Isambard Prince - Functions in The Series

Functions in The Series

Prince first appears in the third season premiere, when he and some of his cohorts board the Lexx as it passes through the atmosphere of Fire. Soon, the crew of the Lexx is split up and Prince takes a fancy to Xev, asking her to be his "Queen." She refuses, but he continues to pursue Xev and to attempt to gain control of the Lexx.

Stan drowns near the end of season 3, and Prince appears at the judgment of Stanley's soul. While the ultimate fate of Stan's soul is decided by a copy of Stan in a white uniform, Prince acts as a prosecuting attorney, arguing for why Stanley deserves eternal torment on Fire rather than eternal happiness on Water. Stan argues as his own defense to his copy. When Stan's doppelganger deems Stanley material for Planet Fire based on the poor decisions he made over the course of his life, Prince is able to control where and when Stanley reincarnates on the surface of Fire.

At the end of season 3, Xev (having the key to the Lexx after Stan's death) orders the Lexx to destroy Fire. This frees all the damned souls from Fire, but also frees Prince's spirit from the planet. Prince's spirit takes control of the Lexx and blows up Water. This frees the souls of Water, and after both groups of souls swarm off Prince's essence is seen descending on the coast of North America (Fire and Water turn out to have been in the same solar system as Earth, but on the opposite side of the sun).

Prince reappears in season 4, reincarnated as Isambard Prince (as the other souls of Fire and Water are), the director of the ATF and de facto ruler of the United States. While the other people of Earth don't remember their past lives on Fire and Water, Prince retains his personality and memories from Fire. Early on in season 4 the president of the United States is voted out of office and replaced under curious circumstances by Reginald J. Priest (the reincarnation of Prince's lackey named Priest on the Planet Fire) thus cementing Prince's control over the United States.

From there, he doggedly pursues the crew of the Lexx in order to seize control of the Lexx as a powerful weapon and, later, as a means of escaping the alien infestation of Earth. He (with Priest and Bunny) for a time become members of the crew and he develops a fascination with Kai. After staging a mutiny while the Lexx crew is away, Kai tricks him to allow them back on the ship, so he and Kai can play a game of chess (which Prince is unable to resist). Kai kills him, however, because, although Prince thought the only way to play chess was if he was alive, Kai revealed that there was a pocket universe that some of his dead people would play chess in, and that they could play in that. Everyone, assuming that as Fire and Water were gone, Prince would no longer be able to reincarnate, find out later that he is able to possess electronics, particularly Priest's T.V.

After trying to take control of the Lexx again, Kai takes Prince's T.V. body to deal with so he can never come back. However, Prince makes a deal with Kai, that they should play the game of chess they agreed to and that if Kai wins, he'll restore Kai to life so Kai can die again and join his people in the afterlife. However, if Prince wins, Xev and Stan die. They play in the pocket universe, where the chess pieces are alive. (Prince's side being beings modeled after himself and the other villains of the series, Kai's side being modeled after him and the Lexx crew). Prince seems to be close to winning and reveals that: a) he has realized his true purpose and b) his fascination with Kai stems from the fact that the conflict that has started since the Lexx appeared in orbit of Fire and Water, was really between the two of them. Kai wins the game, however, and Prince departs.

In the final episode, "Yo Way Yo", Prince appears to the crew of the Lexx claiming to be Death. He claims to have come to this realization after playing the game with Kai. He also reveals that one of the crew will die. In the end of the episode it is revealed to be Kai (by the explosion caused by the particle accelerator made by Dr. Longbore), after Prince has fulfilled his promise to bring Kai back to life (which he subsequently reneged on until moments before Kai was to go into battle. Normally he would have survived, but in his "mortal" form again he would not). Later in the episode, Priest and his First Lady Bunny are escaping the doomed Earth in the late Dr. Longbore's spaceship Noah (together with several other nubile young women selected by Longbore). At the moment of the Earth's destruction Prince materializes on the Noah's bridge with a cry of "Free at last!", much to Priest's delight and Bunny's disgust.