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Canon characters
Guilty
Voiced By: Hidekatsu Shibata (JP), James Faulkner (ADV EN), David Harbold (Sentai/Netflix EN)
- Abusive Parents: Is one to Esmeralda, in the anime.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: It is black in the manga.
- Asshole Victim: He was really a cruel man, no surprise that Ikki certainly did not cry for his death.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: He is extremely brutal while training Ikki and insults and berates him at every second. It was routine for Ikki to be wounded and severely beaten up to the point of unconsciousness by this guy.
- Evil Mask: Wears a Balinese mask inspired by Rangda, a demonic, child-eating queen eternally opposed to the forces of good.
- Evil Mentor: To Phoenix Ikki.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Take a guess...
- Knew It All Along: Manga-only. For unknown reasons, Guilty has knowledge about Ikki's real father being Mitsumasa Kido (and of his death!) and him being related to all of the other 99 orphans that the Graude Foundation had sent out into the world. He tells Ikki this information to give him one final push to embody his hatred and succeeds.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Of the monster face variant. In the anime, according to Esmeralda, he was a Nice Guy until he put on that mask.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: To Ikki. After Ikki finally landed a killing blow on him, he died proud to have taught Ikki to draw power from hatred.
- No Name Given: Guilty is never refered to by name, neither within the manga nor the anime, with Ikki usually addressing him simply as "master". The name of Guilty comes from the Saint Seiya Taizen, which also identifies him as being a Saint of unknown rank.
- Offing the Offspring: In the anime, where he does not give a damn about his daughter Esmeralda. Worse, he acts very nonchalant towards killing her.
- Rule of Drama: Arguably why he was made Esmeralda's father in the anime.
- Teach Him Anger: He teaches Ikki not to have positive feelings and regard for anyone, and to hate everyone and everything. It worked all too well, for Ikki's Cosmo as a Saint is often said to be filled with hatred and hostility. As a kid, Ikki himself was known to be Shun's gentle, caring elder brother, but even after his Heel–Face Turn, he never was quite the same person again after all what Guilty put him through.
- The Spartan Way: He uses violent and brutal training methods.
- Training from Hell: Gave it to Ikki. All Saints are put through a very tough training, but Guilty's is just... wow.
- Would Hurt a Child: He accidentally killed his own daughter and then gloated about it. He also has no qualms always brutalizing Ikki at every training match they have.
Jango
Voiced By: Banjo Ginga (JP), Chris Pruett (ADV EN), Rob Mungle (Sentai/Netflix EN)
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Ikki defeats him easily.
- The Don: Said in the anime to be the leader of ALL the mafias and terrorist groups in the world.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Half of his face is horribly burned, as you can see.
- Mind Rape: How Ikki deals with him. He sees himself falling and melting in the lava of Death Queen Island.
- Obviously Evil: Is the leader of the Black Saints (in the manga, before Ikki claims the Phoenix Cloth from him, in the anime after Seiya rescues Saori from Jamian).
The Black Saints
From left to right: Black Dragon, Black Pegasus, Black Phoenix, Black Andromeda, Black Cygnus
Black Pegasus Voiced By: Shigeru Nakahara (JP), Illich Guardiola (ADV EN)
Black Dragon Voiced By: Ken Yamaguchi (JP), Jay Hickman (ADV EN)
Black Cygnus Voiced By: Kazumi Tanaka (JP), Jason Douglas (ADV EN), René GarcÃa (Latin America)
Black Andromeda Voiced By: Kaneto Shiozawa (JP), Chris Patton (ADV EN)
Black Phoenix Voiced By: Masashi Hironaka (JP), Mike MacRae (ADV EN)
- Alas, Poor Villain: Black Dragon as he dies after clashing with Shiryu, touched by his counterpart's belief in friendship, and deciding to save his life before dying himself.
- In the manga, Seiya feels this way for them when they are all killed by the Silver Saints after being tricked by Mu's illusions that made them think that they have killed the real Bronze Saints instead. Because of this, Seiya swears to fight the Silver Saints on their behalf as well.
- Adapted Out: In the original manga, Black Dragon had a twin, who does not appear in the anime version. In Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac, they are replaced by completely different characters.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: Black Dragon.
