Zeldris is the current Demon King and one of the younger sons of the former Demon King. He was a significant member of the Ten Commandments.
Background
Zeldris’ past is closely tied to his family and his responsibilities within the Demon Clan. As the second son of the Demon King, he grew up under his father’s strict guidance, learning the values of strength and loyalty. He became one of the Ten Commandments, a powerful group of demon warriors, and acted as the Demon King’s representative, carrying out his father’s will with unwavering discipline.
A significant event in his life was his love for Gelda, a vampire princess. When the Demon King ordered the destruction of the Vampire Clan after their rebellion, Zeldris faced a difficult choice. Unable to kill Gelda, he used his powers to seal her away, protecting her from death while causing himself great personal pain. This moment left a lasting impact on him, as his loyalty to his father came into conflict with his feelings for her.
Zeldris’ relationships with his brothers, Meliodas and Estarossa, are also important to his story. He respected Meliodas for his strength but felt betrayed when Meliodas left the Demon Clan to live among humans. This resentment added tension to their already complicated bond. With Estarossa, Zeldris struggled to navigate his brother’s growing instability and the revelations about his true identity as Mael of the Archangels.
Personality
Zeldris is a disciplined and pragmatic individual who values loyalty and order above all else. His outward stoicism often gives the impression of a cold and unyielding leader, but his actions reveal a more complex personality shaped by love, duty, and resentment. As a devoted enforcer of the Demon King’s will, he adheres strictly to his responsibilities, yet he harbors internal conflicts, particularly when these duties clash with his personal desires, such as his love for Gelda.
Zeldris also has a strained relationship with his brother Meliodas, marked by a mixture of admiration and bitterness over Meliodas’ defection from the Demon Clan. Beneath his stern exterior, Zeldris struggles with the weight of expectations and the emotional turmoil of balancing his sense of duty with his own identity and relationships.
Powers and Abilities
Ominous Nebula
With this ability Zeldris generates a massive vortex of energy centered around himself. The swirling force draws in objects and opponents within a certain range, shredding them upon contact with its high-speed rotation. This technique relies on the intense pressure of the magical whirlwind, allowing Zeldris to attack multiple opponents at once.
Hellblaze
Hellblaze is a signature ability of the Demon Clan, and Zeldris is a skilled user of this destructive magic. It manifests as black flames that burn endlessly and cannot be extinguished by ordinary means. Hellblaze has a unique property that negates an enemy’s ability to regenerate, which makes it especially effective against immortals or those with self-healing abilities. Zeldris uses Hellblaze both as a ranged attack and as a way to enhance his weapon strikes.
Commandment of Piety
The Demon King bestowed upon Zeldris the Commandment of Piety, one of the ten divine powers distributed among the Ten Commandments. This ability enforces a strict magical rule: anyone who turns their back on Zeldris is compelled to serve him completely.
Magic Resistance
Zeldris demonstrates an impressive resistance to magical attacks. This innate ability makes him highly durable against various spells and magical techniques. Whether facing elemental attacks, curses, or other forms of magic, his resilience allows him to endure and counteract enemies who rely heavily on magical abilities.
Enhanced Swordsmanship
Zeldris is a highly skilled swordsman, combining agility and strength to overwhelm his opponents. His mastery of sword combat is evident in his swift, precise strikes and his ability to adapt to different fighting styles. Zeldris often enhances his swordsmanship with Hellblaze to make it even stronger.
Darkness Manipulation
As a demon, Zeldris can generate and control darkness, a fundamental power of the Demon Clan. This ability allows him to create protective barriers, offensive projectiles, or even shape the darkness into weapons. His control over darkness complements his other abilities, such as Hellblaze and Ominous Nebula.
Immense Physical Strength
Zeldris’ physical strength is far beyond that of ordinary beings, allowing him to perform incredible feats of power. He can overpower most opponents in direct physical confrontations, break through defenses, and wield heavy weapons with ease. This raw power is a testament to his status within the Demon Clan.
Enhanced Speed and Reflexes
Zeldris moves with exceptional speed and reacts with sharp reflexes, giving him an edge against fast or agile opponents. His speed allows him to strike before enemies can react, while his reflexes enable him to evade attacks or counter them effectively. These traits are essential to his fighting style, which relies on quick, decisive movements to overwhelm opponents.
Energy Projection
Zeldris can unleash concentrated blasts of energy, which he directs at his enemies as a form of ranged attack. These energy blasts are powerful enough to cause significant destruction, and he uses them to target opponents from a distance or to break through defenses. This ability adds another dimension to his already versatile combat skills.
Relationships
Meliodas
The bond between Zeldris and Meliodas is full of tension and unresolved feelings. Zeldris looks up to Meliodas’ strength but cannot forgive him for abandoning the Demon Clan and his position as its leader.
Their interactions are often clashes of ideology and emotion, as Zeldris struggles to reconcile the brother he once admired with the traitor he now sees. Despite their conflicts, there are rare glimpses of a lingering brotherly connection. Zeldris’ feelings toward Meliodas are as much about anger as they are about unspoken respect.
Gelda
Gelda was the person who matters most to Zeldris, even more than his duty to the Demon King. She is the princess of the vampires and the love of his life. When the Demon King decreed that the vampires must be exterminated for their rebellion, Zeldris could not bring himself to harm her. Instead, he chose to seal her away, an act that was of defiance and of love.
Demon King
Zeldris’ relationship with his father is built on obedience and expectation. As the Demon King’s chosen representative, Zeldris shoulders enormous responsibility. He enforces his father’s commands and carries out his will, seeing it as his duty to uphold the Demon Clan’s power and supremacy.
Yet, cracks in this loyalty begin to show as Zeldris is forced to choose between his father’s demands and his own desires. The weight of serving someone so absolute creates moments where Zeldris questions not just his father’s authority but also his own place within the family. This relationship is a source of pride and one of the greatest burdens in his life.
Estarossa
Estarossa, another of Zeldris’ brothers, creates an entirely different dynamic. His unstable and unpredictable nature makes Zeldris wary of him, even as they fight for the same cause. There is a distance between them that grows over time, especially as Estarossa’s mental state deteriorates and his true identity as Mael of the Archangels comes to light.
Zeldris’ feelings toward Estarossa are often pragmatic. While he acknowledges his strength, he struggles with the chaos that follows his brother.
Cusack
As Zeldris’ mentor, Cusack holds a special place in his life. He serves as both an advisor and protector, ensuring Zeldris is prepared for the responsibilities he carries. Cusack’s loyalty is unwavering, often acting as Zeldris’ most trusted ally in the Demon King’s absence.
However, this bond is not without complexity. Cusack’s ultimate allegiance is to the Demon King, and this sometimes creates a conflict between his duty to Zeldris and his obligation to serve the throne. Zeldris values Cusack’s guidance but also understands the limits of their loyalty to each other.
Development Through the Story
Zeldris goes through a lot of change in The Seven Deadly Sins. At first, he’s leading the Ten Commandments and is completely devoted to the Demon King. This devotion isn’t just about duty, it’s also tied to his heartbreak over losing Gelda, the vampire he loves. The Demon King sealed her away, and Zeldris clings to the hope that becoming the Demon King himself will let him bring her back.
But things start to shift as the story moves forward. Zeldris begins to see cracks in his father’s promises, especially when it becomes obvious the Demon King has no intention of ever freeing Gelda. The more he watches his father’s actions, the more frustrated he becomes, particularly with how easily the Demon King is willing to sacrifice his own sons just to hold onto power. This change in how Zeldris views his father pushes him closer to Meliodas. In the final battles, Zeldris steps up and helps his brother take down their father once and for all.
Gelda is a big reason for Zeldris’s transformation. When Meliodas tells him Gelda is still alive, just sealed away, it changes everything. Zeldris agrees to work with his brother, putting aside his ambition to become Demon King. Instead, his focus shifts to freeing Gelda and living a more peaceful life with her.
By the end of the story, Zeldris lets go of the grip the Demon King had on him. He reunites with Gelda and takes his place as the leader of the Demon Clan. But he’s a different kind of leader, one who understands trust and love better than he ever did before. It’s clear that his experiences and relationships shaped how he chooses to rule.
