SagaDite

"A rose will never leave the soil which made it bloom."

- Aphrodite to Shun, when he offered to spare his life in exchange of betraying Saga. From 'Saint Seiya: Awakening'

SagaDite is the slash ship between Gemini Saga and Pisces Aphrodite from the Saint Seiya fandom.

Canon
Saga and Aphrodite met during their childhood. Both lived in the Sanctuary of Athena in Greece along with the rest of the future Gold Saints. Saga had always lived there, having fallen from the sky as a baby and landed straight through the roof of the Gemini temple. It is said that Aphrodite comes from Sweden, which suggests he arrived at Athena's Sanctuary several years after Saga. However, it is unknown how or when he arrived. According to his character bio, at some point, Aphrodite moved to Greenland to train and obtain the Pisces Cloth before returning to Greece.

Some years later, Saga disappears and no one seems to know where he is. In the first chapter of the Episode Zero, Deathmask and Aphrodite discuss Saga's sudden disappearance, with Aphrodite mentioning that it's not like him to disappear like that, implying that he knew him well. The truth behind his disappearance is that Saga has assassinated the Pope and is impersonating him. One night when he is trying to kill baby Athena, he is discovered by Aiolos, who manages to save the baby but dies trying. Aphrodite follows the orders of the usurping Pope and refuses to listen to Aiolos' explanations. Although he did not know Saga's identity at the time, it is revealed in the original manga that Aphrodite was one of the few people who knew the truth of what happened that night.

It should be noted that while most people in the Sanctuary repudiated Aiolos memory and believed the lies about him being the one who tried to kill baby Athena that night, Aphrodite knows the truth and still supports Saga.

Saga is a man tormented by his own mind. He has a good side and an evil side. Even so, there is something that both Sagas have in common and it's their plan to defend the Earth from evil, although they both have different methods in mind to achieve it. In the original manga series, it is stated that Aphrodite is a character who is seduced by absolute power. He believes that power is justice and that only Saga, being the strongest, can defend the Earth. For Aphrodite there seems to be no limit to what he would do for Saga, since in his fight against Shun, the Andromeda boy tells him that he is willing to spare his life if he fights for Athena instead of for the evil Pope. Aphrodite rejects his proposal and chooses to die.

In the "Saint Seiya: Awakening" video game, he replies to Shun that "a rose will never leave the soil which made it bloom", in reference to Saga and the kind of relationship they have. In the Hades Chapter, Aphrodite and Saga are both on the team of six deceased Saints who return to the Sanctuary on a joint mission.

In the classic anime, in a monologue of more than a minute, Saga states that Aphrodite is the most beautiful warrior of the eighty-eight saints of Athena, he also praises his power and ruthlessness.

In the "Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho" spinoff, Aphrodite seems to act as a hidden bodyguard of the Pope since in one of the scenes, he is behind a column in the Pope's room, while Saga gives a mission to Katia, Juan and Georg. As soon as the three leave, Aphrodite comes out and asks him to deal with the traitors himself, to which the Pope responds that he prefers to watch them for now and see what they're playing at. Also in Saintia Sho, Aphrodite agrees to bring Athena to Saga, in order for her to give him the punishment he yearns for and avoid a bigger conflict. When Athena refuses to do so, Aphrodite, sent by the Pope, returns her to her mansion, asking her to get stronger and show him what kind of goddess she is in the war to come.

They have another scene together in a cutscene of one of Saint Seiya's Pachinko machines, where Saga is presented praising Aphrodite for a mission well done, saying that Athena would be proud of him. Kneeling in front of him, Aphrodite thanks him and then returns to his temple, thinking that he will continue to defend Saga with his life.

In the PS3 video game "Saint Seiya: Soldier's Soul", they star in a cutscene where Saga apologizes for dragging him to the side of evil. Aphrodite replies that he has nothing to apologize for because everything he did was his own will. When a character is defeated in that game, they get a "continue" screen while another character important to them encourages them to get up and keep fighting. While controlling Aphrodite, it's Saga who speaks, asking him to "show him his beauty once more". The two of them speak to each other in soft, tender voices.

In Season 3 of Crunchyroll's Knights of the Zodiac, after defeating Daidalos, Aphrodite mentions the Pope's thorny beauty twice, like that of a rose. His loyalty to Saga shown in his eagerness to end the invasion of Sanctuary as quickly as possible. In episode 6, he says that Saga is enigmatic, but that is precisely what makes him beautiful. Saga trusted Aphrodite with the information about having used a mind control technique on Aiolia, as Aphrodite was excited to see Aiolia fight while possessed.

Fanon
Because they both have juggernaut ships with other characters, Sagadite hasn't been a very popular ship. It seems that in recent times its popularity is rising. Since Saint Seiya is an old fandom, most of the fanworks were stored in archives that don't exist nowadays, or whose labels are difficult to search. That's why in AO3, there are only 92 fanworks tagged as Gemini Saga/Pisces Aphrodite as of February 2023.

Many fanworks involving this ship are to a greater or lesser extent angst. This is due to Saga's suffering for all the sins that his evil side has committed. Although it isn't long after Aphrodite's death until Saga himself dies, the fact that he watches him die also contributes to that angst that inspires fans in his works. In counterpoint to this, there are fix-it stories, where they revive and have a happy life, or reincarnate and find themselves in another life. Since they were secret accomplices, the secret relationship trope is also common to see.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Saga/Aphrodite tag on FanFiction.net
 * AfroditexSaga tag on Spiritfanfiction.com
 * AfroditexSaga tag on Spiritfanfiction.com

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Trivia

 * Saga is possessed by the god of war Ares, in Saintia Sho, who is the canonical lover of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
 * Kazuyuki Sogabe and Keichii Nanba, the seiyuu of Saga and Aphrodite are also the seiyuu of Kunzite and Zoisite, who are canonical lovers in Sailor Moon anime.
 * They've also been compared to the ship of Bancoran and Maraich from Patalliro as Maraich resembles Aphrodite physically and Bancoran shares seiyuu with Saga.
 * "Saga" is a Nordic word and Aphrodite is Nordic. "Aphrodite" is a Greek word and Saga is Greek.