Zodiac Motifs

"He's a Libra moon. That says a lot!"

—Alice, Bodies Bodies Bodies

The Zodiac. Twelve constellations. Twelve astrological signs. To those that believe in this sort of thing (and pretty much everyone knows their astrological sign whether they believe or not), those born under a certain sign supposedly have different characteristics that set them apart from the others, are better at some things due to being born under that sign, and may get along very well with those born under some signs and not very well at all with those born under another.

In fiction, naming someone after a certain sign and perhaps giving them abilities based on that sign is fairly common, particularly in comic books. They can be either antagonists or protagonists, heroes or villains, central characters, or just in the background, but they're there. In movies, books, and TV shows, it may just be a nickname or a code name they've been given.

Counterpart to Elemental Motifs.

This is a sub-trope to both Western Zodiac and Eastern Zodiac and can apply to both since each have their own signs and respective meanings. Also a sub-trope to Stellar Name and Cosmic Motifs.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Fairy Tail: The twelve gold-keyed Celestial Spirits are all named and modeled after the Western Zodiac, and the keys used to summon them have their respective signs. This extends to Lucy's Star Dresses, which let her borrow her spirits' abilities.
• Fruits Basket: Thirteen members of the Sohma clan each turn into an animal of the Eastern Zodiac (plus the Cat, an animal who would have been part of the Zodiac had it not been tricked out of it) when hugged by a person of the opposite sex who isn't also cursed. They're all greatly associated with their respective animals in terms of appearance and personality.
• The overall antagonists of Go, Go, Loser Ranger!, the Kaijin Army's 12 Executives, are supposedly themed around the Eastern Zodiac. Seven of them were killed prior to the start of the manga, but the remaining ones are the Snake (Magatia), Rooster (Peltrola), Rabbit, Monkey, and Horse.
• Hunter × Hunter: The highest-ranking members of the Hunter Association are the Zodiacs, twelve of the best hunters in the world. Each of them is based on a different sign of the Eastern Zodiac, most of them even having their bodies and personalities altered so they can better fit the animal they're associated with, like how Pyon (the rabbit) wears rabbit ears, and how Cheadle (the dog) has her face shaped like a dog's snout.
• Inazuma Eleven: Ares: Most of the members of Seishou Gakuen have names based on their Zodiac sign. For example, the first kanji in Mizukamiya's name means "water", a reference to him being Aquarius.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: The entire Organization of the Zodiac, or OZ for short, are the main antagonists for most of the series. Fittingly, the vast majority of their Mobile Suit designs are named after a Zodiac constellation, with notable examples being the Leo, Aries, Taurus, Virgo, Pisces, and Cancer.
• Saint Seiya: The Twelve Gold Saints are themed around the Western Zodiac, each one named after and having powers based around their zodiac sign, such as Cancer Deathmask and Leo Aiolia. The series has even been renamed "Knights of the Zodiac" (or the national language equivalent) in several countries.
• In Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure, each of the Star Princesses is styled after one of the Western Zodiac constellations. In the final arc, it's revealed the Big Bad, Darknest, is also a Star Princess, styled after the Ophiuchus constellation, which is occasionally included as a sign in the Zodiac.

Comic Books

• Marvel Comics: There have been many groups (usually criminal or supervillain) that collectively call themselves The Zodiac, and whose membership consists of characters whose names are astrological signs, and whose abilities are based on that sign. One team was led by Nick Fury's criminal brother. He took the name Scorpio and wielded an extraterrestrial weapon called the Scorpion Key. He stole eleven SHIELD life model decoys and tried to transform them into characters based on the other astrological signs. He succeeded, but three of them didn't survive the transformation process. He tried to use the rest to battle The Defenders. However, Libra and Aquarius stayed out of it because they didn't particularly see a reason to fight, Gemini switched sides when he decided he liked the Defenders better than his own team, and the Defenders had The Hulk, so... Scorpio committed suicide after the defeat, and the surviving members of his team split up.
• DC Comics: Libra is a supervillain in the DC Comics universe, and one of the founding members of the Injustice League. As a child with an abusive father, he found solace in star gazing.
• The main heroines of Zodiac Starforce are zodiac-themed Magical Girl Warrior.

Fan Works

• Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons: The Zodiac clan is a group of assassins that operate out of Hoofington University. Each member is named after a different sign of the Zodiac, and they each have the Zodiac that they represent tattooed over their Cutie Mark.
• Pokémon Crossing: Kidd names all his Pokémon after Western Zodiac signs. This includes: Aquarius the shiny Swampert (an air-headed Genki Girl), Libra the Kadabra (the calm reliable member), Aries the Pikachu (an independent former contest star), Scorpio the Shelgon (a mysterious dragon who ran away from her home in the Meteor Falls), Gemini the Skitty (a playful ditz not unlike Aquarius) and Pisces the Feebas (shy and mysterious).
• This Bites!: The New World Masons, the secret alliance of decent Marines and good pirates that Cross organizes uses Zodiac themes for their code names, with the Marine members (collectively called the Zodiac of the Divine) using the Western Zodiac while the pirate members (collectively the Zodiac of the Damned) use the Eastern Zodiac.

