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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saint_seiya_gold_saints.jpg
What a nice group picture of everyone...except Aiolos...(*)
The greatest and mightiest of Athena's Saints, the 12 Gold Saints are the main guardians of the Sanctuary and Athena's Praetorian Guard. Though meant to function as a cohesive unit, the Gold Saints include allies, heroes and villains in its ranks, becoming the Bronze Saints' most formidable foes.

Obtaining their cloths at a markedly young age, the Gold Saints became fractured with the apparent betrayal of Sagittarius Aiolos and his attempted assassination of the baby Athena some 13 years before the beginning of the story.

The Gold Saints guard the 12 Houses of the Sanctuary, the only route to climb to the Temple of Athena.


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The Twelve

     In General 

  • Adaptation Dye-Job: In the anime. Justified since the majority of the Gold Saints were originally blondes. The anime gave a better color balance and made it easier to distinguish the Saints.
    • Mu and Shion: Green-eyed blondes in the manga. In the anime, Mu has green eyes and purple hair (pink in earlier episodes) and Shion has green hair and purple eyes.
    • Aldebaran: Is a blonde in the manga. 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 have 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 Split-Personality Takeover, Saga's hair becomes black; in the anime, it's grey and his eyes turn red.
    • Deathmask: Has gray hair and red eyes in the manga. In the anime, he has blue hair and eyes.
    • Aiolia: In the manga, has blonde hair. In the anime adaptation, 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 reddish-brown in the anime.
    • Milo: Blonde hair in the manga. In the anime, Milo's hair color was modified to a blueish purple.
    • Aiolos: He was blond in the manga, had brown hair in the anime.
    • Shura: Black hair in the manga, dark green in the anime.
    • Camus: A redhead in the manga, but the anime gave Camus blueish-green hair.
    • Aphrodite: Was blonde in the manga, but the anime gave him light blue hair (blue-green hair in the Santuary Arc).
    • Averted with Shaka, who is the only blonde Gold Saint who is saved from hair dye, and because he always keeps his closed, it's not immediately obvious that he has green eyes in the manga. Therefore, Shaka still got an eye dye, so to speak, since his eyes are blue in the original TV series.
  • Animal Motifs: Some signs are represented by animals.
  • Anti-Villain: At least half of the twelve Gold Saints are like this during the Sanctuary Arc. Only two of them are actual villains (Deathmask and Aphrodite), one of them is dead (Aiolos), another is Brainwashed and Crazy (Aiolia), another is retired (Dohko), and the Big Bad (Saga) is suffering from a bad case of Split-Personality Takeover. The rest are honestly trying to protect Athena's Sanctuary from what they believe to be evil foes (Shura, Aldebaran, Milo, Camus, to some degree, and Shaka) or actually do help the Five-Man Band directly (Mu). For the most part, once they realize Seiya & Co. are fighting on behalf of Athena, they immediately 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.
  • Armor-Piercing Attack: Every single one has at least one attack that ignores, bypasses, or flat-out shatters any defense.
  • Back from the Dead: With exception of Kanon, every saint has revived at least once.
  • Badass Cape: Most of their cloth have long white capes. A majority of them throws it off almost immediately after starting a fight, with Mu, Shaka, Camus, Aphrodite, and Saga being the exceptions.
  • Badass Crew: 12 of Athena's strongest warriors.
  • Big Brother Mentor: What they become with time for the Bronze Saints, as twelve men of unshakable character and power who have set examples for the young saints to follow. Seiya and the rest acknowledge this as they tearfully take cover so that all twelve of them can sacrifice themselves to shatter the Wailing Wall.
  • Breakout Character: 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 Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold or Saint Seiya: Episode.G, 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 Sinks, Noble Demons, Byronic Hero or Brainwashed and Crazy, with The Paragon usually dead but fondly remembered).
  • By the Power of Grayskull!: In the Italian dub, most of their secret techniques (save exceptions) sound more like invocations to their zodiacal sign, as in "By the Sacred [insert sign's name here]".
  • Combination Attack: "Athena Exclamation", a Dangerous Forbidden Technique requires at least three Gold Saints to be used. The resulting attack is strong enough to end the world, and is a Godzilla Threshold for damn good reason; Any three Saints who use it will be (on paper, at least) remembered as an evil, destructive traitor and have their name struck from the order's records forever.
  • Heroes of Another Story: Most of them are either villains or ineffectual good guys (with the only exception among them being a Posthumous Character) in the original series, but they're the heroes in Soul of Gold. They also took missions off-page, with some shown in the manga and the spin-off series.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In Hades Saga, the twelve Gold Saints sacrifice themselves to destroy the Walling Wall.
  • A House Divided: In the Sanctuary Arc, they can be classified in three groups: The "Fake Pope supporters" (Saga, Deathmask, manga-Shura and Aphrodite), the "Just Following Orders guys" (Shaka, Milo, anime-Shura and Camus) and "Saori Kido believers" (Mu, Aldebaran, Dohko and Aiolia). Just like with the Silver Saints, this is one of the consequences of Athena's absence from the Sanctuary.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: They are the strongest warriors of all because they wear the shiniest cloths 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.
  • Middle Child Syndrome: As this page shows, there are 3 different age groups in the Gold Saints: Mu, Aiolia, Shaka, Milo, Camus, Aldebaran are the youngest; Deathmask, Shura and Aphrodite are the middle; and Saga, Kanon, Dohko and Aiolos 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.
  • Multinational Team: While a third of them (Saga, Aiolia, Milo and Aiolos) 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 - Tibet
    Aldebaran - Brazil
    Deathmask - Italy
    Shaka - India
    Dohko - China
    Shura - Spain
    Camus - France
    Aphrodite - Sweden
  • Mutual Kill: As Athena's attempt to invoke Ape Shall Never Kill Ape, when Gold Saints of roughly equal power fight with one another, it causes a phenomenon known as "One Thousand Wars"; A perpetual, mutual stalemate that can only be ended by breaking the fight up, a third element swaying the odds or both participants dying.
  • Noodle Incident: It is casually noted (due to far more important things going on at the time) that the continent of Mu sunk into the ocean during a previous Holy War between Athena and Poseidon; Mu, his master Shion and Kiki being three of those who descend from the "Jamiri" people that lived on said continent and fled to mainland Asia, they have innate Telepathy and a strong Cosmo because of their lineage.
  • Overranked Soldier: All of them earned their Gold Cloths during childhood.
    • Saga and Aiolos were fifteen and fourteen respectively when they were Gold Saints, and up next in line to become the Sanctuary's next Pope.
    • Shura and Deathmask were ten and Aphrodite was nine.
    • Mu, Aldebaran, Aiolia, Shaka, Milo, and Camus were already Gold Saints at age seven.
  • The Mole: Saga, Shura, Camus, Shion, Deathmask and Aphrodite in the Hades Saga. They're resurrected and sent to the Sanctuary with the mission to make way for the real Specters and bring Hades Athena's head. But actually, they just wanted to apologize to Athena, and tell her about her Cloth, which she absolutely needed to defeat Hades.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: The Bronze Saints' mission to reach the Temple of Athena results on the deaths of Deathmask, Shura, Camus, Aphrodite and Saga; Shaka is very nearly vanquished by Ikki, while Aiolos died ~13 years before. Though their deaths were a necessary evil, their absence signifies a huge blow for the subsequent Holy Wars against Poseidon and Hades.
  • Religious Bruiser: All of them by nature, and they're the best ones at it in the setting too, both power and morality-wise.
  • Theme Naming:
    • Saga's name comes from the kanji 性, which means gender, destiny or nature (as in the profound nature of a being).
    • Deathmask is the name of an ancient funerary practice.
    • Animal Theme Naming: Dohko's name can be rendered as Tóng-Hǔ, meaning "young tiger", in both Japanese and Chinese.
    • Location Theme Naming:
      • Kanon's name was derived from "Canon Island" in Ireland.
      • Milo's name comes from the greek island of Milos.
    • Named After Somebody Famous: Albert Camus, a French author (...who was himself a Scorpio).
      • This makes more sense when you realize Kurumada intended the Scorpio Gold Saint to be Hyoga's master! (As per pre-publication manga pages)
    • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming:
      • Mu is the theoretical lost continent that supposedly was in between Asia/Australia and the Americas.
      • Aiolia is the name of the home island of the wind god Aiolos.
      • Shaka's name come from Shakyamuni, also known as Shaka Nyorai, both japanese names for Buddha Gautama.
      • Shura is named after the Ashura, the fierce battling demigods of Buddhist doctrine.
      • Aphrodite the Greek goddess of beauty and love.
    • Stellar Name: Aldebaran is the alpha star of the constellation Taurus.note 
  • Smug Super: More than a half of them. Even the Gold Saints with a good alignment can be very hammy about their abilities.
  • Western Zodiac: Their cloths.
  • The Worf Effect: Most of them gets one, especially Aldebaran.
    • In the Hades saga, Deathmask and Aphrodite suffer this in a Adaptation Expansion fight scene against Wyvern Rhadamanthys.
    • 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, Aiolia, Shaka (yes, even Shaka) and Milo in the process.
  • Worf Had the Flu:
    • Hades' castle is protected by a magic barrier that halves the power of a saint; as such, Mu, Milo, and Aolila are all smashed by Rhadamanthys when they battle him there. When Kanon encounters him without such a handicap, the ensuing fight is much more even.
    • In Soul of Gold, there is the Yggdrasil constantly draining their Cosmo.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: Their job is to prevent anyone from invading the Sanctuary. They haven't lost that title in over two millenia because no one has succesfully gone through all twelve since the order was founded.
    • Aldebaran takes this to the extreme in Hades with his body continuing to protect his House long after he has been killed.

     Aries Mu 

Voiced By: Kaneto Shiozawa (1986-1989 JP), Takumi Yamazaki (2002-Present JP), Shane Bland (DiC EN), Paul Locklear (ADV EN), John Gremillion (Sentai/Netflix EN), Daniel Abundis, Marcos Patiño (Latin America), Enrico Carabelli, Diego Sabre, Alberto Sette (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO011-Mu_8187.jpg

Mu is the third Gold Saint introduced in the story, initially known as the Cloth Blacksmith who repairs the Bronze Saints' cloths. A man of Jamir in the Himalayas, Mu is a descendant of the People of Mu, an ancient race from a lost continent which was destroyed during one of the Holy Wars between Athena and Poseidon. Mu is a student of the late previous Pope Shion, and he is the master of Kiki. A collected and doting man, Mu is considered one of the greatest allies of the Bronze Saints.


