Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins were the strongest and cruelest order of Holy Knights in the Kingdom of Liones. They were formed by seven brutal criminals, who had all been convicted for grievous crimes and had carved the symbols of seven beasts onto their bodies. After having been framed for murdering the Great Holy Knight, they were indefinitely disbanded, as well as branded as traitors and villains. They are the main protagonists of the series.

Background
Unbeknownst to even most of its members, the Seven Deadly Sins were formed for the expressed purpose of defeating the Demon Clan's Ten Commandments. The king of Liones had a premonition through his power Vision, that they would become the kingdom's protectors. Hearing this, both Meliodas and Merlin (who was only known to Meliodas at the time) took it upon themselves to find the other five, in order to crush the Ten Commandments, should they ever be revived.

The members of this group were originally an independent order of knights serving the kingdom of Liones. They were declared as traitors and villains after being framed for assassinating Zaratras, the Great Holy Knight, after heeding an order to meet up with him at the castle. They found him murdered through no fault of their own and were quickly surrounded by the kingdom's Holy Knights. Meliodas ordered the group to disperse to avoid capture, and everyone was able to escape separately. It was initially suspected that one of the members was a traitor who helped in the nefarious plot, as Meliodas was knocked unconscious shortly after issuing his order. It is later revealed that Merlin was the perpetrator, and was due to Meliodas losing himself to his anger when young Elizabeth got hurt trying to help him escape. However, she did ask for forgiveness. One of the Seven Deadly Sins' feats includes defeating the troll queen, with them having also broken the Great Druid Altar.

The Seven Deadly Sins before the betrayal were widely known as the strongest knights of Liones and were greatly admired by several Holy Knights and apprentices, including Little Gil and Doting Dale. The group was directly under the Great Holy Knight Zaratras' command.

The Seven Deadly Sins reappeared ten years later in the kingdom, having regathered six of its members over a short duration. They aided the third princess of Liones, Elizabeth, helping her liberate the kingdom from the oppressive rule of the Holy Knights and stopping Hendrickson's plan to release the long-sealed Demon Clan into the world.

Upon Hendrickson's defeat and his villainous plan to revive the Demon Clan being fully realized by the rest of the kingdom, the Seven Deadly Sins were praised as heroes for saving the kingdom. They were also cleared of their false crimes, and welcomed back into the kingdom of Liones once more.

Members

 * Meliodas
 * Ban
 * Diane
 * King
 * Escanor
 * Gowther
 * Merlin

Power Levels

 * 1) The Grizzly’s Sin of Sloth, King: (41,600)
 * 2) The Serpent's Sin of Envy, Diane: (8,000)
 * 3) The Boar's Sin of Gluttony, Merlin: (4,710)
 * 4) The Fox’s Sin of Greed, Ban: (3,220)
 * 5) The Goat's Sin of Lust, Gowther: (35,400)
 * 6) The Lion's Sin of Pride, Escanor: (Unmeasurable) (see Sunshine for explanation).

Former

 * 1) The Dragon's Sin of Wrath, Meliodas: (142,000)

Abilities

 * 1) King: Disaster
 * 2) Diane: Creation
 * 3) Merlin: Infinity
 * 4) Ban: Snatch
 * 5) Gowther: Invasion
 * 6) Escanor: Sunshine

Former

 * 1) Meliodas: Full Counter

Beast Symbol
All of the Sins have a different symbol of an animal on a part of their body, they are all crimson coloured in the anime and different coloured in the manga.
 * 1) Meliodas: Meliodas has the symbol of a dragon biting its own tail, making a circle on his left arm, near the shoulder.
 * 2) Ban: Ban has the symbol of a fox on the left side of his waist.
 * 3) Diane: Diane has the mark of a snake with one end of its tail rolled up on her left thigh.
 * 4) Gowther: Gowther has the symbol of a goat with giant horns on the right side of his chest.
 * 5) Escanor: Escanor has the mark of a lion with a scar on its right eye covering his back.
 * 6) Merlin: Merlin has the mark of a boar face right with twigs growing in it on the left side of her neck.
 * 7) King: King has the mark of a grizzly bear facing towards its left above his left foot, it is usually hidden beneath his pants and shoes.

