Griffin Minos

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Griffin Minos is a character from the classic anime/manga series, Saint Seiya, by famous manga-ka Masami Kurumada. He is a prominent character in the Hades arc of the series, sharing a similar role with fellow spectres Wyvern Rhadamanthys and Garuda Aiacos. Together, the trio is collectively known as the 3 Judges of Hell. Minos' power lies in the Celestial Noble Star (天貴星).

Minos of Griffin, one of the big 3 Judges of Hell, and a commander of the Hades army

[edit] Statistics

• Age: 23
• Height: 184 cm
• Weight: 72kg
• Birthday: March 25th
• Blood Type: A
• Birth Place: Norway - Oslo
• Technique: Cosmic Marionation, Gigantic Feathers Flap (The Lost Canvas only)
• Seiyuu (2005-2006; 2006-2007: Kouichi Toochika

[edit] Judge, Jury, Executioner

Easily one of the most powerful warriors in all of the Underworld, Griffin Minos is a high ranking official of Hades' army. Minos is one of the infamous 3 Judges of Hell, and has a fair amount of command over the soldiers that fight for the Greek God Hades.

Amongst all of the spectres shown in the Hades chapter, Minos was shown to be one of the most competent and powerful. He was able to torture gold saint Gemini Kanon, and survived a 7th sense "Aurora Execution" attack from bronze saint Cygnus Hyoga.

Griffin Minos' one and only weapon is his "Cosmic Marionation" technique. As the name would suggest, the move allows Minos to wrap his opponent with strings of cosmos energy, entrapping and turning them into living, human marionnettes. In the anime, "Cosmic Marionation" was also able to control an enemy's technique, as shown when Minos manipulated the technique's cosmos energy to reverse Pegasus Seiya's "Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken", deflect Andromeda Shun's "Nebular Chains", and counter both Cygnus Hyoga's "Diamond Dust" and Dragon Shiryu's "Rozan Ryu Hi Sho".

[edit] Curtains Up

Along with Garuda Aiacos, Griffin Minos made an appearance when investigating a fight between fellow Judge Wyvern Rhadamanthys and gold saint Gemini Kanon. Minos was amused that Rhadamanthys was having trouble defeating the gold saint, and, to the Wyvern's dismay, took matters upon himself to finish the fight. Minos instantly trapped Kanon with his "Cosmic Marionation" technique, and the gold saint became helpless as Minos control every joint in his body. To show off the might of his technique, the Judge broke one of Kanon's fingers by forcefully snapping it backwards. Kanon screamed in pain as Minos then twisted and turned Kanon's joints in every angle.

Before Minos could do additional damage, bronze saint Phoenix Ikki made his presence known and detached the strings from Kanon's body.

[edit] Curtains Down

Being one of the big 3 Judges of Hell, Griffin Minos immediately left to investigate after he had felt 12 powerful cosmos present in Hades' throne room. As he arrived, he was confronted by bronze saints Pegasus Seiya and Andromeda Shun on the courtyard -- and they stood no match for him. The Griffin then approached the room, but as he stepped in, he was caught with a large blast of solar energy -- the 12 gold saints had completed their task of piercing the Wailing Wall with sunlight. In the anime, he took on all four of the bronze saints. The saints were no match for him, and they were only saved by the destructive shock wave of the Wailing Wall. Minos is by far the only spectre to live up to his title, and it is fair to say that he is the most powerful one.

Although damaged, the Judge was not killed by the energy and quickly chased down the remaining saints. The 12 gold saints had sacrificed themselves to create the energy blast, and so only bronze saints Pegasus Seiya, Andromeda Shun, Dragon Shiryu, and Cygnus Hyoga were left to represent Athena's army. By this point, Seiya and Shun had already jumped into the cosmic river behind the Wailing Wall, and Shiryu was caught up with three other spectres. Hyoga decided to stay behind to deal with the Griffin.

The Cygnus attempted the block off the path by utilizing his master's infamous "Freezing Coffin" -- a seal made of thick ice that not even the combined efforts of several gold saints could destroy. However, Minos proved his worth by shattering it and sending the bronze saint flying. Hyoga retaliated with his "Diamond Dust" attack, but it was easily reversed. With the Cygnus lying on the ground, Minos picked him up using the "Cosmic Marionation". All appeared well for the spectre, until Minos noticed that his cosmic strings had been frozen. Taking advantage of Minos' surprise, Hyoga snapped off the strings and blasted the Judge with the "Aurora Execution".

After defeating Minos, Hyoga began to hop into the cosmic river -- but it was not over yet. Minos held onto the bronze saint with a string and followed him into the currents to continue the battle. To both men's shock, however, Minos' surplice and body began to dissipate as the flow of the cosmic river crushed him. As Minos was obliterated into atoms, Hyoga realized that he was unharmed because his cloth had been blessed with a deity's blood.

[edit] Notes & Trivia

• Unlike Wyvern Rhadamanthys and Garuda Aiacos, Griffin Minos actually has true duties as a Judge -- he is normally the Judge who condemns new arrivals to various Hells based on their deeds while living. Due to the war with the saints, however, Minos' position was temporarily reassigned to another spectre -- Balrog Lune.
• In Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, the 1800's reincarnation of Griffin Minos battled that era's Gold Saint of Pisces. This version of Minos is depicted as much more brutal and heartless, as he merely laughed when the gold saint informed him that his fellow spectres had fallen prey to the gold saint's trap. Minos and the Pisces Saint would go on to have a lengthy battle, and at one point Aries Shion became involved. In the end, it took the combined efforts of both the Pisces Saint and Shion to defeat this incarnation of the Griffin.