Plot Summary:

Xena originally appears as an outlaw in the Hercules episode The Warrior Princess (Season 1 Ep. 9) about ten years into her career of pillaging and marauding, Xena meets Hercules. Initially, she sets out to kill him. In The Gauntlet (S.1 Ep.12), her army turns against her because of warlord Darphus lust for power and believing Xena has become weak after she stops her lieutenant Darphus from killing a child in a sacked village. She runs a gauntlet, and survives, becoming the only person ever to survive the gauntlet. She then fights Hercules, in the hope that she will regain her army if she can bring back his head. Xena seems to be getting the upper hand until Hercules cousin intervenes, making no real difference himself but inadvertently giving Hercules his sword, allowing him to fight Xena on equal ground and defeat her. However, Hercules refuses to kill Xena, telling her, Killing isnt the only way of proving youre a warrior. Touched and inspired by Hercules integrity, and by the fact that he too suffered the loss of blood kin as she did and yet chooses to fight in honor of them, she decides to join him and defeat her old army. In Unchained Heart (S.1 Ep.13), Hercules tells Xena that there is goodness in her heart, and the two of them share a brief romantic relationship, before Xena decides to leave and start making amends for her past.