- Clone Degeneration: The real Phoenix Ikki is so evil that there were at least five Black Phoenixes. However, they are a helluva lot weaker than the other Black Saints.
- But in the anime, an actual Black Phoenix (more powerful than the others, who were mere Mooks in black Phoenix Cloths) was added. He appeared after Ikki made his Heel–Face Turn, so obviously Ikki fought this counterpart, just like the other Bronze Saints had faced theirs before him.
- Dark Is Evil: Not only the cloth, even their attacks are black themed.
- Dirty Coward: Black Andromeda attacking Shun when he was trying to rescue an injured Seiya from the bottom of a cliff after his battle with Black Pegasus.
- Effective Knockoff: This can be said of Black Dragon. The man is actually and by a wide margin the strongest of the four Black Saints we are given to see, being able to literally manhandle Shiryu with his FINGER. Also, Shiryu is constrained in using his strongest attack in a weakened state, which could and would have killed him if Black Dragon did not have a change of heart at the last moment.
- Evil Counterpart: To the five main Bronze Saints. Kurumada has stated that every Saint (bronze and silver) has a black counterpart.
- Evil Gloating: They do a lot of that.
- Evil Twin: They look just like the Bronze Saints, but evil!
- Black Dragon even has a twin brother in the manga. Thus Shiryu not only has an evil twin, but an evil twin's twin!
- Eye Scream: Manga only. Black Swan takes out his own eye and sends it to Ikki to inform him of Hyoga's technique. The anime changes this to him instead sending Ikki the swan on is helmet.
- Noble Demon: Black Dragon. At the end of their fight, instead of attacking Shiryu, he hits Shiryu's vital point to stop his bleeding and says that he wanted to believe in the friendship which Shiryu had spoken during combat, and soon dies from the wounds from Shiryu's last blow.
- Obviously Evil: Supposedly former Saints (or trainees) who were stripped from their title and Cloth and banned from the Sanctuary for using their strength for personal gain, turning to a life of crime and violence.
- Paint It Black: They are like the Bronze Saints, but evil!
- Poison Is Evil: What makes Black Pegasus different from Seiya. The difference is that shortly after hitting its target (through their Cloth), there are dark spots all over the body of the ending completely covering it, causing the sensation of burning himself from within. Once the body of the enemy is completely black, they die.
- The Psycho Rangers: To the Bronze Saints.
- More generally, to all Saints except the Gold ones: the first Black Saints managed to produce copies of the Bronze and Silver Cloths, but as they lacked the full knowledge of the process and Athena's permission recognition, those Black Cloths are markedly inferior to the originals, being easily shattered by the blows of any Bronze Saint.
- Take Up My Sword: Black Swan could have survived, had he simply surrendered... But instead he sacrificed his life to send Ikki the knowledge about the Aurora Thunder Attack and survive, and masked it by blowing himself up to try and take Hyoga down as a bonus.
Anime Only Characters
Crystal Saint
Voiced By: Michihiro Ikemizu (JP), Leo Allan (ADV EN), Mike Haimoto (Sentai/Netflix EN)
- Animal Motifs: A blue swan.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Pope pulled this on him, thus forcing Hyoga to kill him.
- Decomposite Character: Is the master of Hyoga in the anime and the substitute to Camus in all the flashbacks of the training.
- Dying as Yourself: After being struck to death by Hyoga, he regains control of himself and, as his last act, destroys the ice pyramid built for Arles by Gigas and collapses into the arms of his pupil. Before giving up the ghost, he asks for forgiveness for what he had done to Hyoga.
- Good Is Not Dumb: Was also aware that something wrong went on in the Sanctuary, so he tried to talk to the Pope himself. It backfired. Horribly.
- Master-Apprentice Chain: Aquarius Camus taught the Crystal Saint, who taught Hyoga.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: To Hyoga.
- No Name Given: His real name and his constellation is unknown. Some fan circles have associated him with the constellation of Corona Borealis for the sake of completion.
- Waif-Fu: EXTREMELY Rare Male Example. His body is unnaturally flexible without being a Rubber Man, thus he uses his hands and legs to apply the Freezing Fists to Hyoga's almost whole body.
