The Seven Deadly Sins is a classic interpretation of seven basic concepts that will lead your soul to ruin. Originally they were termed the seven deadly vices (which are the opposite of "virtues"... Ah-ha, Theme Naming!).
In alphabetical order, here are the big seven, along with a couple examples of tropes embodying each (keep in mind that there are plenty of tropes that reference them, but including them all would make this entry nigh-unreadable):
Envy: Desire for other people's things. Or simply hatred of others' good fortune. Hey, sometimes others get the cool stuff first. Doesn't stop you from wanting it. Those that act on this tend to be thieves of any stripe, be it a Gentleman Thief, a Classy Cat Burglar, a highwayman, or a plagiarist. Other villains who qualify include The Resenter, the Clingy Jealous Girl or Crazy Jealous Guy, the Fairest of Them All, the Yandere and anyone who murders the hypotenuse. What separates Envy from simple Jealousy (the modern use of jealousy, anywaynote Historically it meant "afraid what you have will be taken away", hence "jealous God" or "jealous lover".) is that Envy is Jealousy with a malicious desire to harm or punish the person you're jealous of. It is also known by the name of schadenfreude, or sorrow-joy; simply put it means joy at another's suffering. Envy is usually associated with dogs or goats and the color green. The punishment in Hell for committing this sin is to be put in ice-cold water. The patron demon of Envy is either Leviathan or Belial, and its corresponding virtue is Kindness.
Gluttony: Desire for Excess. In pop culture, this sin is almost always associated with overeating, which is a start, but theologically it applies to overconsumption of anything. Taking more than your share is a key part, as is wasting the excess. It has also been equated with any kind of addiction in modern times. This is one of the sins more likely to appear in heroic characters — after all, Big Eaters are funny, and their obvious extension Extreme Omnivore is even funnier. Also, this might explain why so many tropes have food in their names while having nothing to do with food. The most villainous practitioners of this sin typically say I'm a Humanitarian. Gluttony is usually associated with pigs and the color orange. The punishment in Hell for committing this sin is to eat rats, snakes and toads. The patron demon of Gluttony is Beelzebub, or possibly Behemoth, and its corresponding virtue is Temperance.
Greed: Desire for Things. Often simply referred to as greed, but avarice includes spending money pointlessly as well as hoarding it. An oft-misquoted passage in The Bible says that "the love of money is the root of many kinds of evil." In 3rd century AD, Christians used the acronym ROMA as a veiled insult against the Empire. What was ROMA? Radix Omnium Malorum Avaritia, or: the Root of All Evil is Greed. This one is popular amongst Rich Bitches, Corrupt Corporate Executives, the Diabolical Mastermind and anyone who would say Screw the Rules, I Have Money!. When treated as a vital part of the economy rather than a sin, it's called "the profit motive". Greed is usually associated with frogs and the color yellow. The punishment in Hell for this is to be forced to eat molten gold. The patron demon of Avarice is Mammon (as in the MammonMachine), and its corresponding (i.e. opposite) virtue is Charity.
Lust: Desire for Pleasure. It's the desire to know someone Biblically, but traditionally included all other sins of physical desire or luxury (such as drug addiction), not just sex. How evil this is depends often on the author's view of sex. Authors with a much more positive view of the matter will show this trope via Lovable Sex Maniacs and occasional bouts of Deus Sex Machina, and maybe a Parental Bonus if the work is theoretically for kids. Authors more negative on the concept will say No Sex Allowed, Evil Is Sexy (possibly reversed to "Sexy is Evil," and more), or Death by Sex. The worst practitioners of this sin are usually predators of some kind who prey on others, like the Stalker with a Crush, those who practice Villainous Incest, the Combat Sadomasochist, the vilest of Serial Killers or the villain who says "I Have You Now, My Pretty". Hedonists, villainous or otherwise, are always motivated by Lust. Lust is usually associated with cows, bulls, cocks... er, roosters or goats, and the color blue. The punishment in Hell for committing this sin is to be covered in fire and brimstone. The patron demon of Lust is Asmodeus, and its corresponding virtue is Chastity.note Whose original definition did not mean "abstinence" but was closer to "monogamy".
