a massive stalactite, having her heart ripped out, and being at the epicenter of an explosion of lightning; which has been calculated at over 900 tons of TNT (or Multi-City Block), and that was after stabbing herself in the heart.
But where Sonja took durability, speed is a bit more questionable. Their casual feats are actually pretty comparable. Xena’s caught crossbowbolts a few times? Sonja’s done the same and dodged them from behind. Xena’s dodged her ricocheting chakram, which can reach speeds almost faster than the eye can track? Sonja’s got statements and several instances of moving faster than eyesight even while supposedly depowered. Xena has repeatedly caught arrows to the point of grabbing multiple in midair, ducking under them, and deflecting them with her weapons and bare hands? Sonja’s also caught them, dodged them at close range and last second, and has way more examples of cutting arrows mid-flight; to the point she can defend against an entire legion. But Xena’s higher end feats like dodging a spaceship in reentry and actively dodging lightning give her a leg up, getting near Mach 23 and over Mach 523, respectively. These are well beyond anything Sonja’s shown, even when counting her high ends like dodging bullets.
Of course, that’s just with their own feats. Now let’s talk about everyone’s favorite part of VS debates: powerscaling. And oh boy, do we have some major divides in stats!
Starting off with lower tier feats, we have Scathach creating a massive blast that covered an island, calculated at over 271 tons of TNT. Decently more powerful than the building destruction shown by Callisto and Valesca, but Xena can get way higher, like when Hercules unfroze a lake, which is anywhere from 280 tons of TNT to 2.8 kilotons. Or you could scale her to Hercules surviving the energy of the Necronomicon’s storm, which would get nearly 64 kilotons at a low end and 10 megatons at a high end. However, Sonja could match the lower end of that from killing Qin Lo, whose presence created storms that also reached the horizon.
And when it comes to the higher interpretations, Sonja’s canonical scaling to Spider-Man would let her scale to a similar 10 megatons from Peter tanking enough electromagnetic energy to destroy a city or higher into hundreds of megatons through Spidey’s own feats and beating up Electro. But things get a bit tricky when we start scaling to the gods and villains of their verses. The best feat we can give Sonja in numbers is Thulsa Doom being unharmed by Atlantis’ incineration, which is worth 15 gigatons. Xena completely blows this out of the water with Poseidon’s death, which gets 86 gigatons. That’s a decent AP advantage on its own, but she can be argued even higher with Nautica heating up the oceans generating teratons or Apollo getting petatons from affecting the sun.
It might seem like Sonja’s outmatched here, but she can pull ahead with her verse’s cosmic feats. Thanks to regularly matching Conan and even defeating him in battle, she should be able to scale to the Cimmerian’s feats of shattering a stone that contained a pocket universe and killing the Devourer of Souls, who was amped by a power that could consume universes and destroy all creation. And because she’s repeatedly killed Kulan Gath and Scathach, she can scale to their feats of consuming timelines and empowering Hell Sonja to create Hell, a planet that’s intrinsically tied to the entire multiverse. We could even just outright scale Sonja to Zhaogeth, who’s so large that same Hell is his stomach.
By comparison, Xena doesn’t really have anything on that level. Aside from outliers like Gabrielle surviving a universal reset or Strife’s death shaking the universe, the best she has is planet level from harming some Titans who were amped by the Kronos Stone, and that comes from a non canon, in-universe movie.
Using scaling would also cost Xena her speed advantage. While they could debatably be considered equal from scaling to Ash, whose reacting to light comes out to 87% the speed of light, Sonja’s fights with Spider-Man and Venom would let her scale higher, given Spider-Man’s ability to dodge lightspeed lasers. We could also scale her to Conan’s fight with Wolverine, who has dodged an optic blast at 2 times the speed of light. This isn’t as big of a gap as Attack Potency, but it gives Sonja a close speed advantage over Xena.
Sonja takes the advantage in stats.
