The Seven Deadly Sins manga series features a cast of characters created by Nakaba Suzuki. Set in a fictitious Britannia in a time period akin to the European Middle Ages, the story references various traditions, including Christianity (e.g., the Seven Deadly Sins, the Ten Commandments) and Arthurian legend (e.g., Meliodas, Diane, Ban, Harlequin, Gowther, Merlin and Escanor). This is frequently done in ironic or contradictory ways, such as in the emergence of the title group as the protagonists and the group of "Holy Knights" as the antagonists of the series.
In accordance with the medieval theme, many of The Seven Deadly Sins are depicted as knights, who are clad in stylized variations of medieval armor, many of whom perform magic. The five major clans in the series are Humans, Giants, Fairies, Goddesses, and Demons, all of which possess powerful abilities and magical powers. Suzuki's sequel to the manga, Four Knights of the Apocalypse, continues these Christian and Arthurian references (e.g., the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Percival).
Creation In order to surprise readers, Nakaba Suzuki purposely made the appearances of some of the titular group of knights very different from their wanted posters that appear in the first chapter and had others look the same as their poster, but gave them "horrible" personalities. Although it was decided to make the protagonist of the series a "child", Suzuki struggled with designing Meliodas' profile because the character is actually an adult. He said the most difficult part was his hair; ultimately deciding on "fluffy" hair like a boy from a foreign country, which he had never done before. In the pilot chapter, the character had long, straight hair, which the author said was not as cute. Because he did not want them to have too much vitality, Suzuki originally planned for Meliodas to have "dot eyes", which he associates with strong characters, such as Ban, Tristan from his first serialized manga Rising Impact, and the titular character from his work Kongō Banchō. But he worried readers would not take Meliodas seriously as the main character and realized "shining eyes" were better because he is more of the "shōnen type". In the published one-shot version, Hawk and his mother did not appear. Instead, Melodas' traveling tavern, named "Apple", rode atop a giant spider-like mechanism. Suzuki said he always made sure to show the subtly different relationships between the members of the titular group of knights. For example, he said that while Ban is Meliodas' best friend, King is only a teammate with whom he does not talk. All seven have such relationships, which the author called realistically human. Because he felt it would be too convenient to have seven enemies oppose the Seven Deadly Sins and fight them one-on-one, Suzuki decided on having ten with the Ten Commandments. This way, characters could fail and there would be another who can defeat many by themselves, making it unpredictable for readers. However, the author has stated that Escanor ended up being "too strong".
The initial design for Diane was slightly smaller than the final version and had disheveled hair instead of pigtails. Suzuki explained that his editor at the time was worried about her being too big, thus they were going to go with about two meters tall. But that is not uncommon for women in manga and the author recognized that the fantasy manga was being overcome by a concern about reality. Although that version of Diane still had a crush on Meliodas, she was more hot and cold about it. Ban's initial design was very different from the final version. He did not talk much, always wore a poker face and had a personality that was difficult to "rile up". King was initially going to be named "Jehan" and represent the sin of pride. Instead of transforming into an old fat guy, the initial design transformed into a pudgy baby. But his editor at the time pointed out this looked too much like Gawain from Rising Impact. Additionally, because having a kid turn into an old guy is "kind of cliché", the author considered having the old guy be King's main form, before deciding against it. The prototype design for Gowther was that of a warlock named "Jeema", who represented the sin of sloth and who was one of the Seven Deadly Sins whose job it was to secretly protect Meliodas. He eventually evolved into a giant clad in armor, before Suzuki felt that would be boring and changed him into the final version of a glasses-wearing youth. The author modeled Gowther's appearance on a girl he had a crush on, but always drew him as male. Merlin's prototype wore glasses and originally went by the mythical figure's Welsh name, "Myrddin".
Rejected designs for Matrona included making her look very similar to Diane, and making her rugged to the point she looked like an older man. Suzuki's personal favorite was scrapped for looking too similar to Derieri, and a rotund one was adapted into the design for Dolores. Dolores and Selion were originally planned to be alive and to participate in the second Fighting Festival held in Vaizel. The former was going to have a different, slimmer appearance as well as a different personality, while the latter was to be the spitting image of his father Zhivago. But Suzuki scrapped these ideas for being too convenient and due to the question on whether or not they could "keep up". In order to distinguish between Jenna and Zaneri, the former wears a miniskirt and has a combative look, while the latter wears a long skirt and has downcast eyes. The designs of Zeldris, Derieri, Melascula, Gloxinia and Galland were finalized quickly, although the last was originally going to have a more human build. Estarossa ended up looking very similar to Meliodas' wanted poster. A Ten Commandments design of a Demon with two bodies as one was reworked into two separate vampires that appear in the three-chapter "The Vampire of Edinburgh".
