This is not your average fairy tale
Lighthearted as the series seems, rest assured the story is chock-full of nightmares and horrors due to story being centered around a nationwide war between mass-murdering magical creatures with the theme of War Is Hell being a prevailing premise. Not to mention the gratuitous death and violence that spares no one, not even the main characters.The Holy Knight Saga
- The state that Zaratras's corpse is found with all the weapons sticking in him and propped up like a scarecrow. Being that he died being poisoned, he was lucky his killers didn't make him a Human Pinchusion when he was alive.
- When the Armored Giant is finally released from Gowther's armor, he is revealed to be a Holy Knight named Dale who was used in Henderickson's experiments to grant humans the power of a demon and was turned into a fleshy monster. Prior to wearing the armor, his head became a fanged mass with his human face being were one his eye would be. After being decapitated, his original head described as vestigial at that point, the monster grew four more heads on his torso while his hands mutate into with fingers becoming complete human arms. When the first attempt to kill this thing fails, its arms rip apart to double their number and its heads merge into a single four faced single mouthed one. Smack in the middle of this all is Dale's upper body, mostly lifeless as if the whole thing surrounding him is just one big uncontrolled tumor.
- The New Generation Holy Knights underwent similar mutations by Henderickson in chapter 85, but some like Jericho were conscious and unable to restrain themselves. In Jericho's case, she joined the Holy Knights and became a New Generation to prove herself to her brother. When she transforms and ends up nearly killing him, regaining consciousness and unable to keep her transformed body crushing her brother to death while begging someone to kill her.
- While affected by Gowther's Nightmare Teller, Dreyfus wakes up to what appears to be a memory of him and Hendricksen when they were younger. Things however are not all what they seem. A hanged man can be prominently be seen. The town is filled with human faces situated on the walls and the ground. Characters start saying strange things such as children declaring that if there isn't gonna be a Holy War, they'd be the ones to start it. Copies of Hawk are seen littered throughout being mutilated and eaten. One of the foods, Dreyfus is even served with is what looks like a human faced caterpillar. Then all of a sudden, [[spoiler: Zaratras' corpse still in its Human Pincushion state confronts Dreyfus and begins to bleed all over Dreyfus from its eye sockets and mouth. All the while, Dreyfus repents that he didn't mean to kill his brother as he slowly transforms into a small groveling child. He would have remained trapped where it not for Fraudin's intervention.
- Side Story 2 reveals that Helbram's reason for hating humans was because he and his fairy friends met a group of humans who kidnapped them and slowly tore out their wings for money. Helbram was forced to watch his friends die one by one, with King's apparent death when knocked down a waterfall causing him to snap completely and grow a misanthropy for humans so strong he went on a killing spree against humans for 500 years straight. As a sick form of remembrance, he assumed the appearance to the human ring leader as a constant reminder.
- After he has consumed the blood of a Gray Demon, Hendrickson uses an attack called Dark Snow, creating a slow-moving shower of dark spheres that instantly kills whoever it touches. When two knights remark that the attack is impressive but easy to avoid, Hendrickson tears both of their heads off in a single move while they are distracted.
Ten Commandments Saga
- Gowther is Obliviously Evil that he performed what was essentially Mind Rape on Guila, initially meant to keep her from becoming a demon like the New Generation. But his inability to understand how erasing her memories, and later Zeal's, was a violation of consent since her bad memories were removed. Gowther also unearths her good ones. Even Meliodas giving him a Dope Slap doesn't work.
- During season three, Ban and King return to the Fairy Forest. It turns out Ban has been going every couple of years to give his blood, which has the Fountain of Youth, to the tree. One of the fairies, Lady Gearhearde, notes that Ban isn't the rightful king despite the others calling him that, and he agrees it's true, he's just here for Elaine. She also says pragmatically that as long as he keeps giving his blood, the tree will remain alive. Ban scoffs and dodges her attacks, saying he doesn't have time for this. Then she goes for Elaine's prone body...and the next cut shows Ban impaled on her vines, his face inches away from Elaine's. Gearhearde, saying Nothing Personal, promises that she will keep him there to protect the forest, and so King can prove he is the rightful ruler. It's almost a mercy that they got attacked by Albion, Ban freed during the crisis and giving Gearhearde a death threat of ever endangering Elaine's body again.
- The Ten Commandments. Just one of them is more powerful than all of the Deadly Sins combined, while being severely weakened, and there is ten of them in total.
- Now add into the equation their insane regeneration, soul-sucking magic, shadowy abilities, and combine that into 10 elite demons under the will of a Demon King.
- Also Estrossa's ability to infuse demonic energy into non-demons, mutating them into overgrown tumors that explode much like failed New Generation Holy Knights. He use that to blow up Ban, who got better due to his immortality, after killing Meliosas. Yeah scary people...
- The way that Matrona slaughters her enemies with earth spikes is incredibly gruesome and is shown in full detail as men are skewered in droves.
- At one point during his "fight" with the heroes, Galan impales several knights (one through the head) like they were shish-kabob.
- In Chapter 156 the hole showing the missing villagers.
- The earth crawler first seen in chapter 157. As Gilthunder describes them, and their sandcrawler offsprings, they are very territorial creatures that are known to devour anything that enters their territory, and since Droll did the "favor" of building part of his maze right on top of their territory, you can imagine how riled they must be. The earthcrawler is essentially a gigantic sand fish with a dinosaur head, whose open maw is big enough to tower over Diane. The worst part is that we see the monster devour some hapless adventurers, and the author is nice enough to let us look into its mouth and see the men's maimed bodies falling down the utter abyss that is its throat.