  • Badass Pacifist: Shion commented that, due to Mu's pacifist nature, the first time he fought to kill his opponent was against Cancer Deathmask and Pisces Aphrodite resurrected as Specters.
  • Barrier Warrior: Crystal Wall. Mu creates a transparent, glass-like barrier made of psychic force, between himself and an object. The strength of the wall is dependent on Mu's cosmo level; at 100%, it is nearly unbreakable to almost all but Mu's mentor who taught him the technique, Aries Shion.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: He's a nice guy, he's calm and polite but don't push this guy too hard or you'll take a Stardust Revolution right to your face.
  • Big Brother Mentor: To Shiryu.
  • The Blacksmith: Pretty much the only one who can fix Saint Cloths. But requires the blood of a Saint.
  • Calling Your Attacks: The same ones as Shion.
    • Stardust Revolution: The attack summons stardust from stars and galaxies then throws million of blows instantly. It's well known that the attack has force of shooting stars and comets and obliterates an enemy with raw cosmos power.
    • Crystal Wall: Creating a transparent, glass-like barrier made of psycho-power, between him and an object. The wall is very durable, and has been shown to shield him against everything from normal cosmos attacks to poison scent and rebounding the attack back to the enemy with the same strength it was launched.
    • Starlight Extinction: It's a teleportation-based offensive technique, although it's essence relies not on destroying the opponent but on removing him from battle.
    • Crystal Net: A variation of the technique Crystal Wall which creates a psychic force spider web. This web can restrain the movements of any target that gets in contact with it.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: Not to Aphrodite's level but equal with Shaka, his Adaptation Dye-Job also didn't help because its PINK!
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: In his initial appearances, when the concept of the twelve Gold Saints was not fleshed out, especially in the manga, he has a much more morally ambiguous attitude: he teleported and the wounded Black Saints and used them as decoys to drive off the Silver Saints pursuers, and pretty much got them killed. Also, while it may be a nightmare, Seiya has dreams of him killing Shiryu to resurrect their Cloths, but it still adds to the creepy factor.
  • Facial Markings: Two on his forehead; a trait of the Lemurians.
  • Foil: Towards Aldebaran.
    "I am a man of thoughts, before jumping in to the action, I need to know the reason, so that my companions can safely jump into action."
  • Good Is Not Dumb: Left the Sanctuary due to the False Pope.
    • Revealed in the short manga, Saint Seiya: Origin, he was sent away by Shion when he predicted something was wrong within the Sanctuary and that he didn't have long to live.
  • Guile Hero: Not to Shaka levels, but he can still manipulate his enemies well when given the chance.
  • Hermit Guru: Introduced as a hermit living in Jamir, with the power to repair Cloths.
  • Human Subspecies: He's Lemurian.
  • Last Stand: Against Rhadamanthys at Hades' castle.
  • Legacy Character: The craft of repairing Saints' cloths, a specialty of Jamir, was taught to him by his master Shion, and he himself is teaching it to Kiki.
  • Master-Apprentice Chain: Shion -> Mu -> Kiki.
  • Meaningful Name: One hypothesis assumes that his name comes from the Tezuka manga and criminal thriller ''MW'', which is transcribed in katakana the same way one writes Mu in the manga. If viewing Mu's name as an homage to this manga, it could explain his androgynous appearance, the initial creepy factor surrounding him, and initial morally ambiguous stance. Another possible hypothesis which the Western fandom has been going with is that his name refers to the lost Continent of Mu.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: To Kiki.
  • Mr. Exposition: In Soul Of Gold.
  • Nice Guy: One of the most benevolent characters in the series, Mu is very supportive to the Bronze Saints and to Athena.
  • Overranked Soldier: A Gold Saint at seven years old.
  • Psychic Powers: From basic Teleportation to advanced telekinesis, Mu is revered as a premiere psychic user among even those outside of Sainthood.
  • Talk to the Fist: In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold, he attacked Fafner with his psychic powers while the other was trying to do his evil monologue.
  • Token Good Teammate: Although he doesn't personally take direct action against the Pope impostor ruling Sanctuary, Mu is the only Gold Saint who effectively assists the Bronzes in their conflict with Sanctuary at various points in the story, by repairing their Cloths (twice for Seiya and Shiryu, in fact) and, in the manga, preventing the Bronzes from being killed by Misty at Mount Fuji by teleporting them out and using illusions making the Black Saints appear like the Bronzes so that Misty and the other Silver Saints initially believe them dead. He also teleports Phoenix Ikki back to the Virgo Temple at Shaka's request.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Before the Hades arc OVA has released, his only fight was against Lucifer's Fallen Angels, in the (non-canon) Movie 4, where he was easily defeated. During Hades arc, Mu not only defeats Deathmask and Aphrodite by himself, but also manages to hold his own against Saga, Camus, and Shura, until Shion paralyzed him.
  • Tranquil Fury: In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold's episode 6, he's still frustrated and angry over Milo's death. He warned the foot soldiers about how he might not be able to contain himself but Fafner is fair game.

     Taurus Aldebaran 

Voiced By: Tesshō Genda (JP), Paul Oddo (ADV EN), Josh Morrison (Sentai/Netflix EN), Alfonso Ramírez (Latin America), Tony Fuochi, Riccardo Lombardo (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO021-Aldebaran_5923.jpg

Aldebaran is a towering, intimidating Saint, who is basically a wall incarnate. Considered the physically strongest of the Gold Saints, Aldebaran is a Boisterous Bruiser, who is actually a friendly individual.


  • Acrofatic: Despite being the bulkiest of the Golds, he is the fastest of them.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: His hair is blonde in the manga, and purple or dark brown in the animes.
  • Badass Armfold: His battle stance (with crossed arms) allowed him to attack and defend at the same time. See pic!
  • The Big Guy: Aldebaran is the biggest, tallest and physically strongest Gold Saint. In canon, he may be the tallest and largest Saint overall (maybe surpassed by the anime-only Docrates, who may be taller but is less bulky than Aldebaran).
  • Big Guy Fatality Syndrome:
    • He is usually hit with the Worf Effect just to prove a point how serious the menace du jour is. But while he was revealed to have survived in the anime Filler Asgard Arc, he went and bought the big one in the Hades Saga. Though not without making his death a Moment of Awesome due to a time-delayed Taking You with Me for Deep Niobe who did him in, and who didn't even realize he was already a corpse until it was pointed out to him that he hadn't survived Aldebaran's final attack.
    • Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold seems to go out of it's way to subvert this. Even in spite of the enforced Power Creep, Power Seep that required some of his comrades to invoke their newfound Super Mode to keep up with the various God Warriors, Aldebaran dominates both of his fights with Herakles, and only invokes his God Cloth to humor his opponent. The only other Saint who can claim a similar performance is Saga.
  • Big Ol' Unibrow: Has bushy eyebrows.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Great Horn: Consists of breaking his defensive posture to send two waves of massive Cosmo toward his enemy, before resuming his stance in a flash.
  • Defiant to the End: After being caught off guard by Deep Niobe, Aldebaran uses the last of his strengh to One-Hit Kill the specter.
  • Emotional Bruiser: Unlike most of the characters, Aldebaran is often depicted as a friendly guy, laughing and being less serious in times of peace.
  • Foil: Towards Mu.
    "I've never been a man who thinks a lot on the long run, I just go along with my emotions and let the others to do the thinking."
  • Gentle Giant: In a flashback in the anime version of the Hades Saga, he is shown to awkwardly accept the gift of a flower from an unnamed little girl.
  • Graceful Loser: He clearly is this. After the initial surprise of Seiya snapping one of his horns, he goes to honor his promise to the Bronze Saint to let him through. In the anime, in the same fashion, he fights the other Bronze Saints to test their mettle, and decides to give a passing grade over their combined efforts freezing both of his hands for a short time.
    • Mu also confirms jokingly if he was not as graceful a loser as he was, he could have wiped the floor with the Bronze Saints and caused a literal bloodbath.
  • Hidden Depths: Contrary to his appearance, or what his sign may suggest, he is not The Brute, not by a long shot. He does have a knack for jumping into action and leave the thinking to those better inclined, but of note :
    • He had his own doubts about the Pope, and felt the Bronze Saints were too good of character to be mere rebels.
    • Also, his Iaijutsu based techniques implies supreme mastery or subtlety, he has at least some mastery of telekinesis, and his speed is to be feared as much as his physical strength, so there is clearly more to him than meets the eye.
  • Iaijutsu Practitioner: He keeps his arms crossed across his chest when he is facing an adversary, and then he whips them out with such strength and speed his enemy has been crushed on the ground or thrown through several walls before even realizing what has happened. When Seiya fights him, he thinks back to the time Marin teaches him about the principle of a Iaijutsu Practitioner, which he uses this knowledge to be able to defeat Aldebaran.
  • I Gave My Word: He said he'd let Seiya pass through if he could break his horn. Seiya obliged and did the impossible. After a brief moment of This Cannot Be!, Aldebaran honored his word with a boisterous laugh, realizing he liked Seiya's character and spunk.
  • Latino Is Brown: Anime version only, in the manga he is blonde and caucasian.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: Against Seiya, Syd and Bud, Sorrento and his killer, Deep Niobe, essentially against everyone he ever fought. Though very much downplayed (see Worf Effect below).
  • Nice Guy:
    • Unlike most of the characters, Aldebaran is often depicted as a friendly guy, laughing and being less serious in times of peace.
    • Also, to say nothing of his good-hearted disposition towards the Bronzes after his defeat, even going as far as giving a piece of friendly advice to Seiya that the other fights will not go so well.
  • Non-Uniform Uniform: His Taurus Gold Cloth somewhat has darker shade of yellowish gold than any other Gold Cloths. More distinctive in classic 80's anime since it looks more like orange. Averted when it transforms into God Cloth in Soul of Gold, where Taurus Cloth has same shade of bright yellowish gold like other Gold God Cloths.
  • Secret Test of Character: His fight against the Bronze Saints and later Seiya alone hints at him nudging Seiya into reaching the heights of the seventh sense, much like an adult teaching kids.
  • Super-Strength: Aldebaran has displayed superhuman physical strength in Episode G, being able to lift a plate that was crushing two other Gold Saints with one hand. Him stomping Seiya through the floor of the temple and a good way into the mountain below it did the same thing to him other Gold Saints have elaborate attacks for; literally knocked him senseless in the same way Shaka's 'Tenbu Horin does.
  • Threshold Guardians: Overlapping with Secret Test of Character. His fight against the Bronze Saints effectively serves as this, as he shows the boys exactly what they're getting into by challenging the Gold Saints.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: Is this for Seiya, though downplayed. When Seiya fights him, this is his first real fight against the Gold Saint strength tier with no power boost, and the fight starts with Seiya getting literally buried in the floor and about halfway into the mountain the temples are built on.
  • Worf Had the Flu: While Aldebaran was often used as a punching bag to hype the new enemies, he did have a handicap in every single fight he lost: Syd did not land a single blow on him and it took a sucker punch from Bud to KO the Taurus Saint, Sorento and Niobe used hax spells to weaken Aldebaran stealthily before taking him head on. Sorento admits that Aldebaran is so strong that, if he had fought Sorento before he cast his weakening spell, Aldebaran would have won a Curb-Stomp Battle. Deep Niobe was quite pathetic in that despite killing Aldebaran, Aldebaran executed a final counterattack that KILLED NIOBE and was so powerful Niobe didn't even realize he was already dead until Mu went and pointed it out to him.
    • On Niobe's case, it's also worth noting that Aldebaran was deaf (in the manga) due removing his own eardrums to counter Sorento's attacks (much like Siegfried does in the anime).
  • Younger Than They Look: Despite looking much older than everyone else, it's revealed he's only 20 years old, being part of the youngest age group of the Gold Saints.

     Gemini Saga 

Voiced By: Kazuyuki Sogabe and Akio Nojima (1986-1989 JP), Ryōtarō Okiayu (2002-Present JP), Mike Kleinhenz (ADV EN), David Matranga (Sentai/Netflix EN), Javier Rivero and Carlos del Campo (Latin America), Enzo Tarascio, Maurizio Scattorinnote , Maria Grazia Errigo note , Enrico Maggi note  (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO031-Saga_9755.jpg

Considered the informal leader of the Gold Saints, Saga is considered an example to follow by every Saint in the Sanctuary. However, much like his zodiac sign, there are two sides to Saga, making him a key central figure on the irregularities happening at the Sanctuary.


