Hades and his 108 Specters!
The Dark Army of Hades, the 108 Specters are the standing army of the underworld. Serving many purposes in the realm, the Specters function both as staff in hell and warriors for their master. Led by Pandora and the Three Judges of Hell, the Spectres are a formidable force, though only a select few on the upper echelons are powerful enough to combat Athena's Gold Saints.
Roughly 250 years have passed since Athena's last Holy War against Hades, from which Athena sealed Hades. By the time of the events in Saint Seiya, said seal has worn off and Hades and his Specters are free to roam.
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The Three Judges of Hell
Wyvern Rhadamanthys
Heavenly Fierce Star, Wyvern Rhadamanthys
Voiced By: Takehito Koyasu (JP); Simone D'Andrea (It)
Rhadamanthys is the first Judge of Hell shown in the story. A brutal but capable leader, Rhadamanthys is shown to be an overwhelming, intimidating and persistent opponent with a completely no-nonsense attitude. An individual known for not mincing his words, he is unwaveringly bound to his duties.
Rhadamanthys is shown to be Pandora's right hand man informally (as he's technically in the same position as the other two Judges).
- Almighty Janitor: He's the most capable and intelligent element on Hades' army, while not being the most powerful. If something needs to be done, Pandora usually tasks him with it.
- Ascended Extra: Although he was already a relevant character in the series, Rhadamanthys got this treatment in the PlayStation 2 game Saint Seiya: The Hades, where Hades himself wasn't available as a character since the Hades Chapter was not finished yet, so Rhadamanthys (and to a lesser extent Aiacos and Minos) became the playable big bad character, being the final boss who Seiya fights against in the main chapter.
- Big Ol' Unibrow: Has a single blonde unibrow.
- The Brute: Played with, and overlapping with jerkass. Rhadamanthys is more of a brute in behavior rather than physicality. He mentions that he's not one who enjoys formalities or ceremony, and he's more of a shoot first, ask questions later kind of guy.
- Calling Your Attacks: Greatest Caution! It is a wind-type move that charges up Rhadamanthys' Cosmo to the highest point of power, it is then unleashed at a central point via two opened palms. The opponent becomes helpless as powerful typhoon-like winds blast them into oblivion. It can take two forms: a dark energy blast, or the form of Rhadamanthys' spirit, the mythical Wyvern.
- Curtains Match the Window: Has both eyes and hair blonde.
- The Dragon: To Pandora.
- Freudian Trio: The Superego.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's took on three Gold Saints simultaneously and beaten them without much injury. Granted, he fought them in an area that cripples the power of anybody that is not a Specter. Still it required Kanon, who is nearly as powerful as Saga and has the highest Specter kill counts of the Goldies to commit a suicide attack to beat Rhadamanthys.
- Satanic Archetype: Out of all of Hades' Specters, Rhadamanthys certainly looks the most like a devil, especially when wearing his helm.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Of all the Specters, he gets the most screentime. He is the first judge to appear (and the only in "Chapter: Sanctuary") and has multiple fights with various Bronze and Gold Saints (three times with Kanon).
- Say My Name: HAAAADES-SAMA!
- Worthy Opponent: To Kanon. After their first fight, Rhadamanthys left his underlings to face Kanon, but they were no match against the power of a Gold Saint and he comments not even if there were hundreds of them, it would still not be enough for a man like Kanon.
Griffon Minos
Heavenly Noble Star, Griffon Minos
Voiced By: Koichi Tochika (JP); Massimiliano Lotti (It)
Minos is the second Judge of Hell introduced in the story, being shown to have techniques versatile enough to counter several of Athena's Saints, as well as being shown to be impervious to most of their attacks. Minos is the only Judge shown to have actual duties in Hell, being tasked with judging the recently arrived deceased, a task he had to delegate to Balrog Lune due to the Holy War against Athena.
- Collateral Damage: The entrance of Elysium is meant to keep the garden of delights safe from outside influence. Unfortunately for Minos, that doesn't include Judges of Hell like himself.
- Death by Irony: "I'll never die by an explosion." 5 minutes later he literally explodes by stepping into the entrance of Elysium.
- Determinator: He really tried to stop the Bronze Saints from reaching Elysion at any cost.
- Freudian Trio: The Ego.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: One of the most noticeable physical traits of Minos is his hair covering partially his face, in the same way as Garuda Aiacos, endowing him with an ominous appearance.
- Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Unlike Wyvern Rhadamanthys and Garuda Aiacos, Griffon Minos was depicted as having actual duties as a Judge—he is normally the Judge who condemns new arrivals to various Hells based on their deeds while living. Due to the war with the saints, however, Minos' position was temporarily reassigned to another lesser Specter — Balron Lune.
