Do we like Eve?
A character from Xena: Warrior Princess (2000-2001)
Our score: 5 out of 10. A coin-flip. She starts out as a ruthless menace and later tries hard to make amends, so we'd back her, but only after checking she'd actually changed.
Eve is the daughter of Xena, the reformed warlord at the heart of Xena: Warrior Princess. She was born years earlier and grew up far from her mother. Adrienne Wilkinson plays the adult Eve for ten episodes across the show's fifth and sixth seasons. She arrives as Livia, a hard, vengeful Roman champion with a destiny the gods fear.
Her story is about whether someone raised on violence can choose a different life, and whether the people she has hurt can forgive her. That makes her hard to score. She is sympathetic because she never had a normal childhood, but as Livia she does real damage. She is also stubborn and prickly even once she wants to do better.
Livia goes on a rampage against the followers of Eli, a teacher of peace, and clashes with Xena and Gabrielle. Her path ends up deadly for people close to the heroes, including Joxer. Eventually she turns away from that life and takes the name Eve again. She sets out to become a messenger for Eli's message of peace.
Her redemption is real. She keeps trying to atone, and later she stands up to the Roman emperor Caligula over his slaughter of Elijans. She gets a few points for that, but her early crimes keep the score at 5.