- Shoo Out the New Guy: Due to the anime, which had Over Took The Manga, Crystal Saint was declared Hyoga's Master instead of Camus. The only explanation they could give was that Camus was Crystal Saint's Master and that Hyoga's fight was with his Master's Master. This explanation worked for a while until the Hades OVA where it started showing scenes of Camus training Hyoga instead. It doesn't help that some video games and media keep altering between Camus/Crystal as Hyoga's Master who trained him.
Geist
Voiced By: Chiyoko Kawashima (JP), Kaytha Coker (ADV EN)
- Beautiful All Along: Without her mask, to the viewers surprise.
- Cool Mask: Geist mask has fangs and facial markings similar to Shaina's mask, but they run down the cheeks of the mask, like tears. The mask is also locked into a sneer, whereas the masks of Athena's saints are completely expressionless.
- Dark Action Girl: Just like Shaina, whom she respects like a sister.
- Dub Name Change: Known as "Morgana" in Italy. Yes, like in Morgan Le Fay.
- The Exile: The former Pope did not agree with their practices and she was expelled from the Sanctuary.
- Femme Fatalons: Has long and sharp, violet-lacquered nails as Shaina.
- Filler Villain: Of the arc where she steal the helmet of Golden Armor of Sagittarius.
- Master of Illusion: Geist creates illusions and can deal a powerful blow, which is not defined clearly as a physical or mental power.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Before she casts her illusions.
Ghost Saints
From left to right: Dolphin, Sea Serpent and Jellyfish
Sea Serpent Voiced By: Masato Hirano (JP), Vic Mignogna (ADV EN)
Dolphin Voiced By: Hideyuki Tanaka (JP), Randy Sparks (ADV EN)
Jellyfish Voiced By: Kazumi Tanaka (JP), Eric Opella (ADV EN)
- Electric Jellyfish: Jellyfish can release a powerful electrical discharge through the tentacles.
- The Faceless: You never see their face.
- Filler Villain: Of Geist's arc.
- Nonstandard Character Design: More like the mascots of Sea World. Even their "Cloths" are basically rubber suits, while standard Cloths patterned after marine-life constellations (and the actual Scales of Poseidon's Marine Generals) are still metallic and sectioned suits of armor.
- Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: The reaction of whoever punches Sea Serpent.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: Geist's sidekicks.
Steel Saints
From left to right: Sky Cloth Sho, Land Cloth Daichi and Marine Cloth Ushio
Sky Cloth Sho Voiced By: Shigeru Nakahara (JP), Mark X Laskowski (ADV EN)
Land Cloth Daichi Voiced By: Mie Suzuki (JP), Greg Ayres (ADV EN)
Marine Cloth Ushio Voiced By: Hōchū Ōtsuka (JP), Chris Ayres (ADV EN)
- Animal Motifs: The Toucan, Fox, and Swordfish, respectively.
- Big Damn Heroes: The point of their existence is to occasionally bail out the Bronze Saints. However, their success is directly tied to the element of surprise and how disconcerting their very existence is to regular Saints—any legitimate Saint wise to their appearance can mop the floor with them with little trouble.
- Canon Foreigner: They appear only in the anime. (and in Saint Seiya Omega now)
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: They kind of just...disappear when Seiya and the gang leave for Sanctuary. They're last seen when Shun arrives at the meeting place carrying June but aren't shown boarding or being on the plane afterwords. Oddly enough, they are still shown on the eyecatches for the rest of the Sanctuary arc despite their absence. They end appearing again in Saint Seiya Omega.
- Cool Board: Daichi can transform his cloth into one.
- Energy Absorption: Sho's armor can absorb energy attacks, and then unleash the stored energy.
- Kid-Appeal Character: All three, but especially Daichi.
- Land, Sea, Sky:
- Sho: Sky
- Daichi: Earth (Land)
- Ushio: Marine (Sea)
- Merchandise-Driven: Their vehicle cloths can actually be put together to create one big robot. It never quite made it to the anime...
- By the scenario and staff's admission, their addition could not even fulfill a purpose in the scenario as the protagonist ensemble cast was already complete and well-rounded.
