The Seven Deadly Sins Origin Lore Primer: What You Need To Know From The Manga And Anime Before Playing
The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin sits between the original Seven Deadly Sins and Four Knights of the Apocalypse, in a distorted Britannia where timelines overlap. You don’t need to marathon everything, but understanding the Holy War, the Sins, Tristan, and the Four Knights prophecy makes the game’s story and cast land much harder.
Where Origin fits in the timeline
Origin is an original story built on top of canon events.
- Holy War and 7DS first
- Main 7DS takes place years after the first Holy War, following Princess Elizabeth as she gathers the Seven Deadly Sins—rogue knights framed for betraying Liones—to stop a new Demon Clan threat.
- The Sins were originally formed to defeat the Demon King’s elite Ten Commandments and end the Holy War once and for all.
- Four Knights era
- Origin’s setup
- Origin’s story revolves around a “distorted Britannia”; time and space are warped by a mysterious artifact called the Book of Stars, which can manipulate fate.
- You travel with a four‑hero party, collecting characters from both The Seven Deadly Sins and Four Knights while piecing together fractured timelines across Britannia.
So Origin is effectively a multiverse bridge: it assumes the Holy War has ended, the Sins’ legend is established, and Tristan’s generation is active, then scrambles time so you can interact with both eras.
Core world lore: Britannia, races, and the Holy War
A basic grasp of Britannia and its big conflict gives context to nearly every zone and faction.
- Britannia and the clans
- Britannia is a continent where Humans, Giants, Fairies, and the Goddess Clan allied long ago against the Demon Clan in the Holy War, sealing the demons with the Coffin of Eternal Darkness.
- Each race has its own kingdom or realm—Liones (Humans), Fairy King’s Forest (Fairies), Giant territories, and godly domains—which become key locations in both the anime and Origin.
- The Holy War itself
- Over 3,000 years before the main story, the Goddess and Demon Clans repeatedly clashed because of the rivalry between the Demon King and Supreme Deity.
- Elizabeth (then a Goddess) and Meliodas (son of the Demon King) tried to end the war, were cursed for it, and their tragic reincarnation loop underpins the whole series.
Knowing “angels vs demons + cursed lovers + four allied races” is enough to understand why so many areas, relics, and bosses in Origin reference the Holy War and its fallout.
The Seven Deadly Sins and their legacy
Origin constantly references the original Sins, so having their basics helps.
- Who the Sins are
- The Seven Deadly Sins are a legendary order formed (secretly) to defeat the Ten Commandments, each named after a sin—Meliodas (Wrath), Ban (Greed), King (Sloth), Diane (Envy), Gowther (Lust), Merlin (Gluttony), Escanor (Pride).
- In the anime, they’re introduced as traitors, but Elizabeth discovers they were framed and recruits them to save Britannia and Liones.
- Why they matter to Origin
- By the time of Four Knights, the Sins have already destroyed the Demon King and Supreme Deity, ending the Holy War and reshaping Britannia’s power balance.
- Origin draws on the mythic status of the Sins: you meet them, their allies, and the worlds shaped by their battles, and you play as their children and successors (Tristan, Lancelot, etc.).
Even a light familiarity with Meliodas and his crew gives their cameos, quests, and locations in Origin more weight.
Tristan, Four Knights, and the Arthur threat
Since Tristan is your main lens in Origin, knowing his sequel background is especially useful.
- Tristan and the new generation
- Post‑war Camelot and Arthur
- After the Holy War and the Sins’ victories, King Arthur rises and eventually becomes the King of Chaos; later canon material and movies show Arthur turning into a more ambiguous, potentially antagonistic figure.
- In Four Knights, Camelot actively hunts the four prophesied knights, seeing them as a threat that could destroy Arthur’s realm.
- Origin’s hook
So when Origin throws you into scenes with Tristan, Arthur, and weird timeline collisions, it’s drawing directly from the sequel’s prophecy and Camelot conflict.
Minimal watch/read order before playing
You don’t need everything; here’s the lowest‑effort prep that still makes Origin’s story click.
- At least know or skim:
- 7DS main plot: Elizabeth recruits the Sins, they save Liones, fight the Ten Commandments, and end the Holy War by defeating the Demon King and Supreme Deity.
- Holy War basics: four allied races vs Demon Clan, Meliodas/Elizabeth’s cursed romance, and the scale of that ancient conflict.
- Four Knights premise: set 16 years later, Percival + Lancelot + Tristan + Gawain are prophesied to destroy Camelot; Arthur sees them as an existential threat.
- Optional but helpful extras
With that context, Holy War, Sins, Tristan’s generation, and Arthur’s uneasy Camelot, you have everything needed to follow The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin’s multiverse plot without getting lost, and all the little references in quests and zones will land as intended.