Tertiaries
When it comes to experience, both have fought through similar circumstances like fighting while blind and sick, taking on various monsters and gods, and taking on entire armies, but when it comes down to it, Sonja has had way more time doing so.Xena doesn’t really have an official age to go off besides writer Steve Sears saying she was intended to be in her early 20s at the start of the series, but even if she’s older, her 25 year long coma would drastically lower the time she spent adventuring. Most versions of Sonja have the same problem where their age is vague, but there have been a few where she’s remained active even in her elderly years. That on its own would make her more experienced, but if you want specific numbers Marvel’s Sonja started her career at 17 and continued into her 60s.
The gap only gets wider when we consider Sonja’s reincarnations that started at the dawn of mankind and have happened across time, space, and dimensions! Sure, Xena’s had her own reincarnations like Arminestra and Harry O’Casey, but unlike Sonja’s lives, they didn’t actively participate in combat. One was a pacifist who refused to resort to violence, and the other is a regular dentist aside from the rare occasions Xena’s memories flare up.
We could throw out reincarnations entirely and that still wouldn’t change anything. Sonja has seen nearly everything Xena can throw at her! Chakrams that ricochet across the battlefield? Dodged them before and ditto with attacks that ricochet. Fire breath? Seen it in the past and been hit by larger. Chi manipulation? As far as she’s concerned, she might as well be fighting another sorceress. Shamanism? This isn’t her first trip to the spirit world. Xena growing four arms by invoking a Hindu goddess? She’s killed four armed giants before. Xena comes back as a ghost upon dying? Sonja killed ghosts in her first Dynamite run. Even in the very unlikely event Xena tries seducing her, Sonja’s instantly shut down similar attempts. The one thing that would be new to her is the pressure points, but some of them inflict injuries she’s fought through before.
Needless to say, Sonja takes experience.
Intelligence is a bit harder to figure out. Both are masters of weaponry, have managed to create impressive strategies mid-fight, are skilled at creating traps and exploiting their surroundings, and have displayed similar levels of ingenuity when it comes to tricking or inconveniencing their opponents. The best I can do is say they’re tied in this field.
Arsenals
With how many weapons and artifacts both of these women have picked up throughout the years, it would be more surprising if they didn’t have any weapons that would be fitting for the job. And with how many there are to go over, I’ll split this into a few different sections.Armors and Defensive Power-Ups
This is a case of protection vs freedom of movement. Sonja’s bikini armor is specifically designed with speed and mobility in mind, and whether it’s chain mail, scale mail, or blade-proof meteor mesh, the bikini armor is made of tougher material. However, since Xena’s leather armor covers more of her body than Sonja’s, it would usually be more useful in a fight. While this advantage is rendered moot by the next category, Xena still has another way to defend herself with the Golden Shield. It’s temporary, but having complete invincibility for 30 seconds is pretty useful in a fight to the death. And even with these asterisks, it doesn’t change that Xena has the better armor.
Blades and Offensive Power-Ups
Starting with their smaller blades, both have hidden weapons in their clothes with Xena’s breast and boot dagger, while Sonja has knives in her loincloth, cuffs, and boots. Though when it comes down to it, Sonja’s dagger would prove deadlier thanks to Fyat’s poison. Since spilling even a single drop of blood will cause instant death, this means so much as grazing Xena with the dagger would be an instant win.And when it comes to their swords, Xena’s regular sword and spirit-slaying katana are cool, but Sonja has plenty more to choose from, each with their own advantages. Her standard broadsword has torn through metal armors, rendering Xena’s leather armor useless. The magic sword can fire shockwaves with a wide range, and the blessed sword’s electricity can let her attack Xena at a range with single bolts or a rain of them.
Even without her swords, Sonja has a way larger variety of blades to draw from, like axes, spears, and scythes, which she’s used far more extensively than Xena’s spear.
