Wyvern Rhadamanthys
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Wyvern Rhadamanthys is a character from Saint Seiya, the classic 1980's manga by Masami Kurumada. He was one of the first villains introduced in the prologue of the series' Hades chapter, and is featured prominently throughout the story. Rhadamanthys is one of the infamous "3 Judges of Hell", with Griffin Minos and Garuda Aiacos sharing his rank. Rhadamanthys' source of power is from the Celestial Fierce Star (天猛星).
Contents |
[edit] Statistics
- Age: 23
- Height: 189 cm
- Weight: 84kg
- Birthday: October 30th
- Blood Type: O
- Birth Place: England - Feroes (Archipelago)
- Technique: "Greatest Caution"
- Seiyuu (2005-2006; 2006-2007): Takehito Koyasu
[edit] Caution To The Wind
Wyvern Rhadamanthys is, undoubtedly, one of the most respected warriors of the Hades army. His skills and talents easily rival those of Athena's gold saints -- her strongest warriors --, and his reputation as a powerhouse is famous among the spectres of the Underworld. Along with Judges Garuda Aiacos and Griffin Minos, Rhadamanthys has command over different sections of the Hades army.
As shown various times throughout the arc, Rhadamanthys prefers to take no chances when it comes to securing the victory. Against the orders of Pandora (and, in turn, Hades himself), the Judge ordered several spectres to invade Athena's Sanctuary in secret. While Rhadamanthys was later punished for this act, he has shown to not regret his decision.
The Wyvern has but one technique he utilizes to destroy the opposition -- the "Greatest Caution". It is a wind-type move that charges up Rhadamanthys' cosmos to the highest point of power, then unleashed at a central point via two opened palms. The opponent becomes helpless as powerful typhoon-like winds blast them into oblivion.
[edit] Obliterating the Saints
After the newly-revived gold saints Cancer Deathmask and Pisces Aphrodite had failed in their mission to assassinate Athena, they decided that they were not going to be sent back to the Underworld in eternal slumber. The pair proved their dominance over various spectres, until they were confronted by none other than Wyvern Rhadamanthys himself. Deathmask and Aphrodite struck relentlessly even with the Judge present, but the two began to panic when they realized that their most powerful techniques had no effect on Rhadamanthys. The two saints abruptedly pleaded for mercy, but by now it was too late -- the Wyvern had already passed his judgement, and it was death. With just the "Greatest Caution", Rhadamanthys single-handedly sent two gold saints down to the pits of the Underworld.
Rhadamanthys was later summoned by Lady Pandora, sister and guardian of Hades, to discuss the details of the spectre attack on Sanctuary. Rhadamanthys reported that he felt very distrustful of Shion and his group of renegade gold saints, and wished to send an army of true spectres to assassinate Athena. Pandora disagreed, and stated that Hades would not like to see heavy losses from his own side until the war reached a more decisive stage. She then dismissed Rhadamanthys.
Despite Pandora's orders, Rhadamanthys decided to send a group of spectres under his command, lead by Cyclops Giganto, to attack Sanctuary. One of Pandora's minions, Frog Zeros, offered Rhadamanthys a warning about disrespecting the Lady's orders, but Rhadamanthys refused to reconsider his decision.
After the battles in Sanctuary, Athena was assumed to be dead, but all of the spectres sent by Rhadamanthys were killed. Frog Zeros once again reminded the Judge that Lady Pandora would not be pleased at this outcome, but Rhadamanthys replied that he would take the responsibility for the losses they suffered for this battle. Pandora then tortured Rhadamanthys with her power, and only forgave him due to his high rank as a Judge of Hell. She then dismissed him with an order to call all of his spectres to return to the Underworld.
At this time, gold saints Leo Aiolia, Aries Mu, and Scorpio Milo invaded Hades Castle in an attempt to discover a way into the Underworld. Rhadamanthys soon arrived on site to defend the castle, and a 3 vs. 1 battle ensued. Unfortunately for the gold saints, their cosmos had been reduced to 10% power due to the effects of the Underworld barrier that protected the castle ground. To their disadvantage, Rhadamanthys retained 100% power due to his status as a spectre of Hades -- and neither Aiolia, Milo, nor Mu could put a scratch on the Judge. Once they had accepted the fact that they were no match for the spectre, the three gold saints sacrificed themselves in Athena's honor.
