History Characters / SaintSeiyaGoldSaints

!!! Voiced By: Creator/KeiichiNanba (JP), Ry Mckeand (Sentai/Netflix EN), Alfonso Ramírez (Latin America), Enrico Carabelli, Creator/LucaBottale (It)

* ArcherArchetype: Subverted. Despite the Sagittarius Cloth being armed with a bow and a golden arrow (one of strongest weapons of the series), he uses a normal energy ball attack.

* AdaptationDyeJob: They all go through one in the anime version. Justified though, as there are too many blond Saints, so giving them wider choice of hair colors will give a better color balance and make it easier to distinguish the Saints.

** '''Aldebaran:''' In his manga, Kurumada gave him a very long blonde hair. In the anime adaptation his hair varies from dark brown to purple and since his back wasn't often visible, the length of his hair sometimes varies as well.
** '''Saga and Kanon:''' Both are blondes in the Manga, and blue hair in the anime. Later, the two are differentiated with Saga's hair still being blue while Kanon's is more teal. During his SplitPersonalityTakeover, Saga's hair becomes black; in the anime, it's grey and his eyes turn red.

** '''Aiolia:''' In his manga, Kurumada gave Aiolia blonde hair. In the anime adaptation, due to a relative excess of yellow tones in Kurumada's design, Aiolia's hair color was modified to light brown to achieve a better color balance and contrast.
** '''Dohko:''' Black hair in the manga, but dark brown in the anime.
** '''Milo:''' Blonde hair in the manga. In the anime, Milo's hair color was modified to blueish purple.
** '''Aiolos:''' He was blond in the manga, had brown hair in the flashbacks of the main series.

** '''Aphrodite:''' was blonde in the manga, but the anime gave him light blue hair (blue-green hair in the Santuary Arc).

[[caption-width-right:350:What a nice group picture of everyone...except Aeolus...[[labelnote:(*)]]'''Front:''' Dohko/Roshi; '''Middle:''' Milo, Camus, Aiolia, Shaka, Mu, Saga, Deathmask, Shura, Aphrodite; '''Back:''' Aldebaran[[/labelnote]]]]

** '''Aeolia:''' In his manga, Kurumada gave Aeolia blonde hair. In the anime adaptation, due to a relative excess of yellow tones in Kurumada's design, Aeolia's hair color was modified to light brown to achieve a better color balance and contrast.

** '''Aeolus:''' He was blond in the manga, had brown hair in the flashbacks of the main series.

* AntiVillain: At least half of the twelve Gold Saints are like this during the Sanctuary Arc. Only two of them are actual villains ([[spoiler:Deathmask and Aphrodite]]), one of them is dead ([[spoiler:Aeolus]]), another is BrainwashedAndCrazy ([[spoiler:Aeolia]]), another is [[RetiredBadass retired]] ([[spoiler:Dohko]]), and the BigBad ([[spoiler:Saga]]) is suffering from a ''bad'' case of SplitPersonalityTakeover. The rest are honestly trying to protect Athena's Sanctuary from what they believe to be evil foes ([[spoiler:Shura, Aldebaran, Milo, Camus, to some degree, and Shaka]]) or actually ''do'' help the FiveManBand directly ([[spoiler:Mu]]). For the most part, once they realize Seiya & Co. ''are'' fighting on behalf of Athena, they immediately [[HeelFaceTurn turn to their side]]; those who continue to fight do it only because they want to test the heroes' mettle, as any obstacles ahead of the Gold Saint's own temple will be ''at least'' as devastating as the one before it.

* AHouseDivided: In the Sanctuary Arc, they can be classified in three groups: The "Fake Pope supporters" (Saga, Deathmask, manga-Shura and Aphrodite), the "JustFollowingOrders guys" (Shaka, Milo, anime-Shura and Camus) and "Saori Kido believers" (Mu, Aldebaran, Dohko and Aeolia). Just like with the Silver Saints, this is one of the consequences of Athena's absence from the Sanctuary.

* MiddleChildSyndrome: [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hAXtvfv9Tr4/UxGRuSoZgTI/AAAAAAAAIXs/aSc1ArILPeg/SaintSeiya_Vol10Chap046_029.png?imgmax=0 As this page shows]], there are 3 different age groups in the Gold Saints: Mu, Aeolia, Shaka, Milo, Camus, Aldebaran are the youngest; Deathmask, Shura and Aphrodite are the middle; and Saga, Kanon, Dohko and Aeolus are the oldest. And as you can see from the manga, the "middle" group gets the least spotlight, and it doesn't help that two of them are really malicious (DM and Aphrodite), Shura is pretty much ignored after his fight with Shiryu.
* MultinationalTeam: While a third of them (Saga, Aeolia, Milo and Aeolus) hail from Greece, the rest of them come from all over the world, and surprisingly for an 80's Manga, none of them are Japanese.

