Plot summary
Eli's movement urges people to reject the gods' authority and rely on love rather than weapons. Ares recognizes the threat to divine power and tries to frighten the followers into submission. Xena wants to protect Eli by force, while Gabrielle remains beside him and struggles with his insistence on nonviolence.
The redeemed Callisto tells Eli that his death will serve his cause and urges Xena not to interfere. When Ares arrives, Eli asks Gabrielle to stand down. She honors his request, and Ares kills him. Xena returns to find Gabrielle holding his body and initially blames her for failing to defend him.
Ares exploits Gabrielle's guilt by offering the power to reshape the world through strength. Meanwhile Xena seeks the Dagger of Helios, intending to kill him. Their grief briefly drives both women toward the violent answer Eli rejected.
When Ares threatens the followers again, Gabrielle challenges him. Xena arrives before he can kill her and holds the god-killing dagger against his throat. Seeing Eli's face reflected in the blade, she stops. Killing Ares in revenge would betray the principle for which Eli died.
Xena also recognizes that his death has made him a martyr. Killing another unresisting opponent would strengthen the movement rather than end it. Furious at losing that leverage, Ares destroys the dagger and leaves.
Xena apologizes to Gabrielle, and they reconcile. Eli appears as an angel and affirms their faith in one another. Callisto then reveals that she will be reincarnated as Xena's child, allowing their history of pain to become the beginning of another life. She touches Xena's womb and transfers her soul into the baby.
Credits
Adapted from Legendary Journeys Wiki contributors, Seeds of Faith. Complete episode narrative, rewritten and condensed for clarity; causal developments and the episode's ending retained. Illustrations, dialogue quotations and non-story metadata omitted.