Perseus

Perseus was born of a prophecy and a divine betrayal. King Acrisius of Argos learns from the oracle that his grandson will kill him. To prevent this prophecy, he locks his daughter Danaë in a bronze tower. But Zeus, enamored of the beauty, transforms himself into a shower of gold and impregnates her through the walls. Perseus is born of this divine union.

Acrisius, unable to kill his grandson for fear of the gods, places Danaë and the child in a wooden chest which he throws into the sea. The waves carry them to the island of Seriphos, where the fisherman Dictys takes them in and protects them. Perseus grows up under his care, unaware of his destiny.

Polydectes, tyrant of Seriphos, falls for Danaë and seeks to be rid of her son. He traps Perseus by demanding the head of the Gorgon Medusa — whose gaze turns anyone who looks upon her to stone. The gods intervene: Athena offers him a bronze shield polished like a mirror, Hermes lends him his winged sandals and his adamantine sickle.

Perseus steals the eye of the Graeae — three blind old prophetesses who share it — and forces them to reveal the way. Guided, he approaches Medusa while she sleeps by looking at her reflection in the shield, and cuts off her head in one blow. From the Gorgon's blood spring Pegasus and Chrysaor. Perseus escapes invisible under Hades' helm, pursued by Medusa's immortal sisters.

On the way home, Perseus spots Andromeda chained to a rock, offered as sacrifice to the sea monster Cetus. He negotiates her hand with Cepheus, defeats Cetus by presenting Medusa's head — instant petrification — and weds the princess.

Back in Seriphos, he petrifies Polydectes and frees his mother. Faithful to his divine lineage, he returns the weapons to the gods then travels to Argos. The prophecy is fulfilled during athletic games: he accidentally throws a discus that strikes Acrisius in the crowd and kills him. Perseus founds the Perseids — the dynasty from which Heracles descends. His constellation sits in the sky beside those of Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Cepheus.

In Saint Seiya, the Silver Knight of Perseus is a formidable antagonist in the early sagas. Like his mythological counterpart, he wields a power of petrification — his Medusa Shield can freeze opponents, a direct echo of Athena's mirror shield and the severed head of Medusa that Perseus wielded.

The myth of Perseus also indirectly permeates the overall narrative: the five Bronze Knights reproduce the structure of the heroic group assisted by the gods — each receiving divine gifts (cosmos, armors) to accomplish a quest deemed impossible, exactly like Perseus equipped by Athena and Hermes to slay Medusa.