** Mu, Aldebaran, Aeolia, Shaka, Milo, and Camus were already Gold Saints at age ''seven''.

*** '''Aeolia''' is the name of the home island of the wind god '''Aeolus'''.

** In the non-canon movies, everyone but Saga, Kanon, Shion and Dohko ends up receiving this from the new threat. '''Movie 4: Warriors of the Holy Battle''' is the worst offender: within the first minute of the film, Lucifer's henchmen storm the Sanctuary and go through the Twelve Temples, gravely injuring Mu, Aldebaran, Aeolia, Shaka (yes, even Shaka) and Milo in the process.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: What his ''Genrō Maō Ken'' (Demon Emperor Illusion Fist) will do to you. Poor Aeolia (and Hyoga's master, Crystal Saint in the anime).
* BrokenAce: He was considered the strongest Saint of his generation and most possible candidate for succeeding the Pope, but [[TheAce Aeolus]] was chosen and his envy as well as [[spoiler: [[EvilTwin Kanon's]] [[HannibalLecture speech about how Saga is as evil as he is]]]] pushed him over the edge and allowed his [[SplitPersonalityTakeOver evil self]] to take over.

* FallenHero: Before the evil side of Saga had taken control of him, Saga was one of the most beloved men of Greece, in fact, a favorite of the Pope after Aeolus.

* GreenEyedMonster: Saga did not take well the Pope picking Aeolus over him as his successor, to say the least.

* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Deception, manipulation and brainwashing. Uses the first one on most of the Sanctuary's organization (except the ones who are fully aware of his identity behind the Pope's mask but are loyal to him regardless), the second on Aeolia, and the third on Aeolia after the latter finds out the truth and turns on him (also on the Crystal Saint in the anime).

* ManipulativeBastard: After [[KillAndReplace supplanting]] the Pope, Saga framed Aeolus (the chosen Pope successor) as a traitor to the Sanctuary (which ended up killing him as well) and had the whole organization wrapped around his fingers for several years, his only obstacle being Saori, the reincarnated goddess Athena who Aeolus managed to save before dying. When the Bronze Saints, loyal to Athena, eliminated his Silver Saints, the impostor Pope Saga sent Aeolus' younger brother Aeolia after them, reasoning that Aeolia would stay loyal to the Sanctuary, given that his brother had been branded a traitor and thus dishonoured Aeolia and the whole order, and that he would fight to restore their honor. Then, after Aeolia ended up finding the truth about Aeolus and Athena, he turns against Saga — but the Pope impostor brainwashes him back into servitude.

* JerkassHasAPoint: In ''Soul of Gold''. During his conversation with Aeolia, he says them coming back to live a normal life must have been a reward for what they did in the Wailing Wall. Considering Saori went out of her way in the Hades Arc to give Seiya and co. a chance to live a normal life, he would be right in other circumstances.

[[folder: Leo Aeolia/Aiolia]]

* BigBrotherWorship: Even after he was framed as a traitor, Aeolia always loved and respected his brother and [[HeroicVow promised he would become stronger than his brother to clean his name.]]
** Subverted in the anime, where Aeolia came to hate Aeolus(though still speaks of him in high regard) but quickly drops this when he learns the truth.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Saga attacked Aeolia with his "Genrou Mao Ken", allowing him to manipulate Aeolia's mind to kill the Bronze Saints. [[spoiler: Only Cassios' HeroicSacrifice managed to de-brainwash him, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone which greatly affects him.]]]]

* CoolSword: For the GrandFinale of ''Soul of Gold'', he gets to put on the Odin Robe like Seiya did and wield the accompanying Balmung. Whereas Seiya had a relatively regular longsword and not much else, Aeolia's manifests as a golden double-edged sword similar to Frodi's Sieg Schwert [[ShieldSurf that he uses to bounce off of mid-air in insanely rapid succession]] to deliver a light-speed pummeling to [[spoiler: Loki]]. It's also capable of Zelda-style {{Sword Beam}}s
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Aeolia is first introduced as the living alarm-clock for Athena and the Saints that they are now on Sanctuary's radar and not just a blip of noise; When he's sent off to Japan, ''all the way from Greece'', Aeolia appears right behind Seiya in the ''very next scene'' despite TheHero being out enjoying some peace and quiet in a forest after recovering from his injuries. Aeolia [[PersonOfMassDestruction razes most of that forest in a single punch]].

