For years, fans have debated the “final” episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. A Friend in Need gave us tragedy, sacrifice, and Xena’s death, but it left Gabrielle suspended in grief, her story unfinished. When Fates Collide, often dismissed as an alternate timeline, completes her journey in every sense that matters: emotionally, morally, and spiritually. It is, for me, the true series finale.

Gabrielle chooses Xena, not blindly, not out of circumstance. She chooses with clarity, agency, and courage. She defies destiny itself to affirm the bond that defines the series. This episode honours both characters and their growth while delivering the emotional closure the series had been building toward. It is the culmination of a story about love, courage, moral conviction, and when Gabrielle defies fate itself for her soulmate it is finally complete.

I was seventeen at the time When Fates Collide aired, but my connection to Xena: Warrior Princess began long before that, from the very first episode, when Gabrielle stepped onto the screen.

Seeing someone like Gabrielle mattered in a way I couldn’t have named at the time. She wasn’t coded or hidden, she wasn’t a side plot or a cautionary tale. She was central, complex, and her love, for justice, for the world, for Xena was undeniable. Seeing her on screen told me, quietly, that the way I felt, the way I cared, wasn’t broken. It was human.

By the time When Fates Collide aired, I was seventeen, closeted, still figuring out who I was. And then came that scene:, Xena and Gabrielle in peril, the threads of reality altered. Gabrielle says:

“I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing, but I know you.”

It hit me like lightning. Not because of romance, not because of longing, but because of recognition. Gabrielle knew who she was. She knew what mattered. She chose love, loyalty, and moral courage even against Fate itself. Watching her choose that path, I understood something I hadn’t yet put into words: living true to your values, and acting with heart, is its own kind of heroism.

When Fates Collide isn’t just an alternate timeline. It is the culmination of what Xena offered young sapphic viewers like me. It affirms that love between women, devotion, and moral courage are worthy of recognition, even at the highest stakes. It is a story about choice, defiance, and knowing yourself.

Gabrielle has stayed with me all these years. She showed me that courage can take many forms, that standing up for those who cannot stand for themselves matters, and that empathy and storytelling are strengths, not distractions. She offered a way to imagine living with purpose and integrity and reminder that even small acts of bravery matter.