Garuda Aiacos

Garuda Aiacos (天雄星ガルーダのアイアコス, Ten'yūsei Garūda no Aiakosu) is one of the prominent characters throughout the arc. Along with Wyvern Rhadamanthys and Gryphon Minos, he is part of a collective known as The 3 Judges of Hell. Aiacos' power stems from the Celestial Valiance Star.

Special Techniques
With his role as one of the big 3 Judges of Hell, Garuda Aiacos is easily one of the more powerful spectres in the Underworld.

Aiacos has two main techniques at his disposal:


 * Garuda Flap (ガルーダフラップ, Garūda Furappu): A two part attack. Aiacos first expels a gust of wind through his arms, sending the opponent soaring miles into the air at top speed. The spectre then crosses an "X" on the ground with his feet and begins a 3 second countdown. At the end of it, the opponent is knocked back down to the ground, usually crashing onto the "X" as marked.
 * Galactica Illusion (ギャラクティカイリュージョン, Gyarakutika Iryūjon): Aiacos' stronger technique. At its most basic, it is a more powerful version of "Garuda Flap", minus the countdown. Grand illusions of demonic eyes are seen flashing in the background as Aiacos unleashes a high speed air current at his opponent through crossed arms. The technique summons a dark force similar to: Cacodemon and Pain Elemental (Doom), Beholder (Dungeons & Dragons), spell card Dark Sanctuary (Yugioh), fire bird's tail (myths), ant citizens from Zeus (Greek myth), spots of Panther (nickname of Lin Chong from Water Margin).
 * Galactica Death Bring (ギャラクティカデスブリング, Gyarakutika Desu Buringu): A technique that relies on immobilizing and burning the opponent's central nervous system from the inside out by channeling Aiacos' Cosmo intensely through the eyes of the mask headpiece of the Garuda Surplice.
 * Surendrajit (スレーンドラジト Surēndorajito, literally means Champion of Indra): Aiacos burns one of his loyal Skeletons to death, enabling him to transform their souls into a rain of flaming feathers.

TLC
He first appears in the Meeting of the Wraith called by the God Hades, where selected to Minos, who is elected to lead the invasion of the Sanctuary, next to other Specters that are easily defeated by Pisces Albafica.

He used his technique Garuda Flap to send Behemoth Violate to attack the Bronze Saints who are fixing the Boat of Hope. The attack consists in throwing the enemy to the sky into a free-fall ending in an earth-shattering impact on the ground, later on, he used it against Sisyphos. Aiacos also displayed a new attack, Surendrajit, with which he burns to death one of his loyal Skeletons, to enable him to transform their souls into a rain of flaming feathers.

He also exhibits Galactica Death Bring, a technique that relies on immobilizing and burning the opponent's central nervous system from the inside out by channeling his Cosmo intensely through the eyes of the mask headpiece of the Garuda Surplice. He performed it on Sisyphos prior to trying to inflict the killing blow with his Garuda Flap. Even though Aiacos was successful in connecting both attacks, Sisyphos was able to survive their tremendous force. Aiacos is also capable of generating a X-like shaped symbol, which explodes creating a powerful burst of energy, damaging the surrounding area and enemies within it.

Afterward, Aiacos is engaged by Sisyphos again, after awakening to the Eight Sense. Summoning all of his Cosmo, Sisyphos strikes Aiacos powerfully to the chest, shattering his Garuda Surplice and sending him flying, apparently killing him. However, it is later revealed that the Garuda Specter survived Sisyphos' assault. Hades then used Violate's body as a puppet to punish Aiacos, and he does not resist, preferring to die by her hand than die alone. However, she stops mid-blow and starts crying. He was amazed to see that even dead Violate was loyal to him. Then he admits he had profound bonds with her. He buries her body and accepts Bennu Kagaho's punishment. His Garuda Surplice is completely obliterated hence Aiacos is freed from the Masei. Kagaho states that from now on Aiacos is just a mere human, being given back his "human name", which is surprisingly revealed to be Suikyo.

Hades Arc
Along with Gryphon Minos, Garuda Aiacos appeared on the scene during the fight between Wyvern Rhadamanthys and Gemini Kanon. It seems Rhadamanthys was having difficulty dealing with the Gemini Gold Saint, and would've tasted defeat had the two Judges not intervene. Garuda immediately took an interest in the battle and hit Kanon with the Galactic Illusion. Kanon survived, but soon fell victim to Gryphon Minos' Cosmic Marionettion technique.

Bronze Saint Phoenix Ikki soon arrived to save Kanon from Minos. Aiacos, still itching for a good fight, challenged the Phoenix Saint to a match-up. Aiacos demonstrated his superior speed and agility over the saint, and caused sufficient damage with the Garuda Flap. Ikki was hurled into the air before brutally crashing into the ground. However, the Phoenix was still intact. Amused, Aiacos gave the Phoenix a second taste of the technique. This time, Ikki did not land as expected—instead, the bronze saint countered the move and swiftly smashed Aiacos' back as he recovered. Standing triumphantly over his opponent, Ikki stated that the same technique cannot be successfully used against a saint twice. The essence of this rule is because of Athena's Saints have high adaptability.