Though that’s not to say Xena doesn’t have any advantage here. Thanks to the PS1 game, she can amp her sword with elements like fire, ice, or electricity, giving her ways to combat Sonja’s blessed sword… but they come with a few asterisks.
Each of these power-ups only last 16 seconds, which is a really short timeframe to land a killing blow, especially against an opponent who’s potentially faster than you. And while the Frost Biter would be a quick game ender, the other two are a bit more debatable. Sonja’s withstood being struck by bolts of lightning, survived an explosion of it, and absorbed it with her base sword, so the Hand of Zeus wouldn’t be too much trouble. For the Promethean Blade, Sonja has survived complete immolation before, but these were because of nonstandard abilities like vampirism and an invincibility curse. Still, having her arm scorched raw by hellfire and being able to fight after her hands were burned to the bone, injuries far more severe than the fire that kills enemies in-game, means she should be able to tough it out enough to continue the fight.
Sonja takes the edge in bladed weapons.
Long Range Weaponry
To cut to the chase, this part is where Xena excels over Sonja. Both have used their knives and daggers for throwing, hit targets with their bows, and they’ve got some round objects they can ricochet around the battlefield, but that’s where the similarities end.Unlike Sonja’s lesor, the chakram is way more versatile since it can also be used at close range, and with the ability to split in two mid-flight, Sonja would have an extra projectile to dodge or blade to combat. Combine that with its ability to cut through weapons superior to steel, and it should render most of Sonja’s weapons useless.
If that wasn’t good enough, she’s also got the Super Chakram that could track Sonja’s position, which would make it even harder for Sonja if the fight switches to long range.
Other Items and Support
Okay, so Sonja is better equipped for close range and Xena’s superior in long range. What about their more miscellaneous items and support?In terms of their main rides, Argo II and Sonja’s horses don’t really add much to the debate. Unless the fight starts with jousting or trying to snipe each other on horseback, I don’t see what good they’ll do.
Sonja’s bone pouch would potentially give her a decent numbers advantage, but since Xena’s casually taken down armies and undead skeletons before, this wouldn’t be anything new to her.
The same applies to the Asp, which has similar potential with summoning gaunts and dwyers and reviving people. But in truth, the She-Devil loathes the damn thing, she didn’t even hesitate to destroy the Hunter’s Asp the second the story is over. Granted, she gets access to a second one, but she only used that to cast damnation on a false king who had ruined his people. While a possible option, it’s not one she would willingly choose.
On paper, I feel like this section would probably lean more toward Xena with her automatic health potions and Resurrection Jewels. However, in the context of a VS debate and with the massive AP gap, I’m not as sure. I could see the health potion kicking in if Sonja mortally wounds her, but the Resurrection Jewels are more questionable. They’d work if Xena was stabbed in a vital area, but probably not against a decapitation.
There’s also one other item in her arsenal: the Chains of Hephaestus. They might not be standard equipment per se, but they are a potential counter to one of Sonja’s more potent abilities. So let’s move on to those.
Skills, Abilities, and Transformations
This section is a bit hard to pin down since there are some parts where they’re evenly matched and others where one clearly overshadows.
They’ve both displayed skill with numerous weapons. Sonja’s got better statements for swordsmanship, while Xena has better feats. Meanwhile, Xena’s marksmanship feats are way more over the top, but Sonja’s are better in terms of speed, skill, and precision.
Both are experts at sneaking around unnoticed, but Xena’s sixth sense and Sonja’s honed senses would just cancel each other’s efforts.
Xena clearly takes agility with her superior showings and more varied uses of it in combat, but Sonja’s stamina would be more than enough to outlast her.
Xena’s trapping skills are decent, but Sonja’s version, combined with better strategic showings, would be much harder to fight against. And with Sonja’s training in thievery, it’s entirely possible she could frisk Xena’s weapons, even the chakram, without much trouble.
