Saori Kido (Athena)

As a baby, Saori was handed to Mitsumasa Kido by Sagittarius Aiolos, a mortally wounded Gold Saint fleeing the Sanctuary. Kido raised her as his granddaughter and prepared for the day she would need Saints.

As a teenager, Saori treats the orphans back from training like hired help and stages the Galaxian Wars, with the Sagittarius Gold Cloth as the prize. Seiya can't stand her. When Phoenix Ikki steals the Cloth, she watches the Bronze Saints risk their lives and changes her attitude. Then she tells them the truth: she is Athena, the goddess the Saints exist to protect.

Saori goes to the Sanctuary to confront the Pope, who tried to kill her as a baby. As soon as she arrives, a golden arrow sinks into her chest. Only the Pope can remove it, and Saori has twelve hours to live.

She lies at the foot of the twelve temples, sending Cosmo to the Saints climbing for her. When Seiya uses the light of Athena's shield, the arrow falls and Saori wakes. At the top, she faces Gemini Saga, the man who wanted her dead. Saga, full of remorse, takes his own life in front of her.

After praying in Asgard's ice to hold back the polar melt, Saori faces another threat: Poseidon, awakened in Julian Solo, a young man who had already professed his love for her. His rain starts drowning the world.

Saori goes alone to the undersea temple and locks herself in the Main Breadwinner, taking the waters in humanity's place. Inside, she slowly drowns while the Saints bring down the pillars. Once free, she seals Poseidon's soul in an urn and lets Julian go back to being an ordinary young man.

In the Holy War against Hades, Saga, Shura and Camus return from the dead as Specters and reach Athena's temple carrying a golden dagger. The other Gold Saints think they've come to kill her.

Saori takes the dagger and cuts her own throat. It was the plan all along: by dying, she can enter Hades's realm and face him. The three traitors were loyal and only wanted to give her that way in. Athena's soul descends into the land of the dead.

In the Underworld, Saori drives Hades out of Shun's body and moves on to Elysion. There she is trapped in a giant urn that drains her blood while Hades rests in his true body.

Seiya frees her, and Saori faces Hades with the staff Nike. When the god raises his sword at her, Seiya throws himself in front and takes the blow. With the Bronze Saints' Cosmo joined to hers, Athena defeats Hades. Elysion collapses, and the victory costs Seiya his health.

After Hades, Saori looks after Seiya, who sits in a wheelchair unresponsive. Artemis appears and offers to heal him if Athena hands over the Sanctuary and rule of the Earth.

Saori agrees and becomes her sister's prisoner. Artemis's angels hunt the Bronze Saints while Saori can only watch. When Seiya climbs to the Sanctuary to get her back, the two end up facing Apollo, in an ending that leaves both their fates open.

Saori is Athena's incarnation in the modern era; in every Holy War, the goddess is reborn as a human. In Japan, Keiko Han voiced her in the classic series. The Western retellings changed her name: in the English dub of the 2019 series and in the 2023 live-action film, she is called Sienna.