Balron Lune

Balron Lune (天英星バルロンのルネ Ten'eisei Baruron no Rune) is one of Hades' 108 Spectres. His power lies in the Celestial Wise Star.

Before Lost Canvas
Like all the Specters, René became one of Hades' warriors when his Specter soul sought him out due to Hades imminent awakening. The soul and the Balron Surplice and transformed him into the Balron Specter. Some time after being awakened, René journeyed to Jamir to meet with Shion. A boy who had the same power of looking through objects as he did. He found the boy inside of a cave where he had been repairing the Saint Cloths of Athena's army. Shion was in a trance as René entered the cave and catching the boy ofguard he commented that it must be fun to indulge in the lives of the old Saints in secret. The boy became embarrassed, but René told him that it was nothing to be ashamed of as it was a privilege bestowed on the elite. He reached out his hand and told the boy that they were the same. He continued by saying that if he came with him he would have the opportunity to see the lives of many humans. The stories of the old Saints were not enough for the boy anymore, so the Specter offered him to see the whole human history for eternity. The boy reached for René's hand, but as he did so the Cloths started levitating as in protest. René commented that the armors love the boy a lot, even though he had "raped" them. The Specter asked the boy what he would do, and if he were to follow him he would have to get rid of the Cloths completely. Shion unleashed his desire and hammered a way at the Cloths, smashing them to pieces. But suddenly his hammer was stopped by the Silver Altar Cloth. The boy demanded it to get out of the way, but was drawn away by the memory of the Cloth. René stepped forward and told Shion to not be drawn into the memories and that the ones in charge of recording human history could not have such weakness. Shion asked to be given some time to decide which did not go well with René. The Specter said that hesitation was one of humanity's greatest sins, and lashed his whip at the boy's neck. As Shion lay bleeding on the floor, René walked out while saying that he was a busy man and could not waste time with someone so full of doubt. He would have to record the history Shion's and the rest of humanity's history by himself

Lost Canvas
He journeyed to "Italy" to await the imminent awakening of Hades and was stationed there in the Forest Chatedral. A group of Silver Saints came to investigate the area after hearing rumors about Specter activity. They stumbled upon several Specters that they defeated and followed a straggler that led them to the Cathedral. As they entered the Cathedral they witnessed the execution of the Specter by the hand of Pandora, who was accompanied by René and Minotauros Gordon (TLC). Several Specters came up behind the Saints in an ambush and blocked their way out. The Specters proceeded then to slaughter the Saints

Venus Temple
As the war with the Holy Saints progressed, Hades formed a special group of Specters that would be guardians of the Demon Palaces in the Lost Canvas. They were to act as a final defense against the Saints when they would be invading his realm in the Lost Canvas. René was chosen to be the guardian of the Venus temple which might have been due to his power and position as a vice judge of the underworld. To his aid he had a great number of Specter servants, who would diligently write the name of the souls that would die when the Lost Canvas was finished. He was present when Wyvern Rhadamanthys ( TLC ) became one of the guardians of the Demon Temples

Aries Shion vs Balron Lune
Lune greeted Athena, Regulus and Tenma with the painful embrace of his Fire Whip, which was easily negated by Shion's Stardust Revolution, releasing them. He then welcomes the challenge of the Aries Saint, with whom he shares the past. Both shared a passion for knowledge of people's lives. Lune reminisces about Shion's and his master Hakurei's lives, going back 8 years prior, when Shion and Lune himself were candidates to obtain the supreme knowledge. Shion's change of heart back then caused Lune to bear a grudge against him. The Balron Specter tries to send Athena and her Saints to hell by destroying the floor beneath their feet with a powerful blast, but he is stopped by Shion's Crystal Wall, shaped as a barrier and a bridge, granting his comrades the opportunity to trespass the Venus Temple and proceed onward. Lune then is left alone with Shion to settle their arguments.

