Taurus Aldebaran

Infobox animanga character
name = Taurus Aldebaran
series = Saint Seiya


caption = Taurus Aldebaran by Masami Kurumada
first =
creator = Masami Kurumada
voiced by = Tesshō Genda (玄田 哲章)
age = 20
gender = Male
born = May 8
nationality = Brazil
class = Saint
paux1 = Athena
paux1 name = Loyalty
paux2 = Taurus
paux2 name = Cloth
paux3 = Gold
paux3 name = Rank
paux4 = Brazil
paux4 name = Training
paux5 = 2.10 m
paux5 name = Height
aux1 = 130 kg
aux1 name = Weight
aux2 = B
aux2 name = Blood type
aux3 = Great Horn
aux3 name = Secret moves
aux4 = manga: chapter 29, vol.8
Anime: ep.43
aux4 name = First appearancenihongo|Taurus Aldebaran|牡牛座のアルデバラン|"Taurasu no Arudebaran" is a fictional character in the manga series, Saint Seiya, by Japanese author Masami Kurumada, later adapted to anime.

Personality and background

Masami Kurumada introduced Aldebaran in chapter 29, contained in vol.8 of his manga.

Aldebaran is one of the 12 Guardians of Sanctuary, with the Taurus as his destined constellation. He was the physically strongest of the Gold Saints of modern era.
Unlike most of the characters, Aldebaran is often depicted as a friendly guy, laughing and being less serious in times of peace. He was a good friend of Aries Mu and with Pegasus Seiya (as this last is said in the anime adaptation of the Hades Saga, when Aldebaran sacrificed together with the other 11 Gold Saints to destroy the Wailing Wall).

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 small girl, while Aiolia, Mu and other village girls from around the Sanctuary look on.

Although Aldebaran followed the orders of the Pope, he was growing suspicious of his integrity and tested the Bronze saints during their invasion on the Sanctuary. According to Aries Mu, Aldebaran could have killed all of them if he used his true power, but Aldebaran answered that if his enemies were fighting so hard, then their beliefs couldn't be all wrong.

In Saint Seiya Episode G, Aldebaran is depicted as an easy going person that likes to buy little mementos. He is also shown as someone that has strong faith in his beliefs and learns from his past errors, seeing them as steps and not as sins. Due to that, he was able to easily defeat the "Brabeus Talanton" that was smashing Leo Aiolia and Capricorn Shura with the weight of their sins.

Being a Brazilian character made Aldebaran popular in Brazil, since he is one of the few Brazilian characters in manga and anime and Saint Seiya was hugely popular in Brazil.

Plot overview

The Sanctuary saga

Aldebaran was first seen in the 12 Temples in the Sanctuary. At his Taurus temple, he faced the four Bronze Saints: Pegasus Seiya, Dragon Shiryu, Cygnus Hyoga, and Andromeda Shun. The four Bronze Saints were no match to Aldebaran since neither one of them had reached to the seventh sense. His battle stance (with crossed arms) allowed him to attack and defend at the same time; since he moves at the speed of light, he can launch his "Great Horn" and return to defense not being seen. Using his "Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken", Seiya reached to the seventh sense for the very first time, getting Aldebaran out of his stance and making possible for him to see his technique. In the end, he cuts Aldebaran's horn off his helmet. Aldebaran, who had told Seiya that he would let him pass the Temple of Taurus if he could break the horn, kept his promise. Before the four Bronze Saints left his temple, Aldebaran told them that without the seventh sense, they don't stand a chance against any of the gold saint. In order to reach to the seventh sense, they must burn their cosmo to the limit.

Later, Aldebaran joined Mu, who was watching over the wounded Saori. Mu asked him why did he allow Seiya and the others to pass through his temple. Aldebaran replied that he truly believed that Athena is on their side and the Pope is corrupt.

Asgard (Anime Only)

In the Anime only Asgard arc, Aldebaran was the first one to be confronted by one of the God Warriors.After the 12 temples, Aldebaran was in his house when, he felt a terrible and hostile presence. Mizar Syd launched a surprised attack against the gold saint and seemingly defeated him.It was later revealed that Syd never landed a single blow, but instead, it was his brother, Alcor Bud, who attacked Aldebaran from behind, hitting him on the back of the neck. Aldebaran confined this information to Silver Saint Shaina, asking her to warn the bronze saints that would face Syd in battle.
The Asgard saga, although, doesn't exist in the original manga, therefore is not considered as canon.