* HeelFaceTurn: Early in the story. During a mission, he meets Athena/Saori Kido, the one he was supposed to protect all along; with a bit of urging from the soul of his brother via Seiya wearing the Sagittarius Gold Cloth, he understands that the Pope had his brother framed and that he lied to him during 13 years. Aeolia doesn't need any more reason to pull this.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: [[GenerationXerox Since he is very similar in personality to Seiya and also has subplot revolving an older sibling]], Aeolia serves as the protagonist of both ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeG'' and ''Anime/SaintSeiyaSoulOfGold''.
* HonorBeforeReason: After Saori explains to Aeolia that she is the true reincarnation of Athena and that the Pope has been lying for 13 years, Aeolia swears loyalty to Athena, but is still confused by the actions of the Pope. He decides to return to Sanctuary to question the Pope himself. [[DidntThinkThisThrough Unfortunately for Aeolia who went in rather unprepared]], the Pope was not. [[CombatPragmatist He used the chance of Aeolia getting stuck grappling with]] [[TheExtremistWasRight Shaka(who had told Aeolia to leave immediately)]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy to hit him with his ''Genrō Maō Ken''.]]
* HotBlooded: Like a lion, Aeolia is composed but has a hot spirit and one hell of a temper that incites him to action.

* ManlyTears: Has these when he finds out that his brother Aeolus was innocent all along.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Is visibly distraught and genuinely sorrowful over being made BrainwashedAndCrazy to the point where he killed Cassios, who went out with a HeroicSacrifice to try and save Seiya from Aeolia's rampage.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Not through his own volition though. Under the Pope's mind control, Aeolia becomes a completely different person who doesn't retain any of his virtues or kindness as a Saint and goes out of his way to make sure Seiya suffers at his hands very slowly during their fight.
* OutOfCharacter: His characterization in ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeG''. Despite Aeolia's main goal of wanting to clear the shame that Aeolus' treachery had brought to the both them by showing his devotion to the Sanctuary and Athena, here, he openly defies the Pope and shows no respect to his fellow Gold Saints which by extension, makes himself look much more antagonistic and untrustworthy to everyone.

** To Marin, according to WordOfGod. The fandom had leaned more toward believing him to be her UnluckyChildhoodFriend, though. In a Q&A, Kurumada used Shion to answer questions about their relationship, and Shion even "said" [[ShipSinking Oh? I have never heard of that rumor.]] It's true that those two get along well, [[PlatonicLifePartners but it is just friendship like male bonding.]] Aeolia had to live [[SinsOfOurFathers under the disgrace of being a little brother of a traitor]], there are inconsiderate people out there who would want to spread rumors about him. And [[MarriedToThejob the sole reason Saints exist is to protect the peace of this world]], [[CelibateHero so as long as they have that reason, Saints must devote their mind and body to Athena which is the symbol of peace.]] Therefore, Sanctuary does not recognize the love or marriage of a Saint but there are times when the life of one person to a Saint is more important than protecting the lives of the rest of the world. In our long history, [[CareerVersusMan there are those who have decided to give up their rank as a Saint to protect that one person."]] Either [[GenreBlind Not very savvy]] [[MostFanficWritersAreGirls about the female side of the fandom]] or a TrollingCreator, that Kurumada.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: During the fight in the Leo temple when Aeolia is BrainwashedAndCrazy, Seiya finally manages to land a kick to his face. The glare Aeolia gives Seiya afterwards evokes an OhCrap moment and the attack acts as the trigger for [[UnstoppableRage Aeolia to be set on brutally killing his opponent.]]

* ShockAndAwe: The "Episode G" gives Aeolia the power to generate electricity with his Cosmo (something said to be a power exclusive to the gods and able to kill them).

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When Aeolia barged into Sanctuary demanding the truth from the Pope, having already met Saori and acknowledged her as Athena, Shaka barred his way. The two of them got into a fight; the Pope claimed that, since Gold Saints are "evenly matched", two Gold Saints fighting one another would become a legendary "one thousand-day war". By the time we actually ''see'' Shaka in combat, at which point Seiya had already fought Aeolia, and especially after we see him take the full brunt of an Athena Exclamation, we see how far off the mark the Pope's grandiose statement was.