  • Adaptational Badass: Soul of Gold turns his Another Dimension technique into a Swiss-Army Superpower, 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 another dimension, leaving them stranded there forever.
  • Adaptational Villainy: In the Italian dub, Gemini's dark side openly refers to himself as the "Lord of all the Forces of Darkness and Evil" during his battle against Seiya and Ikki.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: 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.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Invoked by Mu.
  • Another Dimension: Weaponized. Saga can open a portal that sends his enemies to another dimension. Since it's essentially a One-Hit Kill, someone always manages to interrupt him while he is casting it, saving his victims before it's too late.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: He stood in as the Pope and the last boss waiting at the end of the stairs of the Twelve Temples. And he was considerably a harder fight than any of the Gold Saints before.
  • Battle Strip: When he faces off with Seiya, he lets his blows rip apart the Pope's gown, though he remains unscathed. Then he nonchalantly summons his Cloth while committing full frontal assault.
  • Big Bad: Of the Sanctuary Arc.
  • Big Damn Heroes: In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold, his very introduction was saving Milo's bacon from Sigmund, Surt and Camus.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: What his Genrō Maō Ken (Demon Emperor Illusion Fist) will do to you. Poor Aiolia (and Hyoga's master, Crystal Saint in the anime).
  • Broken Ace: He was considered the strongest Saint of his generation and most possible candidate for succeeding the Pope, but Aiolos was chosen and his envy as well as Kanon's speech about how Saga is as evil as he is pushed him over the edge and allowed his evil self to take over.
  • Cain and Abel: Zigzagged. In the beginning, Kanon was evil and Saga was good, but Saga went insane from having a Superpowered Evil Side and turned evil. Kanon *knew* his brother would become evil and used it to his advantage, staging an epic Gambit Roulette that covered several arcs of the story (two in the manga, three in the anime), where Saga was the first Big Bad and Kanon was the Man Behind the Man from both him and his boss. However, later Kanon pulls a Heel–Face Turn and joins the good guys, while Saga turns evil... or so it seems.
  • Came from the Sky: In Saint Seiya: Origin which gives more insight about Saga's past, it is revealed that he and Kanon were to sent to Earth through a shooting star. This event marking the birth of a new generation of Saints.
  • The Caligula: In the anime. In the manga, he was able to maintain a Reasonable Authority Figure posture until Seiya and co. forced him to take more drastic actions.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • Another Dimension: Opens up an interdimensional portal that swallows his opponents to trap them between dimensions for all eternity.
    • Galaxian Explosion: Saga launches an attack of intense power that assimilates a myriad of planets and galaxies destroying everything on their path.
    • Genrō Maō Ken (Demon Emperor Illusion Fist): It consists of striking the mind of the victim turning him/her into a killing machine and it only disappears after the victim has murdered someone.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Extremely prone to delivering these. Goes with the territory of being a natural Lightning Bruiser, and having a Superpowered Evil Side. Poor Seiya and Ikki can attest to the violence of these, but he could basically invoke this on nearly every Saint.
  • Driven to Suicide: He kills himself both in the anime and in the manga:
    • In the former, Saga impales himself with Athena's rod.
    • In the latter, he strikes at his heart (breaking through his Cloth) with his bare hand.
  • Dying as Yourself: In the end, he is happy that his dark side won't cause anymore trouble.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Saga's evil side is unnerved by Pisces Aphrodite for stopping at absolutely nothing for the mission's sake, having even less limits than Saga himself.
  • Evil Is Hammy: Specially in the Latin America and Brazilian versions.
  • Fallen Hero: 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 Aiolos.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Saga's good side acts almost exactly as his evil side, the main difference being that he's now targeting Athena's enemies.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: In Soul of Gold his Cloth's Super Mode gains BOTH, one angel-like wing and one devil-like wing symbolizing both his good and evil sides (though by this point he's still completely good).
  • Go Out with a Smile: Before he dies, his mind is purified and Saga's good personality came back once and for all. He died in the arms of Athena after asking her forgiveness for all of the evil things he did.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Saga did not take well the Pope picking Aiolos over him as his successor, to say the least.
  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Saga seldom wears his Cloth's helm, as a point is made of showing the fact that it obscures his face, almost as if that were its main function. Out of the Gold Cloths, the Gemini Cloth's helm certainly looks like the most visually obtrusive to others.
  • I Control My Minions Through...: 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 Aiolia, and the third on Aiolia after the latter finds out the truth and turns on him (also on the Crystal Saint in the anime).
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: Not applied in original anime, but since Hades Saga, his hair is even more purplish than Kanon. Also in the manga, while he and Kanon are both blonde, he has longer hair.
  • Jekyll & Hyde: To the extreme. His Jekyll self said to be embodiment of pure goodness when his Hyde self is said to be pure evil.
  • Kill and Replace: Saga had killed Pope Shion and took his identity for the next 13 years in the original manga.
    • In a side story for the anime, Saga murders Ares and takes his role as Number Two to the Pope.
  • Lightning Bruiser/Genius Bruiser: Though being a Gold Saint, this is pretty much a staple, THIS guy managed to manipulate the whole Sanctuary into believing he was protecting Athena and won himself a good amount of followers. And during the final battle not even a concentrated attack of the 5 protagonists managed to actually hurt him, he had to kill himself.
  • Manipulative Bastard: After supplanting the Pope, Saga framed Aiolos (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 Aiolos managed to save before dying. When the Bronze Saints, loyal to Athena, eliminated his Silver Saints, the impostor Pope Saga sent Aiolos' younger brother Aiolia after them, reasoning that Aiolia would stay loyal to the Sanctuary, given that his brother had been branded a traitor and thus dishonoured Aiolia and the whole order, and that he would fight to restore their honor. Then, after Aiolia ended up finding the truth about Aiolos and Athena, he turns against Saga — but the Pope impostor brainwashes him back into servitude.
  • Manly Tears: Often, actually, because he's gone through so much shit in his life. If not because of his Superpowered Evil Side, because of his Evil Twin.
  • Marionette Master: Saga can control his Cloth at distance and uses his Cosmos to do so. Kanon uses the same technique in Hades Arc.
  • Master of Illusion: Easily one of most adept users, along Shaka and Ikki. This is how he can duplicate his Temple, control his Cloth far away from the battlefield and create an infinite maze in his temple which can trap his opponents for an eternity... unless someone breaks his concentration.
  • Mr. Fanservice: The only Gold Saint that is this more than Dohko. In battles, he does the Battle Strip just to show that he is powerful as he is, not because of the Cloth. Oh, and he also really likes to take a bath. It is so notorious on being this, to the point if there is any spin-off starring the original Gold Saints, expect him to take a bath and his Superpowered Evil Side to pull a Battle Strip at least once.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Seriously, do you really think you want to be hit by an attack called the Demon Emperor's Illusion Fist? Answer: NO, YOU DON'T. Fun fact: In Latin America this attack is called EL SATAN IMPERIAL (The Imperial Satan). Add tons of maniacal laughter while casting it.
  • Narcissist: His evil side. In a manga-only scene, while Saga is taking a bath, his evil side can't help but comment on how perfectly sculpted his body (or rather their body) is, referring it to being like a "God's work of art."
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: To Seiya and Ikki.
  • No-Nonsense Nemesis: His assassins are very carefully picked, in both manga and anime:
    • In the manga he first sends in Hyoga, whose abilities bypass all the defenses of the other Saints, then two squadrons of Silver Saints (including one that could one-shot Mount Fuji), and when even that failed he sent in a Gold Saint (Milo was surprised when he was told he had to kill a bunch of Bronze Saints). And when that failed he forced them to face all the Gold Saints in quick succession, also having Ptolemy mortally wound Saori.
    • In the anime he takes a smaller role, only ordering directly Ikki to go there with a small army, before trusting Gigars to deal with the mess-and brainwashing the Crystal Saint when he refuses the order. Then he doesn't intervene again for a while until Gigars is replaced by Phaeton-and then he orders Phaeton to use the Silver Saints specifically. After this he stops taking a direct role again for a while, but when the Sagittarius Cloth disappears he directly brings in the Gold Saints and Ptolemy as in the manga.
    • Even as a force of good he keeps this attitude, with his opponents in Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold surviving his arrival because they run the moment they see he's charging a Galaxian Explosion.
  • Not So Stoic: While posing as The Stoic during the Hades Saga, he still cried after passing the Gemini Temple, because now his brother took his place and finally pulled a Heel–Face Turn after almost half of their lives. Mu also notices his soul has been shedding tears of blood all along.
  • Older Than They Look: After 13 years, he becomes this, as despite being 28, he looks nothing different from his 15-year-old self.
  • Out of the Inferno: How he makes his entrance in Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: His Galaxian Explosion is confirmed as the second most powerful attack ever used by a Gold Saint, second only to the Athena Exclamation, a Dangerous Forbidden Technique which requires THREE Gold Saints in order to be used.
  • Polar Opposite Twins: With Kanon. He is selfless, wise, calm and thoughtful (until his Superpowered Evil Side awakens, that is...) while Kanon is selfish, arrogant and scheming.
  • Purple Is Powerful: Rather he has blueish-purple hair, and is most likely the strongest Saint serving Athena during his generation, as acknowledged in Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: His evil-half in the Anime only.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Kanon's Red. See also Polar Opposite Twins. Also it can be said that he played this trope to himself, with his good self being selfless, passive and calm blue oni, and his Superpowered Evil Side is the hammy, arrogant and selfish Red Oni.
  • Space Master: As mentioned above, Another Dimension opens an interdimensional portal that swallows his opponents to trap them between dimensions for all eternity.
  • Superpowered Evil Side/Split-Personality Takeover: It is revealed in his backstory that the reason he has an evil side is because when he was a child, the Goddess Ker had sent an evil spirit Lemure to possess the Gemini twins upon their arrival to Earth. It would eventually possess Saga and manifest into his split personality because Shion had hesitated to kill the Lemure even after Dohko's warning to get rid of it.
  • Undeath Always Ends: In the Hades Saga.
  • The Unfettered: His good side: he will do anything short of treason for Athena's cause. He has so few limits that the only difference between his two personalities is that the "evil" side thinks he can do a better job than Athena at defending the world from the other gods and acts accordingly.
  • Vocal Dissonance: In the Italian dub, for some reason, Saga's good side is voiced by a woman. No one comments on it. By the time of Hades' saga, Saga's good side speaks again with a masculine voice.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: His Superpowered Evil Side believes himself to be one by taking control of Earth instead of Poseidon, Zeus or Hades.
  • Worf Had the Flu: One could view his battle in the Gemini Temple as this, since he was only remote controlling his Cloth, pulling illusions and space distortions, and the fight could be broken by dispelling his concentration. This qualifies because the Gemini Temple battle against the remote controlled Cloth was in no way representative of just exactly WHAT the Bronze boys would have to face at the end of the Twelve Temples.
  • Younger Than They Look: Fifteen-year-old Saga already looked like he was twenty.

     Cancer Deathmask/Mephisto 

Voiced By: Ryoichi Tanaka (JP), Rob Mungle (ADV EN), Jay Hickman (Sentai/Netflix EN), Daniel Abundis (Latin America), Orlando Mezzabotta, Mario Zucca (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO041-DeathMask_6340.jpg

A cruel, murderous and bloodthirsty Saint, and an unabashed villain. A firm believer of Might Makes Right, Deathmask decorates the Cancer Temple with the souls of his victims represented by masks that pang in agony and wrath. Deathmask's powers have him tread in the fringes of life and death, where he can cast his opponents into the hellish abyss.