- Power Armor: Quite a literal example. The trio's cloths are all science and no "magic", being cybernetically-augmented armors that rely on gadgetry and the user's skills to carry them through.
- Red Is Heroic: Sho, the leader of the trio, is the one wearing the red armor.
- Super-Speed: While technically all Saints have it, the Steel Saints are capable of using it without resorting to Cosmo powers.
Docrates
Voiced By: Masaharu Sato (JP), Dan Mackey (ADV EN)
- Avenging the Villain: He is Cassios' older brother. Docrates tells Seiya that it's his fault Cassios did not become a Saint and he is now going to avenge him.
- The Big Guy: Docrates may be the tallest Saint shown in the anime, perhaps surpassing Taurus Aldebaran. This is not the case in the manga, since Docrates is anime-only.
- Blow You Away: In the attack, Heracles Fierce Onslaught Fist, Docrates crosses, then flexes his arms, concentrating his Cosmo in his fists and causing the winds around of him to change due to the pressure. Next, he attacks with both fists, projecting two powerful blasts which affect a large area.
- The Brute: A cold and aggressive character, full of mischief. He has extremely high physical strength derived from its huge size and musculature.
- Canon Foreigner: His first appearance is parallel to the appearance of Lizard Misty in the manga. After that, the story diverges.
- Filler Villain: His appearance in the anime creates a different storyline than the manga, with the emergence of several unique characters.
- Giant Mook: He leads several henchmen, dressed like him as well.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Adverted, his great strength and size actually forced the Bronze Saints to use teamwork in order to defeat him.
- However he fought the Bronze Saints, each time when they were not at full strength. Hell, the only reason why they flee from him in the first place is because of the very tough battle they just had with Ikki, and it takes them a while to return to full power in series.
- Not Drawn to Scale: At the end of one episode, he was holding Saori around her waist with ONE HAND and Tatsumi in the other. (It seems Shingo Araki likes these a lot, and that It Runs in the Family since Cassios did the same to Seiya)
- Punny Name: His name is a portmanteau of "Socrates" and "Doku" ("poison" in Japanese, since he is a villain).
- Wolverine Claws: Blink and you'll miss, but they come out when he's about to perform a finishing move on Seiya in episode 17 to rip off his ears.
Saint of Fire
Voiced By: Ken Yamaguchi (JP), Andy Nelson (ADV English)
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He was painfully curbstomped by Ikki.
- Evil Redhead: Maybe. Like most fighters sanctuary this time, he doesn't know the Pope is a fake and believing that could mean for him that he thought he was following Athena's will. However, he seems to have a sadistic and cruel nature, given the pleasure he has in torturing Shun with his flames.
- Filler Villain: He is a warrior under Gigas' command, accompanying the latter to Japan in a last attempt to recover the helmet of the Gold Cloth of Sagittarius. He is an anime-only character.
- Malevolent Masked Man
- No Name Given: His real name and constellation is unknown.
Fanon has given him the constellation of Fornax (The Furnace) - Playing with Fire: He can throw jets of flame that surround the victim.
- Undying Loyalty: To Gigas.
Leda and Spica
From left to right: Leda, Spica
Leda Voiced By: Kazumi Tanaka (JP), Paul Hope (ADV EN), Clint Bickham (Sentai/Netflix EN)
Spica Voiced By: Masami Kikuchi (JP), Mike Vance (ADV EN)
- Ambiguous Situation: It is not known if they have died after fighting Shun, or only get knocked out (because Shun does not usually kill his opponents unless necessary). However, one of them is confirmed to be at least given some very nasty Eye Scream payback.
- Filler Villains
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Named after Leda, the queen of Sparta who was seduced by Zeus as a Swan.
- No Name Given: Their constellations. Some fanon sources give Spica's constellation as Cassiopeia and speculate Cassiopeia, Bootes, Austral Fish or Male Hydra for Reda.
- Palette Swap: Save for the heads, shoulder pieces and chain ends, their armors too have man boobs.
- The Rivals: Like Shun, they were candidates to obtain the bronze Andromeda Cloth.
- Spell My Name With An S: In other language dubs, they are known as Reda and Spika.
- Stellar Name: Spica is the brightest star in the Virgo Constellation.
- Variable-Length Chain: Their weapons of choice.