Sloth: Desire for Rest. The reason this entry didn't come into existence earlier despite the fact that everyone liked the idea, sloth is the lack of desire to actually do some work. This one isn't possessed by villains often (they have to get the plot going, after all), but if heroes possess too much of it the Big Bad will find it much easier to succeed. Sometimes this results in a Refusal of the Call, and more than one creator who got their facts wrong has been accused of this. While obviously not main characters, Apathetic Citizens are clearly slothful. The Brilliant, but Lazy types are always guilty of this sin. The Dumb Blonde and the Brainless Beauty may not be so much lacking in intelligence as too slothful to cultivate it. The characters most frequently guilty of this sin, however, are either Heavy Sleepers or Sleepyheads. More villainous examples of sloth are usually manipulators of some kind, who find it easier to manipulate others into doing their bidding rather than do any work themselves. These include the Non-Action Big Bad, Orcus on His Throne, the Corrupt Bureaucrat, The Chessmaster, The Corrupter, the Magnificent and Manipulative Bastard, the Smug Snake and anyone who commits the Slouch of Villainy. It is also worth noting that Sloth also covers moral/spiritual laziness; idealism is too much work. Frequently results from the Despair Event Horizon; in fact, the sin of Despair was classified under this because to despair is to give up.note The Eastern Orthodox Churches actually have an "Eight Deadly Sins" list, where Despair is a separate Sin; this is why it you are more likely to find someone being accused of "the Unforgivable Sin of Despair" in a Russian classical novel than in a Western European one. Notably, Sloth is also associated with a Lack of Empathy. Early papal creeds against the sin mostly classified it as knowing the right thing and failing to do it. Sloth is often ranked high in the deadly sins because of this sinister and far more actively destructive side of its nature — it destroys Time itself. Sloth is usually associated with goats or donkeys and the color light blue. The punishment in Hell for committing this sin is to be thrown into a pit of snakes. The patron demon of Sloth is a little-known figure named Belphegor, and its corresponding virtue is Diligence.
Wrath: Desire for Harm. This is rage taken up a few dozen notches, combined with blood-thirstiness and a general appreciation of too much violence. It can be easily seen in a Blood Knight, during an Unstoppable Rage, and in general anyone with a Berserk Button. It's also a common problem of those who seek revenge. Hatred and racism (fantastic or otherwise) can also fall under this. The worst practitioners of Wrath are the Omnicidal Maniac and anyone who wants to Kill 'em All. Wrath is usually associated with bulls, bears and the color red. The punishment in Hell for committing this sin is to be dismembered while still alive. The patron demon of Wrath is either Satan, Amon, or Moloch, and its corresponding virtue is Patience.
Orthodox Christianity, interestingly, adds an eighth sin: Despair. You often hear people talking about "succumbing to the eighth deadly sin" in old Russian novels as a result.
Technically, in its original form when created by Evagrius Ponticus, there were eight Deadly Sins, including Despair, yet it did not have Envy (Despair took that role). Instead, it had Vainglory/Deceitful Boasting as the eighth, separate from Pride.
Remember them with the handy acronym WASPLEG!note Wrath, Avarice, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, or you can relabel "Wrath" as "Anger" and "Avarice" as "Greed" to get "PAGGLES". Alternatively, to sound more mysterious and intellectual, use the Latin names for the sinsnote Superbia (Pride), Avaritia (Avarice), Luxuria (Lust), Invidia (Envy), Gula (Gluttony), Ira (Wrath), Acedia (Sloth)., which can be arranged to form another handy acronym: SALIGIA (roughly, "salt").
Subtrope of Virtue/Vice Codification. For the good counterpart, see the Seven Heavenly Virtues. Compare the Scale of Scientific Sins. See also Mr. Vice Guy, Embodiment of Vice and Evil Virtues.
Examples
open/close all folders
Anime and Manga
In Fullmetal Alchemist, the homunculi are named after the sins. Many of them have powers appropriate to their name: Envy is a shape shifter with a raging inferiority complex who can imitate anyone and ruins people's lives because it can't have one itself, Gluttony is a simpleton who can consume anything, Greed has a shield to protect his possessions, and Lust is beautiful but deadly. This is made more obvious in the manga where Sloth is a giant that frequently falls asleep and yet is both the fastest and strongest of the Homunculi; he wastes all the potential he has through laziness. Pride looks like Father's original form, and suffers from a near total Lack of Empathy due to his inability to see beyond himself, and Wrath leads Amestris through constant wars and genocides to cause enough bloodshed for Father's plans, and is an absolutely brutal fighter.
And Greed actually betrays Father and runs away to lead his own life because, as he explicitly tells Father, following him wouldn't satisfy his consuming greed.
