Mortal Beloved - Timing and Distance
Posted by AuntyEmfromOz@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 12 comments
Timing: 3 nights and 3 days as per the episode:
Night 1: Marcus the ghost appears
Next day: Xena goes to the Underworld
That night: They camp – Xena and Marcus ‘entwine’ while Gabrielle sleeps
Next day: they travel to the wedding festival and make a plan
That night: They thwart Atyminius
Next Day: Xena and Marcus return to the Underworld, then Xena re-surfaces in the lake to a waiting Gabrielle.
There is a full moon. The last full moon I clocked was in Hooves and Harlots which was months ago, so let’s keep this full moon in mind when calculating future episodes’ timing.
Location: According to Pausanius, a Greek traveller and geographer, there was a place called Alcyonian Lake, pronounced al-cee-OH-nee-an. It was a bottomless lake, in the vicinity, or perhaps even part of the swamps of Lerna in which Heracles fought the Hydra. The wine-god Dionysus used the Alcyonian Lake as a portal to Hades when he rescued his mother Semele from the Underworld. The heroine had died in a bolt of lightning when she asked Zeus to reveal to her his true nature as storm god. To retrieve her from the Underworld, Dionysus went to Lerna and dove into the fathomless lake.
(https://www.mythweb.com/encyc/gallery/alcyonian_lake_c.html).
I also found a reference in “Geography of Strabo Book XVII” first printed 1932 (https://s3.amazonaws.com/loebolus/L267.pdf) to an “Alcyonian Sea, in the Corinthian Gulf, extends from Pagae to the boundaries of Boeotia near Creusa” so the name was certainly around in ancient times.
There’s reference to a place called Pylos and there was a place by that name on the western side of Greece, but it is too far away from Lerna for the trio to get there. So considering Marcus was only given 48 hours of mortality, I haven’t included it in my calculations. I am assuming the wedding was held close to the lake to fit in with that 48 hour timeframe.
Distances: Therefore I’ve focussed only on the distance from Corinth, where it seemed Xena and Gabrielle were heading after being in King Lias’s and Diana’s kingdom last episode, to Lerna, a distance of 34.7 miles, almost 13 hours of walking so around 2 days at 7 hours a day.
Total this episode then of at 2 days travel and 3 days in the episode itself so 5 days.
Repeat performance
- Marcus returns (for the last time)
- Toxeus from Death in Chains says hello (his last appearance as well)
- Fire breathing against the Harpies
- Xena looking wet again – reminds me of a quote Lucy Lawless made about The Black Wolf, “It’s always such a good look, you know, being wet – plenty uncomfortable, but it looks great.”
Things to Note
- Xena tells Marcus she loves him
- Marcus says the dead can hear it when you think about them (important for future episodes)
- Xena has given up on love (according to her thoughts that Marcus heard)
- Xena can be insensitive – joking that she’ll make it to the underworld one way or the other and Gabrielle’s upset by those words “That’s not funny.”
- No goodbye hug – so far this has only appeared in Prometheus – there was no hug when Gabrielle decided to leave Xena and go to the Athens Academy either.
- Gabrielle’s faithfulness and dedication, waiting by the lake for Xena to return, hopefully, but not really knowing whether she would – how long would she have waited?
Highlight of the episode
Michael Hurst as Charon. Even under all that makeup, he and Lucy Lawless have, in my opinion, more chemistry than she ever had with Hercules.
Agent8699@reddit
A Xena / Charon shipper? Now, I really have read everything! 😆
AuntyEmfromOz@reddit (OP)
Well why not?!? 😊 I always saw Iolaus and Xena as better chemistry than Hercules and Xena anyway. It's obviously because Michael Hurst and Lucy Lawless have worked together before in New Zealand.
IseQween@reddit
And Hurst is extremely talented?
AuntyEmfromOz@reddit (OP)
Yes he is. TBH I always preferred the episodes in Hercules that focussed on Iolaus when Hercules was absent due to his health issues etc.
matt-89@reddit
Love Takes a Holiday is a good Iolaus/Aphrodite episode.
AuntyEmfromOz@reddit (OP)
I don't remember that episode but might re-visit it.
matt-89@reddit
It's great Aphrodite episode too. Highly recommend and yes Herc free. 😁
Agent8699@reddit
They both have a certain affinity for death and suffering. Maybe Evil Xena / Charon were the one true pairing after all? 💓
AuntyEmfromOz@reddit (OP)
🤦♀️ Could be! 😘
Agent8699@reddit
By the gods! We were robbed! 🪦 🗡️
IseQween@reddit
I rarely paid attention to geographical, historical, deity stuff in XWP. I figured so much got made up or thrown out there without much concern for reality. It's been quite interesting connecting their travels to actual or mythically known places, that a lot of it could've made sense even without modern transportation.
And thank you for clearing up the pronunciation of Alycionian Lake. With the different accents, I could seldom figure out what was what. Not only that, some writers chose using ancient Greek or Roman names for some areas.
AuntyEmfromOz@reddit (OP)
I always thought it was actually Al-KOH-nian lake until I came across those two brief mentions in my research.
The writers must have had some sort of atlas or map or something to come up with some of the names. Or done some reading about Greek/Roman myths at the very least. Others, of course, are tongue-in-cheek like Nonamia in Fistful of Dinars. But it does explain why a lot of the action seems to happen around Corinth, which we know exists.