Sylphid

Basilisk Sylphid

**Basilisk Sylphid** (バジリスクのシルフィード) is a minor character from Masami Kurumada's classic anime/manga series, Saint Seiya. His power lies within the Celestial Swift Star (天捷星), and he is one of the few exceptional powerful spectres among the Underworld. He is mostly seen with his companions Harpy Valentine, Minotaurus Gordon, and Alraune Queen.

## Background

Sylphid was a normal human living in the 20th century when the seal that was containing the 108 Evil Stars of the god Hades', 108 Specter warriors was broken. The Celestial Swift Star sought Sylphid out and along with the Basilisk Surplice it transformed the young man into the Basilisk Specter. He shortly afterwards joined his fellow Specters at Hades' Castle in Germany and took his place as one of Wyvern Rhadamanthys Specters. He had been awakened to participate in a war between two gods called a Holy War. Since mythological times, Hades had fought with the goddess Athena over the reigns of the Earth and the time was neigh for their next battle. Sylphid's first orders were to remain stationed in the castle as Hades had started his own plan by reviving several deceased warriors of Athena. These warriors known as Saints were to gain immortality in exchange for taking Athena's life.

## Story

The invasion of Athena's Sanctuary would eventually fail, and after a counterattack by the revived Saints, a command was issued for all remaining Specters on Earth to return to their home base, the Underworld. While the Magnate Rhadamanthys forwarded this command to the dark warriors of Hades, he was challenged by four of Athena's Bronze Saints, Pegasus Seiya, Dragon Shiryu, Cygnus Hyoga, and Andromeda Shun. As Rhadamanthys contemplated the decision to destroy these saints, Sylphid along with three other of his personal warriors appeared to defend his honour. He considered Sylphid, Harpy Valentine, Minotaurus Gordon, and Alraune Queen very skilled warriors and more than enough to deal with the intruders. Leaving the assassination of the intruders to the four spectres, Rhadamanthys descended down to the Underworld.

Harpy Valentine found a foe in Pegasus Seiya, while Basilisk Sylphid and the other Specters sought out the other Bronze Saints. The Basilisk and his companions quickly proved their superiority, and their foes were momentarily defeated. Satisfied, the Specters left the castle, leaving their enemies behind while issuing a challenge for them to follow.
In the underworld

After receiving news that the Underworld's infamous Wailing Wall had been pierced by Athena's Saints, Basilisk Sylphid and his companions quickly went to investigate the scene. As they approached the site, their presence alerted the Bronze Saint Dragon Shiryu, who decided to stay behind and fight so that his companions had a chance to cross the cosmic river behind the Wall into Elysion.

Sylphid, Gordon, and Queen arrived to find that the reports were true. Paying Shiryu no mind, they attempted to chase the rest of the Saints, only to find that the Dragon refused to let them pass. With no other choice, Sylphid, Gordon, and Queen teamed up to ensure that the saint was beaten quickly.

As Queen and Gordon worked over the Dragon Saint with their individual attacks, Sylphid waited patiently and, when the right opportunity came, struck down the Saint with his "Annihilation Flap" technique. The move sent Shiryu slamming onto the undamaged section of the Wailing Wall. However, the Dragon survived and counter-attacked with the "Rozan Ryu Hi Sho". The move sent Sylphid flying, and damaged pieces of his Surplice.

Fuming with rage, Sylphid pulled himself up and retaliated with Gordon and Queen for a triple team attack. Shiryu, rising his cosmos to the highest limit, summoned every last bit of cosmos energy to unleash his "Rozan Hyaku Ryu Ha" technique. Not even the might of all three Specters was enough to endure the sheer destructive power of this move. Queen and Gordon were killed immediately, while Sylphid was completely thrashed. The blast of the attack sent Shiryu hurling backwards into the cosmic river of the Wailing Wall, where fellow Bronze Saint Cygnus Hyoga anxiously waited for his friend to arrive.

Determined to not allow the Saints to taint the holy fields of Elysion, Sylphid jumped into the river to continue his chase -- even after Hyoga had warned him of the consequences. Only gods, or those enchanted with a deity's blood, could safely swim through the currents, and both Shiryu and Hyoga were blessed with such a gift. The Specter of Basilisk finally met his demise as the river's currents crushed him. As his body was obliterated, Sylphid lamented that he and his companions should have destroyed the Saints on Earth when they had the chance.

## Concept & Creation

Sylphid was created by Masami Kurumada for the classic Saint Seiya series. He is named after the female variant of the mythological wind elemental known as a Sylph. Sylphs are small invisible beings of air, that can be either friendly or mischievous. They are often mixed with fairies as the two beings share similar attributes and are often portrayed with the same characteristics in modern fiction.

In the anime adaptation, Basilisk Sylphid along with Harpy Valentine, Minotarus Gordon, and Alraune Queen did not appear when the Saints had reached Hades' Castle. Valentine made his debut in Hades: Inferno episode 7, while Sylphid, Gordon, and Queen appeared in episode 1 of the Elysion Chapter OVA. This was due to the fact that the first OVA series was constricted to thirteen episodes and to finish it on a high note they excluded Sylphid and the others to be able to show a grand fight between Wyvern Rhadamanthys and Pegasus Seiya.

The Basilisk Surplice went through several colouring phases, from the first one which was the original all dark purple used in the manga. Then there was the second colouring which was visible in the opening sequences for each episodes of the different OVA series. This version was prominently brown with purple features. Number three can be seen in the first episode of the Elysion OVA , "Road to Elysion" which is more prominently purple and does not sport any brown colour but does include teal gems. If these changes affected the colour of Sylphid himself is unknown as his skin and hair are normally concealed by his helmet.

A black and white model sheet of Sylphid was included in the booklet that accompanied the first DVD volume of the Elysion series, it contained an image of his whole body with full armor and a second image of his head without a helmet.

Shiori Teshirogi created Basilisk Sylphid for The Lost Canvas series, with an identical appearance to the one from the original series. Teshirogi expanded on Sylphid's character and personality by showing how he is a sworn follower of Wyvern Rhadamanthys and has devoted his life to his cause. He is also not familiar with being close to others as he was a lone wolf and his own master until he fought Rhadamanthys. He finds out how closeness feels when Libra Dohko crushes him to death with his arms during their fight. This version of Sylphid is also able to emit poisonous winds that will easily kill anyone with a low Cosmo nearby. Just as in the classic story, he is partnered with Harpy Valentine, Minotaurus Gordon, and Alraune Queen

## Special Techniques

Sylphid's tehcniques are as powerful as his comrades. The one techniques shown far is a wind based technique.
"Annihilation Flap"

As the name implies, the "Annihilation Flap" is a wind-based attack that vacuums the air around him and unleashed with fury of currents with the power of a hurricane storm.