In the 2003 anime, Pride is King Bradley (Wrath in the manga) and behaves with incredible arrogance, seeing himself as an agent of God. Wrath is a character original to the anime and is indeed one angry little guy. Sloth doesn't seem particularly lazy, but her 'nature' as a kind of slimy water-like thing that creeps on the ground and walls possibly fits... plus her desire to take the easy way out by killing Ed and Al rather than come to terms with what she is.
Thats probably because the original meaning of sloth as a deadly sin was sadness to the point of despair.
She does seem to pass on opportunities to kill off the Elrics and their friends rather often. And when she does kill someone, she sometimes just uses the power in one arm while the rest of her sits at a desk, having a cup of tea.
In one of the recent manga chapters Hohenheim says that the seven sins are the seven emotions that constitute human nature. This is why Father discarded them and formed the seven Homunculi from them.
No such justification for their naming is presented in the 2003 anime, where the creation of Homunculi is a completely different process; the names of the sins seem to be just code names. Most likely, Dante probably just thought it was a good theme.
Something from the first anime that might slip by you the first time. During an important Scene, Envy shifts through a number of forms before finally becoming a gigantic white serpent. The connections to the Ouroburos are obvious, but remember the description above, and how the patron demon of envy is the Leviathan, a sort of sea monster.
Envy in particular conforms to the description on this page. It loathed humans, not because it felt superior, but because it hated their ability to feel compassion for one another. Its greatest pleasure was in destroying that ability and making those it envied suffer.
The anime Envy gets an additional bonus on top of this. He was created from the dead son of Hohenheim and the Big Bad, and envies both his father for having found peace and love after abandoning him, and his much younger brothers for having the love and attention of their father.
The description of Pride is also displayed, as in both series, although they have a different identity between the two series, Pride is the most powerful Homunculus, the leader apart from the Big Bad (although in the first series, shares this role as Co-Dragons with Envy, but Pride still had a very important and vital role in their leader's plans), the Big Bad's favored one, shows contempt for humans thinking them to be inferior, because he felt superior to them, and is the most ruthless and evil of the Homunculi (with Envy coming the closest particularly in the first series where he never gets the kind of death he gets in the second which may have Envy come in third after Lust, ironically one of the most sympathetic in the first series, and is a sociopath to the end), fitting with Pride being the worst of the Seven Deadly Sins.
In addition, the way each Homunculus dies in the manga is either an allusion to The Bible, Dante's Inferno (and technically Purgatorio,too), or is karmic already on its own:
Gluttony is eaten alive...by his older brother, Pride.
Greed technically has two deaths, as there were two different Greeds. The first is boiled alive to distill him for his most valuable part (what was left of his Philosopher's Stone at the core of his being), and the second redeems himself, making a Heroic Sacrifice in his first true act of selflessness.
Lust is burned alive by Mustang after attempting to kill the woman he (probably) cares for.
Sloth Is impaled and exhausted after a long, hard fight.
Wrath was dismembered by Scar, the only character in the series who could hope to match him in terms of sheer fury. Ironically, since Scar was an Ishvalan and a human (or at least no less human than Alchemy-using characters), Wrath ended up being killed by a member of the very race he at one point sought to exterminate and a member of the very species he so despised.
Even more ironically, as he bleeds to death and his Philosopher's Stone gives out, he grows older until he dies rather peacefully, even stating that he was completely at peace and had no regrets with his life. Lampshaded by Greed, who chastised him for it once he found the body.
Digimon has the Seven Demon Lords, each one representing a sin. Digimon Savers used the general sins as part of the reason for the Monsters of the Week showing up for the first 12 episodes, and the Digimon representing Sloth was used for the Magnificent Bastard to control.
Unusual for this trope, the Demon Lords aren't presented as a Quirky Miniboss Squad. Rather, each series only features one Demon Lord. So far, we have:
Tamers: Beelzemon, representing Gluttony. Originally an Anti-Hero Impmon who became so obsessed with power that he started to kill and load the data of his friends. That is, until the D-Reaper appeared and kidnapped one of the more genteel Tamers as a reason to delete the world. Then, he made a Heroic Sacrifice to try and save her.
Frontier: Lucemon, representing Pride. Has a literal Messiah Complex, believing the world would be a better place if he was absolute ruler.
Savers: Belphemon, representing Sloth. Originally appears in Sleep Mode transforming into Rage Mode when it woke up.
XrosWars: Lilithmon, representing Lust. Interestingly, Lucemon appears as Lilithmon's lackey and HEROIC versions of Beelzemon and Leviamon (Envy) are also shown.
