Aries Sion

Infobox animanga character
name = Aries Sion
series = Saint Seiya


caption = Aries Sion in a screenshot from the anime
first =
creator = Masami Kurumada
voiced by = Nobuo Tobita (飛田 展男)
age = 261 (deceased)
gender = Male
born = March 30
nationality = Tibet
class = Saint
title = Grand Pope
paux1 = Hades (formerly)
Athena
paux1 name = Loyalty
paux2 = Aries
paux2 name = Cloth
paux3 = Gold
paux3 name = Rank
paux4 = Unknown
paux4 name = Training
paux5 = 1.85 m
paux5 name = Height
aux1 = 77 kg
aux1 name = Weight
aux2 = A
aux2 name = Blood type
aux3 = Crystal Wall
Stardust Revolution
aux3 name = Secret moves
aux4 = manga: chapter 67, vol.19
Anime: ep.115
aux4 name = First appearancenihongo|Aries Sion|牡羊座のシオン|Ariesu no Shion is a fictional character from the manga series, "Saint Seiya", authored by Masami Kurumada, later adapted to anime.

Personality and background

Main articles:
*
*Aries Sion in Lost Canvas Sion is the original Grand Pope of Sanctuary, as well as one of the remaining survivors of the Holy War from the 1700s. He also served as the master of Aries Mu, who would eventually inherit the Gold Cloth of Aries from him.
Sion is one of last survivors of the race that inhabited the lost continent Lemuria (also called Mu). Due to this, he has a life span much larger than that of a normal human, what allowed him to live more than two hundred years.
He is a close friend of Libra Dohko, the only survivor of the last generation of saints together with Sion, and the master of Aries Mu.

Plot overview

Prior to the start of the main story, Sion served as a Saint on the previous generation of Athena Saints. In the beginning of the war against Hades, Sion was promoted from Bronze to Gold Saint of Aries.
Under the guidance of Athena, gold saints Aries Sion and Libra Dohko set out to lead the saints in an invasion of Hades' domain, the World of the Dead. Much of the war ended in bloodshed and annihilation, with the saints having to resort to the Libra Weapons -- a move that Athena herself normally frowned upon. There were no doubt many casualties in this war -- both saints and spectres alike. The last two survivors of this struggle were the Gold Saint of Aries and the Gold Saint of Libra.
After the war, Dohko would be assigned with the task of watching over the seal on the souls of Hades' 108 spectres, while Sion would go on to become the new Grand Pope of the Sanctuary, with the main duty of preparing new blood for the next Holy War.

The sanctuary saga

Upon becoming the Grand Pope, Sion could no longer perform the duties of the Aries saint as he had previously done - thus, he began to train an apprentice to succeed the cloth. Sion found that successor in Mu, an extraordinary young man of the same race as Sion with a natural talent for cloth reparation. Mu not only became the new Gold Saint of Aries, but he did so with all of Sion's abilities under his belt.

After Athena had once again reincarnated into a human infant, Sion began preparations for the inevitable war. He understood that, with old age, his own time would soon be up, and therefore needed to choose a successor for his seat. With the exception of Sagittarius Aiolos and Gemini Saga, all of the gold saints were too young and inexperienced to take up the responsibilities. After a lengthy time of consideration, Sion eventually settled on the Gold Saint of Sagittarius. While Aiolos was not as powerful as Saga, Sion felt confident in his choice because he knew of Aiolos' undying loyalty to Athena.

Unfortunately, Sion was confronted by Saga in regards to his decision shortly after the announcement. It seems Saga felt discontent at Sion's choice, and demanded an explanation for it. Sion revealed that, while he acknowledged that Saga had a heavenly reputation and was the more powerful of the two, he could not help but sense something terrifyingly dark within the Gemini Saint. It is at this point that Saga confirmed Sion's suspicions, and assaulted the weary Pope with a deathblow.