Poseidon saga

In the beginning of the Poseidon chapter, Aldebaran followed Athena to the hospital where Seiya, Hyoga, Shiryu and Shun was. After Athena went to attend some matters, the Marina General Siren Sorento appeared. Upon Aldebaran returning to find Siren on the way on turning the medical equipment down, a battle was eminent. Although under Sorento's music that reduced Aldebaran's power to just one percent of its total, he still was able to knock his enemy away with his "Great Horn", but without causing him any injuries. Aldebaran had to puncture his ears for Sorento's music not to come through, but it was in vain and the Siren utilized a final move leaving only the Taurus Cloth behind.Despite this, the saint had actually evaded the attack and used his Cosmo to paralyze the movements of his enemy. Before they could start to fight again, Athena appeared and demanded to be taken to the Sanctuary of Poseidon. Aldebaran could not refuse the wishes of Athena and returned to Sanctuary though helmless, while Sorento escorted Athena.
In the anime, Aldebaran just had a cameo appearance in this saga.

The Hades

In the beginning of Hades Chapter, Mu ran to the Taurus temple while chasing after Gemini Saga, Aquirius Camus and Capricorn Shura. There, he found Aldebaran standing strong in front of him. At first he was relieved to see he is all right. Sadly, after a short while, Mu found that Aldebaran was already killed by Nyobe, a spectre of Hades.

With Aldebaran's very last remained cosmos, Mu was enable to move again after Nyobe attacked him with "Deep Fragrance". Mu then defended himself with "Crystal Wall" against Nyobe's attack. Afterwards, he just quietly walked away. Nyobe was surprised, until Mu reminded him that he, was in fact, already dead--Aldebaran's Great Horn had already hit him and destroyed his entire body. Mu thanked Aldebaran for his help and swore on his life that he will protect Athena to the end.

Aldebaran was surprised by Deep Niobe because he was deaf after destroying his own eardrums in his battle against Siren Sorrento.

Later, Aldebaran joined the rest of the twelve Gold Saints at the Wall of Sigh with his Gold Cloth of Taurus. He showed his surprised comrades that he remained loyal to his friends and Athena, even after death.

Power and abilities

Having mastered the 7th sense, Aldebaran is able to fully control his Cosmo energy and make movements at the speed of light. This power allowed him to become one of the Gold Saints, the strongest class among the protectors of the goddess Athena. It is hinted that he achieved the 8th sense in the Hades saga, so he could freely fight in the Hades and aid the other Gold Saints. Aldebaran has displayed superhuman physical strength in Saint Seiya Episode G, being able to lift single armed a plate that was crushing two other Gold Saints. Between his techniques, he has only showed the nihongo|Great Horn|グレートホーン|gurēto hōn in which Aldebaran sends two waves of massive Cosmo energy toward his enemy. The offensive power of this technique is high enough to pulverize a warrior completely together with his armor.
In order to improve the power and strength of his "Great Horn", Aldebaran keeps his crossed-arm posture throughout the series. As noted by Pegasus Seiya this is a strategy similar to iaijutsu: While in this posture, Aldebaran can instantly react to incoming attacks and counter attack them, so quickly that the enemy is unable to perceive the attack before Aldebaran crosses his arms again.
Aldebaran has also shown the ability to create minor illusions like he did on his fight against Siren Sorento.

Cloth, Constellation and Temple

Aldebaran's guardian constellation is Taurus, and his Gold Cloth represents it and its associated myth : the Cretan Bull, captured by Heracles as his seventh task.

The temple Aldebaran guarded was known both in manga and the anime adaptation as KinGyuuKyuu, the "Temple of the Golden Bull".

Other media

Main article:
* The Taurus Gold Saint in the 18th century was also called Aldebaran but, he revealed that he took this name as Taurus Golden Saint and because of the brightest star in the Taurus constellation. His real name was nihongo|Rasgado|ハスガード|Hasugādo.

He appears only in the sidestory Saint Seiya Lost Canvas not authored by Masami Kurumada, which status as canon is unknown.

In the Heaven Arc Prologue his soul is sealed with the other Gold Saints when they talk to the gods and say they always be loyal to Athena. Although being sealed he would encourage Phoenix Ikki and Andromeda Shun to fight against the angel of Artemis.

Notes

*In his manga, Kurumada gave Aldebaran very long blonde hair. In the anime adaptation, due to a relative excess of yellow tones in Kurumada's design, his hair was dark brown to achieve a better color balance and contrast, and since his back wasn't often visible, the length of his hair sometimes varied.
*It's never explained how Seiya could break the horn of Aldebaran's helmet with merely his hand, giving the supposed imperviousness of Gold Cloths to physical attacks.
*As revealed by Masami Kurumada in vol.12 of his manga, Aldebaran became a Gold Saint at an early age. He had already been granted the Gold Saint status and the Taurus Gold Cloth by the time he was 7 years old.