The shonen manga series Katekyo Hitman Reborn! has the seven sins represented by the seven top members of an elite assassination squad, the Varia. The seven protagonists set to battle against them in a fight for the right to inherit a powerful mafia family embody the Seven Heavenly Virtues (but not as obviously as the antagonists). The Varia take their names directly from the Seven Deadly Sins:
Greed: Mammon (obsessed with money)
Envy: Leviathan (wishes to be the only one to please his boss; is envious of Tsuna and his group from taking his "rightful" position as Thunder Guardian)
Gluttony/Gula: Gola Mosca (consumes the Dying Will Flames of Vongola IX for power; bonus points for "mosca" meaning "fly", as Beelzebub is also known as "Lord of the Flies")
Pride/Superbia: Superbia Squalo (a loudmouth very proud of his rank as #1 swordsman in the world)
Sloth/Acedia: Belphegor (a natural-born killer who is lazy and doesn't take his job very seriously)
Wrath: Xanxus + Flame of Wrath (a generally unpleasant person who calls those he considers beneath him scum. He possesses the Flames of Wrath, originally owned by Vongola II, the most powerful Dying Will Flames in existence).
Umineko No Naku Koro Ni features the Stakes of Purgatory, a group of seven sisters with red eyes who serve the Golden Witch, Beatrice. They turn into stakes to kill those guilty of their respective sin. They're named after the patron demons and have personalities that reflect each sin, although sometimes in weird ways; Belphegor, for instance, is a hard worker, but said hard work leads others to be lazy, perpetuating her sin of Sloth.
A prominent motif in Eleven Eyes. The main enemies, the Black Knights, are named after the Latin names of the sins (only Lust is absent), and the traits are reflected in the heroes.
Bleach had a series of chapters named after the Sins, each seemingly referring to the characters and their actions (sorta, it's a bit vague)
342 — The Greed: Ichigo shuts down Orihime from getting involved in his fight.
343 — The Gluttony: starts with Yammy stuffing his face, then has him kill Lolly and Menolly for the lulz.
344 — The Pride: The Pride was twofold, both Yammy's fall (Pride goeth before) and the Pride Ichigo expressed. That more foreshadowing in that instance, as he felt he stood a chance against Ulquiorra.
345 — The Sloth: Rudobon creates clones that fight for him while he watches safely from afar.
346 — The Wrath: Ulquiorra's Tranquil Fury as he thrashes Ichigo.
347–352 — The Lust 1–6: The emergence of new forms for both Ulquiorra and Ichigo, who both take uncharacteristic actions in regards to Orihime.
Also some Espada are related to the Seven Sins somehow:
Baraggan: Pride. His Zanpakuto is called Arrogante and he considers himself a god.
Yammy: Wrath. His Zanpakuto is Ira, he's extremely violent and easily angered.
Aaroniero: Gluttony / Greed. His Zanpakuto is Glotoneria, and his aspect of death is Greed.
In Karakuridouji Ultimo, there is a group of 50 evil robots called Douji who each represent a different negative trait, and the strongest evil Douji (barring Vice himself) are the embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins. The Seven Sins are extremely powerful, each rivaling Vice in just how much of a Hero Killer they can be. For example, the one representing Lust can completely shut down any other Douji within a several mile radius. The one representing greed can multiply endlessly. The one representing Sloth didn't do a lot during his first appearance, but when he moved, he killed six people in one strike. Etc. Interestingly, the Hero Counterparts of the Seven Deadly Sins seem to be the Six Perfections from Buddhism rather than the Seven Heavenly Virtues.
Soul Eater did this with the book of Eibon, a book that had the seven sins as chapters. Lust turned the characters into the opposite gender. Gluttony was based on food. Wrath made anyone who was in it angry. Greed was based on money. Envy showed the occupants what they hated about themselves. And Sloth was a distorted chapter where everything just stood still. Pride, the lowest chapter, is where an Eldritch Abomination stays and tries to tempt anyone with power.
And now it seems Noah himself may be a personification of the seven sins. His original form has been identified as greed and his new one is wrath.
Code Breaker: Ogami uses The Seven Flames, which cleanse the seven deadly sins. They later become the weaknesses the fighters have to defeat in a ritual (Ogami's is Pride, or rather his idea that he's a failure who doesn't deserve redemption).
Thomas von Staffeldt redesigned the classic seven chair series made famous by furniture designer Arne Jacobsen. Each of Staffeldt's Saligia chairs represents one of the seven deadly sins.