  • Adaptational Wimp: He's a frequent cannon fodder villain in the anime movies alongside Aphrodite.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: His hair is gray in the manga, and blue in the anime.
  • Badass Teacher: "Gigantomachia" (set between the Sanctuary and Poseidon arcs) states he's Mei's late instructor. Considering just how strong Mei is, he did a good job.
  • Black Sheep: He is the only Saint that has been stripped of his armor and status after proving himself unworthy.
  • Blood Knight: He loves to fight, and he doesn't care if he kills innocent people, although that changes in Soul of Gold.
  • Break the Haughty: Losing to Shiryu and being abandoned by the Cancer Cloth brought him down from his high horse in Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold. He even accepts he's the weakest among the Gold Saints.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Shiryu accused him of even killing little children, he smirked, shrugged and replied, "Who knows? Maybe they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • Sekishiki Meikai Ha (Praesepe Hell Wave): It's an attack that allows Deathmask to remove the soul of his victims and send them to the Underworld. It takes the form of a spiral.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Since his first appearance, he has been depicted as a very sadistic and malevolent man who used his power as he wanted without bending to Athena's will.
  • Cool Mask: Unlike most of the other Gold Saints, who wear (or at least possess) helmets, he wears a crab-themed mask that seems to offer more in the way of decoration than protection.
  • Deadpan Snarker: During Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold:
    Deathmask: (Deathmask sensing Milo and Camus fighting) Gold Saints never are on the same page. Some things never change. That time in the Wailing Wall was surely a miracle.
  • The Dreaded: When people realize what kind of person they're dealing with they're invariably unnerved. Even Dohko was scared of him at one point for what he was about to do to Shiryu.
  • Dub Name Change: Mephisto in the American translation of the manga and DIC's translation.
  • Evil Laugh: Since he revels in his villainy, more often than not he enjoys a maniacal, evil cackle.
  • Femme Fatalons: Male example. In the anime, randomly grows some when his armor abandons him despite never having them beforehand.
  • Giant Enemy Crab: His constellation is the Trope Maker.
  • Hate Sink:
    • Invoked again with a healthy dose of Flanderization in the Abel movie. He comes back for revenge against Shiryu, flocking to the bigger fish in the pond, i.e Abel, who is powerful enough to kill Athena and destroy the world. He gets killed by Shiryu all the same.
    • Downplayed in the main work, where Deathmask is portrayed as a sadistic and remorseless murderer, which makes Shiryu even wonder how he became a Saint. He is also the only Saint to be abandoned by his own Cloth in the manga, and Shiryu even admits that, out of all his enemies, Deathmask is the only one he truly hates. Despite that, he does get a shinning moment in the Hades arc, by finding his lost loyalty to Athena, going along with Shion's plan and helping the other Gold Saints to destroy the Walling Wall.
      • It should be noted the Hades arc anime makes his characterization more consistent. The manga has him and Aphrodite beg for their un-lives when Mu trounces them, but the anime has them walk over Hades' soldiers and request audience with Hades in a rather violent manner... Though they end up imploring Rhadamanthys to be spared.
    • Subverted in spin-offs, like Soul of Gold and Santhia Sho, where he is more like a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • The Hedonist: In Soul of Gold, after being resurrected, he's seen getting wasted and doing anything he wants, considering he just died and was immediately resurrected he sees it as a reward for their sacrifice.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Sometime between the Posseidon and Hades arcs, Deathmask found his forgotten loyalty to Athena and decided to help Shion in his plan to give Athena her Divine Cloth.
  • Hidden Depths: Taught his student Mei his notable astronomic knowledge.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: In Soul of Gold. During his conversation with Aiolia, 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.
  • Kick the Dog: Attempted to throw Shunrei from a cliff, with telekinesis, after she interfered in his battle against Shiryu.
  • Love Redeems: In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold, his concern for Helena is enough for his Cloth to forgive him and allow him to wear it again. Even Deathmask himself was surprised.
  • Might Makes Right: He believes that justice is not a real concept and is just a name given to the will of the stronger, since those with power can force their wills on the weak and call it fair.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Even disregarding the Deathmask part of his name, he's the Gold Saint of the Cancer cloth, which, if one doesn't know about the astrological implications of that, sounds downright villainous. Even his American name Mephisto invokes this.
  • Necromancy: His temple is entirely covered by his victims' faces (actually manifestations of their unresting souls). Deathmask can freely travel from the living dimension to the Yomotsu Hirasaka, the entrance to the world of the dead.
  • Not So Stoic: In Soul of Gold, he is deeply ashamed at having been abandoned by the Cancer cloth, so he makes an effort to actually change his behavior for once.
  • Oh, Crap!: Still thinks he can take on Shiryu even when his wrath is aroused... only for his armor to ditch him, causing him to break his leg against his opponent's armor.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: You didn't actually think his real name was Deathmask, did you? Ironically, either this name is his real name or not, it can count as Meaningful Name not only in a literal way, but it's also a name of a funeral tradition.
  • Only the Chosen May Wield: During his fight with Shiryu in the Sanctuary arc, and with some urging from Athena, the Gold Cloth of Cancer decides he is no longer worthy and abandons him. This cost him the fight.
  • Out of Character: In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold where he is less evil and more goofy. Then Legend of Sanctuary comes around, and he has his own goddamned musical number!
  • Reformed, but Not Tamed: In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold, he may be nicer than before and on the side of justice, but still has the nightmarish abilities that allowed him to decorate his Temple with the souls of his victims showing themselves as wailing faces, and the will to use them on someone far worse than he ever was.
  • Secret-Keeper: Is one the few Saints who knows the truth about the Pope.
  • Social Darwinist: When he explains his reasons to Dohko.
  • This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: The Bronze Cloth held in Mount Etna keeps Typhon's soul imprisoned, and removing it would release Typhon and allow him to possess the Saint candidate to start reforming his army... Unless someone who can manipulate souls were to be there to reseal Typhon the moment the Cloth is removed. Deathmask is the trainer at Mount Etna, and one of two Saints with the needed abilities (the other being Shaka).
    • Outside the main series, he generally tends to get jobs that involve evil spirits, against which his skillset makes him nearly invincible.
  • Those Two Guys: Frequently paired with Aphrodite as cannon fodder in the movies, as well as in the Hades Arc.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: In the Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold anime, he falls for a flower seller called Helena so he decides to help her and her little brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, she dies, but this does give Deathmask the will to fight once more.
  • Token Evil Teammate: It's a wonder how he even qualified for Sainthood.
    • Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho tries to work around this a bit for why he is still qualifies as a Gold Saint. While Deathmask retains his cruel and apatheic nature, he is still ultimately working for his own way of justice. Such as when he uses the Sekishiki on the Saintia's school thus killing everyone there, in order lure out Eris' underlings so he could get rid of them since he claims it was the fastest way.
    • When he is revived out from Erda's hatred of him, he switches over to Eris' side for a short while but ultimately comes back to Athena's side because "he was only having fun" and even saves Erda's life later on.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: In the anime, he gets to demonstrate the full awesome power of a Gold Saint and their superiority over any enemy Saori's group has faced so far by inflicting Shiryu with two Curb-Stomp Battles in quick succession (it should have been just one, but Shiryu survived the first, put on his Cloth and came for more, thinking it could make a difference).
  • Weaksauce Weakness: It's possible to bring back the souls he sends to the Underworld by praying for them. Shunrei manages to save Shiryu's life with this, much to Deathmask's dismay.
  • Worf Had the Flu: Basically becomes this after Shiryu defeats him the first time. He quickly loses any battles he partakes afterwards and is seen as the weakest Gold Saint.
  • Would Hurt a Child: And mount their faces/souls on the wall in his Temple.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Tried to kill Shunrei.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Deathmask's entire Cloth left his body. Obviously, the Gold Cloth of Cancer abandoned him due to his evil deeds and more importantly, because he completely forgot what true meaning of justice was.

     Leo Aiolia 

Voiced By: Hideyuki Tanaka (JP), Rick Piersall (ADV EN), Greg Cote (Sentai/Netflix EN), Yamil Atala (Latin America), Sergio Romanò, Aldo Stella (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO051-Aiolia_8716.jpg

A noble, stalwart and no-nonsense young man, Aiolia is the younger brother of the late Sagittarius Aiolos. Striving to become a paragon of the Gold Saints, Aiolia has always sought to prove he's not the same traitor his brother has been labeled as. Though a nice and accessible individual as a whole, Aiolia is markedly Hot-Blooded and relentlessly fierce, appropriate for the Leo saint.


     Virgo Shaka 

Voiced By: Yūji Mitsuya (JP), Ryan Worthington (ADV EN), Scott Gibbs (Sentai/Netflix EN), Mario Raúl López and Saúl Alvar (Latin America), Felice Invernici (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO061-Shaka_7589.jpg

Stated to be the Saint who is closest to God, Shaka is a larger-than-life Saint with overwhelming powers while wearing an indelible face of serenity. Facing Shaka in combat is close to facing the wrath of God.