However, there’s one set of skills that Xena definitively takes over Sonja: CQC. And that’s in part from the sheer variety she has with her pressure points. With these, Xena can cause a wide variety of effects that Sonja doesn’t really have a counter to, like paralysis, turning her numb, instantly knocking her out, or killing her with a touch! “The Pinch” would be particularly devastating for killing Sonja… if this was warlord Xena she was fighting. Post reformation Xena, not so much. She’d probably use it to get information out of Sonja, but that might not even happen since, as pointed out in an official novel, she’s been using it less and less over time.
Xena’s chi manipulation could prove useful here since it gives her more ways of attacking from a distance, the ability to create barriers for defense, and even a way to end the fight with petrification… at least on the surface. The big problem is in order to manipulate chi, Xena needs to be in a very specific mindset she canonically has trouble getting into. Even if she did meet the requirements to freely manipulate her chi, its one major advantage- petrification- requires immense concentration and being completely still. That’s pretty much a death sentence here.
Fortunately, when looking into their transformations, we’ve actually got some decent abilities here. Xena’s good karma mode grants her a brief period of invincibility, the Kali avatar gives her an extra set of arms, and her ghost form ensures that she can keep fighting even if Sonja manages to kill her.
That said, Sonja’s Mother of Vengeance form has more than enough to keep Xena on her toes. Her pyrokinesis creating streams, barriers, and AOE explosions completely outdoes Xena’s Promethean Blade, and the Hand of Zeus is nothing compared to the electric explosions and ability to buff herself by absorbing electricity. Being able to completely possess your opponent is also a major boon.
But this transformation comes at a pretty major cost. The Mother might give Sonja all these powers, but it requires Scathach to take control of Sonja’s body. And Xena has a few ways of dealing with gods.
The god slaying is a fairly obvious solution. Since it lets her bypass the immortality of her universe’s gods and can kill them even with debris from her attacks, this should be an easy method of victory. Just stab her in the right spot and the Mother dies, right? Well, not exactly.
Xena’s god slaying ability is definitely overpowered, there’s no doubt about that… but that’s because the gods in her universe have really shitty pain tolerance without their immortality. With it, they can survive things like being shot by machine guns, stabbed through the chest and stomach, or getting engulfed in lava, but the instant something happens that cancels it out, they’re breaking a foot from falling too high, dying from getting stabbed in the stomach, and nearly dying in a collapsing shack. Considering the Mother of Vengeance is possessing Sonja, someone whose pain tolerance has let her survive far worse injuries, bypassing her immortality wouldn’t be nearly as fatal.
That said, the Chains of Hephaestus would actually be fairly useful here. Suppressing the Mother’s powers and trapping her in something she can’t escape would make it far easier to land a killing blow. The only problem is suppressing those powers means potentially canceling out Scathach’s influence entirely, which would render Sonja mortal and leave the Chains of Hephaestus practically worthless. So while it would be useful in stopping the Mother of Vengeance, Xena would still have to deal with a pissed off Sonja, which is only slightly better.
With everything considered, this category would more than likely be a draw.
So if both of them can do this upon death, how would it affect the verdict? Have we been gassing up Sonja just so she can fall victim to a post mortem possession from Xena? Well, to answer that, first we’ll need to look at how the possessions compare to both characters’ resistances.
Starting with Sonja’s possession, Xena has shown on more than a few occasions that she can resist the effects of things like hypnosis and the lotus fruits, which lull their victims into a sluggish, trance-like state. She could also overcome telepathy and briefly fought against a murderous rage instilled in her by the Furies, though aside from the lotus fruit, each of these examples had her briefly affected by or actively struggling to escape the effects. Eli’s hypnosis was able to lull her in, though how long that lasted is hard to tell. Aiden’s telepathy had her screaming in pain as she fought against it, and she could only overcome it for brief moments. And with the Fury’s curse, she blatantly tells Hercules “The voices are too strong,” “I’m fighting the rage, but the more I fight the more powerful it becomes,” and that he needs to “leave before the power consumes me.”