Four more of Athena's warriors appeared during the 3 vs. 1 battle -- bronze saints Pegasus Seiya, Dragon Shiryu, Cygnus Hyoga, and Andromeda Shun. They had come to the castle hoping to aid their gold saint comrads in battle, but their services were rejected. Eventually, Rhadamanthys would catch up to the bronze saints after disposing of Mu, Aiolia, and Milo. Although Seiya and the others did not lose 90% of their power (due to the blood of Athena blessing their clothes), they fared no better than the gold saints had against Rhadamanthys (though the Judge was surprised that none of them were weakened by the power of the Castle).
Suddenly, four of Rhadamanthys' servants, Harpy Valentine, Alraune Queen, Minotaur Gordon and Basilisk Sylphid, attacked the four bronze saints, allowing Rhadamanthys to depart for the Underworld. The four spectres then made their leave, but Seiya decided to attack Harpy Valentine by throwing both Valentine and himself down the pits that lead into the Underworld.
[edit] The Wyvern vs. The Gemini
When Rhadamanthys initially returned to the Underworld, he immediately discovered gold saint Gemini Kanon sneaking about. Kanon had placed an illusion on fellow spectre Balrog Lune, and Rhadamanthys was the one to break it. After Lune was disposed of, Kanon quickly challenged Rhadamanthys to a showdown. The Judge originally felt confident, but became worried when Kanon proved that he was more than a match when he repelled the "Greatest Caution" technique. The gold saint was about to secure a decisive victory when Rhadamanthys' warriors suddenly appeared and stopped the fight with a report. Rhadamanthys left his underlings to face Kanon, but they were no match against the power of a gold saint -- all of them were easily defeated by Kanon's Galaxian Explosion attack.
[edit] Rhadamanthys the Invulnerable?
Seiya and Shun eventually came across the long-lost silver saint Lyra Orphée. Orphée had constructed a plan to assassinate Hades: being the musician of Hades, he could smuggle Seiya and Shun into his court where he played for Hades every 13 days. Orphée would use the power of his music to put Hades and Pandora to sleep, and then have the three of them attack the Dark God. The Silver Saint managed to hide Seiya and Shun in a giant case of flowers he had gathered, and narrowly avoided having Pandora discover the duo hiding inside.
However, Pandora threw a wench into the mix when she revealed that she had summoned the three Judges together to hear Orphée's music. After playing his song, everyone in the court room was apparently asleep. Orphée thought that this was his chance to sneak attack Hades when the deity was most vulnerable. However, Rhadamanthys intervened and punched a hole through Orphée's chest, stating that he had always suspected Orphée's loyalty. Unlike the other Judges, he did not actually listen to his music and was only pretending to be asleep. Before Rhadamanthys could inflict further damage on Orphée, Seiya and Shun quickly came to the rescue -- this time around, Seiya's "Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken" scored enough hits to cause substantial damage to the Wyvern Suplice.
But as Orphée attacked Hades, he was shocked that Hades looked identical to Shun, and that upon striking him with his attack, Hades merely disappeared. Being fatally wounded by Rhadamanthys, Orphée decided to use the strings of his lyre to bind Rhadamanthys and himself in place, and urged Seiya to strike at them both to kill Rhadamanthys. Sadly, Seiya unleased his Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken, which struck both of them, killing the Silver Saint.
Although his attack shattered large portions of Rhadamanthys' surplice, Seiya was shocked to find the Judge uninjured. Rhadamanthys taunted Seiya, stating that his technique could not damage him at all, and preceded to attack the bronze saint. The fight only ended when Shun began to manifest the soul of Hades, and ordered Rhadamanthys to cease his attack. Eventually, Aiacos and Minos awakened as well, and Pandora ordered them to return to their posts while she tended to Hades.
[edit] The Wyvern's Defeat
Kanon and Rhadamanthys would cross paths again a little later. The Wyvern once again used the "Greatest Caution", but the Gemini Saint had tasted the attack before and now understood its mechanics -- this time, he was able to block it with merely one hand. Once again, Rhadamanthys found himself in the face of certain doom, until his collegues Griffin Minos and Garuda Aiacos made the save. The two Judges worked over Kanon individually with their own techniques, but the double-team would not last -- it wouldn't be long before bronze saint Phoenix Ikki made the save and took over the battle.
