Gemini Saga

 Gemini Saga (双子座のサガ, Jemini no Saga) is one of Gold Saints.

Personality and background
Along with Leo Aiolia, Saga disguised as the Pope was the first Gold Saint that Masami Kurumada introduced in his manga, although their rank wasn't revealed until later volumes. In his first appearance, Saga presided the event in which Pegasus Seiya acquired the status of Saint. In the anime adaptation, he was introduced in identical manner, in episode 1.

Saga managed to put himself in control of the sanctuary treacherously for many years after killing Pope Shion, the original Grand Pope of Sanctuary by stealing his identity.

Saga is often described by other characters as someone with the kindness of an angel but with the darkness of a demon. This ambivalence ended up creating a split personality: a good Saga that was extremely loyal to Athena and an evil one that keeps control of the body most of the time and killed the previous Pope to steal his place. When it takes control of Saga's body, his hair turns from blond to jet-black (the color schemes were altered for the anime, in which Saga's normally blue hair turned light grey). Saga's two "sides", can also communicate between them : in a dialogue the good Saga reproaches his evil "side" to have forced him to hurt Athena.

The Sanctuary saga
Although he is not in the same age range as Libra Dohko or Aries Shion, Saga is perhaps one of the oldest Gold Saint of his generation at the age of 28. Before the events of the conspiracy, Saga was one of the most popular men in Greece, and was often regarded as a kind, generous soul loved by many, earning him the alias of "the Demigod." Unknown to most people in Sanctuary, there was an evil side lurking within him, one that Saga had struggled to suppress for years. Of course, only his twin brother Kanon knew about this, which later was the reason why Saga had Kanon imprisoned in the dungeon at Cape Sounion when Kanon suggested that Saga embrace the evil. However, after Kanon's imprisonment, Saga had only became further corrupted by the evil within him. Along with fellow senior Saint Sagittarius Aiolos, Saga was summoned by the Pope Shion for a meeting to decide the successor to the throne. Due to the fact that most of the gold saints were too young at the time for this honor, the choice fell upon Gemini Saga and Sagittarius Aiolos. The exception was Dohko but he was in charge of watching the seal of Hades therefore he could not leave the 5 peaks Mountain in China. Unfortunately for Saga, Aiolos would be the one announced to take the seat and lead infant Athena towards the path of good. This news did not please the Gemini Saint, and it brought him to an eventual confrontation with Shion. Gazing at the constellations on Star Hill, Pope Shion recalled the words of prophecy said by the last Pope before him. Suddenly, Saga appeared and demanded to know why he, the superior gold saint, had been denied the throne. Shion hesitated at first, but finally explained that he felt an uncomfortable presence residing within Saga. Saga's hair color suddenly faded from blonde to gray, and his eyes turned blood-red with black pupils -- the transformation confirmed Shion's suspicions. Before the Pope could react, however, Saga landed a fatal blow through his heart. With Shion's death, Saga assumed his identity and orchestrated a mass conspiracy that would last for 13 years. The Pope's head-dress and mask allowed Saga to hide his true face from the rest of the world, and soon, rumors began to circulate throughout Sanctuary that the Gemini Gold Saint had vanished. Saga, under the disguise of the Pope, then attempted to assassinate the baby Athena -- an event that would result in the banishment and death of Aiolos, the Sagittarius Gold Saint appointed to be the next Pope of Sanctuary. Pulling baby Athena away from the tips of Saga's mysterious golden dagger, Aiolos confronted the Pope and demanded an explanation. Ares ignored him and resumed his attack, which led to Aiolos retaliating with a blow of his own. The punch sent him flying onto the nearest wall, knocking off his head-dress and mask as a result. The revelation shocked Aiolos, for he now realized it was Saga beneath the robes of the Pope -- and the one who had killed Shion to acquire this rank. With his cover blown, Saga unleashed a fury of assaults that heavily injured Aiolos. Aiolos, concerned for the infant Athena's safety, quickly took off from Sanctuary with the child in his arms. The rest of Sanctuary saw this as an act of treason. Saga, content in knowing that his true identity was still hidden from the rest of the world, dedisguide clared Aiolos a villainous traitor who attempted to kill the baby Athena. It seems that the evil nature in Saga hadn't fully consumed him, as the series depicted various scenes of the two sides arguing back and forth with each other. In the final confrontation between himself, Pegasus Seiya, and Phoenix Ikki, the kind Saga fought his evil side several times, each time to intercept his evil nature's would-be-fatal assaults on Seiya. In the manga, it is Seiya (using the shield of Athena) who, at last, ejected the evil spirit from Saga. In the anime, it was Saga himself (with the Goddess of Victory staff that he used in a brief moment of lucidity) who finished off the evil entity. Before the arc was over, Saga is finally cleansed once and for all, and, in a final attempt to restore his honor, committed suicide in front of Athena, by thrusting his fist through his heart.