- People Puppets: In the his attack Cosmic Marionette, he uses the cosmos to create very fine and solid power cords, almost invisible, clinging to the arms and legs of the enemy, these allow Minos to bind his opponents' bodies, or even to manipulate their movements at will, as a mere marionette. Although he mostly uses them to twist their bodies and break their bones.
Garuda Aiacos
Heavenly Valiance Star, Garuda Aiacos
Voiced By: Shin-ichiro Miki (JP), Gerardo Reyero (Latin America), Gianluca Iacono (It)
A markedly cocky and overconfident individual, Aiacos is the last Judge of Hell introduced in the series. Aiacos has the least character plot out of the three Judges, mainly coming into combat with Gemini Kanon and Phoenix Ikki.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: With Ikki.
- Awesomenessby Analysis: Can not only calculate how long it would take for someone to hit the ground from his "Garuda Flap" atack, he also knows where you will land!
- Freudian Trio: The Id.
- Magic Countdown: His attack actually has one for the time it takes for his opponent to hit the ground.
- Flat "What": When Ikki did not come down when the clock hit zero.
- Nonchalant Dodge: Does several type 1 in his fight with Ikki.
- Wind from Beneath My Wings: He flaps them to provide extra power in his attack.
Others
Pandora
Pandora Heinstein
Voiced By: Maaya Sakamoto (JP)
Pandora is Hades' right hand in command of his armies, having the Judges of Hell be subservient to her. Like the Specters, Pandora was originally a human being, the child of a wealthy family who unwittingly released the seal containing the gods Hypnos and Thanatos. Being bound to their and Hades' will, Pandora was initially tasked with finding a human host for Hades' spirit as her "brother", a task that made her have a shared past with Ikki and Shun during their childhood as orphans.
It's later revealed that her family castle became the Castle of Hades, shown in the beginning of the arc.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Mentioned by Frog Zelos to be as beautiful as she is dangerous.
- Apocalypse Maiden: As the commander of Hades' armies, Pandora is tasked to wreak havoc on the mortal world and bring destruction upon it.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Her rosary allows her to travel through Hyperspace and into Elysium. This makes her the only non-deity in Hades' army capable of such a feat.
- Boom Stick: She wields a trident capable of firing bursts of energy powerful enough to break a Golden Armor, and create explosions of cosmos capable of preventing an attack of a god. She also stabs Ikki on the back with it.
- Creepy Child: Used to be one, especially when she first met Ikki and Shun. Granted, she was under the mental dominion of Hades at the time.
- Expy: In terms of role in the story, she plays a role closer to Persephone, queen of the Underworld in Greek Mythology.
- Harp of Femininity: To emphasize the "lady" in the Lady of War, she often plays the harp.
- Hot as Hell: Played with. She's a drop-dead gorgeous lady of darkness. Although she's technically not a demon, she's the commander of the armies of hell.
- Heel Realization: After Pandora confronted Ikki, she understood that the Saints are on the side of right.
- Lady of War: Overlapping with Iron Lady. She commands Hades's armies of Specters.
- Perpetual Frowner: Comes with the job, as she's almost always shown to have an ice-cold stare.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: After the Greek myth of the first woman created who opened up a box that contained all the evils in the world, as well as hope.
- Redemption Equals Death: Killed by Thanatos, after seeing the Phoenix's iron will, she gave Ikki the rosary, which allowed him to travel to Elysion alive.
- Undignified Death: Thanatos basically just kills her off on a moment's notice. While having a conversation and in a matter of seconds, Ikki turns to her just to realize that she's dead.
- Wise Beyond Her Years: As the commander of Hades' army, Pandora is timelessly cunning and ruthless. This is, taking into consideration that she's about the same age as Ikki, who is himself on his mid/late teens.
- You Are Worth Hell: Ikki swears revenge upon Thanatos for what he did to her, as well as for what he made her do.
Other specters
Earthly Strange Star, Frog Zelos
Voiced By: Bin Shimada (JP), Claudio Moneta (It)
- Animal Motifs: Frog
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Hyoga unleashes Aurora Execution. However, he's still alive and tries to move and breaks his frozen feet off before falling down and shattering.
- Expy: He looks like the X-Men villain Toad.
- Gonk: Very ugly.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Pandora's.
- Who's Laughing Now?: He started kicking Camus, while saying that this is what happens when someone shoves him. Hyoga obviously punishes him immediately.
Earthly Violence Star, Cyclops Gigant
Voiced By: Hisao Egawa (JP), Riccardo Lombardo (It)
- The Brute: The big and violent Dumb Muscle.
- The Leader: Of the Red Shirt Army sent to the Sanctuary.
- Meaningful Name: Gigant (meaning Giant in many languages), for his size.
- Not Afraid to Die: Invoked. Tells Shaka that specters don't fear death because Hades promised to reward their servitude with eternal life. Shaka claims he talks with deities on a regular basis, yet he has never heard of someone obtaining immortality, to Gigant's horror.
