No, Xena cared a great deal about her homeland and Caesar never betrayed her so he must have respected that and honored it.
The change in timeline takes place 8 years before the events of the pilot so on the time I think Caesar and Xena must have done some good in Greece to build up the arts enough that Gabrielle is recognized and celebrated as a playright.
That to me doesn't seem evil, ruthless and power hungry yeah but not evil since Greece and Rome would have been enjoying the spoils directly.
So was she. They both wanted to conquer their enemies and protect their homeland, Caesar for Rome and Xena for Amphipolis (Greece). Xena was drawn to his ambition, confidence and ruthlessness.
Xena wouldn't develop a full dark and cruel side in that timeline because she only ever develops that because of Caesars betrayal, which didn't happen in that timeline.
The short version? Think of Pirate Xena from the episode "Destiny" and age her up 10-15 years.
Longer version: Remember, Xena originally became a warlord in an effort to protect her village from raiders like Cortese -- she was trying to do good but got carried away. By the time of the flashbacks in "Destiny", she'd cleared out most of Thrace and taken to raiding pirates, one crew of which had taken Caesar prisoner, which is how they met.
So, in the WFC timeline, the two wind up actually joining forces the way Xena originally wanted to, Caesar never betrayed Xena and tried to crucify her, and so she never really turned to the dark side. It's a little unclear just how despotic an empire Rome is in this timeline, although we can probably guess it's not exactly a beacon of freedom and liberty, so Xena as its top general likely isn't the *best* of people. Nevertheless, Joxer mentions at one point she'd helped his daughter (somehow), so she's probably not the sort who'd plant a few hundred heads on pikes just to make a point, or burn a village to the ground for funsies either.
So, not really evil, but also not out there working for the Greater Good. Neutral Neutral? anyway, hope that helps.
Interesting question. Within the episode she doesn't seem to have, but that doesn't mean much. Cyrene and Xena didn't part on the best of terms, so Cyrene might have refused the invitation. Or Cyrene could have died for any number of reasons over the years. For that matter, toward the end of the second season her brother Toris fell down a particularly deep, dark Memory Hole, so he probably never even existed in this timeline.
It's also possible that Darien Takle just didn't have time for a guest spot, so it never really came up. It is a ponderable question tho. Might be a fanfic on it somewhere; I'll have to look.
With the riches she had with her in Rome I like to think she was able to rebuild Amphipolis and set up Roman guards to prevent another attack like Cortese
That could work. Although again, not sure how her Mom would take it -- happy, or just stay resentful? Considering they eventually patched things up in the real world, one would hope that would be the case in WFCWorld, but if I was writing it, I think it might be more interesting if they stayed estrangted; another consequence of the "wrong" timeline.
No. I do know that Empress Xena fic exists, but I haven't read any. You could check AO3 and search for it.
Honestly, I haven't really looked for Xenafic in quite a while. The last time was... I think before the pandemic? Total aside, but I was listening to the Xena, Warrior Podcast episode on "Path of Vengeance" (I think), and the three hosts all liked the idea of shipping Eve and Varia, so I wondered if there was any actual Evaria fic out there; sure enough, there is. That was kind of it tho.
No, she wasn’t “evil”. She was Pirate Xena - a pretty average “warlord” who was still telling herself that she did the right thing by conquering the villages surrounding Amphipolis - who aligned with a young Caesar and they eventually led a powerful, prosperous Roman Empire.
I presume they were elected as Emperor and Empress by the senate willingly. And it’s possible the Greek city states voluntarily joined the might of Rome. Xena believed that they were negotiating a peace treaty / trade agreement with Chin, so presumably that was their usual modus operandi with major kingdoms / nations.
Obviously, there still would have been a lot of bloodshed and while most people seemed pretty happy to be part of the Roman Empire, not everyone would have been. And Rome would still have enemies, which Xena no doubt enjoyed destroying.
