- A Norse man called Beowulf shows Xena a strange padlock which reminds her of her past in the Norselands. The next morning, Xena's gone: she's travelling with Beowulf to mend some actions from her past, and Gabrielle decides to follow them. She finally reaches the Norselands, where she meets a woman called Brunnhilda who tells her about Xena's past as an evil valkyrie and her relationship with Odin, and how he told her where the powerful Rheingold was kept.—Anonymous
- In a flashback taking place 35 years ago, Xena is shown crafting a ring and then fighting a monster. Wearing the ring, Xena claims she's invincible but just as she pushes the monster into a cage, it succeeds in taking the ring off of her finger. Xena locks the cage using a lock with two ravens crafted into it and leaves confident that the monster will never get out.
In the present, while Xena and Gabrielle are eating at a tavern, a man from the Norselands named Beowulf shows Xena a broken lock, with the depiction of two ravens in it. Troubled, she keeps quiet to Gabrielle and sneaks away in the morning, leaving a note for her. In the note, Xena implies she is on a suicide mission, warns Gabrielle to stay behind, and ends with a heartfelt farewell. Despite Xena's wishes, Gabrielle sets out to follow her.
As Gabrielle enters the land of the Asgardian gods, she discovers a woman named Brunnhilda, who knows Xena and can share the legends of Xena from the Norselands with Gabrielle. Apparently, on her way back from Chin, Xena came to the Norselands and met Odin. Lusting for power, she became a Valkyrie in his service but tricked him into disclosing the location of the Rheingold, much to the dismay of Grinhilda, who was the leader of the Valkyries before Xena came along. Here, the meaning behind the opening flashback is revealed. The Rheingold is a mystical gold that Xena crafted into a ring to make her invincible. Upon hearing that Xena is moving up the Rhein River in search of the Rhein Maidens and the Rheingold, Grinhilda angrily confronts Odin and takes off with her brigade to stop Xena. A battle ensues, in which Xena kicks Grinhilda unconscious. Back in the present, when Gabrielle mentions Beowulf and the lock, Brunnhilda declares that Xena has embarked on a "suicide mission".
Meanwhile, Xena, hiking along the Rhein River with Beowulf, lapses into a series of flashbacks of her swimming with three Rhein Maidens. Convincing the First Rhein Maiden to take her to the Rheingold, she's led to an underwater cavern where the Maiden points out a box concealing the infamous gold. When the Maiden warns her not to touch it, Xena cruelly tosses her aside, declaring that the Rheingold can do her no harm since she's already forsaken love. Xena melts the gold and molds a powerful ring from it.
Xena and Beowulf approach a house with bloody limbs strewn about the yard. They enter and wait for the beast to emerge. Meanwhile, Brunnhilda briefs Gabrielle on Grindl, the creature Xena locked up more than three decades earlier in the mine. Brunnhilda explains that legend has it that Grindl was once a loving creature, but finally gave up love after such a lengthy imprisonment and was then able to use the power of the ring to escape. Inside the house, Grindl attacks Xena and Beowulf mercilessly.
When Gabrielle and Brunnhilda finally arrive, they find a bloody Beowulf, who sadly tells them that Xena was hauled off by the monster. Gabrielle finds Xena's bloody breastplate.
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