- Running Gag: When Gigant is about to fight, one of his subordinates appears and takes his place, so Gigant can move to the next temple.
- Spell My Name With An S: Gigant or Giganto.
- Was It All a Lie?: Wonders with his dying breath whether Hades lied to them about granting the Specters eternal life.
Earthly Submission Star, Worm Raimi
Voiced By: Kazuya Nakai (JP), Luca Bottale (It)
- Animal Motifs: Worm
- Combat Tentacles: Raimi can use the tentacles of his surplice to strangle his opponents.
- Gonk: One of the ugliest specters.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: See Combat Tentacles.
Dullahan Cube (Earthly Secret Star), Elf Mills (Earthly Lowly Star), and Gorgon Ochs (Earthly Running Star)
- Ascended Extra: Cube in Lost Canvas.
- Dead All Along: They were killed off-screen by Saga, Camus and Shura.
- Evil Minions
- Red Shirt Army: They marched into Sanctuary demanding Athena's head.
Earthly Magic Star, Papillon Myu
Voiced by: Atsushi Kisaichi (JP), Leonardo Graziano (It)
- Ambiguously Human: Ironically enough, he is the one who makes the reveal that specters are Human All Along instead of ghosts. And yet, the first time he appears in the series, he resembles a giant worm-monster.
- Animal Motif: Butterfly.
- Bishōnen Line: Starts as a worm-monster, then he assumes a more humanoid appearance.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: He starts off as a revolting caterpillar-like thing and then evolves into a pretty (scary) butterfly-boy with glowing butterfly minions.
- Eldritch Abomination: Myu is a unique example of a literally monstrous being, as he actually pupates from a larval state at the Sanctuary.
- Nonstandard Character Design: Compared to the other Specters.
- Sequential Boss: He pupates like a butterfly.
- The Fighting Narcissist
Heavenly Heroic Star, Balrog Rune
Voiced By: Susumu Chiba (JP), Claudio Moneta (It)
- Hypocrite: He claims that the reason that Seiya doesn't have the right to judge people is because only gods have the right to do that. Kanon kills him because by that logic he didn't have any rights to judge people either and that death was what he deserved for playing god.
- Elemental Weapon: His "Fire Whip" that can cut through the opponent's body with heat and leave a bloody mess.
- Judge, Jury, and Executioner: As the judge Gryphon Minos was busy with matters concerning the Holy War with Athena, he had selected Rune as a replacement. And Rune performed the duties smoothly in the First Prison.
- Oh, Crap!: Several moments in regard to Shun.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Just doing his job and even regretted that he had to sentence Seiya and Shun since they actually had pure hearts and wouldn't belong in hell, if they didn't oppose Hades.
- Scary Librarian: When Pegasus Seiya and Andromeda Shun arrived, he demanded silence and looked up their names in his book as he usually does with dead mortals.
- Shout-Out: Ah-hem, winged armor, fiery whip? Balrog?! Never heard of that before...
- Spell My Name With An S: Rune? Lune? René?
- Whip of Dominance: He is a strict, inflexible, and duty-obsessed Spectre who serves as the personal assistant of the Judge of the Underworld, acting as his enforcer as a Judge, Jury, and Executioner and apropos, he wields a deadly Fire Whip when conducting his "Executioner" duties.
Heavenly Beast Star, Sphinx Pharaoh
Voiced By: Jun'ichi Suwabe (JP), Giorgio Bonino (It)
- Egyptian Mythology: Primarily the test of Osiris where he weighs your heart on a scale. The problem is, you're still alive when he does it.
- Evil Counterpart: To Lyra Orpheus.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Before Orpheus arrived he was the only person who played music before Hades and you could say he took the fact that he had been replaced kinda poorly.
- Manipulative Bastard: He's tasked with keeping Orpheus in check, especially due to the knowledge that Eurydice is beyond saving.
- Musical Assassin: His Magic Music can rip your heart out of your chest.
Heavenly Wailing Star, Harpy Valentine
Voiced By: Eiji Takemoto (JP), Federico Danti (It)
- Heart Symbol: His wings form one.
- Meaningful Name: After Valentine's Day.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Frees Seiya from the eight prison when he tells him that he possesses Athena's Cloth.
- Visual Innuendo: His surplice.
Heavenly Expansion Star, Acheron Charon
Voiced By: Shiro Saito (JP), Lorenzo Scattorin (It)
- Affably Evil: He's a major jerk for sure, but he does offer to take Shun and Seiya to the other side of the river (albeit, for a price), and seems like a chill person even while he's handing the two Saints their asses.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: With Shun and Seiya.
- Duel Boss: Against Seiya, after crossing the river.
