Frog Zelos

is one of Hades' 108 Specters, and his power lies in the Terrestrial Strangeness Star.

Plot (TLC)
In The Lost Canvas, Zelos appeared briefly after Taurus Aldebaran, used his Titan's Nova to finish Dullahan Cube. Zelos survived the explosion appearing under the debris, laughing maniacally and beating the body of the dead Saint. Soon after, Bennu Kagaho appeared and defeated him, ordering to stop beating Aldebaran's body. He is last seen as a prisoner in the Scorpion Temple where he was tortured - and apparently killed - by Kardia.

A group of Silver Saints came to investigate the area after hearing rumours 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, and it was then that Zelos along with Acheron Charon, Basilisk Sylphid and an Unknown Specter jumped out behind the Saints. The Specters proceeded to slaughter the Saints.

After Alone (TLC) had awakened as Hades, Zelos participated in an audience with the god among all the 108 Specters. It was there that the god of the underworld declared his intentions to defeat Athena and her Saints and asked the Specters to paint the world in the colour of darkness. He also showed them a star map of the constellation that when a Saint dies would extinguish their respective constellation.

When Pandora started considering Pegasus Tenma a threat to her Lord Hades' health, she decided to send assassins to get rid of the Saint. She ordered Dullahan Cube, Bat Wimber and Zelos to got to Sanctuary and take the Pegasus Saint's life. They arrived in the Sanctuary at nightfall and found their prey in a sparring match with three Saint disciples. Their assassination went as planned at first when Wimber used his Nightmare Sonar technique to lull their target and the others into a deep sleep. But as Cube was about to cut of Tenma's head he was stopped by Taurus Rasgado. Both Wimber and Cube fought against the mighty Taurus Saint, but was both defeated in the end. As a final attack, Aldebaran used his Titan's Nova technique which created a huge crater. The Saint was however too injured and died in a standing position right after unleashing the attack.

Zelos had however gone unnoticed during the whole battle, and managed to survive the Titan's Nova. He crawled up from the rubble commenting that what he had seen was horrible and that both Cube and Wimber were not as amazing as they said they were. He went on to say that even Taurus Aldebaran could not detect the third assassin's presence, his, Frog Zelos'. And now all the credit of Tenma's death would go to him. Upon climbing out of the rumble he became surprised by the still standing Taurus Saint and started to kick and punch the Saint to make him fall. Suddenly Zelos was engulfed in black flames which took him completely by surprise. He wondered if it was another Saint but it was none other than Bennu Kagaho. Kagaho stepped on Zelos and demanded to know who was responsible for ordering the assassination, as he was sure it was not Hades. Zelos retorted with that he would not say and that maybe Kagaho wanted to take the credit for Tenma's life himself. He yelled at him to step of his back, but the Bennu suddenly pressed harder. Zelos apologized immediately after feeling the pain and said that it was Pandora's orders. Kagaho wondered how Hades had allowed something like this to which Zelos replied that Hades had dedicated all of his time to finish The Lost Canvas. He continued to tell Kagaho that the favourite topic of discussion between Cait Sith Cheshire and himself was if the current Hades was the real Hades since Pandora had started to doubt it. Pandora had been leading Hades' army the whole time and had made the order in case something would happen. Zelos started to suggest that if Kagaho followed Pandora's order, the Frog's brain and the Bennu's power would make them even greater than the Specter Magnates. But was interrupted by Kagaho stomping him further through the ground, who replied that he would follow none other than Hades. The Frog Saint fainted by the impact and remained there for awhile.

Zelos managed to remain in the Sanctuary for a long time undetected until after Hades had ventured up to the Demon Temples. The Frog Specter had managed to make it all the way to the Scorpio temple without getting seen but was found by Scorpio Cardia. The Gold Saint decided to torture the Frog and used his crimson nail to stab him several times. Zelos begged him to stop to which Kardia replied that he should at least show some pride as a Specter when he was in before someone as Scorpio Kardia. Aquarius Dégel interrupted his fellow Saint and asked what he was doing. Kardia responded by saying that he was torturing the Specter for information on how to get to Hades up in The Lost Canvas, but that Zelos was only shouting that he did not know anything. Kardia said he was an insignificant prey without spirit, dignity, pride and would mess up his nail. When Dégel mentioned that Poseidon was their next mission, he completely forgot about Zelos who remained unconscious in the Scorpio temple as the Saints headed for their next mission.