In the DC Comics Universe, the Seven Deadly Sins, or rather their Anthropomorphic Personifications, are imprisoned inside the Rock of Eternity by the wizard Shazam (Same guy who empowered Captain Marvel of I Am Not Shazam fame), though their influence is still passively felt throughout creation.
Until recently "Injustice" took the place of "Lust", presumably due to the Comic Book Age Ghetto.
Lust first appeared in 2002, as the Sins were released as part of an attack on the JLA & the JSA. The Sins ended up possessing various members of both groups.
Until the late '80s, they were often called "The Seven Deadly Enemies of Man" in order to avoid overt religious references (another age ghetto no-no.)
Each of the seven villainous aliens from the DC Crisis CrossoverBloodlines was explicitly themed around one of the seven deadly sins.
Alan Moore's run on Supreme included the seven-headed demon lord Sin. Each head represented a different Deadly Sin, and their sometimes conflicting motivations were his greatest weakness.
A French graphic novel, Seven Monks, told the story of seven Irish monks, each embodying one of the deadly sins, receiving punishment for their sins by being sent to convert a village of pagan vikings. Incredibly, by applying their sinful behaviors in creative ways (the avaricious monk uses the lure of profitable trading with Byzantium, the envious monk convinces the chieftain's second-in-command to take over upon his death, the lustful monk seduces every woman in the village, and so on) and with some incredible coincidences, they succeed in their mission without changing their ways in the slightest.
BrotherConan (guess what he represents) makes himself useful in other ways: a seven-foot-tall shaved man running around Dual Wieldingaxes bellowing "GOD IS LOVE!!!" to save the village from attack. Even the local berserker thinks Conan more dangerous than him.
The 2009 Batman annuals feature a group of seven villains who call themselves La Saglia (an acronym of the Latin names of the sins), and seek to awaken the Eighth Sin. Any connection to the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man is unknown.
Yet another example from DC: in Titans Together, six sons of Trigon sired from human mothers at around the same time as Raven have emotion-manipulating powers based on the sins. They try to awaken Raven's evil side and get her to join up. In an open defiance of convention, the one female in the group isn't lust; Raven instead filled the "pride" slot. Stuck on evil mode, Raven later tried to transfer her brother's abilities to the Titans.
Donna Troy got stuck with Lust, rather than the more obvious choice of Starfire. This was a reference to the fact that Donna has gone through multiple relationships and been the object of desire of many men, even moreso than Starfire.
Red Arrow got Gluttony, and while he became fat as a result, this was a possible reference to his former heroin addiction, thrill seeking, and womanizing tendencies, fitting in with Gluttony's nature of excessive consumption.
This is a stretch, but it's probably not a coincidence that the more "evil" colors on the Emotion Spectrum introduced in the Green Lantern mythos embody some of the Sins. The Red Lanterns embody Wrath. Orange Lantern Larfleeze is trickier; Orange is called the light of Greed but in practice Larfleeze embodies Gluttony and Envy as well. His sole motivation is to own anything of value in existence, especially if it belongs to someone else, while stuffing his face with as much food as possible. In their darker moments the Star Sapphire Corp embody Lust rather well. The Sinestro Corp's goal is to bring order to the universe by spreading fear to the point where everyone is in too much Despair to resist; thus they embody the original meaning of Sloth. It's also easy to see that Pride is a recurring problem for the Green Lanterns themselves; people who are told that, out of their entire space sector, they are the most courageous ones and worthy of joining an ancient order of space police and given a Magitek super-weapon are at a higher risk of developing inflated egos than most.
The Seven Deadly Sins make a poetic appearance in the margins of a chapter of Lost Girls.
The variant covers of the first issue of DV 8 depicted the team as the Seven Deadly Sins. Threshold, a Psychopathic Manchild whose boss Ivana controlled him with sex, was Lust. Bliss, a spoiled rich girl, was Greed. Powerhaus, who feeds off ambient emotions to get stronger, was Gluttony. Evo, a monster man with an attitude problem, was Wrath. Frostbite, a pessimist who doesn't care about anything, was Sloth. Copycat, the girl with multiple personalities whose only friend is herself, was Pride, and Sublime, a supermodel type who longed for the attention of Gen13 member Grunge, was Envy.
"Seven Days Beset By Demons" is a short comic by Shawn Cheng in the mostly-prose anthology Steampunk, about a maker of clockwork curios whose attraction to a girl who is already engaged sends him through each of the sins over the course of a week.
