People claimed Aspros is merely cheap copy of Saga.
nah, they are different fundamentally, despite some elements . Degel also have events that mirror Hyoga but no one says he^s hyoga copy( even in writing) how I respect fate fandom for never mistaking nero claudius for altria pendragon, coomers they are. the amount aspros got mistaken for saga? disgusting.
Even when you compare Aspros in his worst day and Saga's evil side-whatever it is, lemur , ares, or if he legit have DID, it's still kinda different. Evil Saga is a masculine bastard, when Aspros is usually somehow femme. His speech pattern isn't feminine, but his body language, oftentimes, is quite feminine.
But if you push him further (which isn't hard since he's not the patient twin, defteros is) , at his most wrathful state, Aspros is even more animalistic than Dohko or Regulus, who have canon animal motif, and ironically proves that he is indeed Defteros' twin (Aspros' fangs is even bigger than Dohko and Regulus, though slightly smaller than Defteros'. But point is, those fangs are not only proves he's Defteros' twin, but also clearly something Saga doesn't have.) Not only violent, he's also more prone to swear words once he decided acting refined his useless.
Saga defines himself as a public/athena's servant, and his mental issues from his insecurity of his inability to kill his emotions to be a dutiful knight and NOT be his own person,.as if for him, to be himself is a sin, and we know it is imposible to un-person yourself, so he breaks. And he didn't learn better from that, considering what we see in both episode g and saintia sho.
You know who actually resemble Saga in personality? Shoichiro, Shoichiro is what Saga would become if he decides to take ibuprofen and fights his anxiety and depression, who decided he did have the right to be happy and be himself, the right of his own person while fulfilling his duty, but you people would ignore this similiarity because Shoichiro is wyvern. smh.
Aspros defines himself as " big brother" , that is, both the good and the bad of being firstborn coded, at first, he was the knightly kind of big brother, think of ichigo kurosaki's quote " big brothers born first to protect the younger ones who born later" which is what base Aspros live for, he lived to protect Defteros. He already has his doubts before Youma corrupted him, that is, once Defteros grow stronger, he ask himself , " if Defteros become stronger, that he can protect himself, will I still be needed? what would become of my identity? " Then after Youma corrupted him he become the negative kind of big brother, that is, the entitled/ bully one, who thinks " i am born first so it's natural if I own you/ stronger than you" .but point is, no matter how Youma tried to corrupt him, from "good" to "evil", Aspros will continue to identify himself as the "big brother". Youma couldn't take out the firstborn identity from Aspros, led him to think he's only child coded, nope, he is firstborn coded first before anything else, even before he' the Gemini Saint, before he's human even.
Saga's bond with Kanon is nearly inexistent, it's barely there. Kanon does love Saga, yes, he have this yearning expression when he's thinking about Saga, but Saga doesn't love him back the way he does. when for Aspros and Defteros, it's their entire story, the entire world be damned, only each other matters. Their relationship can be twisted into toxic relationship, but they still have strong bond regardless, never that bond be severed, no matter how badly Youma wished what he did to Pandora works on Aspros ( it doesn't ) .
For Aspros, it matters greatly that he's the older twin, it's literally his reason to live, to be Defteros' big brother. For Shoichiro, he does love Sojiro as his twin, but he's not as concerned about the fact he's the older brother unlike Aspros, as much he still have life outside sojiro. But Saga, his bond with Kanon hardly matters, going back to the whole un-self to fill a duty.
Just no way Saga ever say anything like this about or to Kanon
Even if he's not corrupted , Aspros will want power not for the heck of it, but as means to protect Defteros, that he even spelled it " I will be strong for both of us so no one can mistreat you ever again" .
Defteros may not be some kind of little sister younger than 17 and smaller than 160 cm,( he's 27 yo who is 190 cm instead) but it doesn't change the idea he has vibe similar to those little girls, that is, adored big brother, and with cunning big brothers who is willing to get their hands dirty, or even destroy the ugly world so little sister can stay " pure" in a gilded cage, isolated from the ugliness of the world. ( think lelouch or ayato) . while Shun is " damsel little sibling" , Defteros is " ISOLATED damsel little sibling " ( think rapunzel). Think Akio Ohtori or Kaname Kuran. Aspros is THOSE kind of big brothers, yes, THAT implication included.
Sure, later he learned power is not what he, or Defteros wanted, Defteros reminded him what they truly wanted, isolated from the world, away from prejudiced people.
Just like Aspros strongly identify himself as the firstborn, Defteros also strongly identify himself as the secondborn, even after Aspros's death, along with the obedience of the secondborn to the older one.
