Saori Kido (Athena)

The Greek goddess Athena is one of the main characters in the Saint Seiya series. During her 20th century incarnation she uses the name Saori Kido.

Her mission during every one of her incarnations is to restore peace and bring hope, destroy the agent of evil and protect Earth. To do so, she has been assisted since the age of myth by an army of 88 youths of great strength and courage, whose fists rend the skies and whose kicks split the earth, who don radiant holy armor called Cloths, and who are known as the Saints of Athena.

Athena is said to be by birthright the goddess of battle, but she does not believe in conquest and only fought defensive wars. She hates weapons, and thus only allows her Saints to battle using their bodies and armors. The only Saint allowed to wield weapons is the Libra Gold Saint, and it is only with her permission that the Saints are allowed to brandish the weapons kept by the Libra Saint.

She has especially had a long-standing conflict with the god of the Underworld, Hades.

Athena has great endurance against pain, unfailing courage and persistence, and unbreakable willpower, greatly augmented by her full trust of her Saints. As Saori, she possesses a brilliant intellect; she is also a capable handler of money and strategist, as she is the head of the Graude Foundation and has been ever since Mitsumasa Kido's death. In fact, before Saori came to know she was Athena, she had become a very successful and admired businesswoman in her own right.

Athena's attributes include Nike, the goddess of victory, represented as a golden staff she always holds in her right hand, and the Ægis shield, which is impervious to any kind of attack. Also, as a goddess, she is capable of donning her powerful Divine Cloth, which rests in the form of a giant statue in her image at Sanctuary until it is revived with her blood.

Athena has also exhibited great mastery of her Cosmo, as she is able to use it to generate abilities with various effects. She channels her Cosmo mostly through her body or through her Nike Staff.

Several techniques have been revealed:

1. Healing auras (she is said to be the most powerful healer in the Saint Seiya universe, able to heal even lethal injuries if summoned in time),
2. Defensive shields, teleportation (in the conclusion of the Poseidon arc and Hades arc),
3. The Seal of Athena (used on both Hades and Poseidon to seal them away), and
4. Misopethamenos, a divine gift bestowed upon Libra Dohko.

Her Nike Staff can be used as a weapon when her Cosmo is channeled through it; the staff becomes a piercing weapon, which she used to kill Hades.