Fanworks
This deviant-artist portrayed seven of the original girls from Total Drama Island as the Seven Deadly Sins, with quite logical reasoning:
ThisMerlin fic features some of the Knights of the Round Table, along with Gwen, Morgana and Morgause.
Arthur envies Merlin for having a carefree life of a servant.
Gwaine notices his cup is empty and orders more to drink while Merlin tries to stop him.
Lancelot can't stop lusting after Gwen even when he knows its futile.
Merlin becomes angry when he sees Arthur getting hurt.
Morgause tries to convince Morgana to take everything that came across them.
Percival is lazy and doesn't want to train on a hot afternoon.
Gwen is fiercely proud of her boys.
Clash Of The Elements: According to Cackletta in Part 2, The Dark King's control over darkness stemmed from a balance between all seven of them, and that his death was caused because he succumbed to a few of them simultaneously. As of the most recent chapter though, Alex's clone has revealed that he holds copies of the Genesis Samurai's spirits that each represent a different sin:
Fallout: Equestria's side story Starlight features incarnations of the seven sins, and seem to be inspired by the Homunculi from Fullmetal Alchemist. Notably, the incarnation of Sloth is Cranky Doodle Donkey as a Canterlot Ghoul.
In the Tamers Forever Series all the Tamers except Takato are bewitched into portraying these sins.
Rika: Lust
Henry: Sloth
Jeri: Wrath
Kazu: Pride
Ryo: Gluttony
Suzie: Avarice
Kenta: Envy
Film
Se7en centered around a Serial Killer committing his murders based on these sins.
Repo! The Genetic Opera features the Largo family: Rotti Largo, the powerful businessman and his three children: Amber Sweet the surgery addicted, drug-addict wannabe singer, Luigi the raging, mass murdering sociopath and Pavi the effeminate, face-stealing The Casanova. While all four are vain and greedy, Rotti in particular represents Envy and Greed, Amber is Sloth and Gluttony, while Luigi is Wrath (as the producer Darren Lynn Bousman has stated) and Pavi is Pride and Lust.
In the 1967 Deal with the Devil film Bedazzled (1967), the protagonist Stanley Moon meets incarnations of the seven deadly sins. Anger is a hostile bouncer who wears a T-shirt that says "Make War, Not Love", Sloth is always sleeping, Gluttony is a Fat Girl, Avarice complains about how much money's being spent on a date, Envy accuses the other sins of getting special treatment, Vanity has an upward-bending arm with an inward-facing mirror attached to it protruding from his midsection, and Lust is, well, Raquel Welch.
In the 2000 remake of the above, Brendan Fraser receives seven wishes, six of which correspond to a sin. First, he wishes for a coke and hamburger. This represents gluttony. Next he wishes to be rich and powerful, representing greed and resulting in him becoming a Columbian drug lord. He then wishes to be the most emotionally sensitive man on the planet but his sensitivity is to the point of inaction, making it sloth. Elliot later wishes to be a professional basketball player who exhibits considerable aggression, representing anger. His wish to be articulate, witty, and intelligent results in him becoming a charming but somewhat vain award-winning author who represents Pride and ultimately turns out to be a homosexual. His wish to become President of the United States would seem to represent Envy as he coveted the power, reputation, and authority that comes with the job.
His final wish which breaks the contract ironically defeats the final Sin, Lust by wishing for the woman he lusted after to have a happy life without him.
1927's Metropolis includes a dream sequence featuring embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins and Death. Death aside, you'd be hard pressed to recognize them, but they are listed in the credits, apparently playing themselves.
Serenity revolved somewhat around the nature of sin, with the Operative remarking on what he perceived to be his victims' sins, and the attempt to eliminate sin being the cause behind the deaths of thirty million people and the creation of the Reavers.
Oddly enough the sins of the Operative's enemies were perceived quite well. Dr Matthias was Prideful enough to display the work he'd done on River to key members of Parliament without thinking of the consequences. And as Mal admitted, his sin was Wrath. But the Alliance's sin of trying to eliminate sin by mere human effort would certainly be Pride as Shepherd Book would note.
The point that Joss was trying to make with the film (which he makes clear in the commentary) is that while the Seven Deadly Sins are bad, they are also inseparable from human nature. The Alliance thought that sin was something that could be stamped out (which was a sin in and of itself, as pointed out above) and the result was Miranda: a world where everyone was either dead or completely inhuman.