Basically, Xena can resist Sonja’s hypnotic trance and not pick up her sword, but it would take extreme difficulty.
And much like how Xena’s methods of possession are more direct, so are Sonja’s resistances to possession. She’s shown completely immunity to planet wide possession, and Kulan Gath- who can freely possess most people- is unable to possess her. Even if Xena tried anyway, she still wouldn’t have much luck. When possessing Autolycus she told him that the more he fought her, the less time she had to possess him. Considering Sonja’s willpower was so immense a demon had to spend entire days whittling away at it just to start possessing her, that should probably tell you Xena’s chances.
It might sound Xena-phobic, but she needed to steppe up her game if she wanted to hyrk out a win against Sonja.
The winner is Red Sonja.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Xena (1)- Thicc Grimes (pity vote)
Sonja (5)- Br3ndan5, Studio, Kaiser, Ducko, Bang
They’ve both displayed skill with numerous weapons. Sonja’s got better statements for swordsmanship, while Xena has better feats. Meanwhile, Xena’s marksmanship feats are way more over the top, but Sonja’s are better in terms of speed, skill, and precision.
Both are experts at sneaking around unnoticed, but Xena’s sixth sense and Sonja’s honed senses would just cancel each other’s efforts.
Xena clearly takes agility with her superior showings and more varied uses of it in combat, but Sonja’s stamina would be more than enough to outlast her.
Xena’s trapping skills are decent, but Sonja’s version, combined with better strategic showings, would be much harder to fight against. And with Sonja’s training in thievery, it’s entirely possible she could frisk Xena’s weapons, even the chakram, without much trouble.
However, there’s one set of skills that Xena definitively takes over Sonja: CQC. And that’s in part from the sheer variety she has with her pressure points. With these, Xena can cause a wide variety of effects that Sonja doesn’t really have a counter to, like paralysis, turning her numb, instantly knocking her out, or killing her with a touch! “The Pinch” would be particularly devastating for killing Sonja… if this was warlord Xena she was fighting. Post reformation Xena, not so much. She’d probably use it to get information out of Sonja, but that might not even happen since, as pointed out in an official novel, she’s been using it less and less over time.
Xena’s chi manipulation could prove useful here since it gives her more ways of attacking from a distance, the ability to create barriers for defense, and even a way to end the fight with petrification… at least on the surface. The big problem is in order to manipulate chi, Xena needs to be in a very specific mindset she canonically has trouble getting into. Even if she did meet the requirements to freely manipulate her chi, its one major advantage- petrification- requires immense concentration and being completely still. That’s pretty much a death sentence here.
Fortunately, when looking into their transformations, we’ve actually got some decent abilities here. Xena’s good karma mode grants her a brief period of invincibility, the Kali avatar gives her an extra set of arms, and her ghost form ensures that she can keep fighting even if Sonja manages to kill her.
That said, Sonja’s Mother of Vengeance form has more than enough to keep Xena on her toes. Her pyrokinesis creating streams, barriers, and AOE explosions completely outdoes Xena’s Promethean Blade, and the Hand of Zeus is nothing compared to the electric explosions and ability to buff herself by absorbing electricity. Being able to completely possess your opponent is also a major boon.
But this transformation comes at a pretty major cost. The Mother might give Sonja all these powers, but it requires Scathach to take control of Sonja’s body. And Xena has a few ways of dealing with gods.
The god slaying is a fairly obvious solution. Since it lets her bypass the immortality of her universe’s gods and can kill them even with debris from her attacks, this should be an easy method of victory. Just stab her in the right spot and the Mother dies, right? Well, not exactly.