- Chapter 177 is this incarnate. Estarossa proceeds to impale Meliodas with one of the seven swords he summoned, while explaining to Ban that superior demons like the Ten Commandments have seven hearts, which must be destroyed before the demon himself dies. Ban tries his hardest to stop Estarossa from killing Meliodas, but all his attempts are futile and Estarossa is not even paying him attention while impaling Meliodas with the rest of the swords. Even when Ban tries to break his neck and uses Hunter's Fest to steal Estarossa's strength when that fails, the demon continues on like nothing's happening, despite Ban getting even stronger than when he stole Galan's strength. So, when Estarossa finally impales all seven swords on Meliodas, he effortlessly explodes Ban and proceeds to say that Britannia is now theirs to take. And even when Elizabeth shows up, she can't do more than just cry and hug Meliodas, because while she has Healing Hands, she can't use it on the dead.
- Chapter 195 holds a bit of nightmare fuel when you consider that Meliodas seems like a whole different person while fighting Fraudin. The twisted smile makes him appear more like a villain than a hero. Worse still, in Chapter 196 we find out that this is a side effect of his curse: to never die but to revert to his old personality bit by bit until he ceases to be the lovable, cheerful Meliodas. A later chapter reveals that an avatar Meliodas's emotions is trapped in Purgatory.
- Chapter 219 reveals Meliodas's younger brother Zeldoris has revived and unlike Meliodas he was stone-cold ruthless right from the beginning and is a strict No-Nonsense Nemesis who cuts to the chase. He immediately notices Merlin spying on him and launches an attack that hits her through her magic crystal looking glass.
- We are finally given a full image of the Demon King, and boy does his title fit his appearance. His size is more than ten times that of Meliodas, and he looks extraordinarily threatening. Meliodas even refers to him as a GOD.
- The Supreme Being is no picnic either, being the height of Creepy Good incarnate with her face concealed by her halo and not above dealing unexpectedly cruel and unusual punishment despite being presented as a Big Good. But Cursed by Light further reveals her motives are purely selfish in nature.
- Knowing that two mortal enemy deities were actually driven to TEAM UP with each other and torment their respective children with the single most hellish curses imaginable that they had the power to inflict Disproportionate Retribution just because they decided to hook up. This is worsened in the Cursed by Light film when Meliodas revealed the deities consider the Holy War their personal game, willing to play with peoples' lives while seeing anything like their childrens' love as a threat to their Forever War.
- Besides the conditions of his curse, Meliodas is also forced to watch the numerous incarnations of Elizabeth die in front of him after three days of regaining full memory of their first life. The most chilling is a little girl regaining her memories and telling Meliodas they are still cursed is chilling Mood Whiplash, especially since she dies in a burning house three days later.
- Chapter 230 gives us Ban's grisliest injuries yet... melted by poisonous digestive acid. Flesh dissolving off his bones and eyes dripping out of the sockets... Sweet dreams... NOT.
The Holy War Saga
- The reveal of Estarossa actually being Mael of the Goddess Race's four Archangels. He was once a kindhearted if ruthless warrior who justified killing demons under his people's dogma that murdering them is an act of mercy. But then Gowther of Selfishness used a spell to rewrite Mael's identity, with him and everyone who knew the archangel remembering him as the demon Estarossa. Upon regaining his memories, Mael is filled with horror that he spent all this time slaughtering his own people and other non-demon races. This is made worse as Mael was absorbing Commandments he took from his allies, resulting in Sanity Slippage as he goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge while transforming into an unstoppable babbling Humanoid Abomination.
- Chandler. He's Meliodas former master who taught the guy everything he knows about combat and appears a kindly old man, but once he's pissed he turns into the nearly unstoppable bloodthirsty demon he's known to be. To put it into perspective, he came into Britannia drastically weakened and about a quarter his real strength and single-handedly decimated the Sins, manhandling Merlin and her spells with ease and easily knocking around the other Sins like flies. Even when he was distracted and had a hole blasted through his torso, it only caused him to get serious, put on his Game Face, and then go about killing Drole and Gloxinia, the respective stongest members of the Giant and Fairy Clans at the time, with hardly a scratch when they got in his way. Not to mention the fact Chandler can use upgraded versions of Meliodas' own attacks and renders Escanor useless in a fight by nullifying his power with his very presence.
- After being rejected by his sons, the Demon King has his Commandments infect the surrounding countryside and become a cancerous blob that consumes plants, animals, and earth while forming into a mountain-sized Kaiju.
- Cath Palag, an indestructible spawn of Chaos seeking his parent's power that he pretended to be Arthur's friend to eat him when the time is right. Signs of Cath's true nature start to bubble to the surface when Arthur is killed, his face distorting while furious that Arthur "lied" to him. But after Arthur is revived as Chaos's host, a happy Cath suddenly bites Arthur's arm off and eats it while undergoing a disturbing series of transformations (pictured above) to his true form. Even his theme from the anime fits him, sounding like a Nursery song at first before it transitions into a nightmarish rock piece.
- Chaos itself is insanely power, creating the series setting and its denizens. Chaos's existence was first reason for its two children, two mortal enemy deities, to TEAM UP with each other in a ceasefire to seal away their parent in fear of its Reality Warper powers and that they creations would abandon them for Chaos. But that power ends up with a young man unable to fully control it at the time, only to get worse once he mastered it by the sequel series.
Grudge of Edinburgh
- The Staves of Chaos, items that Arthur has been giving to his followers and allies. In the hands of Deathpierce, a former Liones Holy Knight who grew to hate non-humans, used it to dissolve his prisoners into black mist that he mixes and reforms into chimeric monsters to enforce his Fantastic Racist agenda. Then, during his Villainous Breakdown, Deathpierce fells victim to his Staff of Chaos as it mutates him into a monster. Pieces of his flesh take the forms of the two non-humans he despises the most and have long died, taking pleasure in their suffering as it's closest thing he has to killing the real ones.