  • Adaptational Badass: Downplayed. In the manga, while facing-off against Saga, Shura and Camus during the Hades Arc, Shaka just dodges their punches and kicks; while in the OVA, he tanks their strongest attacks combined (Galactic Explosion + Exalibur + Aurora Execution) with his barrier. Also, while in the OVA Shaka is capable of holding his own against Shura and Camus combined in hand to hand combat, in the Manga, Camus froze his knee with a simple Diamond Dust, which caused Shaka a considerable amount of pain. He and his opponents still end up in the same state afterwards as in the manga, the animation team just couldn't pass up giving a bit of extra flair to such an insane fight.
  • Adaptational Personality Change: In the Italian dub, Virgo is much less of a stoic and wise buddha and can be quite a case of Evil Is Hammy, for example sounding genuinely terrified when Ikki is about to take him out with an Heroic Sacrifice. He also shows a tendency to Lawful Stupid, as he claims that he never considered the chance of the Pope being evil because traditionally the Pope always was Athena's chosen vassal.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Shaka was far more arrogant in the Sanctuary Arc's anime version, to the point of creating an episode where Shaka sent his disciples to kill Ikki and intervene in the duel until Saori sent out her own Cosmo. This caused some fans who only watched the anime to wonder why Shaka seemed to behave differently in Hades arc, as this arc followed Shaka's characterization from the manga more closely.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV. While his heart is in the right place (The Hades Sanctuary arc implying he's something akin to The Heart of the Gold Saints collectively), he can also be VERY unscrupulous regarding his methods and like the Buddha he's based on, he's not really the type to explain himself either; He will weaponize Ice-Cream Koan to beat you to smithereens if you get in his way.
    • Other examples include when he promises to spare Ikki if the Bronze Saint bows and worships him as a god. He also says that the only difference between himself and God is that, unlike God, he himself has no mercy for the weak except for Mercy Kill.
  • Attack Reflector: As befitting the man closest to the gods he also has this ability, that actually makes its debut when he uses it on the Nebula Chain. Later on, he even gives Ikki a taste of his own Phoenix Genma Ken, with Ikki realizing Shaka had reflected the attack back at him only after he woke up from his own nightmarish illusion technique.
  • Awesomeness by Analysis: He takes out each of the Bronze Saints and then goes on to explain how his attack would kill them if he chose to go any further with it.
  • Bowdlerise: Sort of, in the Italian dub he's never referred to as a Buddha, and all references to Buddhism go unmentioned. He's instead called "the Man closest to Athena" and the "Guardian of Hades", with each of the six Samsara realms of Rikudō Rinne being referred to as the six realms of Hades he controls. Ikki even says that his enormous Cosmo is needed to keep the souls from escaping. Rectified in the Hades arc.
  • Break Them by Talking: He tries this time and again even when the Bronzes repeatedly and loudly declare that they'll still try to beat him up, since it is a considerably better fate than suffering his attacks.
  • Break the Haughty: One of the few times we see him lose his calm demeanor is when Ikki awakens his seventh sense, after Shaka had already cut off his other six. He doesn't understand the point of Ikki becoming stronger than him only to take the both of them out via a kamikaze attack and is fearful they'll never be able to return to their dimension if he goes through with it. This clearly doesn't stick since he asks Mu politely for assistance in bringing him and Ikki back not long after in his same stoic tone of voice.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
  • Dark and Troubled Past: If the brief flashback to his childhood right before he gets hit with the Athena Exclamation is any indication, Shaka's innate wisdom burdened him with an intense existential dread before he became a Gold Saint.
  • Disability Superpower: Played With. He keeps his eyes closed to concentrate his power, unleashing the accumulated power when he uses the aformentioned Tenbu Hōrin. Besides, everyone knows he isn't blind anyway. After he opens his eyes, his power level actually drops, but generally his focus on ending the fight increases drastically, and the release of power usually is enough to deal with any opponent.
  • Dissonant Serenity: He's calm, soft-spoken, and utterly ruthless when fighting. Averted in the Italian dub, where Felice Invernici makes him sound more emotive.
  • Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Robs Ikki of his sense of taste (by paralyzing his mouth and numbing it) to shut him up when he tries to insinuate that Shaka is an evil saint with no right to wear his cloth. Bad fucking idea, Ikki. In the anime it's even more chilling because he follows it up with an insidious Aside Glance, complete with "Psycho" Strings.
    "I've decided what you'll be losing next. I'll make it so you can never open that mouth of yours again!!"
  • The Dreaded:
    • Heroes and villains alike have a healthy dose of fear for what Shaka is capable of. Even Hades had an Oh, Crap! moment when Shaka prepared to deal with him.
    • In the manga, Ikki shook in terror before him after remembering their first encounter.
  • Dub Name Change: To keep up with a more Classical Mythology feel, the Italian dub has him call "Rikudou Rinne" as "Volta di Minosse" (Minos Vault), "Tenma Kofuku" becomes "Abbraccio dell'Oriente" (Orient's Embrace) and his "Tenbu Hourin" is instead given the above-mentioned secret attack treatment and called "Per il Sacro Virgo" (By the Sacred Virgo).
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: It's mostly the long straight hair and how having his Eyes Always Shut make his lashes look longer than they really are. So yeah, he looks kinda feminine, but not to Aphrodite levels.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: When Aiolia 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 Aiolia, 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.
  • Enlightenment Superpowers: He lives in a setting full of insane Charles Atlas Superpowers but thanks to this, he is one of the most feared, dangerous adversaries imaginable. He can create deadly illusions that will Mind Rape enemies from miles away, send them to Hell (or Heaven!), destroy their senses, rendering them comatose, and even be more dangerous dead than alive. It helps that he's the reincarnation of Buddha.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Shun. Both have "female" cloths and both are reincarnations of gods.
  • Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He's strangely fond of making humorous comparisons between his enemies and monkeys.
  • Eyes Always Shut: And, sweet merciful Athena, YOU BETTER NOT MAKE HIM OPEN THEM.
  • Facial Markings: A tilaka on his forehead.
  • Glacier Waif: You think the bulky Aldebaran is the resident Stone Wall of the Golds? Wrong, that is Shaka's role. Shaka's defensive cosmo is so strong that Saga's attack doesn't even leave a scratch on him.
  • Gokarting With Bowser: If he's not just fucking with the Specters' heads by saying so, he smugly says their promise of Immortality from Hades must be a lie, because Shaka and Buddha apparently chat on the daily, and in these discussions, Shaka says Buddha has never heard of a man who couldn't die.
  • Got the Whole World in My Hand: Due to his heavy Buddha imagery, this shouldn't come as a surprise. Ikki gets so terrified of Shaka that he imagines running a quadrillion miles away from him, expressing relief, only to realize that not only had he frozen in place from fear and not moved an inch, but also that he landed right in the Buddha's palm in his vision of running away after leaping through space and time.
  • Guile Hero: Isn't above manipulating his friends, fellow Saints and disciples as much as he manipulates his rivals.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Phoenix Ikki takes advantage of being hit by Shaka's Tenbu Hōrin, and with the removal of all his senses, he manages to work on his 7th sense and up-end Shaka in their fight.
  • Honor Before Reason: Shaka at the first glance is nothing like Shun, especially if you only watch the anime. But he somehow can fit in this category because ha CAN do it smartly and deal with the aftereffect. Other characters in the manga say of Shaka, “although he is like a God, he still has a weakness. He is too compassionate,” and if any Saint Seiya fans out there hear the latter part, they would think it'd refer to Shun.
    • 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 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 Aiolia in Pope's chamber, he told Aiolia to the get the HELL out (which actually was good advice, but Aiolia 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, 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.
  • Horrifying the Horror: He scared the living piss out of all the Bronze Saints, but especially Ikki. Seiya, Shun and Shiryu all feel that the title of "The Man Closest to God" might be underselling him when they first feel his Cosmo during his meditation.
  • Killer Rabbit: His is the Virgin's Temple, and is decorated with Buddhist guardian deities at the door, and the inside is a paradisical landscape sculpted by his Cosmo. Shaka himself looks somewhat like a long-haired woman, has his Eyes Always Shut so his pronounced lashes make him seem even more innocent, and he has no Killing Intent aura like the other Gold Saints. In reality, he's easily one of their strongest members whose colleagues all thank their lucky stars he's on their side.
  • Living on Borrowed Time: For a few minutes, after receiving the Athena's exclamation. He manages to send a message to Athena and then search for a nice dying place under the trees. Subverted however as he's revealed to possess the 8th Sense already, and so can keep fighting in the underworld, nearly taking out Hades before Athena stops him.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Has long blonde hair and fair features.
  • Master of Illusion: When he strikes, the enemy sees his glittering form against a breathtaking view of fantastic worlds and places within the Buddhist tradition; such illusions are a part of his technique in confusing and defeating opponents using something akin to psychological warfare.
  • Meaningful Name: The historical Buddha was called “Sakyamuni”, meaning “sage of the Sakya clan”. The Japanese transliteration of “Sakya” is “Shaka”.
  • Meditation Powerup: An inversion, in that he meditates to limit his powers. Even his peers among the Gold Saints dread having to fight him for fear of him stopping his meditation to open his eyes. In the Hades arc, he fights three resurrected Gold Saints at the same time and he loses only because he allows them to beat him to infiltrate the underworld. By the end of the fight, the Gold Saints had each lost four of their five senses and gotten beat up pretty bad.
  • Mind Rape: So good at it that he is the only character who can mind rape Ikki, something even Saga couldn't reliably do.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: When Saga is explicitly said to be strongest Gold Saint to ever serve Athena, Shaka is the one with greatest defensive power. Here's a tip on how powerful he is: He receives a Excalibur, a Aurora Execution and a Galaxian Explosion, the strongest attacks from Shura, Camus and Saga respectively, and that only makes him bleed a little. Then again, that only happened in the OVA, in the Manga the attacks of the Dark Trio were fairly simple blasts.
  • No-Sell: Hades, arguably the most powerful antagonist in the series, flexes his power to Shaka and encourages the saint to leave his palace immediately and await the coming doom with dignity. Shaka is entirely unfazed — with an amused expression, he simply tells the god that such things are all rather irrelevant since Shaka will presently be killing him.
  • Not So Stoic: As shown in the Hades arc, Athena is pretty much the only character that can arouse surprise from Shaka when she surrenders to Hades. He is genuinely flabbergasted at her decision. And say what you want about tasteful they are with what he's doing, he really likes having a laugh over reducing his opponent to a monkey joke punchline.
  • One-Man Army: One of the most powerful and scary of the Gold Saints; The Pope thinks hell would freeze over before anyone ever got past the Virgo Temple, much less five Bronze Saints, And was more or less proven right; everyone except Ikki nearly died the instant they go near him and Ikki did die temporarily to take Shaka down with him. In the Hades Saga, he takes on Shura, Camus, and Saga at the same time and holds his own for a while.
  • Outside-Context Problem: His powers are much deadlier than most of the other Gold Saints' because they are so different from anything like a traditional attack and yet incredibly final in how they put the opponent out of commission. If you're not a literal phoenix, how are you supposed to fight against getting sent straight to Braz- uhm, the Buddhist realm of warring demons, or getting all your senses pinpointly removed from a distance via hand gestures?!
  • The Quiet One: Whenever he's seen in groups with other Gold Saints, Shaka never breaks a word or comment.
  • Red Baron: "The Man Closest to God". While it's initially presented as being a title he has because of his insane power, it's actually because he's not mortal at all since he has control over Reincarnation and already possesses the Eighth Sense.
  • Reincarnation: Of a Buddha. Not the Buddha, but a Buddha, since when a person becomes enlightened, his consciousness escapes the cycle of reincarnation. The dub changes this to him being the Buddha, which results in a weird plothole when we see him talking to Siddhartha Gautama as a kid during the Hades Saga.
  • Showy Invincible Hero: He's effectively invincible, but his fights also have some of the most extravagant and gorgeous visuals and symbolism in the entire series, making all of them a treat to watch. Shaka does break a sweat now and then against truly powerful opponents, but his Buddha-like composure makes him seem completely infallable at times
  • Silly Simian: He's prone to make monkey jokes at his opponents' expense. Saga laughed at the one done on him. He hits Saga, Shura and Camus with a second one by leaving them respectively with their sight, ability to speak, and hearing like the three monkeys who can see, hear or speak no evil. This could be a Shout-Out to Journey to the West, though.note 
  • Stone Wall: Compared to other Gold Saints, he is this. Not that he is slow, nor he lacks offensive skills, but his defensive powers is his most notable skill, as well he doesn't really move much when he fights as The surroundings tend to do the moving for him. See also Nigh-Invulnerable.
  • Suicide by Cop: Dares Saga, Shura and Camus to use the Athena Exclamation against him as part of his Thanatos Gambit.
  • Thanatos Gambit: In the Hades arc. He loses to Saga, Camus and Shura on purpose after realising their true objective, forcing them into using the Athena Exclamation on him by crippling four of their senses each, allowing him to enter the Underworld undetected by faking his own death. He even went Large Ham on finding a place to die to the point where Shura was so moved that Shura couldn't bring himself to land the killing blow despite knowing he was being watched by Hades.
  • Too Good for This Sinful Earth: In the wake of realizing the ressurected Gold Saints weren't serving Hades and were trying to brave the way for Athena and the other Saints through Saga, Camus and Shura's collective Heroic Resolve in the face of his Tenbu Horin, Shaka makes himself one of the first casualties among the still-alive Gold Saints via the previously mentioned's Athena Exclamation. Every saint alive, including his killers and the Bronze Saints he had previously beaten the absolute shit out of, were reduced to bawling their eyes out at his passing, and caused a serious escalation of the Holy War between Saints who should have been allies before Athena proceeded to follow Shaka's example.
  • Tranquil Fury: The very few times he gets pissed. He paralyzes Ikki's tongue and robs him of his sense of taste as the third to go because Ikki insults his honor as a Saint for working for the Pope. Shaka's response before he cuts off Ikki's hearing implies that he knew of the Pope's true nature and was either playing the long game, or testing if the Bronze Saints were up for the tasks ahead of them.
  • Undeath Always Ends: What he does to any specter that crosses his path and IT IS AWESOME!
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: Does it all the time with enemies who don't know of him:
    • In the manga he had gone to Death Queen Island to deal with the Black Saints only to find that Ikki had already beaten them into submission and was gloating about being invincible. Shaka casually one-shot him and wiped his memory of the encounter to preserve his sanity after the scare, only to restore it when they met again in the Twelve Temples Arc to try and get Ikki to stand down.
    • In the Twelve Temples Arc, he's initially faced by Seiya, Shiryu and Shun, who thought that, between their numbers and the recent awakening of their Seventh Sense, they could take him on. Shaka quickly reminded them the difference between a Saint who only just awakened to their Seventh Sense and one that has long since mastered it, and was even surprised when he realized they were still alive, if completely knocked out.
    • In the Hades Saga, the Specters think they can take on the Saints with ease thanks to their numbers. Shaka first informs the ones who have invaded his Temple of just how many losses (far greater than they thought) they have already suffered, and when they don't stand down he annihilates them. The Specters start taking the Saints far more seriously after that... Not that it helped them one little bit when Shaka invaded Hades.
  • What Is Evil?: From his viewpoint there's no absolute evil or absolute justice since the universe is transient in nature, and he beats the lesson that some enemies are ones you must convince of their own goodness into Ikki before robbing him of his fifth sense. Ikki clearly took notes as that's exactly how he beats Kanon, as well as Alcor Bud in the Asgard arc.
    • In the manga, this is why he decides to spare Ikki the first time he met him on Death Queen Island and why he is still on the False Pope's side even after Ikki questions that a man of his power surely has the abilities to see the Pope's true intentions. Shaka explains to him that he could see that there is still some good inside of the Pope and why he chooses to not go against him. Though it turns out he's just as surprised as the other remaining Gold Saints when Saga reveals himself to have been acting as the Pope for the last 13 years.
  • You Are Already Dead: His Tenbu Horin slowly and painfully strip his opponents of their senses before finally shutting off their mind, the 6th Sense. This effectively leaves a living corpse behind afterwards.

     Libra Dohko 

Old Master Voiced By: Koji Yada (1986-2002 JP), Paul Sidello (ADV EN), John Swasey (Sentai/Netflix EN), Enrico Carabelli, Oliviero Corbetta (It)

Younger Form Voiced By: Michitaka Kobayashi (1986-1989 JP), Kenyuu Horiuchi (2002-Present JP), Patrizio Prata (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dohkooldyoung_1721.jpg
Old Dohko/ Dohko in his youth and during the Hades Saga.

The old master that dwells in Rozan, Dohko is a survivor of the previous holy war and the guardian of the Seal of Athena, as well as Dragon Shiryu's master and Shunrei's caretaker. Given a prolonged life by Athena, Dohko took the guise of "Roshi" by using the Misophetamenos technique awarded to him by Athena.


  • Achilles in His Tent: Justified. Athena (from the previous holy war) ordered him to watch Hades' seal, and prepare for the time the new holy war would begin.
  • Amazing Technicolor Population: Like an old guy he has purple skin... for some reason.
  • Animal Motifs: Unusual is that his symbolic creature, seen when his draws his full power, is neither the Libra nor a dragon, but a tiger. Even his Libra Cloth's helmet is loosely shaped like a tiger's head.
  • Badass Teacher: Even at an exceptionally old age he is still so powerful that he can reverse the flow of a waterfall with a tap of his cane, compared to Shiryu who put in a massive effort and Training from Hell to do anything similar.
  • Big Brother Mentor: In Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, we learn that 200 years ago he was one to the previous Pegasus Saint, Tenma.
  • Blood Knight: His first appereance in Soul of Gold has him beating people in a town's Colosseum and openly challenging anyone who wants to fight him.
  • Calling Your Attacks: He trained Shiryu, so obviously has the same attacks.
    • Rozan Hyaku Ryū Ha (Lushan One Hundred Dragons Force): Dohko's powerful ultimate attack. It takes the form of one hundred dragons, that kill the opponent.
    • Rozan Shō Ryū Ha (Lushan Rising Dragon Lord): Dohko maximum intensifies his cosmos and gives a blow with his fist or kick, the upward energy is comparable to the image of a majestic dragon which rises in the sky.
  • Cool Old Guy: He is 261 years old and still has a razor sharp wit and courage to match any one of the other Saints. Case in point, during his brief talk with Aldebaran in Soul of Gold, he acts as if he just doesn't care but the truth is he already knows there's a reason why they were brought back and to Asgard, and it will eventually reveal itself so there's no point in worrying too much.
  • Expy: Of Master Yoda, except he's purple rather than green.
  • Good Is Not Dumb: Didn't trust the Pope AT ALL.
  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: During the Hades Arc, Dohko doesn't wear his helm even once.
  • Hermit Guru: Lives in a remote hermitage somewhere in China and oversees the training of the Dragon Saint. When he finally comes out of retirement in the Hades arc, he also restores his former young appearence.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Shion.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Was a gorgeous tanned redhead when young. And he still is.
  • Meaningful Name: Dohko means "young tiger". And he has a tiger tattoo on his back.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: To Shiryu. Subverted in Soul of Gold.
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: And with purple skin no less. He's about 140 cm tall and purple when we first meet him. Considering he's 261 years old, it's understandable that over time he's managed to shrink, turn purple, lose all his hair and gain elf ears.
  • Misidentified Weapons/Calling a Rabbit a "Smeerp": The Italian dub changed the names of Libra's most exotic weapons, both because at the time they weren't well known and possibly, as with Virgo above, to keep a classical mythology atmosphere: the nunchaku becomes the "Twin Rods", the tonfa becomes "Bracer Spear" and the sanjiegun becomes the "Three-parted Staff.
  • Multi-Melee Master: He carries around something like six pairs of various weapons and can share them with the other Gold Saints. In toto he has: swords, spears, nunchaku, tonfas, three-sectioned staves and the shields themselves, which can also reveal a long chain to be used as flails.
  • No Name Given: In the Italian dub, everyone calls him "Master of the Five Peaks and is the only Saint aside from Mu who's not named after his zodiacal sign.
  • Old Master: He taught Shiryu all his techniques and gives him advice. Also, being the oldest Gold Saint, he's also a mentor to the other younger Gold Saints.
  • Parental Substitute: To both Shiryu and Shunrei, an orphan girl he took into his care.
  • Psychic Powers: Dohko has shown some telekinetic abilities as well as telepathy in his old form.
  • Put on a Bus: During most of Hades: Inferno until the very end. His final appearance was along with his fellow Gold Saints to break the Wailing Wall.
  • Rank Up: The Spin Offs revealed that he once was a Bronze Saint, Dragon Dohko; promoted to Libra Dohko in time for the Holy War.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Thanks to Misopetha-menos: A gift from Athena herself. It slows down Dohko's metabolism in order to extend his life span for various generations.
  • Sleep-Mode Size: The Misopetha-menos has been in powersaving mode for centuries... until the beginning of Hades' saga. Then he goes from an quiet Old Master to a very handsome and very powerful Gold Saint.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: His hair was black in the manga.
  • Team Dad: Dohko wasn't able to directly help the Bronze Saints, but sent his Gold Cloth to Shiryu so he could free Cygnus Hyoga from Aquarius Camus' Freezing Coffin. He also saved his adoptive daughter Shunrei from drowning when Cancer Deathmask struck her with a telekinetic attack as a gesture to taunt Shiryu.
  • Tiger Versus Dragon: Subverted. He is the master of Shiryu, and the one who taught him all of his Dragon attacks, which he of course can masterfully execute himself. However, his zodiacal sign is Tiger and he bears a tattoo depicting one, the same way Shiryu does. Interestingly, the Libra Saint is usually described as the "point of equilibrium" of the Gold Saints. It is quite obvious by the fact that he is one of the most badass of the characters that Dohko has achieved the perfect balance between Dragon and Tiger and that he draws enormous strength from it.
  • Walking Armory: This is literally the job of the Libra Saint: while Athena's Saints usually fight unarmed, the Libra Cloth includes six pairs of weapons (swords, tonfas, nunchakus, throwing shields, tridents, and three-section staffs) to be loaned to other Saints at Dohko's discretion when extreme need arises. Most of these weapons compress or retract for portability, then extend to full size when wielded. Ironically, Dohko tends to use his own unarmed techniques and Cosmo instead of relying on the Libra Cloth's weapons. Despite all this, Dohko's weapons are actually seldom used.
  • Wham Line: In Next Dimension, he notices that the Libra Cloth's scales are tipping towards power, indicating Athena is in the wrong. Further confirmed when we learn that Athena fooling around with time to save Seiya runs again the order of the universe and is the cause for Odysseus coming back to life.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Not immortal, but a variety that still comes up during Soul of Gold, where he tells Aldebaran that his life should've ended 200 years ago, but still managed to live to modern times, and only after having been brought back to life, does he really feel alive.
  • Year Outside, Hour Inside: Due to the Misopheta-menos technique, Dohko only aged a day for every year passed after the previous Holy War against Hades. As such, even though he looked ancient, Dohko only aged 250 days ever since and was able to fight once against in his prime for another Holy War.

