Pisces Aphrodite

 Pisces Aphrodite (魚座のアフロディーテ, Pisukesu no Afurodīte) is one of Athena Gold Saints.

Personality and background
Pisces Aphrodite is the last of the Gold Saints introduced by Kurumada in his manga, formally presented in vol.11. Aphrodite was a Saint famous not only because of his incredible, mesmerizing beauty, but also for his reputation as one of the strongest among the 88 Saints.

Gold Saint Gemini Saga once stated that Aphrodite's beauty was the greatest among Athena's Saints. Kurumada named him after the Greek Goddess of love and beauty as a reference to the Greek myth associated to the Pisces constellation. However, Aphrodite never claimed to be the most beautiful creature, unlike the Silver Saint, Lizard Misty who claimed that even the stars' splendor dimmed next to his glory.

It is notable that despite his incomparable beauty, Aphrodite is not narcissistic. He is often described as cruel as his fellow Gold Saint, Cancer Deathmask, but not as sadistic. He is also ironic and sarcastic. According to Saga, despite his beauty, Aphrodite is the most feared of all the 88 Saints of Athena, due to his cruel nature and to his fighting powers.

His reputation is supported more in the still non-canonical Saint Seiya Episode G, when Aphrodite appeared in front of the Titan's soldiers who were awe-struck due to his beauty but also paralyzed by fear in his presence.

A recurring motif in the Pisces Saint is that he considers victory as the greatest beauty of all and, therefore, he believes what makes him really beautiful would not be his physique, but absolute power. Aphrodite is depicted as a man who believes the power is the only way to keep the order and assure the justice. Subscribing to this theory, he believes the stronger is allowed to rule over the weak.

Some casual fans believe Aphrodite is a female because of his name. In the French, European Spanish -first dubbing- and Chinese dubbing of the anime adaptation, he is voiced by a female actress.

The Sanctuary saga
Pisces Aphrodite faces the last two Bronze Saints remaining: Pegasus Seiya and Andromeda Shun. Shun stated that he would hold Aphrodite off, while Seiya manages to pass through the temple. Aphrodite laughs and tells Shun that even if Seiya passes through the temple, between it and the Pope's hall, lies the garden of Royal Demon Roses, and because Seiya has to traverse it, he would eventually lose his senses and die. As the two engaged in battle, Aphrodite stated that he was the Gold Saint who attacked Andromeda Island and killed Shun's master, Cepheus Daidalos. Having been told of this by his friend Chameleon Juné, the shy Andromeda Saint had vowed beforehand to defeat the man who killed his beloved master.

Using his Rolling Defense, Shun managed to repel of all Aphrodite's Royal Demon Rose attacks. However, when Aphrodite used his Piranha Rose on Shun, his Nebula Chains and Bronze Cloth were shattered. Although he seemed to be defenseless, Shun remembered that his master, Cepheus Daidalos, mentioned that within him lied an extremely powerful Cosmo, normally restrained by the Andromeda Cloth. This power could only be awakened when not wearing the Cloth. Using the power of his hidden Cosmo, Shun performed a secret attack: Nebula Storm, which he used to restrain Aphrodite. However, being merciful in nature, Shun gave Aphrodite a chance to repent, to embrace again the path of virtue as a Saint should, especially one who possessed the honor of being a Gold Saint.

Aphrodite showed no intention to do so, and prepared his strongest attack, the Bloody Rose. Shun was forced to counter with his final attack "Nebula Storm", and ended the battle by killing Aphrodite, but not without being struck in the center of his heart by the Bloody Rose, falling into a near-death state. The Bloody Rose was true to its name as it was draining all the blood from Shun's heart. It was not until the start of the Poseidon arc (and in the anime-only Asgard arc) that he was nursed back to health.

The Hades
The deceased Gold Saints were revived as Specters by the power of Hades, and, led by the Specter of the former Pope, Aries Shion, they were sent to Sanctuary to assassinate Athena. In the first Temple, Shion was stopped by Aries Mu. Shion orders Cancer Deathmask and Pisces Aphrodite to defeat Mu so they could continue their mission. However, neither Gold Saint was able to defeat the Aries Gold Saint and Mu quickly banishes Deathmask and Aphrodite with his Starlight Extinction. Giving the expression to be killed (In reality Mu send them both to Hades castle) Since the start, neither Deathmask nor Aphrodite were using their true power as it was not their intention to kill Mu.

Back in Hades' castle, both Gold Saints decide to defeat Hades themselfs but are interrupted by Wyvern Radamanthys. There with just 10% of their cosmos (Due to Hades barrier that reduces all none specter power level) Are easily defeated and sent back to the underworld.