For the anime adaptation, Suzuki initially imagined Meliodas would be played by a female voice actress due to him being "an adult, but [also] a boy". But after listening to samples, he said Yuki Kaji was the only suitable candidate. Because he also voices Meliodas' brother Zeldris, Kaji asked Suzuki for advice on how to play the two characters.
Main The Seven Deadly Sins characters Seven Deadly Sins The were the strongest and most menacing order of Holy Knights in the Liones Kingdom, composed of seven brutal criminals from various races who were branded with symbols of beasts to symbolize the sin that motivated their crimes. Each member of the group had the highest Holy Knight ranking, Diamond, and each possessed a unique weapon known as a that was given to them by King Liones. Ten years before the series began, they were branded traitors for having allegedly assassinated Zaratras, captain of the Holy Knights, in an attempted coup d'état. The Seven Deadly Sins are eventually absolved of their crimes after liberating Liones from rule of the Holy Knights.
Meliodas
is the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins who bears the Dragon Sin of Wrath, symbolized by a dragon on his left shoulder. When found by Elizabeth at the start of the series, he is running the traveling bar with his pig companion Hawk. Despite his nickname, Meliodas typically wears the façade of a foolish trickster more interested in fondling women than fighting, displaying wrath only when those dear to him are endangered or killed. Despite his adolescent appearance, Meliodas is actually a Demon who is over three thousand years old. He is immensely powerful and agile, and his signature ability reflects magical attacks at the attacker with far greater power. Meliodas can also tap into his demonic power, manifesting versatile dark energy from his body to increase his offense and defense at the cost of entering a berserker state. Meliodas initially carries a sword hilt called the Dragon Handle before it is stolen by Helbram, where it is revealed to be a fragment of the Coffin of Eternal Darkness, which was used to seal away the Demon clan. He later regains his Sacred Treasure , a curved short-sword that allows him to create up to four weaker clones of himself that compensate for their lack of power by allowing him to use Full Counter to its full potential.
Meliodas is revealed to be the son of the Demon King and the original leader of the Ten Commandments, possessing the fragment of his father's soul embodying Love. But Meliodas turned his back on his people when he fell in love with the Goddess Elizabeth, killing two of his fellow Commandments and causing the Holy War to occur. The Demon King allowed the Supreme Deity of the Goddess Race to curse Meliodas with immortality. In contrast, the Demon King himself cursed Elizabeth with perpetual death and reincarnation to make his son suffer every time he is reunited with her. Due to the curse's nature, Meliodas' soul ends up in Purgatory with the Demon King feasting on his emotions before reviving him, gradually reverting to his former self as a result. Meliodas has a brother, Zeldris, whom he ends up fighting to surpass their father. After Elizabeth begins regaining her memories as the goddess Elizabeth, which means she will die in three days, Meliodas resolves to become the new demon king to break their curses. He disbands the Deadly Sins and enters an alliance with Zeldris after promising to use his status to release his brother's lover, revealing that he has absorbed the Commandment of Pacifism and intends to absorb the other commandments. Despite becoming a vessel for the Demon King before managing to force him out of his body, Meliodas frees himself and Elizabeth from their curses, though he would leave the living world because of his power as a Demon King. But the victory is short-lived as the Demon King possesses Zeldris and restores Elizabeth's curse, prompting the Sins' final battle with the Demon King. After killing his father, Meliodas sacrifices his Demon King powers to destroy the Commandments to prevent the Demon King from reviving. In the series epilogue, Meliodas married Elizabeth and became the ruler of Liones with a son named Tristan.. During the events of Four Knights of the Apocalypse, Meliodas tasked Tristan and Lancelot to find the remaining members of the titular group to stop Arthur and save Britannia. Meliodas came in fifth place in a 2014 character popularity poll for the series.
Diane