By means of his Reincarnation technique, the Balron Specter torments Shion by facing his sins, preventing him from moving. The Specter toys with the Saint's psyche, forcing him to remember a time past, when he could have joined Balron in the quest for supreme knowledge, and the moment in which Shion seemingly chose to abandon his training as a Saint. Embracing the warm memories of his teacher Hakurei, Shion rejects Balron completely. Returning to the battle in the Venus Temple, Shion is crushed by the burden of his sins, the Specter prepares to send him to hell, suddenly realizing Shion has freed himself, thanks to his right arm being free of sin, because of the forgiveness he received from Hakurei through his blood. As Shion frees himself, Lune reveals the Balron Surplice to him and determines the proper punishment for the Saint, ensnaring him once again. Lune then deems Shion as one who has defied the gods, thus his place in eternity must be the Cocytus, the gelid prison of hell where those who arose against the gods are forever tormented. Shion refuses to become a prisoner of the Cocytus, and the anguish of his fellow Saints in torment, gives him the resolve to defeat the Balron Specter, who easily dodges Shion's Stardust Revolution by taking advantage of its flaws, as told by the sacred book he holds. Balron injures the Aries Saint even further by striking him with his whip, upon discovering the micro-fissures of the Aries Cloth, gravely wounding him. As Shion loses blood, he receives a vision of his master and the Saints of the future generations, encouraging him to defeat the Specter. Shion gathers strength and returns to the battle.

In a last assault, Shion managed to use his master Hakurei's technique, Praesepe Returning Spirits Wave, channeling the strength of the Saints' souls in a murderous burst, negating Balron's defense, who was unable to find a way to escape in his book, since Shion never used this attack before and performed it empirically, thus completely destroying Lune with the energy blast conjured.

Plot (Hades Arc)
As the judge Gryphon Minos was busy with matters concerning the Holy War with Athena, he had selected Lune as a replacement. And Lune performed the duties smoothly in the First Prison, until Pegasus Seiya and Andromeda Shun arrived. The Spectre demanded silence(inspired from Miranda Warning) and looked up their names as he usually does with dead mortals. But to his surprise he found that their names were not in his book, he asked for their names yet again. The Pegasus replied in a harsh way, and Lune realised he had to do his duties as a Spectre as well. As the Saint rushed towards him, Lune unleashed his attack "Reincarnation". Seiya found himself seeing all the memories of when he had killed, hurt or destroyed a thing or person. And then he found himself transported to the sixth prison where he was to melt to death, but Shun's chains rescued him. The Spectre was fascinated by the chains but suddenly felt a familiar cosmos, he began wondering if the Saint wasn't Hades himself. Yet he neglected the thought and decided to finish the Andromeda Saint. He wrapped his whip around him and used the "Fire Whip" attack which decimated Shun into parts. But as he picked up the Saint's head and pondered if Shun could have been Hades, the Saint's head started to speak in a loud dark tone. It demanded to know why Lune had decimated his body, the Spectre realised it was Hades and began to panic. As he was to begin to put together the body he realised the limbs were not there anymore, and assumed they had been blown into the chasm after the Second Prison.

He refused to believe so and ran frantically outside searching for the body. On the way he encountered Wyvern Rhadamanthys, and asked him to help him search for the body of the head he was holding. The judge sneered at it and wondered what head he meant, Lune realised then that the head was his helmet and that he had been projected some sort of illusion. Wyvern realised who it was and Lune felt the presence of him, Balron unleashed his whip into the air until it wrapped itself around something. It was then Gemini Kanon revealed himself, while complaining that Lune was just about to show him the way to Hades. Lune became seriously agitated and unleashed the power of his whip, but it did not measure up to Kanon's power and he was disintegrated in an instant.

Techniques

 * Reincarnation (リーインカーネーション, Rīinkānēshon)
 * Fire Whip (ファイヤーウィップ, Faiyā Uippu) A Special Attack, which is like a fire chain.

Surplice, Name and Star
The Balron Surplice represents the mythical being Balrog, created by J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings literary works, and is depicted in a sitting posture. It's anime appearance differs slightly from the original in details and color. In Tolkien's works, the Balrog was a type of fallen Maiar (spirits who resembled Christian angels and were the assistants of the Valar, the Middle-Earth gods and goddesses), who used fire, shadows, swords and whips to do battle. The Balrogs, once forces of good, were seduced and corrupted by the evil Valar Morgoth (once called Melkor), and became enormous monsters of flame and shadow. They are extremely loyal to Morgoth, and are powerful and highly dangerous members of his forces, as they are very difficult to destroy. A Balrog is famously depicted in the series The Lord of the Rings, in which the wizard Gandalf fights and defeats a Balrog in Moria, at the cost of his own life.
 * Balron Surplice

The star originates from Hua Rong in the Water Margin story. Masami Kurumada gave him the name of one of the locations found in his The Lord of the Rings books, to create a connection with the Balrog motif he used for his Surplice. Lune is also the French word for "Moon". In Japanese, as "L" and "R" are interchangable, the name can also be read as "Rune", based on a type of Nordic magical writing system (runes are also the basic writing system of the Dwarves in Tolkien's novels).
 * Celestial Wise Star
 * Lune