Aries

The ram of Greek mythology is no ordinary animal. He is said to have been born of the union between Poseidon — god of the seas — transformed into a ram, and Theophane, a mortal he had himself turned into a ewe to keep her from suitors. From this singular union is born a prodigious being: a ram with a golden fleece, capable of flying and speaking like a man.

This wondrous animal is above all a creature of salvation. He embodies the divine protection granted to the innocent unjustly condemned, and his golden fleece symbolizes the favor of the gods — a fleece that would become the object of all desires.

The central myth of Aries is the rescue of the children of the Boeotian king Athamas. His second wife, Ino, hated the children of his first marriage — Phrixus and Helle. She hatched a diabolical plot: to fabricate a famine and convince Athamas to sacrifice his own children to Zeus to end it. The divine ram intervened at the last moment and carried both children on his back into the sky.

But the escape turns tragic. Crossing the strait separating Europe from Asia, Helle loses her grip and drowns in the waters that would henceforth bear her name: the Hellespont — literally 'the sea of Helle'. Phrixus arrives alone in Colchis, the kingdom of King Aeëtes. In gratitude to Zeus, he sacrifices the ram and presents its precious golden fleece to the king, who hangs it on an oak in a sacred grove guarded by a dragon that never sleeps.

It is this fleece that Jason and the Argonauts would set out to conquer years later — one of the greatest epics in Greek mythology, uniting Heracles, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux.

Zeus placed the ram among the stars as reward for his deeds — the first sign of the zodiac, Aries marked the spring equinox in antiquity, symbolizing renewal and beginnings. In other mythologies, the ram is associated with the god Ares — whose virility and martial power echo the animal's fierceness — and with the fertility of flocks.

The constellation's main star is Hamal (Alpha Arietis), whose Arabic name means 'head of the ram'. The constellation also features Sheratan and Mesarthim, one of the first binary stars resolved by telescope. For more than two millennia, the vernal point — where the Sun crosses the celestial equator in spring — was called the 'First Point of Aries'.

The choice of the Aries constellation for the character of Mu is particularly rich in meaning. In mythology, the divine ram is a creature of protection and repair — he saves the innocent, he is the intermediary between men and gods. Mu is precisely the armor repairman of the Knights, the one who restores shattered Cosmo Armors after battle. This role of guardian and rebuilder directly echoes the protective ram of the myth.

The link with the Golden Fleece goes further: the Fleece is an armor of light, a sacred object jealously guarded — just as Mu guards the secrets of divine armor crafting on the island of Jamir. Just as the dragon guarded the fleece in Colchis, Mu is the ultimate guardian of knowledge passed down by the gods.

Kurumada also places Mu as one of the few Gold Knights fully aware of the Grand Pope's betrayal from the very beginning — a wisdom and independence of mind reminiscent of the solitary nobility of the winged ram, alone in knowing the truth about the unjust sacrifice.