The Hades

In Meikai, the realm of the dead, It was announced that Hades would attack the Sanctuary And Unleash the Greatest Eclipse on the World, this left the dead saints in a predicament, because they were dead and unable to do anything, but opportunity rose when Hades told them that, if they killed Athena they would live again then,Not even death could keep Sion away from aiding Athena in her Holy War against Hades. Even it's been years since his assassination, Sion returned from death to help Athena and the current saints with a way to get into the World of the Dead. Originally, it was assumed that Sion, along with other deceased saints such as Saga, Shura, Camus, Deathmask, and Aphrodite, had sold their soul to Hades and returned to Sanctuary to kill Athena. It turns out that this was a grand scheme by the former Pope and the dead saints in order to get a message to Athena -- that she must commit suicide and consequently awake the 8th sense if she hoped to successfully defeat Hades within his domain.

After the message had been delivered, Sion met with Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga, and Shun to inform them of the truth of what had taken place with the gold saints and Athena. Perhaps as a nod to his apprentice's talents for armor reparation, Sion instantly restored all four saints' individual cloths using the blood of Athena. Finally, with his last act as the Grand Pope, Sion commanded the young bronze saints to invade the World of the Dead -- they shall not stop until every spectre has been defeated, and Hades himself is on his knees.

In the manga, it is at this point that Sion's restored body gave way and the former Aries perished into dust. In the anime, Sion lasted until near sun rise; prior to disappearing for good, Sion once more united with old friend Dohko to share past times.

Power and abilities

As a former Gold Saint, Sion has fully mastered the 7th sense, what gave him great power and the ability to move at the speed of light. Sion is among the most powerful of Athena's Gold Saints.

He is a member of the race that inhabited the lost continent Mu, and as such, Sion is naturally gifted with great psychic powers that allow him to have great control over telekinesis, telepathy and even teleportation. He is also able to make and heal holy armors using stardust, a role that was always reserved to those of Lemuria.

Sion can create creates a transparent, glass-like barrier between Sion and an object called nihongo|Crystal Wall|クリスタルウォール|kurisutaru wōru The wall is very durable, and has been shown to shield against everything from normal cosmos attacks to poison scent. The strength of the wall is dependent on Sion's cosmos level. The shield not only protects Sion but repel any form of attacks with the same power against his opponents. Saint Seiya Lost Canvas(non cannon) also shown Sion using the "Crystal Wall" to creat a defensive barrier with the form of a cube.

His offensive technique is nihongo|Stardust Revolution|スターダストレボリューション|sutādasuto reboryūshon, in which Sion burns his Cosmo energy to create a universe thus summoning stardust from stars and galaxies that throws innumerable blows instantly. It's well known that the attack has force of shooting stars and comets and obliterates an enemy with raw cosmos power.

Cloth, Constellation and Temple

Although Masami Kurumada revealed recently in his prequel sidestory Saint Seiya Next Dimension that Sion was originally a Bronze Saint,the guardian constellation awarded to him later was Aries and his Gold Cloth represents it and its associated myth : the winged Ram that saved the boy Phrixus and his sister Helle, and later, the Ram's skin was known as the Golden Fleece, and found by the legendary Jason of the Argonauts.

The temple Sion guarded was known both in manga and the anime adaptation as Hakuyōkyū, literally the "White Ram Temple".

Sion's original guardian constellation as a Bronze Saint has yet to be revealed.:Note: The Next Dimension status as canon is unknown.

Notes

*In his manga, Kurumada gave Sion blonde hair. In the anime adaptation, due to the dominant dark tones in his Specter Surplice, Sion's hair color was modified to green to achieve a better color balance and contrast. Also, in Kurumada's current work, Saint Seiya Next Dimension prequel, which takes place in 18th century during Sion's youth, Kurumada draws him with short blonde hair. In Saint Seiya Episode G, Sion is shown with lime green hair. In prequel, Sion is shown with long blonde hair.