Xena’s god slaying ability is definitely overpowered, there’s no doubt about that… but that’s because the gods in her universe have really shitty pain tolerance without their immortality. With it, they can survive things like being shot by machine guns, stabbed through the chest and stomach, or getting engulfed in lava, but the instant something happens that cancels it out, they’re breaking a foot from falling too high, dying from getting stabbed in the stomach, and nearly dying in a collapsing shack. Considering the Mother of Vengeance is possessing Sonja, someone whose pain tolerance has let her survive far worse injuries, bypassing her immortality wouldn’t be nearly as fatal.
That said, the Chains of Hephaestus would actually be fairly useful here. Suppressing the Mother’s powers and trapping her in something she can’t escape would make it far easier to land a killing blow. The only problem is suppressing those powers means potentially canceling out Scathach’s influence entirely, which would render Sonja mortal and leave the Chains of Hephaestus practically worthless. So while it would be useful in stopping the Mother of Vengeance, Xena would still have to deal with a pissed off Sonja, which is only slightly better.
With everything considered, this category would more than likely be a draw.
Possessions
Fortunately for both of these women, death isn’t the end for them because for some reason they can possess others from beyond the grave. Xena’s possessions have ranged from subconsciously influencing Autolycus, using his body like a puppet, or taking full control of him and her descendant Melissa. Sonja, on the other hand, can hypnotize a nearby woman into picking up her sword and possess them.So if both of them can do this upon death, how would it affect the verdict? Have we been gassing up Sonja just so she can fall victim to a post mortem possession from Xena? Well, to answer that, first we’ll need to look at how the possessions compare to both characters’ resistances.
Starting with Sonja’s possession, Xena has shown on more than a few occasions that she can resist the effects of things like hypnosis and the lotus fruits, which lull their victims into a sluggish, trance-like state. She could also overcome telepathy and briefly fought against a murderous rage instilled in her by the Furies, though aside from the lotus fruit, each of these examples had her briefly affected by or actively struggling to escape the effects. Eli’s hypnosis was able to lull her in, though how long that lasted is hard to tell. Aiden’s telepathy had her screaming in pain as she fought against it, and she could only overcome it for brief moments. And with the Fury’s curse, she blatantly tells Hercules “The voices are too strong,” “I’m fighting the rage, but the more I fight the more powerful it becomes,” and that he needs to “leave before the power consumes me.”
Basically, Xena can resist Sonja’s hypnotic trance and not pick up her sword, but it would take extreme difficulty.
And much like how Xena’s methods of possession are more direct, so are Sonja’s resistances to possession. She’s shown completely immunity to planet wide possession, and Kulan Gath- who can freely possess most people- is unable to possess her. Even if Xena tried anyway, she still wouldn’t have much luck. When possessing Autolycus she told him that the more he fought her, the less time she had to possess him. Considering Sonja’s willpower was so immense a demon had to spend entire days whittling away at it just to start possessing her, that should probably tell you Xena’s chances.
Conclusion
To be honest, we weren't expecting this to be as one-sided as it turned out. We went in thinking Xena would have some sizable advantages, and she’s definitely more powerful than we imagined, but Sonja is in a completely different league! While Xena wouldn’t go down easily, Sonja’s astronomical edge in Attack Potency, inhuman pain tolerance, millennia of experience, and far more useful arsenal gave her just what she needed to dethrone the Warrior Princess.It might sound Xena-phobic, but she needed to steppe up her game if she wanted to hyrk out a win against Sonja.
The winner is Red Sonja.