** He might be not as merciful as Shun, but of all the Gold Saints, he is the only one who ever bothered to refuse a fight and never got bored of [[spoiler: keep giving his enemies or opponents a chance to leave first. In the manga, he refused Ikki's challenge on Death Queen Island, knocked the lights out of him after he warned him to not let the evil around him take control of his soul, and that he would kill Ikki only if he came before Shaka as an enemy. When Shaka confronted Aeolia in Pope's chamber, he told Aeolia to the get the HELL out (which actually ''was'' good advice, but Aeolia was so pumped up that he didn't listen). Shaka openly ignored the Bronze saints, who invaded his temple, and only attacked after Seiya attacked him first. He also gave Ikki a chance to give up the fight unharmed, [[GoodIsNotNice though he didn't ask it nicely.]] In Hades arc, Shaka fully intended to kill all Specters that left when they entered his temple, but strangely later on, he told them to leave and killed them after they tried to attack him.]]

[[folder: Sagittarius Aeolus/Aiolos]]

->''"Young men who have come to this place. I entrust Athena to you. Aeolus."''

* TheAce: [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth Aeolus always was a paragon of righteousness, seen as the perfect Saint and one of the two Gold Saints who could succeed Aries Shion as the next Pope of Sanctuary and the chosen one]].

* BigBrotherMentor: To Aeolia [[spoiler: and to Seiya, ''from beyond the grave'']].

** '''Atomic Thunderbolt''': Aeolus shoots a massive amount of energy balls with some electric charge. It was originally only shown in the anime when he tried to fight off Shura, but was retroactively made canon in games and spinoffs.
* DefiantToTheEnd: He dies, but saved the infant reincarnation of Athena and ran into Mitsumasa Kido. Aeolus begged the elder Kido to become Athena's new guardian, and explained to him the travesty that had taken place at the Sanctuary. Along with other secrets, Kido learned about the existence of Athena's Saints and their Cloths. [[SpannerInTheWorks Without him, the bad guys would have won over a decade before the series started]].
* DisappointedInYou: When Aeolia realizes it's him who's helping Seiya fight him with the Sagittarius armor. He chews out Aeolia when for attacking Saori with his Lightning Bolt and not realizing that she was the goddess Athena. Because of this, he helps Seiya to send his own attack back to him.

* EmpathicWeapon: It's heavily implied that Aeolus' will still drives the Sagittarius Cloth in some form, especially when it shows up at the House of Sagittarius and reveals its former master's testament to the Bronzes.

* ItWasAGift: The Sagittarius armor, since Aeolus had left it in Mitsumasa Kido's care to give to whoever proved to be a true saint in the future.
** In ''Soul of Gold'', Aeolus had given his necklace to the baby Saori which she later returns to Aeolia who then wears it around his neck. [[spoiler: This necklace is what helps Aeolia to awaken his God Cloth since it was a gift granted to him by Athena.]]

* PosthumousCharacter: He died before the main story began. But despite this little problem, Aeolus managed to help the main characters many times by sending his Cloth to aid them or reigniting their motivation with a hidden message in his Temple.

** In the anime, the Sagittarius cloth puts the Bronzes through the wringer with a series of traps intended to test their resolve, which then ends with the message from Aeolus to protect Athena.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: While all of the deceased Gold Saints, including Shion, were revived during the Hades Saga, surprisingly, Aeolus doesn't appear until the Wailing Wall.

* TheAtoner: In ''[[Anime/SaintSeiyaSoulOfGold Soul of Gold]]'', we see that Shura promised Aeolia he would repay him for the crime of taking away the life of his brother one day.

* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: They are the strongest warriors of all because they wear the shiniest clothes of all (Gold). Specifically, the Cloths are modeled after the Medals of the Olympics games, which goes for Bronze for 3rd place, Silver for 2nd and ''gold'' for 1st.

* TheBlacksmith: Pretty much the only one who can ''fix'' Saint Clothes. But requires the blood of a Saint.

* EvilCounterpart: To Shun. Both have "female" clothes [[spoiler:and both are reincarnations of gods]].

* MeaningfulName: Dohko means "child tiger". And he has a tiger tattoo on his back.

