Hades

Hades (ハーデス, Hādesu) is a mythological deity and serves as the primary antagonist in the last story arc of Saint Seiya.

In the story, Hades is the ruler of the Underworld and old enemy of Athena. He wishes to wipe out humanity, turning the Earth into a desolate wasteland. He despises the human beings, who are each time more ungrateful towards the gods.

Avatars
n Saint Seiya, as in the Greek mythology, Hades is the Underworld god, and as such, incarnates into a human being. Every 243 years Hades can enter the world of humans, and fight against Athena for control over the world. However it is said that Hades is too fond of his own body which was born by Cronus and Rhea. He cares so much of it that he keeps it locked in a chamber in Elysion so it doesn't get damaged, only to start using it when he has taken control over the world. To fight the sacred wars against Athena, Hades has to take control of the purest human being born at the time of his incarnation. During the previous Holy War in 1747 his avatar was a boy named Alone, and now more recently it was Andromeda Shun.

The Greatest Eclipse
After the Specters were ordered back to the Underworld and Pandora's Castle collapsed, Hades waited in Giuddecca, knowing that his new avatar Shun would come. After Lyra Orphée was killed by Wyvern Rhadamanthys during a failed assassination of Hades, Shun became possessed and Seiya was thrown into Cocytus. Meanwhile, Ikki defeats Garuda Aiacos in the fifth prison. Hades senses his cosmo and orders Pandora to bring the individual. Ikki is warped to Giuddecca. There, he fights against Pandora and remembers he had already seen her once. Pandora tells him that the "Yours Ever" pendant she gave Shun years ago was the chain that tied him to Hades. Shun takes a brief possession of his own body and tells Ikki to kill him in order to destroy Hades and stop the Greatest Eclipse. However, Ikki wasn't able to do it, and was thrown into Cocytus by Harpy Valentine. Later, Athena and Virgo Shaka arrived; Athena asked him for a bargain: At the cost of her life, the Greatest Eclipse should stop. However, Athena's blood expels Hades from Shun's body. Enraged, Hades pulls Athena with him to Elysion.

Elysion
Seiya, Shun, Shiryu, Hyoga and Ikki reach Elysion. There, they fight Thanatos and Hypnos. However, after the twins are defeated, Hades wakes up in his own body. He fights the five Saints at once, receiving little damage to his Surplice. When Seiya asks why Hades' eyes are so sad, Hades sees Tenma in Seiya. Athena joins the battle and duels Hades. Seiya, trying to protect her, is mortally wounded by Hades' sword, and dies in front of Athena and his friends. Shun, Shiryu, Hyoga and Ikki concentrate their cosmos into Athena's Victory Staff. She throws her weapon into Hades and kills the underworld god.

The Lost Canvas
In the 18th century, the avatar of Hades, Alone (アローン, Arōn), was a close friend of the Pegasus Saint of that era (Tenma). His soul was born in the Lost Canvas era from Pandora's mother. He is a young painter and also Hades' chosen body for his incarnation in the 18th century, as he possesses the purest soul in that era. He is an Italian orphan raised alongside Sasha and Pegasus Tenma, who later become arch-enemies. Alone believes that everybody has a good side and disapproves the use of violence. At first he rejects his fate as the god of the Underworld, but is later convinced by Hypnos, and sealed by Pandora's kiss. Before Tenma leaves for the Sanctuary, they make a promise that, while Tenma tries to become a Saint of Athena, Alone too must try to become a good artist so that he can finish the painting of Tenma when they once again reunite.

During the next two years, his personality undergoes a drastic change after realizing everything he painted dies. Convinced by Hypnos, he starts to believe that death is the ultimate salvation. And to bring salvation to the entire world, Alone starts to paint the "Lost Canvas", a painting of the Earth viewed from space, so that after he finishes it, the entire world will die.

It has been implied that Alone is not yet totally possessed by Hades as Alone drew in the Lost Canvas an image of Tenma, Sasha and himself in their childhood. After seeing this, Pandora uses a seal given by Hypnos and Thanatos to seal him in a dimensional isolation, in hope that he will continue painting the Lost Canvas without distractions, and to keep him away from the grasp of anyone from his childhood life.

Alone confesses to Pandora that he was never possessed by Hades and that he truly believes in death as the ultimate salvation, hence he inflicts it on those he holds dear, to spare them the suffering of pain, wars and poverty, and to achieve such goals, he will use all the power of the god of the Underworld. Alone states that once the Stellar Clock (星時計, Hoshidokei), which is visible in the nightsky, completes one cycle, the Lost Canvas will be finished, bringing death to the entire world.

Abilities and Attributes
Hades is one of the most powerful deities in the Saint Seiya Universe, being Zeus' brother. As the God of the Underworld, Hades can allow his specters to travel from the Underworld to the Living World, also, he can resurrect any living being at will (as he did with his deceased Specters, and Cerberus during The Lost Canvas series).

As usual, he uses an avatar when he returns to Earth, but it must be the purest soul on earth. Hades stores his mythological body and his Surplice in Elysion, and is kept in a marble tomb while defended by the minor deities Thanatos and Hypnos.

When the Bronze Saints attack his tomb, he returns into his body. Being a deity he is a possessor of the Big Will (Divine Cosmo) but, unlike his brother Poseidon in the Saint Seiya series, he could use all the power of his Divine Cosmo.

In myth, Hades owned an Invisible Hat. Kurumada changed it from hat to sword. Or perhaps the helmet of Hades' Cloth was the Invisible Hat itself. In the story, the Invisible Sword possesses non-life aura that hurts souls directly. In real life it may be called Red-Overlay Aura(not red aura) that annoys some humans.