Velasca is a villainess in several episodes from Xena: Warrior Princess. She appears in “The Quest” and “A Necessary Evil”, both from Season 2 (1997). She is played by Melinda Clarke.
After killing the queen of the Amazons in fair combat, Velasca is set to succeed to the throne in The Quest. However, the unexpected return of the series’ secondary hero, Gabrielle, relinquishes her to second in line to rule. The evil Velasca tries to talk Gabrielle into renouncing the royal mask because she was not raised an Amazon. Gabrielle replies that she will think about it, but eventually crowns herself queen in front of the members of the tribe, most of whom acclaim their new ruler. Velasca furiously throws a dagger at the mask and calls upon the Amazons to challenge their new queen because she is not truly one of their own. Thank to her scheming, the wicked Velasca manages to turn many Amazons against Gabrielle and usurps the throne. Upon learning that Gabrielle and her friend Autolycus are, in fact, searching for the divine ambrosia in order to bring the deceased Xena back to life, she becomes obsessed by turning herself into a goddess after tasting the gods’ nectar. She takes Autolycus prisoner and interrogates him under torture, apparently taking great sadistic pleasure from using bondage, a leather leash and a whip, and by viciously kicking him around. She also forcibly kisses Autolycus, further showing the sexual pleasure she derives from this. Finally, Velasca fights Gabrielle’s body, possessed by Xena, for the ambrosia, as they both cling to ropes over a surface full of deadly spikes. Velasca successfully fights off Xena and gets her hands on the ambrosia. As she savours her victory and the prospect of her own divinity, she lets down her guard so that Xena can force her to drop the treasure into the fire. In blind fury, Velasca attempts to stab the heroine to death using a dagger. Xena intercepts the thrust and makes the rascal cut her own rope instead, so that she falls down screaming and painfully hits the spiked ground. The heroes leave Velasca for dead as they return to the Amazon village.
In the following episode, A Necessary Evil, we learn that Velasca has, in fact, not died from her fall. Although seriously injured, she has managed to save some of the ambrosia, which she swallows to everybody’s horror. The heinous Velasca is then turned into the “Goddess of Chaos” and goes on a rampage of destruction in order to get her revenge against Gabrielle. Xena and Gabrielle reluctantly decide to free their old enemy Callisto from her imprisonment so that she can help them destroy Velasca. Callisto gets some ambrosia so that she can fight the goddess on equal footing. Eventually, the two rogue divinities face each other on a bridge over a lava stream. Catching two evil birds with one stone, Xena cuts the bridge, plunging both of them into the river of lava. There the two villainesses are imprisoned in a petrified state, although Callisto later escapes and Charon mentioned to Hercules that Xena has send Velasca into the Hades.
Trivia[]
- Melinda Clarke's other villainous roles include Amanda Collins from Nikita, Jessica Priest from Spawn, and a Siren from Charmed.
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