Films — Animation

• Minions: The Rise of Gru: At the climax of the film, the main antagonists use the zodiac stone to turn themselves into large animals from the Eastern Zodiac as their One-Winged Angel forms; a dragon, a tiger, a monkey, a snake, and an ox. They turn a few of the minions into Eastern zodiac animals as well, but the far less powerful ones; the rooster, the goat, and the rabbit. When the villains are defeated and arrested, they are turned into rats, another animal from the Eastern zodiac.

Films — Live-Action

• Dirty Harry: The psychopathic character that Harry spends the entire movie trying to stop is nicknamed "The Scorpio Killer" by the press. His real name is never revealed.
• Saw: The pig motifs of the Jigsaw killers and their copycats originated from the original killer John Kramer's belief in the Eastern Zodiac. While he specifically chose pigs as a representation of a rotten society, the Year of the Pig was when John committed his first murder and was the period when his unborn son's date of birth was expected.
• When Were You Born? is a 1938 B-Movie about a crime-fighting astrologer who puts her skills to use to catch a murderer. The film has twelve principal characters, and, as the opening Video Credits point out, each one has a different astrological sign.

Literature

• Pact: Diana Thompson is an Astrologer, a Practitioner type specializing in the use of constellations and the Zodiac. In her case, she uses machines placed around Toronto to replicate constellations that spirits are then placed inside to serve as warriors. During the Toronto Lordship battle, she uses an archer implied to be based on the constellation Sagittarius.
• Star Darlings: Starlings are beings that grant wishes. The series focuses on 12 young starlings, themed around the Western Zodiac: Sage (Sagitattius), Libby (Libra), Leona (Leo), Vega (Virgo), Scarlet (Scorpio), Cassie (Cancer), Piper (Pisces), Astra (Aries), Tessa (Taurus), Adora (Aquarius), Clover (Capricorn) and Gemma (Gemini).

Live-Action TV

• Kamen Rider Fourze: The Monster of the Week are called Zodiarts whose powers come from the western constellations. The most powerful Zodiarts are the Horoscopes who are based on the 12 Zodiac with the Big Bad based on Sagittarius.
• Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills:
  • The Galactic Sentinels' alter egos are named after constellations and their respective crests reference those constellation. Laurie is Scorpio, Gordon is Taurus, Drew is Centaurus and Swinton is Apollo.
  • "The Universal Hitchhiker" introduces a Sentinel from another planet who used the codename Orion. The fallen members of his team were identified as Ursa, Leo and Draco.
• Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: The protagonists are constellation themed, and some of them match the Western Zodiac signs. The red ranger is Leo, black ranger is Taurus, the gold ranger is Libra, and the orange ranger is Scorpio.

Tabletop Games

• Champions: The fourth edition supplement The Zodiac Conspiracy introduces a villain team called the Zodiac, with twelve members with the inevitable motifs.

Theatre

• Hair: The opening song is called "Aquarius", referencing the '60s-early '70s as the dawning of the "Age of Aquarius", an era of peace and understanding.

Video Games

• Cuphead: Hilda Berg, a zeppelin boss on Isle One, has the ability to transform into cloud creatures all resembling Zodiac signs: Gemini, Taurus, and Sagittarius. An image of their respective constellations appears onscreen just before her transformations.
• The Elder Scrolls has a Fictional Zodiac. In Morrowind and Oblivion, character creation includes a Birthsign that grants a passive effect, a bonus spell, and/or a unique power usable once per day. For example, characters born under the Atronach have double the Mana Meter and absorb half of every incoming spell, but lack Regenerating Mana.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy Tactics: The opening cut scene refers to the story to be told as "The Zodiac Brave Story." Gameplay itself heavily incorporates this trope in the following ways:
    • The MacGuffins of the story are the Zodiac stones, one for each sign of the Western Zodiac.
    • All characters and even the monsters have a zodiac sign.
    • Most of the zodiac stones are guarded by Lucavi, demons associated with a single sign.
    • The success of spells is influenced by the zodiac such that if the signs are compatible the spell will be harder to resist and it will do more damage or more healing will occur.
  • Final Fantasy XII continues the motifs from Final Fantasy Tactics as it is set in the same world - Ivalice. Rather than the traditional Final Fantasy set of summons, the Espers here are the Lucavi from the previous game.
• Mega Man Starforce: Some of the villains are constellation themed: Taurus Fire appears in all three games in the trilogy, there's also Cancer Bubble, Libra Scales, and Gemini Spark.
• Persona 2 Innocent Sin: The game runs on Western Zodiac symbolism, but it's most prominent with the Masked Circle. The four highest executives — other than their leader Joker — are called King Leo, Queen Aquarius, Lady Scorpio, and Prince Taurus. Other than Queen Aquarius who is The Unfought, they all have Elemental Powers based on their Zodiac signs — for example, King Leo has fire powers. Later it's revealed that Joker specifically created this team as counterparts to the protagonists, who they themselves belong to those four Zodiac signs and have the same elemental powers, as they are his old friend group (he himself is Aquarius). In addition, these four are the fixed Zodiac signs, which comes into play to fulfill the Prophecy of Maya.

Web Animation

• Lumpy Touch: There are the Zodiac Gorefields that haunt the Jons of many universes. The one that haunts Jon depends on his zodiac sign.
• RWBY: Adam Taurus, befitting his surname, is a bull Faunus; he has a human appearance with the exception of bull horns on his head.

Web Comics

• Homestuck:
  • The main twelve trolls (and, to a lesser extent, their ancestors and dancestors) are each themed around a different sign of the Western zodiac. They're each raised by a "lusus," a giant animal creature based on their zodiac sign, providing them each with a fitting Animal Motif.
    • Aradia, the Aries troll, has ram-like horns and a lusus resembling a ram.
    • Tavros, the Taurus troll, has bull horns and was raised by a fairy-like bull lusus.
    • Sollux, the Gemini troll, has two horns on each side, was raised by a two-headed beast, and has a Numerological Motif of the number two (i.e. typing certain letters twice in each word), as Gemini is the sign of twins.
    • Karkat, the Cancer troll, has a crab lusus. His Beforus counterpart Kankri also replaces letters with sixes and nines to resemble the Cancer symbol. Karkat is also responsible for "giving the universe cancer" through his interference with breeding the genesis frog.
    • Nepeta, the Leo troll, has cat ear-like horns and has a feline motif befitting the lion sign, though her lusus is more akin to a large housecat.
    • While Kanaya's Virgo symbolism is fairly subtle, her ancestor the Dolorosa is based heavily on the Virgin Mary.
    • Terezi, the Libra troll, is a wannabe Amoral Attorney with a strong interest in "justice."
    • Downplayed with Vriska, the Scorpio troll. Her horns resemble the Scorpio symbol slightly, and her Numerological Motif of the number eight fits how Scorpio is the eighth sign, but her Animal Motif is spiders, not scorpions.
    • Equius, the Sagittarius troll, has a centaur lusus and an equine theme, and uses a bow and arrow as his weapon.
    • Gamzee, the Capricorn troll, has an aquatic goat creature as his lusus, goat-like horns, and is often described as "capricious" as a pun.
    • Eridan and Feferi, the Aquarius and Pisces troll respectively, are both sea-dwelling trolls, befitting their respective water-bearing and fish symbols.
  • Calliope and Caliborn, the twin cherubs initially mistaken for trolls, represent the thirteenth zodiac symbol, Ophiuchus, "the snake charmer." This fits the cherub's snake theme, particularly during mating.
• Realta: All the humans in the setting have attributes of a Western Zodiac sign, depending on which clan they originated from. For example, Capricorns and Tauruses have animal-like horns, Leo have catlike ears and a lion tail, Scorpio have extra arms and a scorpion tail and so on.

Western Animation

• The Avengers: United They Stand: The Zodiac Crime Syndicate shows up as villains.
• Jackie Chan Adventures: The 12 talismans that Shendu derives his powers from are based around the 12 animals from the Chinese zodiac: Rat (animating inanimate objects), Ox (Super-Strength), Tiger (spiritual balance), Rabbit (Super-Speed), Dragon (combustion), Snake (Invisibility), Horse (healing), Sheep (Astral Projection), Monkey (Animorphism), Rooster (levitation), Dog (immortality), and the Pig (Eye Beams).
• Kim Possible: In a parody of Nick Fury Agent Of SHIELD, Dr. Director has an evil twin sibling who runs an evil spy ring, and he goes by Gemini.
• The Simpsons: Scorpio (first name Hank), a character introduced in "You Only Move Twice", is a megalomaniac who wants nothing more than to conquer the world. He's also a Benevolent Boss, very Affably Evil, genuinely likes Homer, and even takes time out from fighting government agents who are attacking his hidden lair to try and talk Homer out of quitting. He doesn't succeed and Homer resigns anyway, but there's no hard feelings.
  Scorpio: Homer, I'm disappointed but I think you need to do what's best for your family. If you need anything, you call me. But Homer? On your way out, if you wanna kill somebody it would help me a lot.

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