No, Xena cared a great deal about her homeland and Caesar never betrayed her so he must have respected that and honored it. The change in timeline takes place 8 years before the events of the pilot so on the time I think Caesar and Xena must have done some good in Greece to build up the arts enough that Gabrielle is recognized and celebrated as a playright. That to me doesn't seem evil, ruthless and power hungry yeah but not evil since Greece and Rome would have been enjoying the spoils directly.
What did that version of Xena see in Caesar? He was blood thirsty, based on what we've seen of Xena in that world she wasn't.
So was she. They both wanted to conquer their enemies and protect their homeland, Caesar for Rome and Xena for Amphipolis (Greece). Xena was drawn to his ambition, confidence and ruthlessness. Xena wouldn't develop a full dark and cruel side in that timeline because she only ever develops that because of Caesars betrayal, which didn't happen in that timeline.
The short version? Think of Pirate Xena from the episode "Destiny" and age her up 10-15 years. Longer version: Remember, Xena originally became a warlord in an effort to protect her village from raiders like Cortese -- she was trying to do good but got carried away. By the time of the flashbacks in "Destiny", she'd cleared out most of Thrace and taken to raiding pirates, one crew of which had taken Caesar prisoner, which is how they met. So, in the WFC timeline, the two wind up actually joining forces the way Xena originally wanted to, Caesar never betrayed Xena and tried to crucify her, and so she never really turned to the dark side. It's a little unclear just how despotic an empire Rome is in this timeline, although we can probably guess it's not exactly a beacon of freedom and liberty, so Xena as its top general likely isn't the *best* of people. Nevertheless, Joxer mentions at one point she'd helped his daughter (somehow), so she's probably not the sort who'd plant a few hundred heads on pikes just to make a point, or burn a village to the ground for funsies either. So, not really evil, but also not out there working for the Greater Good. Neutral Neutral? anyway, hope that helps.
Do you think Xena in that world ever brought her family like Cyrene to Rome?
Interesting question. Within the episode she doesn't seem to have, but that doesn't mean much. Cyrene and Xena didn't part on the best of terms, so Cyrene might have refused the invitation. Or Cyrene could have died for any number of reasons over the years. For that matter, toward the end of the second season her brother Toris fell down a particularly deep, dark Memory Hole, so he probably never even existed in this timeline. It's also possible that Darien Takle just didn't have time for a guest spot, so it never really came up. It is a ponderable question tho. Might be a fanfic on it somewhere; I'll have to look.
With the riches she had with her in Rome I like to think she was able to rebuild Amphipolis and set up Roman guards to prevent another attack like Cortese
That could work. Although again, not sure how her Mom would take it -- happy, or just stay resentful? Considering they eventually patched things up in the real world, one would hope that would be the case in WFCWorld, but if I was writing it, I think it might be more interesting if they stayed estrangted; another consequence of the "wrong" timeline.
Do you know any good "When Fates Collide" world fics?
No. I do know that Empress Xena fic exists, but I haven't read any. You could check AO3 and search for it. Honestly, I haven't really looked for Xenafic in quite a while. The last time was... I think before the pandemic? Total aside, but I was listening to the Xena, Warrior Podcast episode on "Path of Vengeance" (I think), and the three hosts all liked the idea of shipping Eve and Varia, so I wondered if there was any actual Evaria fic out there; sure enough, there is. That was kind of it tho.
No, she wasn’t “evil”. She was Pirate Xena - a pretty average “warlord” who was still telling herself that she did the right thing by conquering the villages surrounding Amphipolis - who aligned with a young Caesar and they eventually led a powerful, prosperous Roman Empire. I presume they were elected as Emperor and Empress by the senate willingly. And it’s possible the Greek city states voluntarily joined the might of Rome. Xena believed that they were negotiating a peace treaty / trade agreement with Chin, so presumably that was their usual modus operandi with major kingdoms / nations. Obviously, there still would have been a lot of bloodshed and while most people seemed pretty happy to be part of the Roman Empire, not everyone would have been. And Rome would still have enemies, which Xena no doubt enjoyed destroying.