The villainous mercenary group in Deep Rising seems to be made up of this: Vivo is always talking about food (Gluttony); T. Ray threatens with violence all the time (Wrath); Mamooli talks about his desire to have sex with women from every country (Lust), Jason Flemyng says that the group will "kick ass and take names" as well as taunts a monster and claims it is nothing (Pride); Hanover is paranoid, distrustful and later ends up shooting at someone who is going to live and not him (Envy); Mason is seen stuffing money into his pockets (Greed); and Billy complains about all the work he has to do (Sloth).
Mindhunters: Not ostensibly focused upon but present in some form or another, nonetheless, and end up being what do most of the characters in:
Lust: Nicole's need for cigarettes; Plus she's sleeping with J.D. and somewhat comes onto Gabe.
Gluttony: Rafe's a coffee junkie.
Envy: Lucas, who admits he's jealous of how cool and calculated, yet clueless FBI agents seem after they overlook him as a suspect in his parents' murder. Albeit, he was just a kid when he offed them. Also Vince, somewhat. In addition to being bitter about his condition and the fact that he's not making profiler, he decides to drag Sarah's hopes down by revealing that she won't, either. Plus, he's never without his gun.
Wrath: The killer obviously has this in spades. That aside, everyone pulls a gun on everybody else for most of the movie and Nicole takes this one to the next level when she suspects Sarah of being the killer.
Pride: J.D. always has to take the lead; Lucas paraphrases Wolverine: "I'm the best at what I do."; Bobby is a mechanical/technical whiz and readily flaunts this.
Greed: Gabe doesn't approve of how taxpayers' (apparently including his) hard-earned dollars are spent.
Sloth: Aside from J.D., no one lifts a finger to help Nicole prepare dinner. Particularly frowning on Gabe here, since he's an unexpected and uninvited guest.
The 1970 The Devil's Nightmare involves a plot where the Devil snares each of the seven tourists with one of the deadly sins, ending with Pride for the priest who thought he'd gotten one over on the Devil by selling his soul for the lives of the six other tourists.
In the musical Absolute Beginners, the Disney Acid Sequence "That's Motivation" has advertising executive Vendice Partners (David Bowie) explaining to idealistic photographer hero Colin that if he joins his company and moves up in the world, he can "Commit horrible sins and get away with it." He proceeds to show Colin, on a giant television screen, each of these sins in action (played out by fantasy versions of Colin, his sweetheart Crepes Suzette, and those around them).
The 1998 film Merlin with Sam Neil featured various characters representing the Sins. The evil king Vortigern represents Pride, the fairy queen Mab is Wrath, the eternally slumbering Rock of Ages is Sloth, Uther Pendragon is Lust, Morgan Le Fay is Envy, the power-hungry Mordred is Greed and the only one absent seems to be Gluttony.
Literature
Older Than Print: In Dante's The Divine Comedy, the Mount of Purgatory (described in the Purgatorio, the second part of the Comedy, where sinners who repented before death are purged of their sins) is arranged around the Seven Deadly Sins, from most-serious to least-serious (in Dante's evaluation):
The Proud, on the First (lowest) Terrace, walk carrying heavy stones on their backs, so that they cannot stand straight or look down on anyone else.
The Envious, on the Second Terrace of Purgatory have their eyes sewn shut. In life they envied what they saw; to purge their sin, they see nothing.
The Wrathful are on the Third Terrace, where the walk constantly, blinded by acrid smoke.
The Slothful are on the Fourth Terrace, being purged of their sin by constant running.
The Avaricious are on the Fifth Terrace, lying face down on the ground. This is generally considered a breaking point: the previous four sins were all about perverted or deficient love and are considered more severe, while this sin and the two that follow are all about excessive love for material things and are more excusable (although Dante thought it was a stupid sin to be guilty of).
The Gluttonous are on the Sixth Terrace and their penance is to pass through groves of fruit and by waterfalls of pure water without eating or drinking.
The Lustful are on the Seventh and last Terrace of the Mount of Purgatory, where their sin is purged from them in a wall of fire. They run through this in two directions: those who lusted after the opposite sex in one direction, those who lusted after the same sex in the other. (Yes. What?)
The Inferno is not strictly arranged according to the Seven Deadly Sins, although some do show up. In general, the lesser sins get their own circles, but Dante saw fit to redefine the worse sins.
The unrepentant Lustful are in the Second Circle of Hell, constantly blown about by winds, symbolizing their surrender in life to their desires of the moment.
The unrepentant Gluttonous the Third Circle of the Inferno, where they lie in a slush of rain, hail, and ash, symbolizing the foul waste of their lives.