To be fair, he strongly believed they will be reunited so he prepare everything for Aspros's return, ( ironically of all people he parallels Hypnos here, but that's another discussion for later) Lost in translation, but Defteros only refer to the corrupted Aspros by name, he consistently talked about the original Aspros whom he loved and loved him back by brother, not by name. It also goes both ways with Aspros, once he got corrupted, he refer to Defteros by name, not calling him brother.
If he want to, Defteros could've claimed the Gemini seat proper, let him be known for it. If he want to. The thing is, he does not want to, continue to identify himself as the second, continue to pretend as the demon of kanon island, not letting people know he's the gemini saint, even developing memory erasing skill because he wanted to return the Gemini seat/cloth to Aspros.
In contrast to Aspros' refined femme image hides his real animalistic, violent and crude, oddly masculine real self, Defteros' animalistic facade hides what he really feel , a somewhat maiden-like yearning to Aspros, a more sensitive, melancholic side that complements Aspros' violent tendency and lack of empathy
Kanon is an afterthought, as Kurumada meant to display the duality of gemini with Saga alone, with his split personality, when Aspros is written with Defteros as complementing contrast. Academical intelligence and emotional intelligence. The beautiful snow white' evil queen who did not get what she wants and the dirty cinderella who got the respect she deserved at the end, despite the initial short time to be princess . the metaphorical rose thorns who is looking for the best soil to support it and the literal lava who cools down into fertile soil for the rose to grow on, knight who have seen the world vs isolated damsel, the explicitly sexy shirtless defteros and aspros's sensual, lowkey effeminate body language, etc..
To further emphasize the way they are mutually influenced by each other, they both met another set of siblings in their gaidens. Power hungry Ursula who killed her own father, and the brainwashed but once loving Kokkalo are both parallels to Aspros, when the timid, yet surprisingly powerful Chris, who refused the call, rejecting everything she could get had she accepted her role as the Cetus Specter-immortality, power of both combat and social influence, that all she wanted is to get along with Ursula, to forgive her and loved her always, and the insanely devoted Ema, who would throw away his own life for Kokkalo, yearning for the Kokkalo in his memory, is another parallel to Defteros. The way Chris says she wants nothing but to mend her relationship with Ursula? Aspros know Defteros have the same sentiment. And in his eyes, Defteros is as small , frail and timid as Chris. In turn, Defteros always know Ema's insane devotion is what himself would've done , but like Ema, Defteros knows better it's not the real Aspros, that there is another force that controlled his brother that he could destory, to save his big brother from. The parallels are to let them say what they would say to each other with all the projection, without actually saying it to the real person.
As seen with how oddly supportive he is to Chris, it's heavily implied that Aspros sends Ema and Kokkalo to test Defteros, can he finally stand for himself or not the way Chris did. The way Aspros is glad that Chris is trying her best to stay as sisters with Ursula shows deep, deep down, in subconcious level, he wanted the same with himself and Defteros. Not only seen from both twins gaiden, but the bangaihen makes it clearer, that Aspros even have small piece of his soul in Defteros, who's proud of Defteros' growth. note that Aspros is in fact does not only test Defteros in Defteros' gaiden, he's also testing the Gemini Cloth itself, which twin it has chosen. it proves to us, that at least in LC, that being the representative of the constellation of twins, it chose both twins from the beginning
. The moment Aspros become the new Gemini saint, that very moment actually can Defteros also summon the Gemini Cloth, but he's hindered by his own inferiority complex. Their whole narrative deny the idea either twin are spares, instead, they repeatedly mentions they are each other's halves, incomplete without the other, the forementined Gemini Cloth itself admit both twins as its user, then Defteros insist to stay at Aspros' side as he fights Youma, even as a spirit posessing the gemini cloth.
Their beginning , downfall, rise, climax, ending of them all have to do with each other. In universe, it starts with them no older than 5 side by side. Their downfall was enabling each other's toxic traiit. Their rise is finally doing something in the memory of the other twin. Their climax is fighting each other, and then their ending is heavily implied to be finally together in death, as seen with the cloth and surplice floating side by side.
Saga and Kanon both mind their own business, when aspros and defteros actively stalks each other,
manipulates others in order to reach each other (other than entirety of defteros gaiden happens because of Aspros, remember that Defteros did this to Dohko in mainline LC) Defteros ultimately is the better one on one manipulator, and selfish he was, unlike kanon, his goal is much less destructive and grandiose , that he would minimize damage if he can. They also keep mementos of each other, Aspros did keep Defteros' mask (or its replica, the sentiment is the same, he did keep something that reminds him to def) and for Defteros, the Gemini Cloth itself is his memento of Aspros.
and are defined by each other, molded, defined, and motivated by each other, and they are happy by that, to stick with each other, that ant the end, they are together and that's what they wanted. Saga and Kanon both wanted to change the world and that's exactly why they don't get it, Aspros/Defteros only want each other and that's why they get it, even if after they're both dead.
