Seven Deadly Sins: Escanor

 

Introduction

Escanor was Lion's Sin of Pride of the Seven Deadly Sins, the former second prince of the Kingdom of Castellio, and the man known throughout the Kingdom of Liones as "The Strongest Holy Knight". His Sacred Treasure was the Divine Axe, Rhitta, and his inherent power was called Sunshine, which made him renowned for gaining immense power during the day and gradually becoming weaker with the setting of the sun, leaving him frail and submissive at night.

In the wanted poster, Escanor is depicted as a middle-aged man with a beard and a ponytail.

Escanor has a moustache and a pair of glasses. Escanor's attire is a suit commonly worn by bartenders and although slightly baggy, does appear to fit his non-sunshine form far better than his previous attire. He temporarily wore spectacles during his first formal appearance in the plot. His lion symbol is on his back.

Ten years ago, he wore a suit of full-body armour with a unique helm (which may be too large to fit him properly in the early morning or night, and conversely too small to fit him during the sunlight hours, particularly noon).

Escanor was revealed during the Vampires of Edinburgh side story to be a very meek and weak-looking young man, with short hair and a set of clothes that seemed too large to fit him. His clothes were made to be intentionally loose so that they fit him properly when he increases his size.

During the new Holy War, Escanor wears a long-sleeved white jacket that is open at the front with white fur trimmings on the side of the jacket and white spiky fur on the neck of the jacket, and an ornamental golden handguard. He wears black pants and a belt with three rows of studs and a large buckle featuring a sun with spikes around it and studs around it. He wore white boots that are decorated at the top with a miniature sun and swirly wing-like designs around it.

Personality

Escanor's personality changes drastically along with his strength between day and night. At night, he is skittish, submissive and unfailingly polite. Whereas in the day he is arrogant, boastful, and domineering, he also takes it upon himself to deliver justice to those he feels have sinned, such as those that toy with feelings. Both personalities seem to be truly him, and he remembers everything he does in either, though at night he has chastised himself for losing control during the day.

Despite the great contrast, there are some personality traits he retains day or night, such as his feelings for Merlin and fondness for writing poetry. Even with his prideful personality he still cares for his comrades but in his own way. Pretending to annihilate Gowther, instead of attacking the two Commandments for toying with people's hearts. Proof that he retains his love for Merlin was how the belief that Merlin loved Arthur romantically left Escanor disheartened visibly. But at night he cares very deeply for his captain and comrades, not wishing to harm any, even those he only recently met.

Escanor also does not particularly desire anything, as when competing in a tournament for any prize he desires, he simply stated he would like to deliver alcohol for that tournament and not compete, despite his power.

He is also accustomed to others calling him a monster for his unique body changes after suffering a bad childhood when his power first manifested. Even the likes of demons refuse to believe he is a human.

During the day, Escanor's pride and attitude is such that he never holds hatred in his heart to anyone, even Demons, as he does not hold hatred to those beneath him, he only pities them. This quirk has given him immunity to a Commandment. His pride is also unfailing as when his own blow got reflected to him with greater power, he is not surprised he got injured by his own attacks. His pride also does not seem to prevent him from acknowledging the strength of others, as he openly acknowledged the strength of Estarossa and Meliodas during his fights with them. He is also not above asking for help, as he asked Hawk to help him declare his feeling towards Merlin. These examples, however, are somewhat contradicting due to Escanor still viewing himself above others during the day. This was even pointed out by Hawk when he stated that despite asking him for help, he was still being surprising forceful, and even a little shameless about the favour he was asking for.

Despite being at his weakest at night and being more cowardly, Escanor's sense of duty and responsibility is surprisingly strong. He still wanted to complete his final delivery of alcohol to the tournament, despite no longer needing to stay in hiding as a bar owner, and even asked Ban to help him complete this task. His resolve to protect the people he cares for is even stronger, as during his fight in the new holy war arc, after being defeated by the original demon, and unable to continue to fight, he asked and pleaded with Mael, the previous owner of the power of Sunshine, to take the power of Sunshine back, and fight in his place.

Later, after losing the power of Sunshine, Escanor still felt the need to protect others, as he not only came to help Gilthunder, Griamore, and Howzer fight an Indura spore despite not having his powers anymore, but even went as far as to try to fight the spore alone, and even withstood and shielded the holy knights on willpower alone; despite receiving numerous severe injuries in doing so. At the time, Escanor compared the spores attacks to Meliodas', stating that compared to the pain he received from him, the spores attacks were nothing, which greatly shocked the holy knights into disbelief, who were surprised that he was still alive from those attacks, let alone still standing. Mael, one of the Four Archangels, and the original wielder of the power of Sunshine, was greatly pleased and impressed by Escanor's determination, despite having no power, and rescued Escanor as a result. After rescuing him, Mael later healed then offered Escanor his Sunshine power back in order for him to be able to fight again but warned him that the power was never meant for a human and that taking the power back would eventually lead to his death, to which Escanor simply stated his lack of concern in that matter and asked for the power back, showing that his resolve to fight for his friends was well worth any price.

This same resolve was later shown again when Escanor activated The One: Ultimate, as he was more than ready to sacrifice himself in order to defeat to demon king for his friends. Despite this, Meliodas and the rest of the sins chastised Escanor for behaving this way, with all of them angrily declaring that his life was too important and that as their friend he should never throw his life away for them. After hearing this, and after hearing that they would gladly risk their lives in order to stop him and fight by his side, he finally let go of his attitude towards the matter, and pridefully requested/ordered that the Sins allow him the honour of fighting side by side with them, despite the damage that has already been done to his body, showing that Escanor's daytime form had in some ways, finally learned to let go of his pride and overprotectiveness towards his friends and had also learned to value his own life more in that same regard.

Escanor fell in love with Merlin at first sight, as she was the first person to not only be unafraid of him or his power but to even be interested in it as well as him. Since then, she has become the one person he does not view himself as being above. In fact, in both of his forms, his love for her seems to go far beyond his own pride, despite knowing that she may never feel the same way he feels towards her, he still views her as the one to illuminate his path, just like the Sun would which temporarily allowed him to fight during the tournament. Despite not viewing himself above her, he is still very prideful when it comes to impressing her and trying to make himself of use to her, so much so that even when visibly injured or exhausted in front of her, he pridefully acts as if he is top condition and continues to boast in front of her, which normally tends to simply annoy and/or worry her, as well as everyone else around him.

Despite his casual nature in the day, he seems to be capable of being serious, chastising his fellow Sins for playing around while they were about to go to war with the Demons. Escanor in both his night and day form happens to care deeply for his fellow Sins, regarding them as his closest friends and willing to put himself through any challenge to aid them, and also even go as far as endangering his own life for their sake. Escanor also carries some internal anxiety over not being able to protect his loved ones in spite of his great power.