Summary
Xena
Advantages:
- Has an AP advantage without Sonja’s higher end arguments or planetary feat…
- Comparable if slightly slower going by her low and mid end direct feats, and blitzes with high ends…
- In theory the god slaying and Chains of Hephaestus would prove effective against the Mother of Vengeance…
- Chakram would shred through Sonja’s arsenal
- Would easily put Sonja down with certain pressure points, petrification, and Frost Biter
- Golden Shield and Full Karma’s invincibility would hold off Sonja’s chances of landing a killing blow, and the Resurrection Jewel would make it harder to keep her down
- Resists Sonja’s post mortem hypnosis, albeit with high difficulty
- Has a great singing voice
- Bisexual icon
Disadvantages:
- …But has no answer to the universal and higher feats Sonja can scale to
- …But gets outsped when we use scaling
- …But when you look deeper into how Sonja becomes the Mother of Vengeance, the worst Xena could do is sever their connection
- Weaker in terms of direct feats
- Inferior durability and pain tolerance
- Outclassed in experience
- Lacks the stamina to keep up in the long run
- Blessed Sword eclipses the Hand of Zeus in electrokinesis
- Despite giving her more to work with, her shamanism is lacking in usability compared to Sonja’s Spirit World powers
- Has no counter to Sonja stealing her shit
- Seasons 5 and 6 are rough, man
- The ending of the final episode was so hated that even Lucy Lawless regrets it and says it never happened
Red Sonja
Advantages:
- MUCH stronger in direct feats
- Higher end AP arguments completely demolish Xena…
- Comparable if not superior speed using their low and mid end direct feats, and faster with scaling…
- Far better showings of durability and pain tolerance
- Leagues more experienced
- Has encountered nearly everything Xena can throw at her
- Has enough stamina to outlast Xena
- Her thieving skills could let her steal anything Xena has, including the chakram
- Blessed Sword has more power and range compared to the Hand of Zeus
- Spirit World powers are more useful than Xena’s shamanism equivalents
- Mother of Vengeance gives her the intelligence advantage and counters Xena’s soul absorption and Hand of Zeus…
- More consistent and stronger showings of resisting possession
- Her series’ artwork under Frank Thorne, Mel Rubi, and Chris Bolson are some of the best she’s had
- Her Marvel solos, 2005 run, and The Invincible Red Sonja are peak, and Amy Chu’s run was great too
- Is everybody’s type
Disadvantages:
- …But without the higher arguments, Xena would AP stomp
- …But if we’re just factoring in direct feats, Xena’s high ends would blitz her
- Arsenal is countered by Xena’s chakram
- Certain pressure points, petrification, and Frost Biter would easily kill her if they landed
- …But it also makes her vulnerable to Xena’s god slaying and Chains of Hephaestus (though not as heavily as you’d think)
- The writing in Red Sonja: Scavenger Hunt, Gail Simone’s run, Vampirella/Red Sonja, Red Sonja: The Price of Blood, Immortal Red Sonja, and anything done by Marguerite Bennett
- The art in Savage Red Sonja
Equal
- Roughly even in terms of intellect and strategy under normal circumstances
- Enhanced senses cancel out each other’s stealth
- Their movies suck, whether it’s Battle for Mount Olympus’s bizarre animation and cheesy writing, Red Sonja 1985’s horrendous acting and special effects, or Queen of Plagues’ poor voice acting and janky animation
- Though Xena does have a slight edge here since her movie is actually watchable
Tally
Xena (1)- Thicc Grimes (pity vote)
Sonja (5)- Br3ndan5, Studio, Kaiser, Ducko, Bang
Credits
AzureBeast’s Xena and Gabrielle respect threads for several of the videos and albums linkedCalcs for Xena’s side: RedHeadedElf, Adventurerisrad, Nygma, Nevermind, Kaiser, NormallyNormal, and VS Battles Wiki
Calcs for Sonja’s side: NormallyNormal, StrangeFate, Benjamin Hellfire Productions, Tommy, kkrimbus, Infamous_Industry_44, VS Battles Wiki, and Bang’s Reaper vs US Agent blog
![the stars have forgotten [her] birth](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ia9y9b2PLlU/VqtCuXS98yI/AAAAAAAAZf4/ayv13qLs02g/s0-Ic42/RCO011.jpg){kind=link}
![This is not the first time we have played this scene [out]](https://i.imgur.com/S2tDywH.jpeg){kind=link}
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