Both are also showing disdain to Sisyphus' decision to fight for the people of the future. Aspros calling Sisyphus useless to his face, when Defteros backtalks him at his very death . Like saying "this is what you get for fighting for the insignifact weaklings instead of your family, you fool! not even goldies can save everyone, so focus to your inner circle!". Sisyphus was once greatly adored Ilias like Defteros did, the difference is that eventually Sisyphus let gof of Ilias when Defteros continue to cling to Aspros. And that's unfathomable to the twins, with how mutually obsessed they are to each other, the idea of giving up your brother is incomprehensible to them . It's as if Sisyphus had hanahaki for Ilias, the twins would rather see him die because of it, not because they hate him they wanted him to die, but they wanted him to cling to Ilias they way they did to each other. The way Sisyphus isn't as obsessed as them, the way Sisyphus is willing to let go of Ilias, is seen as a form of stupidity or something repulsive to the twins.
Hasgard and Sisyphus both consider Aspros their inner circle, but Aspros was the one who rejects them. He refuse to understand the strength of the bond between Hasgard and his kids are genuine without blood ties, as much he refuses to accept why Sisyphus let Ilias go.
They're already that apathetic even as children, mind you.
Aspros make it clear he'd throw people under the bus for Defteros, he HAS to be a gold saint proper to get the power he needs to protecr Defteros and willing to do so at the cost of innocent lives since he's prepubescent boy. He expects Sisyphus to have the same obedience and passiveness Defteros had, and it pisses him so Sisyphus doesn't have it.
Another good thing that other than he's determined, that forget losing limbs, even death won't stop him, unlike saga who is suicidal and give in to his weakest moment and have a lot of angsting . Aspros also is a hard worker , a perfectionist, and looking down on those who are not.
Aspros/Defteros are the Gemini twins with the most blatant physical differences, not only there's the skin tone, but also, Defteros is larger (190 cm/90kg when Aspros is 188 cm/83 kg)
yet, they are the one who keep saying they are each other's mirror images, other halves of one full being. Aspros did think so at first, saying they are one,
but then after being corrupted, his mind was thinking he's the "original" when Defteros is his "replica", two separate beings, made separately, when Defteros thinks they're two halves of one entity instead. Clearly, the narrative shows Defteros is the one proved right with that. Aspros literally means white. And Defteros' technique literally is BLACK eruption. I was thinking of Pokemon Black White here, but inverted. Aspros is the ideal that with enough hard work, they can finally be together undisturbed, Defteros is the bitter truth that only beyond the grave they can be together.
When zodiacs is compared/ connected with tarot, Gemini corresponds with The Lovers. Aspros/ Defteros are written with this fact in mind, that they display both upright and reversed meaning of the card. The upright meaning is mutual love, harmony, correct choices, trials overcomed, values aligned, soulmates/unions, deep trust. reversed meanings is disharmony, misaligned values, bad choices resulted from recklessness and indecisiveness alike, conflict, detachment, distrust,
At first, they truly care about each other, trusting each other, with mutual goal of overcoming the idea of gemini cannot be together. Then Aspros is corrupted and changed his values, his views, and growing more detached . Defteros knows something is wrong , he keeps distrusting Aspros even if lowkey. As Asmita puts it, things happened not only because Aspros is too impatient and reckless , but also because Defteros is too indecisive to stop him. After Asmita's calls out, Defteros realizes that he is Aspros' demsel no longer and it's time for him to act, that is, to be the one who saved Aspros after Aspros saved him in the years before. he's literally that "i can fix him " character stereotype towards Aspros. Except he actually succeed. Then after their fight they literally become one, and Aspros gloating they really are soulmates.
Look at these images to see how suggestive they are/how bad they desire each other. ( in case it's not clear, Aspros is stepping on Defteros's head here, effectively pegging him, as you can see Awakening repeat the scene without the sitting part but you get it )
tldr: Saga would die for the world itself. Aspros , even in his best day, would destroy the world so that people can not shittalk defteros anymore. alternatively, you can talk about saga without kanon but you can't talk about aspros without defteros
here's some more if u wanna read more about aspros defteros https://at.tumblr.com/draceempressa/we-know-in-universe-aspros-treat-defteros-as-if/arj2fjdghkwn
also you when reading this essay probably:
