History Characters / SaintSeiyaGods

* AdaptationalHeroism: In classical myth, Athena was just as cruel and petty as the other gods of Olympus; turning Medusa into a gorgon as punishment for allowing herself to be raped and turning the artist Arachne into a spider for beating her in a weaving contest. Here, she's the BigGood and the protector of humanity.

* SayMyName: By the Bronze Saints, specially Seiya.

* SpoiledBrat: As a child, she was rather mean (and sometimes kinda cruel) to the Bronze Saints and treated them like slaves. Then, in the anime, her grandfather gave her a stern lecture about not abusing her authority, and she grew out of it.

* MakingASplash: As God of the Sea he can bend all of the oceans in the world and rain to his will, causing widespread flooding. The biblical flood that washed away the old world that only Noah and his family survived? That was Poseidon's doing.
* NotGoodWithRejection: Julian was quite shocked when Saori rejected his marriage proposal, and vowed to make her his since he was used to always have what he wanted.
* PowersViaPossession: Julian gains godly Cosmos thanks to Poseidon using him as a vessel. Bonus points for being very powerful while Poseidon was ''not yet fully awakened''.

* SealedEvilInACan: Sealed in a jar. [[spoiler: Again after his defeat]].
* SoulJar: He's got PrincelyYoungMan Julian Solo as one.

* RuleOfSymbolism:The Hypnos Surplice is leaning in an imparting/overseeing position, as is laying an individual to sleep. It has a motif of a peacock's tail, which evokes a dreamlike image. Its posture indicates that it tends to its task carefully.

* AdaptationalBadass: In Greek Mythology, Thanatos is a minor God. Here, he easily destroys the Gold Cloths; something that had never happened in all the millennia the Cloths had existed.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Her hair is light brown in the original manga, the anime changed it to purple

* AFriendInNeed: ''Next Dimension'' starts with her intending to save Seiya for all of what he did for her.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Tthe Thanatos Surplice is standing erect in an authoritative position, raising its arms as if taking away something, looking down on the viewer, indicating that its task is more dispassionate than that of his Hypnos counterpart.
* VillainsOutShopping: He's introduced playing the harp to some nymphs in Elysion.

* BladeOnAStick: His spiffy trident. He can launch powerful cosmic blasts from it.

** A socialite, he's the heiress of the Graad Foundation to boot, becoming its leader when her grandfather Mitsumasa dies. This is basically her main role outside of the Sanctuary.

* SiblingYinYang: With Artemis.

* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: It is amazing how much power she has, yet always needs to be rescued all the time. It's more understandable when we see that, unlike the Saints, she has ''not'' been specifically trained to fight. Specifically, she's mostly there to keep the Earth from being destroyed while her Saints make their way to her.

* ShouldersOfDoom: When [[spoiler: Shun]] was possessed by Hades, part of his black robes included gold shoulders of doom.

* AFriendInNeed: ''Next Dimension'' start with her intending to save Seiya for all of what he did for her.
* AsleepForDays: She sometimes pulls this. The most notorious instance taking place as she keeps herself in a sort-of sleeping state after being severely wounded in the Sanctuary arc.

* DependingOnTheWriter: In the original story Saori is a spoiled heiress that later humbles down, but in the subsequent animations reimagining the story, she is always portrayed as a nice, demure girl with a melow personality. This is a result of AlternativeCharacterInterpretation and AdaptationalNiceGuy.

* LadyAndKnight: She is a benevolent and compassionate Bright Lady with five White Knights in the Bronze Saints. However, Seiya is the most vehement in his devotion to her and had the most BodyguardCrush overtones as well, while the others's bonds to her [[PlatonicLifePartners were more platonic/brotherly than anything.]] The Saints were actually named "Knights" in a lot of Westerner dubbing.

* AffablyEvil: He's quite restrained and polite most of the time, offering his enemies several chances to leave peacefully and await the coming doom quietly. True to his inspiration, he's also fond of music.

* BigBad: He’s the main antagonist of the franchise as a whole.

* HumanoidAbomination: He ''looks'' perfectly human, but between his [[TheStoic disqueting]] [[MoodSwinger temper]], [[WhenThePlanetsAlign powers that border on the eldritch]], ability to perform DemonicPossession and a whole host of other grim powers, it is abundantly clear that Hades is [[BitchInSheepsClothing human only in shape]].

* HumanoidAbomination

* WhenThePlanetsAlign: His power over the earth itself in Greek Mythology is used here to forcibly block out all sunlight to earth by aligning the rest of the Solar System's planets in the way of said light, A so-called "Greatest Eclipse".

* SatanicArchetype: It is heavily implied that Hades is meant to be a stand-in for Satan, especially with Athena being a GodInHumanForm MessiahnicArchetype.

* SatanicArchetype: It is implied that Hades is a stand-in for Satan. In Dante's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' (which heavily influenced the Underworld of Saint Seiya), Hades's palace is located in the exact area where the Devil in Dante's work was imprisoned. Also, Hades's palace contains a gateway out of the Underworld (in the Divine Comedy, the narrator and his guide escape Hell by climbing down Satan's body and emerging back on Earth). His true body is gorgeous with an angelically motifed armor and a huge one-handed sword like Milton's depictions of Lucifer, and to further the Dante resemblance, he has Thanatos and Hypnos (In service to him via the pentagram on their foreheads) who possess a similar armor theme, in place of Dante's Satan having two extra heads (which are chewing on Brutus and Cassius, while Satan's main head is chewing on Judas).

!!!Voiced By: Creator/KeikoHan (1986-2004) (JP), Creator/FumikoOrikasa (2005-2011), although reprise her role in video game series. (JP), Creator/ShokoNakagawa (2012-2018) (JP) Creator/InoriMinase (2018-present) (JP), Gabi Epstein (DiC EN, first voice), Creator/StaceyDepass (DiC EN, second voice), Creator/AllisonSumrall (ADV EN), Virginie Ledieu (FR), Creator/MariaFernandaMorales (Latin America)

!!!Voiced By: Creator/KeiichiNanba(JP)

%%* LivingMacGuffin

* RuleOfSymbolism: Tthe Thanatos Surplice is standing erect in an authoritative position, raising its arms as if taking away something, looking down on the viewer, indicating that its task is more dispassionate than that of his counterpart.

* FirstNameBasis: The Bronze Saints (mostly Seiya) refer to her as "Saori-san".

* {{Ojou}}: And even referred to as ''ojousama'' (Milady) by Tatsumi. The Bronzies are more informal and call her ''Saori-san'' (Miss Saori), except for Jabu who sticks to ''ojousama''.

* MartyrWithoutACause: Averted. She puts her life at risk ''because'' it'll buy the Bronze Saints time to pull off their mission.

!!!Voiced By: Creator/AkioOhtsuka (JP)