     Scorpio Milo 

Voiced By: Shūichi Ikeda (1986-1989 JP), Toshihiko Seki (2002-Present JP), Daniel Magill (ADV EN), Alejandro Saab (Sentai/Netflix EN), Benjamín Rivera and Saúl Alvar (Latin America), Enrico Carabelli, Diego Sabre (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO082-Milo_9862.jpg

A shoot-first-ask-questions-later kind of individual, Milo is initially shown as one not to question the will of the Pope, mainly as an indifferent instrument of his schemes. However, meeting the Bronze Saints make him question himself and his choices.


  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Milo has blonde hair in the manga, and blue hair in the anime.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • Restriction: Milo uses his Cosmo energy to stop the movements of his opponents. The Italian dub christens this technique "Onde dello Scorpione" (Scorpion's Waves).
    • Scarlet Needle/Scarlet Stinger (ADV dub): Milo launches a crimson fingernail on his index fingernote  to 14 parts of the body to poison opponents, make them bleed, and scream in pain, losing their 5 senses in the process. The attack is impossible to divert or defend against. Each needle strike matches and represents one of the stars of the Scorpio constellation. He can shoot however many needles he wants at the same time up to 14 and even in multiple targets. The holes of the needles draw a miniature of the Scorpio constellation on the body of the victim.
    • Finishing Move: Scarlet Needle Antares: The final attack of the Scarlet Needle and the main point of Scorpio. If the rival has not yet been defeated after 14 Scarlet Needles, Milo uses Antares. Whoever receives 14 Scarlet Needles and Antares will die.
  • Cold Sniper: "Scarlet Needle" works like this. A not so flashy, destructive or explosive technique as those of the other Gold Saints, but incredible precise, impossible to evade and its function is to slow down the opponent with pain and blood loss. The Finishing Move, Antares is basically a sniper shot to the heart.
  • Cruel Mercy: Milo uses Scarlet Needle to slow down and torture his opponent, while always giving the option of choosing between surrender or death.
  • Defeat Equals Friendship: One of the few characters in the series who is not killed when he is defeated by the protagnists and decides to change sides when he sees Hyoga's resolve and devotion to his friends.
  • Fighting Your Friend: In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold, his rival is Camus after he decided to aid Asgard's God Warriors.
  • Finger Poke of Doom: He executes his attacks focused on his index finger, even growing a red stinger in the nail for good measure.
  • Godzilla Threshold: He invokes this in his Establishing Character Moment, telling the Pope that he's going way too far in mobilizing the Gold Saints against the Bronzes in Japan and repeatedly not backing down on his argument that this is too much until the Pope has to outright order him to do so. This shows that Milo is a man of thought who wants the Saints going about things the right way. And as it turns out, he was very correct in the Golds being misled for darker purposes by the Pope and far too much for the Bronzes to initially handle.
  • Good Is Not Nice: In the Hades Sanctuary OVA, when he tested the loyalty of Kanon.
  • Heel Realization: Upon seeing Hyoga's determination, Milo admitted his defeat and, after he stopped Hyoga's bleeding, he allowed him to go to the next House.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Since Milo fought Hyoga, he spoke to Aquarius Camus in a way that led the fans to believe they were close friends. Indeed, he and Camus are depicted as friends in "Episode G".
  • Kick the Dog: Anime-only where he was the one who killed Shun's teacher instead of Aphrodite and destroyed Andromeda Island.
  • Knight Templar: He sees great importance in the pride of the Gold Saints and seems to be always ready to clean the name of his companions. Even so, he is a noble warrior who can admit defeat even against a weaker or inferior enemy.
  • Large Ham: In the Italian dub, to ''extreme'' levels after his second appearance with Enrico Carabelli voicing him. He cannot say anything without putting incredible emphasis on every single word, a trait which his voice actor later used with Mime and Siren Sorrento, to a minor extent. May also count as Evil Is Hammy, since he does speak in a much more subdued way after his defeat.
  • Last Stand: Against Rhadamanthys at Hades' castle.
  • Pressure Point: Just like the Scarlet Needle has a similar, if deadly, effect to pressure points, Milo also knows pressure points to stop blood loss and save his opponent's life even if they're already dying from Antares. One quick poke to Hyoga, and the Cygnus Saint was good as new, even after having lost more blood than his body could have possibly contained.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Camus Blue.
  • Secret-Keeper: In the anime, he knew his old friend Aquarius Camus's real motivations and fought Hyoga because of this.
  • Shoulders of Doom: His Cloth have big, spiky shoulders.
  • Slasher Smile: Has a scary one when preparing to launch his needles.
  • Speed Blitz: Milo's demonstration to Seiya and Shiryu about how the Light Speed of Gold Saints is more advanced than the Bronze Saints' Mach 1.
  • Spikes of Villainy: Inverted, as he is not a villain, but Milo's Cloth have spiked shoulders.
  • To the Pain: His techniques can inflict lots of suffering and pain on his rivals.
    • Case in Point, it only took a single needle to leave Seiya and Shiryu almost agonizing in pain. Hyoga took several of these, and was one needle away from dying.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: Anime-exclusive, but in a quite awesome filler sequence animated by Shingo Araki, Shiryu and Seiya try to take him on, to no avail.
    • Shiryu's assault is first dodged, then outright blocked to hammer in the difference in power and speed.
    • Seiya, fresh from having won fights against two Gold Saints, then tries to consciously channel his Seventh Sense and actually lands a solid blow on Milo, punching off his head piece and causing a scratch to his face. Milo actually acknowledges and congratulates the Bronze Saint for being the first to pull such a feat, but points out that while he is indeed "awakening his Seventh Sense, and closing in to light speed", Gold Saints are "able to use their Seventh Sense at will, all the time", much to Seiya's shock.
    • Shiryu then sees Milo hit Seiya with a blow so fast that the impact of his blow actually registers a few seconds AFTER he had already hit him.
  • Worthy Opponent: Considers Hyoga to be this. While Milo won the fight, he heals Hyoga and allows him to pass after realizing that Hyoga was fighting on a level higher than him and the only reason he won was his Gold Cloth.
  • Would Hurt a Child (anime only): Most of the trainees that were killed on the island were children.

     Sagittarius Aiolos 

Voiced By: Yusaku Yara (JP), Rick Piersall (ADV EN), Greg Cote (Sentai/Netflix EN), Armando Larumbe, Víctor Covarrubias and Marcos Patiño (Latin America), Stefano Albertini (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO091-Aioros_3218.jpg
"Young men who have come to this place. I entrust Athena to you. Aiolos."

The late Saint of Sagittarius, whose last effort in life kickstarted the story. Once thought of as a paragon of Athena's Saints, Aiolos was labeled as a traitor by the Pope for his supposed killing attempt of the baby Athena. Having scampered the baby out of the Sanctuary after fending off attacks from other Saints, Aiolos stumbled upon a tourist, Mitsumasa Kido, informing him with his last breath of the girl's identity and to protect her life.

Aiolos was the older brother of Leo Aiolia.


  • The Ace: Aiolos 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.
  • Arc Words: His testament, quoted abovenote , in the Sagittarius temple becomes this for the series as a whole. The wall has endured all the way into Saint Seiya Omega even with the radical restructuring of the Twelve Houses.
  • Big Brother Mentor: To Aiolia and to Seiya, from beyond the grave.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • Atomic Thunderbolt: Aiolos 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.
  • Defiant to the End: He dies, but saved the infant reincarnation of Athena and ran into Mitsumasa Kido. Aiolos 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. Without him, the bad guys would have won over a decade before the series started.
  • Disappointed in You: When Aiolia realizes it's him who's helping Seiya fight him with the Sagittarius armor. He chews out Aiolia 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.
  • Dub Name Change: Almost subverted in the Italian dub, the first time he's mentioned he's called Iorus, but later he's consistently called "Micene", after the Greek city.
  • Empathic Weapon: It's heavily implied that Aiolos' 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.
  • Hachimaki: His characteristic red headband.
  • Improbable Age: Died at 14 while looking like a well-built early 20's man with a Baritone of Strength. This becomes especially funny in Soul of Gold, where Yusaku Yara is pushing his late 60's and sounding like it.
  • It Was a Gift: The Sagittarius armor, since Aiolos 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, Aiolos had given his necklace to the baby Saori which she later returns to Aiolia who then wears it around his neck. This necklace is what helps Aiolia to awaken his God Cloth since it was a gift granted to him by Athena.
  • Light 'em Up: His arrows often seem to be made of pure light.
  • Never Found the Body: It is notable that the location of where he was buried or if he was actually buried is unknown. Explanations of what has happened to his body also varies between series/spinoffs, to where the Sanctuary has never recovered his body or they put up an illusion to make it seem they have retrieved it.
  • Posthumous Character: He died before the main story began. But despite this little problem, Aiolos 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.
  • Pursued Protagonist: How he saves baby Athena, shielding her in his arms and suffering attacks from both The Pope and Shura that eventually take their toll and kills him.
  • The Unfought: Naturally, since he died years ago, there's no Gold Saint left to guard the House of Sagittarius and the Bronze Saints are allowed to leave after reading his final message to protect Athena.
    • 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 Aiolos to protect Athena.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: While all of the deceased Gold Saints, including Shion, were revived during the Hades Saga, surprisingly, Aiolos doesn't appear until the Wailing Wall.
  • Younger Than They Look: And he looked around 20 when he kicked it.

     Capricorn Shura 

Voiced by: Kōji Totani (1986-1989 JP), Takeshi Kusao (2002-Present JP), Rafael Rivera (Latin America), Antonio Ballerio (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO101-Shura_4297.jpg

The self-professed most loyal Saint to Athena who, under orders from the Pope thirteen years before, delivered the attack that ended up killing the fleeing Sagittarius Aiolos. A tremendously proud and unrelenting Saint, meeting the Bronze Saints makes him face the fact that said attack upon Aiolos is nothing to be proud of.