Later on, it was revealed that Deathmask and Aphrodite were secretly on Athena's side, along with the rest of the deceased Gold Saints, and were asked by Shion to pretend to follow Hades' order (in the Anime adaptation the same scene is shown with some more detail, after Shion asked all the dead Gold and Silver Saints to pretend to follow Hades' order, Aphrodite smiled and Deathmask grinned widely. Shion then thanked all of them for carrying the burden of the traitor's branding in pretending to betray Athena).

In the final gathering of the 12 Gold Saints at the Wailing Wall, Aphrodite's spirit and the Gold Cloth of Pisces appeared to help open the gateway to Elysion, where Hades' true body lies. After this, his spirit and Cosmo disappeared, and all that was evident of him was the Pisces Gold Cloth which remained.

Episode G
The non-canonical sidestory Saint Seiya Episode G, shows us Aphrodite seven years before the events in Kurumada's original manga. Already a Gold Saint, Aphrodite is depicted as a centered and merciless person able to kill his opponents even if they are humans. Aphrodite is also depicted as thinking about beauty in fights and calling victory the greatest beauty that crowns the strongest warrior. His participation, so far has been short. After the Titans gate being discovered on, he was sent by the Pope of the Sanctuary to cover the entry of the Chronos' Labyrinth with his deadly roses.

Since Leo Aiolia rushed into the Titans' world before, the Pope's plans were ruined. Even so, Aphrodite saved a defenseless Aiolia from the attacks of the Titans' followers. After some argument between the two Gold Saints (since Aiolia was against Aphrodite bloodlust), the Gigas Anthrakma Zugilos appeared. Aphrodite saved himself and Aiolia from Zugilos' deadly mace (that could destroy anything alive with its vibrations) and then killed the Gigas. After that, he traveled back to the Sanctuary and left behind a carpet of vines and white roses protecting the exit of that world (to avoid an invasion against the Sanctuary).

In Episode G, Aphrodite is depicted as a narcissistic person, due to a younger personality that had yet to mature.

Power and abilities
Having mastered the 7th sense, Aphrodite is fully capable of using the plenty of his Cosmo energy. This allows him to move and attack at the speed of light. As every Saint, he also possess some degree of psychic power that allows him to use abilities like telekinesis and telepathy (both implied, since he was never showed using any of those). At the end of the Hades' arc, it is hinted that Aphrodite was able to use the 8th sense as well, allowing his soul to move freely on the underworld without being subject to its laws.

In Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, it is revealed that the Pisces Saint is immune to poisons due to the fact they live close to the garden of royal demon roses after the Pisces Temple. It is also revealed that the immense beauty of the Pisces Saints have an important function: it mesmerizes the enemies during battle. Even so, Aphrodite's main power remains on his ability to manipulate his Cosmo energy in order to create different kinds of roses that he can freely brandish. Using this ability, he can perform the following techniques: In Saint Seiya Episode G, Aphrodite is able to create and manipulate large rose's vines. So far, he used them to refrain and strangle his targets, create massive vine blades and to create defensive cocoons to protect and heal his or another person's body (through his Cosmo energy).
 * Royal Demon Rose (ロイヤルデモンローズ, roiyaru demon rōzu): Aphrodite uses red roses as a projectile. When struck by the thorns on the roses or smelling their fragrance, the target would be poisoned until they slowly lost their 5 senses and fell into a sweet aroma of death. The red roses can also create a dense red mist to cover the entire place and hide his position.
 * Piranian Rose (ピラニアンローズ, piranian rōzu): Aphrodite uses black roses as a projectile. Upon impact, they can break anything within their reach. The power of this technique is high enough to reduce to dust a Bronze Cloth recently strengthened by Aries Mu.
 * Bloody Rose (ブラッディローズ, buraddi rōzu): Aphrodite uses one or more white roses as a projectile. It strikes at the opponent's chest, and drains all blood from their heart. As the white rose draws blood, it eventually becomes red. This is Aphrodite's strongest attack. A single rose is enough to kill a giant of many feet of height in few seconds. Apparently, the rose seeks the heart of the enemy, so is not possible to avoid it. The only way to escape from this attack is to destroy the rose itself or try to shield oneself from it, albeit the rose showed enough penetrating power to break even a Gold Cloth.

Cloth, constellation and Temple
Aphrodite's guardian constellation is Pisces, and his Gold Cloth represents it and its associated myth : The goddess Aphrodite and her son Eros when they transformed into fish to escape the murderous Typhon.

The temple he guarded was known both in manga and the anime adaptation as SouGyoKyuu, the "Temple of the Twin Fish".

Previous Incarnations
In the 18th century, the Pisces Saint was known as Pisces Albafica.

His physique is identical to Aphrodite and he also uses the same roses as weapons.

Albafica appears only in the sidestory Saint Seiya Lost Canvas. The status of this side-story as canon is unknown.