Sins Committed
Each member of the Seven Deadly Sins had been judged and found guilty of committing a grievous crime by the Kingdom of Liones, with their title being given based on the root moral failing on their part which caused this crime. Though it sounds clear cut, for most of them it seems extenuating circumstances were at play.
 * Meliodas considers his sin to be his failure to protect Danafor, its citizens, and Liz from the kingdom's annihilation. The official story is that Meliodas lost himself in his wrath and annihilated the Kingdom himself.
 * Diane and Matrona were hired by knights of Liones as mercenaries to assist them in a battle against foreign savages. The Holy Knight Gannon deceives them, revealing his ultimate intentions of taking down a giant for reputation and prestige. Although Matrona unfortunately "dies" from a venomous arrow, Gannon underestimates her strength and his plans are thwarted. The giantess "passes away" after killing the majority of the troops including Gannon, with remaining survivors falsifying the report of the incident to place blame on Diane. She is eventually labeled the Sin of Envy for her jealousy towards Matrona (who she supposedly murdered), along with 330 innocent knights of the kingdom. She is sentenced to death by beheading but Meliodas thwarted it under direct orders of the king of Liones.
 * As the only survivor of the Fairy King's Forest, he took the blame and was convicted for destroying the forest and killing its guardian saint, Elaine. As a result, he was sentenced to death, and became known as the Sin of Greed due to his apparent greed for immortality. After supposedly ending Helbram's life, King took on the sentence for ignoring Helbram's mass murdering of humans continuously over a period of five hundred years. This came close to sparking a war between humans and fairies. He was consequently sentenced to an imprisonment for a thousand years, and was recognized as the Sin of Sloth as he ignored the atrocities committed and turned a blind eye.
 * Gowther was granted the Sin of Lust after he was accused of forcing Nadja, Bartra Liones' younger sister, to vile sexual acts, which ended in her death. In reality, Nadja and Gowther were both in love and quite happy in each other presence. It was then revealed that Nadja was close to death and wished to pass her final moments with Gowther. After a moment of passion, she peacefully died within Gowthers' embrace and, in panic, Gowther tried reanimating her by ripping out his magical heart and replacing Nadja's with it, to no avail. In the mean time Gowther is screaming, alerting some nearby guards that find him in a bedroom full of blood with Nadjas' deceased body below him.

Seven Laws of the Seven Deadly Sins
There exist seven laws that each member of the group is required to abide by. So far, only four of these laws has been revealed. The laws were created by Meliodas.
 * Law #3: "A Sin shall ask no questions of another member's sin."
 * Law #4: "If a friend is in crisis everybody needs to use all of his or her power to help."
 * Law #5: "When two Sins are in disagreement they can resolve it with a fight."
 * Law #6: "If two Sins are fighting to the death, the other five must do their utmost to stop them even if it means eliminating the perpetrator."

Sacred Treasures
Each of the Sins owns a Sacred Treasure, which was entrusted to them by King Bartra Liones when the group was former, and are compatible with their respective abilities. The weapons are unusable by anyone other than their intended wielder.
 * Meliodas's Sacred Treasure, the Demon Sword Lostvayne, is a short sword. He sold it in a Pawn Shop in Camelot to get money for the Boar Hat. Merlin ended up buying the sword and returns it to Meliodas at a critical moment.
 * Diane's Sacred Treasure, the War Hammer Gideon, is designed for a giant. It is made of a material stronger than steel and weighs approximately 2,200 pounds. It became the reward of Vaizel's annual fighting festival after Diane lost it. Diane later regained Gideon during the Holy Knights' attack, quickly forcing them to retreat.
 * Ban's Sacred Treasure, the Holy Rod Courechouse, is a four-sectioned staff similar in appearance to a nunchaku. It was stolen during his imprisonment in Baste Dungeon.
 * King's sacred treasure, the Spirit Spear Chastiefol, is a spirit spear crafted from the Sacred Tree only found in the Fairy realm. Stronger than steel, it possesses the mysterious qualities of the tree itself that King's ability, Disaster, draws out. It has several different forms, including a pillow which can act as a shield, different forms of spears, and a large stuffed grizzly bear.
 * Gowther's Sacred Treasure, the Twin Bow Herritt, is made of light, which is used in conjunction with his ability, Invasion. It is capable of projecting multiple waves of light simultaneously.
 * Merlin's Sacred Treasure, the Morning Star Aldan, is a small crystal orb. She can summon it at any time via magic.
 * Escanor's Sacred Treasure, the Divine Axe Rhitta, is a giant, ornate battle axe. It possesses the ability to absorb and store the enormous amount of heat Escanor radiates from his body during the day and release it on command. It is so heavy, even Meliodas has difficulty carrying it.

Trivia

 * So far, none of the Seven Deadly Sins are of the same race: Meliodas is a demon, Ban is formerly human, Diane is a giant, King is a fairy, Escanor is human, and Gowther is a doll. Merlin's race is currently unknown.
 * According to Dreyfus, only a member of the Sins could go toe-to-toe with the previous Great Holy Knight, Zaratras.
 * The manga depiction of the animals and colors associated with each of the sins differs from the conventional representation; Bear's Sin of Wrath, Dog's Sin of Envy, Frog's Sin of Greed, Goat's Sin of Sloth, Cow's Sin of Lust, Pig's Sin of Gluttony, and Horse's Sin of Pride.
 * Each Sin was a diamond ranked holy knight before they were framed. Whether or not their ranks were restored after their names were cleared has not been mentioned.
 * Escanor and Merlin are the last remaining Sins that have not had their Sin explained.
 * Ban is the only Sin who does not have his Sacred Treasure.