  • Adaptational Heroism: The anime version elevates him from his status as one of Saga's followers from the manga to Athena's self-proclaimed most faithful Saint, probably due to him being the only one to repent before his death. Other adaptations and spin-offs tend to favour this portrayal over the original, to the point that many fans up to this day remain unaware of this fact.
  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Has Excalibur in his arms... and legs!!!
  • An Arm and a Leg: He has one arm broken by Shiryu in a risky Deliberate Injury Gambit, and then has the other one entirely severed when Shiryu goes for his Rozan Koryu Ha.
  • Art Shift: Overlapping with Helmets Are Hardly Heroic, in the anime, Shura's helmet completely covers his head, but after the Sanctuary Arc, Shura's helm often changes between that to one that only covers his front and temples, like on his original manga design. During Soul of Gold, the Capricorn Cloth switches from the complete helm of the basic cloth to the partial helm when it's transformed into the God Cloth.
  • The Atoner: In Soul of Gold, we see that Shura promised Aiolia he would repay him for the crime of taking away the life of his brother one day.
  • Badass Spaniard: His first act in his debut was to send an attack that caused a CREVASSE by just swinging his arm, And that's just the start.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • EXCALIBUR!!!: Which allows Shura to cut everything and anything in Gold Saint range, turning him into a human-sized faster-than-light Slap Chop. This technique causes what can be described as literal energy walls of extreme sharpness, released by his arms and legs. Since it is quickly released and can be performed in a lot of different ways (primarily through a chop with his entire body thrown into the attack), it can be used multiple times without the opponent becoming used to it.
    • Jumping Stone: A counter technique in which Shura grabs the opponent with his legs and propels them into the air, making them suffer the force of their own technique.
  • The Cynic: His disillusionment with mankind is what convinced him to betray Athena in the manga.
    • Revealed from the short manga, Saint Seiya Episode Zero, that it was Aiolos' supposed betrayal of the Sanctuary was what caused him to lose this faith to where he ultimately decided to kill the newborn Athena along with Aiolos. Or so it seemed.
  • Death Equals Redemption / Villain's Dying Grace: Shiryu launches them both into orbit as a mutual kill. Shura, then, has a Heel Realization and saves Shiryu from becoming space dust by having him wear his Cloth and pushing him back to Earth, dying in the process.
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: During his fight with Camus in Soul of Gold, Shura purposely aimed his attack toward the Yggdrasil crystal instead of Camus. Not only is Camus aware that the Excalibur could have chopped him in half, the gesture is so noble that Camus quits his Face–Heel Turn instantly to honor the fallen Capricorn's Heroic Sacrifice and finish the job when it turns out this crystal has to be destroyed twice.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: In the anime, he's proud of the fact that he's the Saint who slew Aiolos for what was effectively an unforgivable sin against Athena, as it makes him one of the few Gold Saints who can actually proclaim themselves to be the strongest with certainty. It's not until he faces Shiryu that he's presented with evidence that he unwittingly slew the hero for the villain's sake, at which point he reacts with appropriate horror and saves Shiryu from certain death.
  • Excalibur: His main weapon. In the anime, it was said that in mythical times, Athena granted the legendary sword Excalibur only to a Saint who proved his undying loyalty towards the goddess.
    • The Italian dub takes one step further and has Shura claim that he "made a second Excalibur" for his other arm, whatever that means.
  • Face Death with Dignity: He actually invokes this on Shiryu, telling him that since he doesn't stand a chance against Shura, clinging to life is unbecoming of a true warrior like Shiryu and that he should accept death at Shura's hands instead of "embarassing himself" clinging to life. Credit where it's due, he himself plays this trope straight when Shiryu does manage to beat him via Mutual Kill.
  • Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Truly epic ones.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Even after awakening his Seventh Sense fighting Deathmask, Shiryu didn't stand a chance against this guy. Unless he went for the nuclear option.
  • Manly Tears: Before the Athena Exclamation against Shaka, and while he can't bring himself to finish Shaka off as he is shaking with tears.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Upon realizing his mistakes (which vary depending on the iteration) thanks to Shiryu.
  • Noble Demon: Even in Saga's direct service, Shura was a principled man: He couldn't bring himself to kill the baby Athena despite having defeated her protector Aiolos via surprise attack, and what Shiryu perceives as Trash Talk is Shura honestly offering him a Mercy Kill since he's so outmatched. He also couldn't bring himself to finish off Shaka. Once he turns face like in Episode G and Soul Of Gold, he's a straight-laced Hot-Blooded good guy through and through.
  • Restored My Faith in Humanity: In the original Manga, where his characterization is different (see below). As said above, he is stated to be disillusioned with mankind, which is implied to be his reason for siding with Saga, believing that Might Makes Right, and when Shiryu sacrifices himself and explains his selfless reasons, he is extremely moved by the gesture.
  • Take Up My Sword: Before dying, he passes his Excalibur to Shiryu.
  • Undeath Always Ends: In the Hades Saga.
  • Undying Loyalty: In the Anime. He always thought he was following Athena's will when he was being played by the Pope, then played straight in the Hades Saga.
    • Ironically, in the original Manga, he's one of the 3 Gold Saints - along with Deathmask and Aphrodite - who remained loyal to Saga despite knowing the truth, although he's the only one to realize the error of his ways before dying.
  • Younger Than They Look: In a flashback of the anime. Despite being ten years old when he had defeated Aiolos, he looks and sounds exactly the same as in the present.
    • This is about the same in the manga, where in a flashback, he still looks nothing like a 10 year old.
    • Subverted in Soul of Gold, that had actually went out of its way to portray him looking like his age when he was given his mission to take down Aiolos.

     Aquarius Camus 

Voiced By: Rokurō Naya (1986-1989 JP), Nobutoshi Canna (2002-Present JP), Jonathan Harvey (ADV EN), Kregg Dailey (Sentai/Netflix EN), Benjamín Rivera and Yamil Atala (Latin America), Felice Invernici, Alessandro Rigotti (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO111-Camus_6292.jpg
"You intend to go on, even if it means your death... For Athena, for your friends... Well done. "

The master of Cygnus Hyoga (of the Crystal Saint in the anime adaptation, who is in turn Hyoga's master) and Kraken Isaac. He seeks to stop Hyoga from antagonizing the Gold Saints because he doesn't deem him strong enough. A Sink or Swim Mentor for Hyoga, Camus is shown to be dispassionate and cold, though there is a purpose to his methods.


  • Adaptation Dye-Job: In the manga, he's a redhead.
  • Badass Teacher: To Hyoga and Isaac. Considering just how strong Hyoga is, he did a good job.
  • Beam-O-War: How his duels with Hyoga go. Being his master (or his master's master, in the anime) he doesn't need to test Hyoga's skills or improve his technique anymore; what he wants to see is Hyoga's Cosmo burn—er, freeze colder than it ever has before, and the best way to do that is to stand there and pit his own Cosmo against his student's and see whose beam freezes whom first.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Camus claims that Gold Cloths freeze at absolute-zero. He states that even he can't reach such a temperature, which he believes to be impossible; and that in order for Hyoga to defeat him, he must reach a freezing cold equal to that. Most of his attitude towards Hyoga stems from that belief. He is properly flabbergasted when Hyoga goes and achieves it anyway, not caring about what is possible or not.
    • This is very iconic of shounen/nekketsu tropes, and Camus seems to realize on some level that as an adult, his prejudice prevents him from breaking his own limits; this is implied to be one reason why Saints are meant to be teenagers. One can wonder whether Camus decided to actively embrace the role of the aloof villain/adult/teacher to push the hero/teenager/student to break his own limits and achieve what he could not do.
  • Blasting Time: Look at his profile image. That's the initial pose for Aurora Execution. If you see it... there's no use running anymore.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • Diamond Dust: He sends bursts of Cosmos into the air to cool it (possibly to draw air moisture) before unleashing a focused burst of cosmos that will freeze his opponents.
    • Freezing Coffin: It is a technique used to lock a body inside a block of ice.
    • Aurora Execution: It is the supreme arcane among ice techniques and Camus' most powerful attack. His Cosmos becomes a glacial stream that reaches a temperature of -273 ° C, a step before absolute-zero which is supposed to be the temperature at which Gold Cloths freeze. Hyoga will go on to achieve this technique with the absolute zero temperature of -273.15 ° C. In the Italian dub, this is the "chosen" attack to be themed after his sign ("By the Sacred Aquarius"), but is taken one step further by Hyoga, who performs this technique in latin ("In nomine tuo Aquarius!")
  • Evil Counterpart: To Hyoga, being the resident user of cold energies who specifically targets him. Subverted, it was a facade.
  • Fiery Redhead: Averted in the manga. Quite literally, too, since not only does he preach emotional detachment, but his powers are based on ice too.
  • Forced into Evil: In Soul of Gold, Camus sides with the God Warriors because of a promise he made to Surt after accidentally killing his little sister in an avalanche when they were kids.
  • French Jerk: Subverted. His jerkiness is a facade to force Hyoga into a Duel to the Death and teach him the Absolute Zero.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Happens the first time he uses his Aurora Execution against Hyoga, to drive home the point that Camus has actual killing intent. Works with staggering effect.
  • Human Popsicle: His freezing coffin. Even Gold Saints can't hope to crack it, and it would take someone using weapons from the Libra Cloth to free the victim.
  • An Ice Person: Camus, unlike the other Gold Saints, specialized his Cosmo energy not in creating power by the movement of atoms, but by stopping the same movement. Due to this, his power consists not in destroying the matter, but in freezing it.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Hyoga did not take it well when Camus sent his mother Natasha's ship to the bottom of the sea to force him to focus. To be fair, he wasn't happy about that himself either, but had to push Hyoga to overcome the mental wall his deceased mother had become.
    • He was also not happy at all about having to put Hyoga down and freezing him for what could be centuries, to spare him the pain of a battle he could never win. He shed tears upon finalizing the coffin, and in the anime, he even apologized to the ghost of the Crystal Saint.
  • Irony: In the classic series, Camus says to Hyoga that emotions and feelings are an obstacle. In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold all his actions are driven by feelings and he sides with the God Warriors, because of a promise he made to Surt after accidentally killing his little sister in an avalanche (which he felt he should use his second life to honor). Way to go and personally prove his point, ain't it?
  • Kill Sat: Camus is the only Gold Saint who has been shown truly weaponizing his own Constellation: When Hyoga couldn't break his limits due to thinking about never visiting his dead mother's corpse again, Camus shoots an attack into the air, which proceeded to ricochet off of the Aquarius constellation from Greece with pinpoint accuracy to annihilate the sunken ship she was lying in somewhere in the Polar Sea. To be fair, Camus was familiar with the area but the horrific implication remains the same.
  • Knight Templar: Camus is a cold looking Saint, since he believes the Gold Saints, as the strongest among Athena's protectors, should never show exasperation or it would draw the people into despair.
  • Master-Apprentice Chain: While he's Hyoga's direct mentor in the manga continuity, in the classic anime Camus was the mentor to the Crystal Saint, who in turn was Hyoga's direct mentor. Because the Crystal Saint is a non-canonical character created only for the anime, Camus is treated as having been Hyoga's mentor in the Hades Saga as well as other continuties and media.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: To Hyoga in the manga. He dies fighting him and commented that he was pleased that Hyoga was able to reach such a level of power and awaken his Seventh sense, because he battled believing in himself, Athena, and his friends. In the anime, he wasn't Hyoga's direct teacher (a role taken by the Crystal Saint) but he still took on the role of mentor to push Hyoga beyond his limits as soon as the latter arrived at Sanctuary.
  • Perpetual Frowner: He's certainly not a barrel of laughs. One of the tenets of his powers and his teachings to Hyoga is the suppression of emotions, retaining a cool and analytical mind to achieve a greater power level.
  • Russian Guy Suffers Most: While he is French by birth, apparently Camus lives mostly in Russia. He has a tragic past in the anime and died teaching his student.
  • Secret-Keeper: In the manga, he reveals that he actually knew that the Pope wasn't working under Athena's will, but he still kept working under his orders both to fulfill his role as the Aquarius Gold Saint, and to be available to push Hyoga past his limits when the time came.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Guy: Especially in the anime. Doubly so during Soul of Gold, where we really get to see how emotional he can be under his cold facade.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: He has red nails in manga that match his red hair. The only official reason Kurumada ever came up with this, is because Aquarius represents Ganymede, an androgynous figure from Greek mythology. And maybe why yaoi fangirls think he is an Ho Yay character in Saint Seiya, second only to his disciple and Andromeda Shun. And the Hades Arc helps this with Adaptation Distillation. In the manga, it's Saga who Milo helped to walk to the Main Temple, but in the anime it's Camus, complete with a scene where Milo was crying as he was choking him over Athena's apparent suicide. And their yaoi fangirls squee.
  • The Worf Barrage: His ice coffin. Although he commented that not even the combined strength of all 12 Gold Saints could break it, Shiryu broke it with the Libra sword, Hyoga destroyed it by creating a temperature lower than that of the coffin, and Minos by outright punching it.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: Subverted. Camus stands by and just lets Seiya and Shun run past him. The only thing he cares about is awakening Hyoga's Seventh Sense.

