Cardinale

From Seiyapedia

Pisces Cardinale
Cardinale
Characteristics
Age
Height
Weight
Date of Birth
Bloodtype
Birthplace
Training
Cloth	Pisces Gold Cloth
Techniques	Bloody Rose, Dagger Rose
Affiliations
Deity	Athena
Army	Saints
Rank	Gold Saint
Constellation	Pisces
Debuts
Manga Debut	To Athena's Side
Anime Debut
Portrayal
Japanese Voice
English Voice

Pisces Cardinale Pisukesu no Karudināre (魚座（ピスケス）のカルディナーレ) is a character from Masami Kurumada's anime/manga series, Saint Seiya: Next Dimension. He is one of the most powerful Saints in Athena's army, and is the Pisces Gold Saint. His true allegiance however lies with Hades, Athena's enemy since the era of myths.

Story

Smell it

Cardinale was somehow able to undergo training to become one of the deity Athena's Saints. After years of rigorous training, he had been able to achieve a Cosmo on a very high level and was therefore granted the Pisces Gold Cloth. He came to be stationed in the Pisces Temple in Athena's Sanctuary and served the will of the master of Sanctuary, the Pope. Some time before the awakening of the god Hades in 1743, Cardinale became enticed by the promises of joining the god of the Underworld. He wanted to be relieved from his mortality in order to be able to live forever, and have his "peace after death". He became a traitor unbeknownst to the other Saints, except the other traitor. Cardinale had managed to find another Gold Saint that shared his disbelief in Athena.

Hades was eventually awakened and the Holy War between Athena and the god of the Underworld could commence. The problem was however that Athena had not been reborn in that era yet. It was not until the Pegasus Saint came to the Sanctuary that Athena descended from the sky like a meteor. She was however just a baby, but unbeknownst to the Saints she was the Athena from the future and had been turned into a baby by the god Chronos. Both the Pope and several of the Gold Saints had witnessed the goddess ascend at Athena's Shrine at the top of the Sanctuary and had come to witness her. The Pope wrapped the baby in his robes and dismissed the Gold Saints. The Pope was however a pawn of Hades right hand Pandora and intended to kill the newborn goddess. Shijima the Gold Saint of Virgo had sensed that something was wrong with the Pope and intervened in the last second, saving Athena. Cardinale had made his to the shrine and told the Pope to stop, just as he was about to lunge himself at Shijima.

Cardinale demanded to know what was going on to which the Pope replied that Shijima was rebelling against them and ordered Cardinale to attack the Virgo Saint. The Pisces Saint frowned, and said that the Pope should not underestimate him, because Cardinale knew that Shijima would never betray Athena. It was clear that the Pope was the traitor, but as Cardinale launched his "Bloody Rose" technique, he hit Shijima instead. The Gold Saint asked why his comrade had done such a thing to which he replied that people do not always do the right thing, and hoped it was still okay.^[1]

Fetch!

The Pope demanded to know Cardinale's intentions with the current situation, to which he revealed his allegiance to Hades just like the Pope himself. He also revealed to the Pope that he was not the only Gold Saint that was a traitor to Athena. They both suddenly noticed that Shijima had disappeared with the baby Athena. Cardinale reassured the Pope that Shijima would find it impossible to escape as he would die when he reached the path of the poisonous Royal Demon roses that Cardinale had set up between the Pope's Chambers and the Pisces Temple. The Pope was however not reassured and ordered Cardinale to hunt Shijima down and kill him. Cardinale smirked as he told him to leave it to him.^[1]

Shijima was wounded which enabled Cardinale to catch up to him rather quickly in the Pope's Chambers. Some unknown entity had activated the Labyrinth of the Gods which was a defense mechanism in the Pope's Chambers that warped space. The Pisces Saint launched his "Dagger Rose" technique at the Virgo Saint, but to his surprise the Gold Saint managed to avoid it. His attacks kept missing while Shijima kept telling him to listen to what he had just learned. Shijima told him that there was no time for infighting as he had learned of something legendary. The thirteenth Gold Saint was no myth and was destined to appear soon. Cardinale was in disbelief, and questioned Shijima of what had convinced him that the Legendary Gold Saint was not a myth. The Virgo Saint tells him that Suikyō who wielded the Crateris Silver Cloth that had the ability to see into the future, had seen it come true.^[1]

Concept & Creation

Sex symbol of the 60's

Cardinale was created by Masami Kurumada for Saint Seiya: Next Dimension as the Pisces Gold Saint of the previous Holy War of 1743. Like Pisces Aphrodite in the original series, he is evil, but unlike Aphrodite he is a traitor to Athena and loyal to Hades. His name is most likely derived from the actress Claudia Cardinale who had a role in the movie La Scoumoune. A movie that Kurumada has previously taken inspiration from, such in the naming of the Captain of Artemis' Satellites' commando squad, Lascoumoune.

Special Techniques

Bloody Rose

This technique consists of one white rose that Cardinale throws at his opponent's heart. The rose will then suck out all of the opponent's blood, and when the rose has turned completely red, the enemy will die.