With Minos, Aiacos, and Ikki out of the way, Rhadamanthys once again fought Kanon for the last time. The Gemini still proved to be the superior of the two, and Rhadamanthys would not get the upper-hand until Kanon voluntarily striped off his gold cloth. Finally, the spectre was able to damage the gold saint with his "Greatest Caution" -- but by this point, Kanon was no longer looking for a decisive victory; he merely wanted to remove Rhadamanthys from the war altogether -- even at the cost of his own life. Utilizing a kamikaze attack, Kanon grabbed Rhadamanthys from the back and launched both bodies into the air. The Judge of Hell was defeated when the pressure of space grinded his body into dust.
[edit] Notes & Trivia
- Wyvern Rhadamanthys was the first of the 3 Judges to be introduced (in fact, he was the very first Spectre introduced), and the second to be defeated.
- Although Rhadamanthys played a much larger role than any other spectre, and more of his subordinates were see than the other two Judges, he was neither the strongest nor the highest ranking spectre (he was equal to Minos and Aiacos).
- In the manga version of the Rhadamanthys vs. Aiolia, Mu, and Milo fight, Rhadamanthys informs the saints of the Underworld barrier that was reducing their cosmos. In the anime, this is omitted until later on, when Kanon confronted the Judge. There, Kanon taunted Rhadamanthys with the fact that he would be unable to defeat him without the aid of the castle's barrier.
- In the anime, Harpy Valentine, Alraune Queen, Minotaur Gordon and Basilisk Sylphid, did not appear until later in the story. Instead, Seiya attacked Rhadamanthys at Hades Castle and threw both himself and the Judge down to the pit to Hell.
- After his encounter with Lyra Orphée and Seiya, his Surplice was seen to be heavily damaged for the rest of the Hades arc.
- Kanon's final kamikaze assault against Rhadamanthys is slightly altered in the anime. While launching the Wyvern into space, Kanon begins to unleash the "Galaxian Explosion" with his cosmos. Rhadamanthys attempts to counter this with the "Greatest Caution", but he was one step too late -- before he could even release the energy from the technique, Kanon's attack completely overwhelms him to the point of obliteration. Kanon himself then suffers the same fate.
| Saint Seiya characters | |
|---|---|
| Bronze Saints | |
|
Pegasus Seiya | Cygnus Hyoga | Dragon Shiryu | Andromeda Shun | Phoenix Ikki Unicorn Jabu | Lionet Ban | Wolf Nachi | Bear Geki | Hydra Ichi |
|
| Silver Saints | |
|
Lizard Misty | Centaurus Babel | Auriga Capella | Kerberos Dante | Crow Jamian | Hound Asterion | Whale Moses ("Kaitos Moses" in the anime) | Cepheus Daidalos | Perseus Algol | Musca Dio | Canis Major Sirius | Hercules Algethi | Eagle Marin | Ophiuchus Shaina | Lyra Orphée | Sagitta Tramy Tarantula Arachne | Lotus Agora | Pavo Shiva |
|
| Gold Saints | |
|
Aries Mu | Aries Shion | Taurus Aldebaran | Gemini Saga | Gemini Kanon | Cancer Deathmask | Leo Aiolia | Virgo Shaka | Libra Dohko | Scorpion Milo | Sagittarius Aiolos | Capricorn Shura | Aquarius Camus | Pisces Aphrodite |
|
| Asgard God Warriors | |
|
Phecda Gamma Thor | Alioth Epsilon Fenrir | Benetnasch Eta Mime | Megrez Delta Alberich | Merak Beta Hagen | Mizar Zeta Syd | Alcor Zeta Bud | Dubhe Alpha Siegfried |
|
| Poseidon's Marinas | |
|
Sea Horse Baian | Scylla Io | Chrysaor Krishna | Lymnades Casa | Kraken Isaac | Siren Sorento | Sea Dragon Kanon Mermaid Tetis |
|
| Hades' Specters | |
|
Wyvern Rhadamanthys | Griffin Minos | Garuda Aiacos Papillon Myu | Deep Niobe | Worm Raimi Acheron Charon | Balron Lune | Sphinx Pharaoh | Lycaon Phlegyas | Basilisk Sylphid | Harpy Valentine |