Asgard and Poseidon saga
In Asgard, Saga's spirit appears in the sky to comfort and give advice to a battle-worn Seiya, of whom at the time had fallen down a cliff. The sudden appearance of Saga's spirit cheering Seiya, makes Seiya shed tears. Even after death, Saga remained a true loyal Saint to Athena. Saga makes a cameo in a flashback with his twin brother Kanon during the fight against Poseidon's army, in which his evil dual nature is revealed. As a result, he attempted to murder his brother by locking Kanon in Cape Sounion. He later on appears in the last episode of the Poseidon chapter among with Shura, Camus, and Aiolos, as spirits looking down a beautiful morning backdrop at top of the Sanctuary hill.

The Hades
Saga is one of the six Gold Saints to return from the depths of Hell. The revived Saints have seemingly abandoned their Sainthood to plead alligenace to Hades, God of the Underworld. Saga would fight against his twin brother Gemini Kanon in the Gemini Temple. After having some troubles with the illusion, Saga sent an attack directly at the Pope's temple, almost hitting Kanon and ending his influence over the Gemini Temple. After the fight Saga cried being proud of his brother as he is now an Athena Saint. Later Saga fought against Virgo Shaka together with Capricorn Shura and Aquarius Camus, killing the Virgo Saint using the forbidden technique Athena Exclamation. After fighting against Aries Mu, Leo Aiolia and Scorpio Milo it is revealed that they were attempting to fool Hades in order to warn Athena of his ambitions, as well as grant the goddess her Holy God Cloth and survive the upcoming Holy War. The three planned and succeeded in going to the castle of Hades and tricking Pandora by telling her they have the corpse of Athena. Although they trick her, their bodies disappear because twelve hours had passed but before disappearing, Saga tells the Bronze Saints to protect their goddess. Later on, he (combined with Kanon's soul) and the other previously deceased Gold Saints revived on the underworld in order to help Seiya get to Elysium by sacrificing themselves destroying the Sighing Wall.

Power and abilities
Saga was among the gold saints of his generation the oldest (being 28), probably granting him increased expertise and refined skills above most of the current gold saints of his time, added to this Saga managed to display himself as a highly gifted military-subversive-strategist and political mastermind, who was able to position himself as the pope of the Sanctuary for a prolonged time, although he did this under the influence of his "evil side" which had been his bane since his early years as a Gold Saint(Episode G). Is not known if this was an affliction (he was crazy and had a multiple personality disorder) or if he was possesed by a powerful entity altogether(some say he was possesed by the god of war himself, hence his name Ares when he was pope), although none of this has been proven, Saga has demonstrated increased agressiveness and deviousness while his evil side is active, giving him an extra edge or two when fighting. Before the events of the sanctuary saga took place, he was a very famous and loved inside the sanctuary and his feats earned him the title of "Demigod". Saga, like all gold saints was blessed with the speed of light due the mastering over the 7th sense and possesed special moves that eclipsed most of the ones that his counterparts and many under him had.The most notable ones were:

- Galaxian Explosion (ギャラクシアンエクスプロージョン gyarakushian ekusupurōjon) regarded as one of, if not the, most destructive move in the entire Saint Seiya series,only second to the Athena Exclamation and probably Virgo Shaka's Tenbu Horin, Saga concentrates massive amounts of cosmos energy into a single point, at the same time that images of planets and galaxies start appearing around the fighting arena, Saga then proceeds to insert this energies inside the victim in a rapid motion and letting them go off at the same time, provoking the obliteration of the enemy from the inside out in a very violent manner,sometimes propelling the victim into the air or anything in the vecinity by the sheer force of the blast. Also the force of the blast is enough to pulverize bronze and silver armors in one hit. One thing to note is that this move is similar to Leo Aiolias Photon Burst, although Saga's moves does not leave him in a exhausted state.To the on-looker and also the victim the move would appear as if a miriad of planets and galaxies came crashing into them provoking a massive galatic explosion.

- Another Dimension (アナザーダイメンション Anazā Daimenshon) Allows him to bend space and time itself provoking a rift or a passageway to a different dimension, intending to push and trap his opponents inside to wander forever after he has done this. An added fact about this particular move is that Saga can launch this at great distances, coupled with a very vivid illusion of himself wearing his armor, Saga thwarts the opponent into believing that he is in the given location performing the move, when in reality he might be miles away from the actual fighting ground.

- Demon Emperor Fist (幻朧魔皇拳 Genrōmaōken)This move directly strikes the opponents brain, the weak version can paralyse the opponent's nervous system for a few minutes, rendering him immobile and ultimately open to any attack. The more powerful version allows Saga to strike into the mind of his opponents allowing him to "brainwash" the opponent into doing his bidding and even make them go against their most precious assets. The effects of the power will only wear off if the victim complies with the brainwashed mission that Saga gave him when applying this move, in other words, if the person was sent to kill someone, that person will go back to his original self once he had committed the action of killing.

Cloth, Constellation and Temple
Saga's guardian constellation is Gemini, and his Gold Cloth represents it and its associated myth : the Dioskuroi, Castor and Polydeuces, twin sons of Leda and brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra.

The temple Saga guarded was known both in manga and the anime adaptation as Sōjikyū, the "Temple of the Twins".