Part 1 of 3. Villager Hemnor recruits Hercules to save the last golden hind from Prince Nestor. When a young boy is critically injured in one of Nestor's traps, Serena appears and heals him, then disappears. Iolaus, meanwhile, is shot by the hind. Hercules hunts Serena to save Iolaus before it's too late. Ares traps Serena in a thorny hedge, from which Hercules frees her -- but the thorns have caught her blood.

Hercules asks Serena to marry him. But Ares is still manipulating the situation and, determined to destroy the pair's relationship, makes Hercules a deal - Serena's hand in return for Hercules giving up his godly powers.

Hercules found it increasingly difficult to adjust to life without his superhuman strength. Meanwhile Ares and his nephew, Strife, plotted Hercules demise which didn't help matters. Then Hercules awoke one morning to find his wife lying dead beside him, murdered. He appeared to be the murderer, but in his darkest hour, his friends Iolaus, Xena and Gabrielle came to his aid, defending him against a lynch mob and exposing Strife as Serena's killer. Zeus gave back to his son the gift of incredible strength, and Hercules defeated Strife before the evil young god escaped with Ares.

Autolycus steals the Cronus stone, which whisks himself and Hercules five years into the past. While Autolycus and his past self plan to steal the stone over again, Hercules is reunited with Serena, still alive in this time-line.

A lightning bolt from the dying Zeus opened a vortex to a parallel universe, where Iolaus was a jester and Hercules was the malevolent Sovereign. This alternate Hercules and the alternate Xena were lovers, and they were attempting to kill Zeus with Hind blood. Ares, meanwhile, was the god of love, not war, and Aphrodite was a modest, sensitive goddess. When the vortex reappeared, Hercules, Iolaus, the Sovereign and the alternate Iolaus all wound up inside and fought a furious battle. Each managed to return to his proper universe except the Sovereign, who was trapped inside the vortex.

Fleeing from Ares' soldiers, Nemesis burst into Hercules' campsite and proclaimed him the father of her sixpmonth-old son, Evander. Then she slipped away, leaving Hercules and Iolaus with the child, who soon demonstrated god-like powers. When they found her again, Nemesis revealed that the child was the son of Ares. The goddess Discord was consumed by jealousy and tried to make off with the baby, but Evander dispatched her over a tower wall. The powerful infant returned himself to the arms of his mother, and after a vicious battle with Hercules, Ares gave up his struggle for the baby.

Hercules' good deeds landed him on trial when Kazankis, a Hercules impersonator, was killed. Charged with manslaughter, sedition and undermining the authority of the gods, Hercules pleaded innocent on all counts. But Spencius, the government prosecutor, showed how Hercules' acts of heroism caused Kazankis and others to emulate his actions, putting themselves and their families at risk. Although Hercules began to doubt himself, he told the court that society needs heroes who are not afraid to risk their lives for others. The case was ultimately dismissed, and Hercules was freed.

Hope, the treacherous daughter of Dahak and Gabrielle, went to the Ixion Caverns and freed Callisto. Hope gave the warrior-goddess a mission: rid the world of Hercules. Callisto joined forces with Ares, and the two reopened the vortex to the alternate universe. When the Sovereign appeared, Ares snatched his pendant of Hind's blood -- the only substance that can kill a god. But Callisto ripped the pendant from Ares' neck and used the blood to kill Strife. Hope then sent Callisto back in time to kill Hercules' mother, so Iolaus convinced Ares to send him back as well.

While Hercules and his double, the Sovereign, were stuck in the Netherworld, Iolaus traveled back in time to protect young Alcmene. But he couldn't prevent Callisto from killing Hercules' mother. Callisto then found her own family and, through a series of instinctive actions, she killed her mother and father. As more events began to go wrong, Hercules sent Iolaus a telepathic message: Get the Chronus Stone from Xena's scepter to travel back in time without Ares' help. Using a makeshift lightning rod, Hercules joined Iolaus in the past and sent Callisto back into the vortex, setting the timeline right.