- Gonk: He's already ugly with his head gear on, but he's hideous after it's been removed.
- Improbable Weapon User: A paddle.
- The Ferry Man: The myth he's based upon is the Trope Codifier.
- Save the Villain: Shun decides to save him from the river, partly because they need him to finish crossing it. He repays them by attacking them back, but then is somewhat moved by the purity of Shun's soul since he refused to fight back, having until now been mostly of the opinion that Humans Are Bastards and deserve to get sent to Hell. He decides that Shun is a Worthy Opponent and ferries them to the other side, but duels them again anyway after reaching it.
- Spin to Deflect Stuff
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: After the Charon from Greek Myth who ferried the dead over the River Styx.
Heavenly Horned Star, Golem Rock
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He barely got to say his name and his technique.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Fights by launching giant bolders.
- Punny Name: Has a Rock Theme Naming.
Heavenly Vanquished Star, Troll Ivan
- All Trolls Are Different: The Troll depicted in his Surplice is a small, Horned Humanoid with claws and a visible tail.
- Attack Reflector: Extra material implies that his technique (Greatest Perestroika) works like this.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He barely got to say his name fullstop.
- Husky Russkie: Looks like the deal, but...
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He barely got to say his name before being defeated by Hyoga.
Heavenly Hideous Star, Deadly Beetle Stand
- Animal Motifs: Beetle
- Ascended Extra: In Lost Canvas.
- Died Standing Up: No pun intended?
- Giant Mook: Dude's a couple of stories tall. That makes his fall hurt a lot more.
- Shout-Out: His unseen attack is call Stand by Me. And he's a beetle.
- Posthumous Character: Dies before we meet him.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He is already dead by the time he is introduced, having been defeated off-screen by Kanon.
Heavenly Crime Star, Lycaon Phlegyas
Voiced By: Kiyoyuki Yanada (JP), Marco Pagani (It)
- Ignored Enemy: Not him but Kanon paid him no respect whatsoever. *
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Masami Kurumada named him after Phlegyas, the second ferryman of the underworld that appears in Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy.
- Spikes of Villainy: His Surplice is covered in hooked spikes.
- You Shall Not Pass!: And at first is successful. Until Kanon took him out with one attack.
Heavenly Victorious Star, Basilisk Sylphid
Voiced By: Tetsu Inada (JP), Luca Ghignone (It)
- Blow You Away: His attack, Annihilation Flap, consists in a strong whirlwind coming from the wings of the Basilisk Surplice. It is powerful enought to hurl a Gold Saint into the air.
- Master Poisoner: In "Lost Canvas", the Basilisk wind is poisonous, capable of paralyzing the victim's body and killing him. Only Wyvern Radamanthys and Libra Dohko were able to survive his venom.
- Demoted to Extra: In the anime adaptation Alraune Queen, Basilisk Sylphid, and Minotauros Gordon were introduced at a later point than they were originally introduced by Kurumada in his manga.
- Determinator: He jumped into the Hyperdimension to continue his chase even after Hyoga had warned him of the consequences. Only gods, or those enchanted with a deity's blood, can safely swim through the currents of space, and both Shiryu and Hyoga were blessed with such a gift. The mighty Basilisk Specter finally met his demise as the Hyperdimension's currents crushed him. As his body was obliterated, Sylphid lamented that he and his companions should've destroyed the Saints on Earth when they had the chance.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: With Gordon and Queen. They are all defeated by Shiryu.
Heavenly Imprisoning Star, Minotauros Gordon
Voiced By: Paolo Sesana (It)
- The Brute
- Demoted to Extra: In the anime adaptation Alraune Queen, Basilisk Sylphid, and Minotauros Gordon were introduced at a later point than they were originally introduced by Kurumada in his manga.
- Evil Counterpart: Masami Kurumada designed him to resemble Taurus Aldebaran. When Gordon takes off his helmet, his facial features look very much like the Taurus Gold Saint's.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: With Sylphid and Queen. They are all defeated by Shiryu.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Gordon's Surplice, as his name, is based on the mythological monster, the Minotauros.
Heavenly Demonic star, Alraune Queen
Voiced By: Yusei Oda (JP), Massimo Di Benedetto (It)
- Demoted to Extra: In the anime adaptation Alraune Queen, Basilisk Sylphid, and Minotauros Gordon were introduced at a later point than they were originally introduced by Kurumada in his manga.
- Gender-Blender Name: His name is Queen.
- Improbable Weapon User: Alraune's Surplice has a pair of stems which he uses as whips.
- Non-Indicative Name: Yes, his name is Queen; yes, his Surplice's object form has boobs and is blooming out of a flower; yes, he's wearing that flower on his back; for all intents and purposes he should be a woman, yet he's not.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: With Sylphid and Gordon. They are all defeated by Shiryu.