     Pisces Aphrodite 

Voiced By: Keiichi Nanba (JP), Ry McKeand (Sentai/Netflix EN), Alfonso Ramírez (Latin America), Enrico Carabelli, Luca Bottale (It)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PO121-Aphrodite_2294.jpg
"You don't even understand what justice and evil are, you pup... But I'll enlighten you before you die. Strength is the only justice!"

Considered the most dangerous Gold Saint, Aphrodite is a vain and cruel Saint with very little purpose to fighting other than to amuse himself.


  • Adaptational Badass: Aphrodite fares much better during fights in the spin-offs, like Episode.G and Soul of Gold than in the main work.
  • Adaptational Wimp: Twice in the original work.
    • In the Sanctuary arc (anime version), Saga tried to subvert this by making a extra monologue on how Aphrodite is the most feared Gold Saint; despite that, he fared no better against Shun than in the manga. The anime also changed his defeat of Shun's mentor by placing a small filler scene where he "cheats" during a fight between Milo and the Cepheus Saint by snipping the latter, with a poisoned rose, from behind.
    • In the manga, during the Hades arc, Aphrodite and Deathmask are defeated by Mu and sent back to the underworld, where Rhadamanthys simply thrown them into the Cocytus prison as punishment for their failure note . In the anime, they show up in Hades castle (in Germany) for some reason, and kill some foot soldiers, before being confronted by Rhadamanthys, who No-Sell their attacks and effortlessly defeats them. It does not help that Aphrodite dies while begging for mercy.
    • In the anime movies, Aphrodite and Deathmask are usually shown as cannon fodder.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: In the manga, he's a blond. In the anime, he has light blue hair.
  • Agent Peacock: Despite his strikingly effeminate looks even in a Cast Full of Pretty Boys, he's one of the strongest and most ruthless saints; he was the penultimate villain during the Sanctuary arc.
  • Beauty Is Bad: Said to be the most beautiful saint, and is one of the villains of the Sanctuary Arc, having betrayed Athena and murdered Shun's mentor on the Fake Pope's orders. Gemini Saga once stated that Aphrodite's beauty was only matched by his cruel and unyielding disposition.
  • Bishie Sparkle: His introduction in the Santuary Arc.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: His reaction in the manga when Shun confronted him about murdering his Master.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • Royal Demon Rose: Aphrodite uses red roses as a projectile. When struck by the thorns on the roses or smelling their fragrance, the target would be poisoned until they slowly lost their 5 senses and fell into an eternal sleep, surrounded by the fragrance of death. The red roses can also create a dense red mist to cover the entire place and hide his position.
    • Piranhan Rose: Aphrodite uses black roses as a projectile. Upon impact, they can break anything within their reach. The power of this technique is high enough to reduce a Bronze Cloth to dust despite it being recently strengthened by Aries Mu.
    • Bloody Rose: Aphrodite uses one or more white roses as a projectile. It strikes at the opponent's chest, and drains all blood from their heart. As the white rose draws blood, it eventually becomes red. This is Aphrodite's strongest attack.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Aphrodite is on both ends of one in Soul of Gold. He easily defeats Fafner, without the need of a God Cloth, and proceeds to extract information from him, but then Andreas arrives and impales him with Yggdrasil's roots.
  • Curtains Match the Window: His eyes and hair are the same colour.
  • Deadly Gas: The effect of the garden of roses on the stairs behind his temple.
  • Defiant to the End: Even after being overpowered by Shun's "Nebula Stream", Aphrodite refuses to accept defeat and surrender and, instead attacks Shun with his strongest attack to see who dies first.
  • The Dreaded: In the anime (and Saint Seiya: Episode.G) he's described by Saga as the most terrifying man amongst the Gold Saints. For the original series, this comes up as a Informed Ability, due to his lack of feats in comparison to Saga or Shaka, and for being a recurring victim of The Worf Effect. However, Episode G and Soul of Gold show us that wasn't an empty boast; in the former, a group of powerful enemies is shown absolutely terrified at the idea of facing him, and in the latter, he Mind Rapes Fafner into submission. Saga's statement likely comes from Aphrodite's cruel methods: most Gold Saints will just kill with overwhelming force, Shaka at least gives you a chance to surrender before unleashing his power on you, and even Deathmask will simply suck out your soul in a once-and-done attack. Aphrodite, on the other hand, is a sadist who enjoys playing with his victims, and his attacks are slow, painful torture; even getting hit with Bloody Rose means he gets to gloat while you see your blood slowly and painfully drain out of your heart, and you can't even pull it out because it would kill you instantly.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: Due of his physical aspect, his name and his zodiac sign, Aphrodite could be mistaken for a female.
  • Enigmatic Minion: Is this to Saga in Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho. This is mainly because it is hard to tell whether he obeys to Saga's good personality, or to his evil personality.
  • The Fighting Narcissist: Only in the Anime. In the manga, despite his incomparable beauty, Aphrodite is not narcissistic.
  • Flechette Storm: With his roses.
  • Flower Motifs: Associated with roses.
  • Foil: To the Silver Saint Lacerta Misty. Androgynous? Check. Narcissist? Check. Considered the most dangerous Saint on his respective berth? Check.
  • Gender-Blender Name: The Greek goddess Aphrodite is female, whereas this Aphrodite is a male.
  • Green Thumb: Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold reveals he can hear the voice of plants, a very cool power to have when you need to know what's going on with the very World Tree.
  • He Knows Too Much: See Sacrificial Lion.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: In Soul of Gold, it's revealed that Aphrodite can put roses in his enemies, which allows him to read their minds.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Sometime between the Poseidon and Hades arcs, Aphrodite found his forgotten loyalty to Athena and decided to help Shion in his plan to give Athena her Divine Cloth.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: His manga incarnation, about murdering Shun's mentor. He also sounds much more oblivious about the evilness of the Pope in the Italian dub.
  • Large Ham: His attempt at introduce himself in Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold before Deathmask cut him out.
  • Might Makes Right: Aphrodite is depicted as a man who believes that power is the only way to keep the order and ensure justice. Subscribing to this theory, he believes the stronger is allowed to rule over the weak.
    • His mindset is further elaborated upon in Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho: he shows respect towards Athena, but chides her for her softness in refusing to kill Saga when she had a chance, no matter her reasons.
  • No-Nonsense Nemesis: The guardian of the stairs that go to the main temple... And he covered them with roses with poisonous pollen, meaning that he doesn't need to fight aside for keeping up appearances and preventing intruders from suspecting the trap. Even then, he'll fight to kill just to stay on the safe side.
  • Odd Name Out: In the Italian dub he's called Fish rather then getting a different name or being called "Pisces" (something they couldn't have done due sounding too close to the Italian word for "piss"). Needless to say, he kinda sticks out. For similar reason, he's the only Gold Saint to lack an attack named after his zodiacal sign.
  • Petal Power: He filled the stairs behind his temple with poisonous roses so, even if he lost, Seiya and Co. wouldn't reach their goals. Too bad Marin derails his plans, though to be fair, he didn't have any way to know she'd show up there.
  • Poisonous Person: His red roses' poison slowly destroys the enemy's five senses.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: He's a Gold Saint, one of Athena's elite warriors, he fights using poisoned roses, he's a very pretty boy and his casual clothes, thanks to Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold, are revealed to be a frilly pink shirt and white pants.
  • Sacrificial Lion: In Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold's episode 4. After an awesome fight where he easily dominates Fafner and finds out what's going on with Yggdrassil. Then Aphrodite is stabbed in the back with Yggdrassil's branches by Andreas. His Cosmos disappeared and his body was kept inside Yggdrassil's roots.
  • She's a Man in Japan: The original European Spanish dub portrayed him as a female. Newer dubs portray him as a male.
  • Sissy Villain: Especially true in his depiction in the Legend of Crimson Youth movie, where it rivals Misty's famous nude scene.
  • Something about a Rose: Aphrodite's main power remains on his ability to manipulate his Cosmo energy in order to create different kinds of roses that he can freely brandish.
  • Spanner in the Works: In Soul of Gold, Andreas "killing" him first was his biggest mistake, as Aphrodite has immunity to poison and used his power over plants to keep himself and the other Gold Saints alive while trapped inside Ygdrassil.
  • Those Two Guys: Frequently paired with Deathmask in the anime movies, as well as in the Hades Arc.
  • The Unfettered: He will do everything for the mission. He constantly uses poisons and moves that effectively torture his enemy to death, when faced with an enemy that knows something he'll Mind Rape the information out of them the moment they try to refuse, and when threatened by Shun with a sure kill attack he launched his own out of curiosity at who'll die first. Even Saga, who is unfettered himself, is unnerved by him.
  • World's Most Beautiful Woman: A Rare Male Example. Aphrodite is canonically the world's most beautiful saint.
  • You Killed My Father: Shun's master, Daidalos/Albiore.

Others

     The Pope / Aries Shion 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gold_saint_1_aries_shion_2.jpg

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (JP), Rafael Rivera, Arturo Sian Vidal and Jesús Barrero (Latin America); Alessandro Maria d'Errico (It)

The previous user of the Aries Golden Cloth, Mu' master and the former pope before his execution at the hands of the imposter, Saga. Like Dohko, Shion is a survivor from the holy war two hundred years ago.


  • Ascended Extra: Shion appears for a couple of episodes when he was resurrected for twelve hours by Hades and later on becomes one of the main characters in both Lost Canvas and Next Dimension.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • Stardust Revolution : The attack summons stardust from stars and galaxies then throws million of blows instantly. It's well known that the attack has force of shooting stars and comets and obliterates an enemy with raw cosmos power.
    • Crystal Wall: Shion creates a transparent, glass-like barrier made of psycho-power, between him and an object. The wall is very durable, and has been shown to shield him against everything from normal Cosmos attacks to poison scent and rebounding the attack back to the enemy with the same strength it was launched.
    • Starlight Extinction: It's a teleportation-based offensive technique, although it's essence relies not on destroying the opponent but on removing him from battle. The Taizen implies this technique is his despite being only used by Mu.
  • Dub Name Change:
    • Due to censorship, the pope became The Patriarch in the Latin American dub among others (although there were some instances were he was referred as "the pope").
    • To keep in line with the ancient Greece motif, the Italian dub uses the title of "Gran Sacerdote" (High Priest) instead of Pope. Shion himself also becomes "Shin".
  • Fake Defector: Yes, he wanted to kill Athena but not for the reason Hades thinks.
  • Generation Xerox: His disciple, Mu, is basically a lavender-haired Shion.
  • Human Subspecies: He's Lemurian.
  • Master-Apprentice Chain: Shion -> Mu -> Kiki. Shion is the earliest known link in the chain.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: To the Bronze Saints. In the Hades Saga, Shion met with the Bronze Saints to tell them what had really happened between the Gold Saints and Athena. Shion instantly restored all four Saints' Cloths using Athena's blood and, in his last act as the Pope, he ordered the young Bronze Saints to invade the realm of the dead and stop Hades. At this point, his restored body gave way, and the former Aries turned back to dust.
  • Old Master: Is the master of Aries Mu, who would eventually become the successor to the Gold Cloth of Aries.
  • Power High: He is very excited at first at being restored to his youth and the prime of his power by Hades. This is mostly lip service to keep Hades in the dark on the real reason he had to come back to life; Giving Athena her Cloth.
  • Psychic Powers: Shion is naturally gifted with great psychic powers that allow him to have control over telekinesis, telepathy and even teleportation.
  • Posthumous Character: Shion has been dead for 13 years, killed by Saga who then pretended to be the Pope.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Shion has lived since the last holy war, two hundred years ago. Unlike with Dohko, it's never elaborated on if he also had Misopethamenos or not, though Saga being able to kill him at age 15 implies he might have withered.
  • Rank Up: The Spin Offs revealed that he once was a Bronze Saint, Sculptor Shion; promoted to Aries Shion in time for the Holy War. After, he's promoted to Pope.
  • Sole Survivor: With Dohko from the last Holy War.

     Spoiler Character 
For Gemini Kanon, see Saint Seiya Mariners

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