Of course, Aiacos was not out, and offered to show Ikki a stronger move—the Galactica Illusion. Hundreds of illusional eyes flashed open within a cosmic storm as an air current sent Ikki flying into the air and to his apparent demise. The Garuda began to gloat that he had finally finished off the Phoenix, but soon enough, Ikki was on his feet once more. At this point, Gemini Saint Kanon warned Aiacos that every time Ikki was resurrected, he would become more powerful than before. Aiacos, refusing to believe in such nonsense, attacked the bronze saint with swift straight punches—with none connecting. Aiacos was in disbelief at Ikki's newfound speed, but before he could do anything else, the Phoenix hit him with his infamous Phoenix Genma Ken. The spectre shrugged off the move and responded with another Galactica Illusion -- but to his horror, Ikki stood unharmed and reiterated his earlier statement—the same technique cannot be successfully used against a saint twice. "You will be destroyed by your own technique." said Ikki. He then reversed the attack, and Aiacos' entire body was completely hacked to pieces by his own move.

Aiacos snapped out of a trance when he realized it was an illusion—the effects of Ikki's demonic Genma Ken. Minos and Rhadamanthys were dumbfounded as to what had happened, while Kanon stood amazed at having witnessed the Genma Ken again. "What's like to see hell inside of hell?" asked Ikki. Ikki then declared that the match was over; Aiacos was no longer a suitable opponent for him. Enraged at the idea that a Judge of Hell like himself would lose to a mere bronze saint, Aiacos charged towards Ikki with another attack. Ikki, now more concerned with the rumors of his brother having become the next avatar of Hades, decided to quickly end the fight. Using the powerful Hou Yoku Ten Sho, the Phoenix obliterated the Garuda with a decisive end.

Surplice, Star & Name

 * Garuda Surplice

Garuda is a deity in Hindu mythology, and the sacred mount of the benevolent god Vishnu. It has the beak and wings of an eagle and the body of a man, and is considered the king of birds. It's a bird that burns like embers of fire, similar to the phoenix. He was the son of the great sage Kashyapa and son of Vinata. He was also enemy of the snakes (the children of Kadru), and healed those who were attacked by them. When Kadru enslaved the mother of Garuda, he demanded as ransom the Nectar of Life. Indra was the guardian of the Nectar and Garuda had to defeat him to get it, and then delivered the Nectar, which released his mother. In Tibet, Garuda and his kin are sometimes associated with the king of hell.
 * Celestial Valiance Star

Aiacos's star originates from the character Lin Chong, is nicknamed 'Panther Head', from the Water Margin story.
 * Aiacos

In Greek myth, Aiacos (Aeacus) helped build the walls of Troy and was the grandfather of the hero Achilles. He was the son of Zeus and the maiden Aegina, whom Zeus had kidnapped from the river god Asopus, her father. When Zeus's wife, Hera, learned of the affair, she located the island that Zeus had left Aegina upon (Zeus named the island in honor of Aegina) and brought a plague down on it, killing everyone except Aegina and her son Aeacus. Aeacus prayed to the gods for guidance, and spotted some ants out of the corner of his eye. Inspired, he asked the gods to repopulate the island with as many people as there were ants in a colony. His prayer was answered; the ants were changed into humans: the Myrmidons, whom Achilles would later bring into battle in the Trojan War. Upon his death, Aeacus became one of the judges of the Underworld. Aiacos specifically judges the dead from the west.

Trivia

 * One of the most noticeable physical traits of Garuda Aiacos is his hair partially covering his face, when wearing his Surplice's headpiece, in the same way as Gryphon Minos.
 * Garuda Aiacos was the last of the 3 Judges to be introduced (Gryphon Minos was mentioned by name prior to making an official appearance), but the first to be defeated.
 * His name is the original Greek form Of 'Eacus' which means 'earthborn one'. Ironically, his elements are the Earth+Fire, plus the Air which is shared by the three judges besides their own elements.
 * Though the 3 Judges are rivals, they do respect each other and are friends. In the manga and anime, both Minos and Aiacos mock of Rhadamantys as being "defeated" (at least knocked down) by Gemini Gold Saint Kanon with a single blast (Rhadamantys was finally affected by previous attacks made by Pegasus Seiya and Lyra Orphee). In the Saint Seiya video game, The Hades, however, it is interesting to note that Rhadamanthys tells Minos "We were never really that close anyway" in his entrance quote.
 * As Masami Kurumada revealed in Saint Seiya : Next Dimension, the Garuda Specter in his incarnation in the 18th century Holy War was first a Saint known as Crateris Suikyou