Aries Shion (TLC)

Aries Shion (牡羊座のシオン) is a fictional character from the manga series, Saint Seiya, written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, later adapted to anime.

Personality and background
Shion is the Grand Pope of Sanctuary, as well as one of the only two remaining survivors of the Holy War from the 18th century. He also served as the master of Aries Mu, who would eventually inherit the Gold Cloth of Aries from him.

He is a close friend of the Gold Saint Libra Dohko, the only other survivor of the previous generation of Saints together with Shion.

Plot overview
Prior to the start of the main story, Shion served as a Saint on the generation of Saints of Athena in the 18th century. In the beginning of the war against Hades, Shion was promoted from Bronze to Gold Saint of Aries.

Under the guidance of Athena, Gold Saints Aries Shion 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 Specters, the warriors of Hades, 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 Specters, while Shion 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' arc
Upon becoming the Grand Pope, Shion 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. Shion found that successor in Mu, during the 20th century, an extraordinary young man of the same race as Shion with a natural talent for Cloth reparation. Mu not only became the new Gold Saint of Aries, but he did so with all of Shion's abilities under his belt.

After Athena had once again reincarnated as a human infant after more than two centuries, Shion began preparations for the inevitable war. He understood that, due to 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, Shion eventually settled on the Gold Saint of Sagittarius. While Aiolos was not as powerful as Saga, Shion felt confident in his choice because he knew of Aiolos' undying loyalty to Athena and undeniable devotion to virtue.

Unfortunately, Shion was confronted by Saga in regards to his decision shortly after the announcement. It seems Saga felt discontent at Shion's choice, and demanded an explanation for it. Shion 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 Shion's suspicions, and assaulted the weary Pope with a deathblow.

The 'Hades' arc
In the Underworld, the realm of the dead, it was announced that Hades would attack the Sanctuary and unleash the Greatest Eclipse on Earth, 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 Shion away from aiding Athena in her Holy War against Hades. Even after years since his assassination, Shion returned from death to help Athena and the current Saints with a way to get into the realm of the Dead. Originally, it was assumed that Shion, along with other deceased Saints such as Saga, Shura, Camus, Deathmask, and Aphrodite, had sold their soul to Hades in exchange of resurrection and returned to Sanctuary to kill Athena. It turned 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 die and awaken her 8th sense if she hoped to successfully defeat Hades within his domain.

After the message had been delivered, Shion met with the Bronze Saints Seiya, Shiryū, Hyōga, 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, Shion instantly restored all four Saints' individual Cloths using the blood of Athena. Finally, with his last act as the Grand Pope, Shion commanded the young Bronze Saints to invade the realm of the dead — they shall not stop until every Specter had been killed, and Hades himself was on his knees.

In the manga, it is at this point that Shion's restored body gave way and the former Aries perished into dust. In the anime adaptation the event is depicted in the same way, although Shion lasted until near sun rise; prior to disappearing for good, Shion once more united with his old friend Dohko to share past times for a brief moment.

The Lost Canvas
In Lost Canvas, Shion is a close friend of Libra Dohko to whom he is often seen talking. He is a descendant of the People from the Lost Continent and is a disciple of Altar Hakurei, and former training partner of Crane Yuzuriha. Previously a passionate student of the lives of Saints of the past through the analysis and repair of their Cloths.

According to the time line, he first appears in the Sanctuary returning from Jamir. He is also the one who kills Worm Raimi when the Specter infiltrated Sanctuary to attack Sasha. After delivering the killing blow on the Specter, he kneels before her, acknowledging her true identity. Two years later, Shion and Dohko are forced to kill three Silver Saints brought back to life by Hades. Feeling guilty, he intents to redeem himself by asking to be sent on a mission in Italy along with Libra Dohko.

Later he has been seen repairing the Saint's Cloths at Sanctuary, and then reuniting with Athena's army in heaven. Together with Sisyphos and Regulus he opened the gate to the Lost Canvas with Athena Exclamation. There he survived the voyage through the clouds which turned all non-Gold Saints (except Pegasus) into stone and defeated Acheron Charon shortly after.

Recently he was shown arriving to the First Demon Temple: Mercury (第1魔宮水星), along with Athena, Regulus and Tenma, which they passed through freely, arriving then to the Second Demon Temple: Venus (第2魔宮金星). Shion then meets the guardian of the Temple, Balron Lune, and challenges him.

After a ferocious battle that made Shion confront his past sins and encounter the Saints of the past in the eternal torment of Cocytus, the Aries Gold Saint managed to use a technique that he learned empirically from his master, the Praesepe Returning Spirits Wave (積尸気転霊波), thus obliterating René. The Specter then realized that Shion was able to be the link between the past and future generation, as the future Pope of Sanctuary. Afterwards, Shion proceeded to rejoin his comrades.

He and Dohko are transported back to Earth by Athena and is decreed as the next Pope to prepare for the next Holy War.

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

Shion is naturally gifted with great psychic powers that allow him to have control over telekinesis, telepathy and even teleportation. He is also versed in the ways of Cloth restoration.

Shion can create a transparent, glass-like barrier of pure Cosmo, between himself and an object known Crystal Wall (クリスタルウォール) The wall is very durable, and has been shown to shield against everything from normal Cosmo attacks to poisonous scents. The strength of the wall depends on Shion's Cosmo level. The shield not only protects Shion but repels any form of attacks with the same power against his opponents. In Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas also depicts Shion using the Crystal Wall to create a defensive barrier with the form of a cube.

His special offensive technique is known as Stardust Revolution (スターダストレボリューション), in which Shion flares his Cosmo energy to create a universe thus summoning stardust from stars and galaxies, throwing innumerable blows instantly. It's well known that the attack has force of shooting stars and comets and obliterates an enemy with raw Cosmo power.

Cloth, Constellation and Temple
Although Masami Kurumada revealed in his prequel manga Saint Seiya Next Dimension that Shion 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 legendary Golden Fleece, and found by the courageous Jason of the Argonauts.

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

Shion's original guardian constellation as a Bronze Saint has yet to be revealed by Kurumada and there are no possible hints as to what it was unlike Dohko.