Plot (Hades Arc)
Zelos was the Specter who sent 17 of his partners to Athena's Sanctuary, to keep tabs on the revived Gold Saints by the order of Wyvern Rhadamanthys. He was quick to question if they had done the right thing without the permission of Pandora, sensing her fury if she were to find out about it. But Rhadamanthys only cared for the Specters to take Athena's head since he didn't trust the revived Gold Saints. Some time later the Judge wanted a status report and called for Zelos. The Specter said he had no news even though it had been 4 hours, so the Wyvern replied that he should send Papillon Myu as well. But Zelos had already sent the Specter there with the rest, which relieved Rhadamanthys. Later, the news of Athena's death was told to Zelos by one of Papillon's butterflies. He reported it to Rhadamanthys, who became a little worried over why the Goddess had taken her own life. Zelos smirked while wondering if his commander shouldn't be more worried about Pandora, since none of the Specters had returned alive. So while he informed him that she had been waiting for him, he jumped of to Pandora's chambers. As Rhadamanthys received his Punishment, Zelos looked on with enjoyment.

As the revived Gold Saints Gemini Saga, Capricorn Shura and Aquarius Camus returned to Hades' Castle, they brought the supposedly dead body of Athena with them. When they didn't want to show the body, unless right in front of Hades himself, Zelos jumped forth and pulled the cloth wrappings away. Inside there was no body except for the blood of the Goddess, Saga said they didn't know were it had gone and that it must have disappeared on the way, maybe she had gone to Hades for a trip. Zelos was angry by the insolence of the Saints and charged against them, but was interrupted by Camus who threw him away with an icy attack. As the Saints planned on using Pandora as a hostage, they were interrupted by the light from the rising sun. Pandora soon realized what could be Athena's true intentions and headed for the Underworld. Zelos took this time to take revenge on Camus, and started kicking & stomping on him. Rhadamnthys said he was wasting his time, but Zelos was angry. Suddenly the Bronze Saints Pegasus Seiya, Dragon Shiryu, Cygnus Hyoga and Andromeda Shun burst through the glass window in the ceiling and shoved Zelos away from Camus. The Specter became even more angry and started kicking Camus more, while saying that this is what happens when someone shoves him. Hyoga then blasted away the Frog with one of his icy punches, and took farewell of Camus before he and Saga & Shura disappeared. As Rhadamanthys were leaving for the underworld, Zelos got no help so he took on the Bronze Saints. Hyoga said that Camus was his master, but Zelos didn't hear it and asked what he said. The Saint replied with his "Diamond Dust" technique, the Specter then heard what he had said when he felt the cold again. But when he asked for help from the Wyvern, he got nothing. So as he charged towards the Cygnus Saint, he was blown into the wall by the "Aurora Execution" and died.

This battle at the castle with a background of rising sun was based on one of Aesop's fables: "The frogs and the sun", which satires some evildoers. There was a Chinese proverb too: "frog wants to eat swan's flesh", and the story itself was from India. It is used for blaming wicked people. The battle between the Swan Saint and Frog Specter is from that proverb since Zelos insulted Gold Saints and Hyoga revenged for that.

Surplice, Star & Name
The Frog Surplice represents a common frog, and is depicted in a crawling posture. It's anime appearance differs from the original only in small details and color. Frogs often hold an association with witches, either as familiars or as potion ingredients. Some species are additionally poisonous. The star is originally derivered from the character Shan Ting-gui, from the Water Margin story. The name comes from the Greek God of Dedication, Zeal and Emulation, Zelus, brother of the nymph Styx and an attendant of Zeus.
 * Frog Surplice
 * Terrestrial Strangeness Star
 * Zelos

Anime Portrayal

 * In the anime, he is portrayed as a more "backstabbing" character.
 * The scene between Zelos and Rhadamanthys when they talk about Papillon was omitted from the Anime adaption.