Discord shot Hercules with Artemis' bow, turning him into a pig. Then she sent the hunter Colchis after Hercules, but the pig jumped from Iolaus' arms and ran off. After a butcher caught him and threw him into a meat wagon, hercules was befriended by a female pig, Katherine. Autolycus and Iolaus rescued the two pigs from a slaughterhouse, where hercules communicated with his friends through Fleevio the parrot. Retreating to Alcmene's home, they eventually got the drop on Discord. Iolaus shot the mischievous goddess with Artemis' bow, turning her into a chicken, and Hercules returned to normal.

The pig Katherine, who had fallen in love with Hercules told him of her deisre to become human. Hearing this, Aphrodite turned Katherine into a woman in her own image. The human Katherine happily stripped off all her clothes to roll in the mud. Meanwhile, Ares punished Autolycus and Iolaus for turning Discord into a chicken. Mistaken for the Big-footed Two-headed Forest People of legend, the pair was on display at a circus when Hercules rescued them. In the end, Aphrodite turned katherine back into a pig, and the animal was happy to rejoin her family.

While Iolaus paid a visit to his mother, Hercules explored Olympus. He was hurt to learn the real reason his father had brought him there: Zeus needed protection from Hera and the other gods, who were conspiring against him. But Hercules couldn't turn his back on his father. Then Zeus allowed Hera to rip away his godhood in order to save Alcmene's spirit from eternal hell. Hercules went to the dark side of Olympus, where he overcame Apollo and Hera in battle. Zeus' godhood was restored, Alcmene returned to the Elysian Fields, and Hercules became a half-mortal again.

Dahak, chained to the altar in the body of Ioalus, hatched a plan to kill Ares, which would give him the power to break his bonds. Meanwhile, the demon showed Hercules how he had seduced Iolaus at the moment of death. Apppearing as Hercules, Dahak promised Iolaus the power to set everything right in the world. With time running out, Hercules was sucked into the spiritual world, where he found the real Iolaus. The two friends fought side-by-side once more, sending Dahak into a fiery chasm. Then they siad good-bye, and Iolaus disappeared into a shaft of light.

Hercules jumped through a vortex into the Netherworld. There he found his evil double, the Sovereign, as well as the cowardly double of his late sidekick, Iolaus. Disguising himself as the Sovereign, Hercules learned that Nebula, the parallel world's evil ruler, conspired with Ares to imprison the Gods of Olympus in the Labyrinth of Eternal Memory. Hercules and Iolaus battled a giant snake and entered the labyrinth. After defeating Ares and Nebula, Hercules freed the gods. The parallel Iolaus, wishing for a bright future in a new world, jumped through the vortex with Hercules.

The Rock of Arges was cursed by Zeus. Villagers who handled it began to fade out of existance, so Hercules saved them by crushing it. Unfortunately, this caused the curse to transfer to Hercules -- which was exactly what Ares, Deimos and Discord had planned. But Hercules slowed his disappearance through sheer force of will, so Ares sent Deimos to finish the job. Feeling jealous, Discord decided to help Iolaus 2 and Hercules find the remaining two stones. When Deimos and Ares inadvertenly broke the stones, the spell was broken. Hercules returned to normal while Ares was sucked into oblivion.

The Archangel Michael was the harbinger of the apocalypse. He released the horsemen War, Famine and Pestilence upon the land. Meanwhile, the late Iolaus, who defied The Light on the other side to warn his friend of the approaching Armageddon, joined Hercules. Despite Ares help, Hercules and Iolaus could not stop the release of the final horseman, Death, whose first target was Iolaus. Determined to save his friend this time, Hercules fell with Death into a volcano. Hercules' sacrifice earned the world a reprieve, and Iolaus was sent back to Earth to continue his life at Hercules' side.

Evander, son of Ares, had the power to create anything he could imagine. Zeus, wishing to make amends with Hera, used the boy to free his former love from the Abyss of Tartarus. Unfortunately, the Titans were released, too. Helios and Oceanus tried to destroy Hercules and Iolaus but succeeded only in destroying each other. Meanwhile, the third Titan, Atlas, attacked Olympus. But Hera turned him into stone, condemning Atlas to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders forever. Hercules and Iolaus took Evander home to Nemesis, while Zeus and Hera began their reconciliation.