The five major clans in the series are Humans, Giants, Fairies, Goddesses, and Demons, all of which possess powerful abilities and magical powers. In accordance with the medieval theme, many of The Seven Deadly Sins are depicted as knights, broadly construed, who are clad in stylized variations of medieval armor, many of whom perform magic.

The contradictory nature of the names given to the groups and characters is reflected in the emergence of the title group as the protagonists and the group of 'Holy Knights' as the antagonists of the series. Likewise superficially, and frequently in ironic or contradictory ways, the series references various traditions, including Christianity (e.g., the Seven Deadly Sins, the Ten Commandments) and the Arthurian legend (e.g., in naming Meliodas, Escanor, Merlin, Diane, Gowther, King, and Ban). The Seven Deadly Sins and its sequel Four Knights of the Apocalypse are manga series written and illustrated by Nakaba Suzuki, set in a fictitious Britannia ( ブリタニア, Buritania) in a time period superficially akin to the European Middle Ages. Clockwise from bottom left: Meliodas, Ban, King, Escanor, Diane, Merlin and Gowther.

The members of the titular order of Holy Moly Knights.

Seven deadly sins anime armor