* BreakoutCharacter: It would not be an {{understatement}} to say that they might be the only reason many Japanese, Europeans and Latin Americans knew anything about their Zodiac signs back when the Sanctuary arc aired; it was so you could compare yourself to these men among men on the playground. Thanks to their popularity, the Gold Saints received much bigger roles in the spin-offs, like ''Anime/SaintSeiyaSoulOfGold'' or ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeG'', and the Sanctuary Arc they played starring roles in basically shaped the structure of the rest of the series (Go to bad guy's place while Athena holds the line, beat up enemies ranging from {{Hate Sink}}s, {{Noble Demon}}s, ByronicHero or BrainwashedButCrazy, with TheParagon usually dead but fondly remembered).

* BreakoutCharacter: It would not be an {{understatement}} to say that they might be the only reason many Japanese, Europeans and Latin Americans knew anything about their Zodiac signs back when the Sanctuary arc aired; it was so you could compare yourself to these men among men on the playground. Thanks to their popularity, the Gold Saints received much bigger roles in the spin-offs, like ''Anime/SaintSeiyaSoulOfGold'' or ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeG'', and the Sanctuary Arc they played starring roles in basically shaped the structure of the rest of the series (Go to place while Athena holds the line, beat up enemies ranging from {{Hate Sink}}s, {{Noble Demon}}s, {{Anti-Villain}}s and outright {{Ideal Hero}}s either being BrainwashedButCrazy or [[PosthumousCharacter dead]].)

* BreakoutCharacter: It would not be an {{understatement}} to say that they might be the only reason many Japanese, Europeans and Latin Americans knew anything about their Zodiac signs back when the Sanctuary arc aired; it was so you could compare yourself to these men among men on the playground. Thanks to their popularity, the Gold Saints received much bigger roles in the spin-offs, like ''Anime/SaintSeiyaSoulOfGold'' or ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeG'', and the Sanctuary Arc they played starring roles in basically shaped the structure of the rest of the series (Go to place while Athena holds the line, beat up enemies ranging from {{Hate Sink}}s, {{Noble Demon}}s, {{Anti-Villains}} and outright {{Ideal Hero}}s either being BrainwashedButCrazy or [[PosthumousCharacter dead]].)

* BreakoutCharacter: It would not be an {{understatement}} to say that they might be the only reason many Japanese, Europeans and Latin Americans knew anything about their Zodiac signs back when the Sanctuary arc aired; it was so you could compare yourself to these men among men on the playground. Thanks to their popularity, the Gold Saints received much bigger roles in the spin-offs, like ''Anime/SaintSeiyaSoulOfGold'' or ''Manga/SaintSeiyaEpisodeG'', and the Sanctuary Arc they played starring roles in basically shaped the structure of the rest of the series.

* ButNotTooBlack: In the anime.

* AdaptationDyeJob: His hair is blonde in the manga, and purple or dark brown in the animes.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Saga is a blond and his evil side's hair is black in the manga. In the anime, he has blue hair that turns gray when he becomes evil.
* AdaptationalBadass: ''Soul of Gold'' turns his Another Dimension technique into a SwissArmySuperpower, which Saga can use to swallow multiple enemy attacks, or transport himself and others to another place. In the main series, the only thing he ever does with it is to send opponents to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin another dimension]], leaving them stranded there forever.

* AdaptationDyeJob: His hair is gray in the manga, and blue in the anime.

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the manga, he's a blond. In the anime, he has light blue hair.

* AHouseDivided: In the Sanctuary Arc, they can be classified in three groups: The "Fake Pope supporters" (Saga, Deathmask, manga-Shura and Aphrodite), the "JustFollowingOrders guys" (Shaka, Milo, anime-Shura and Camus) and "Saori Kido believers" (Mu, Aldebaran, Dohko and Aeolia). Just like with the Silver Saints, this is one of the consequences of Athena's absence from the Sanctuary.

* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: They are the strongest warriors of all because they wear the shiniest clothes of all (Gold). Specifically, the Cloths are modeled after the Medals of the Olympics games, which goes for Bronze for 3rd place, Silver for 2nd and ''gold'' for 1st.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hAXtvfv9Tr4/UxGRuSoZgTI/AAAAAAAAIXs/aSc1ArILPeg/SaintSeiya_Vol10Chap046_029.png?imgmax=0 As this page shows]], there are 3 different age groups in the Gold Saints: Mu, Aeolia, Shaka, Milo, Camus, Aldebaran are the youngest; Deathmask, Shura and Aphrodite are the middle; and Saga, Kanon, Dohko and Aeolus are the oldest. And as you can see from the manga, the "middle" group gets the least spotlight, and it doesn't help that two of them are really malicious (DM and Aphrodite), Shura is pretty much ignored after his fight with Shiryu.