The unrepentant Avaricious (both the greedy and the squanderers) are in the Fourth Circle of Hell, pushing large, heavy weights at and into each other.
The unrepentant Slothful and Wrathful are in the Fifth Circe of Hell, which is the River Styx. The Slothful lay beneath the surface of the river, sunk in the slime and mud of the riverbed; the Wrathful are on the surface, tearing and yelling at each other as they swim.
As for the other circles and sins:
The First Circle is Limbo, whose inhabitants aren't guilty of anything other than "not being Christian". As a result, they aren't tortured and don't really figure into the analysis.
Circles 2-5 address the least of the sins, as above.
Circles 6-9 address the sins which have theological significance—either they could not, in Dante's view, be entirely explained by reason and philosophy, or they had some connection to theology. Envy and pride are divided over several types of sin—heresy,note Pride: You think you know better than God? simony,note Pride, Envy, and Avarice all in one: you think you can buy the position of God's representative on Earth? suicide,note Pride: How dare you give up what God gave you. etc.
Garth Nix's seven-part Keys to the Kingdom series features a different villain in each one, named after a different day. Since the breaking of the Will, each of these Trustees has also been afflicted by a particular Deadly Sin.
Monday is Sloth — he allows his dominion to fall apart because he can't be bothered to do anything about it.
Tuesday is Avarice — he is desperate for Nothing, the raw material of everything, and his mining operations almost makes his Realm collapse into the Void.
Wednesday is Gluttony — she is cursed to eat constantly and has swollen to become a giant whale.
Thursday is Wrath — he can't control his anger.
Friday is Lust — she is addicted to mortal experiences and uses her magic to steal them.
Saturday is Envy — she is resentful that Sunday rules the House, when she is the elder of the two.
Sunday is Pride. Thus far, he has refused to get involved in the battle for the House, believing there can only one result, and instead delights in his demesne, the Incomparable Gardens, and is fond of showing Saturday brief glimpses of it. He also controls the most powerful of the Seven Keys.
An incomplete example-given that there's 6, not 7-is that many people believe the four bad children from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to be representatives of sin; Augustus Gloop is gluttony, Veruca Salt is greed and envy, Mike Teavee is wrath and sloth, and Violet Beauregard is pride.
Interestingly, in the new movie, the parents also have a dominant sin. Mrs. Gloop as pride- though for Augustus, not herself, Mr. Salt as sloth, and Ms. Beauregard quite explicitly as lust.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld. In the country of Lancre, one family went and named their daughters after the Seven Heavenly Virtues, Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence so forth. And out of a misinformed sense of continuity, named their sons along the lines of Bestiality and Anger (among others). Subverted, because each of the daughters came to embody the sin opposite of her virtuous name. Meanwhile, despite everything else, Anger is a kind and calm man, while his brother Bestiality is kind to animals.
Also, in Going Postal, it turns out that there are actually eight virtues: Patience, Chastity, Silence, Charity, Hope, Tubso, Bissonomy and Fortitude.
Actually, all seven deadly sins appeared in that book. There were even seven swords in the film that represented conquering them.
The Horse and His Boy: Pride since the main characters assume they can stand alone. Rabadash also makes an ass of himself.
The Silver Chair: Sloth since Jill constantly forgets the signs.
The Magician's Nephew: Wrath since Uncle Andrew and Jadis are both very heavy-handed.
The Last Battle: Envy since Puzzle and Shift, desirous of Aslan's power, try to establish themselves as Aslan returned in order to manipulate the other animals.
Alternatively, The Horse and His Boy has the main characters envy the Narnians, and The Last Battle has Shift think he's better than Aslan, whom he doesn't believe to exist (Pride).
The Horse and His Boy also makes a good case for Lust considering the entire plot against Narnia is contingent on Rabadash's lust for Queen Susan.
Four of the Seven Deadly Sins yield bigotry in The Cold Within. The first and second people are consumed by Pride, the third by Envy, the fourth and sixth by Greed, and the fifth by Wrath.
The Redcrosse Knight meets the Seven Deadly Sins in the first book of The Faerie Queene. Their leader is Pride, who is, interestingly, the only one portrayed as a woman, when most personifications make Lust a woman (since All Women Are Lustful). Here, people are invited to party in their mansions, only to eventually end up rotting to death in their dungeon. Fortunately, Redcrosse's dwarf sidekick warns him in enough time to help him flee.
The Doctor Who short story collection Short Trips: Seven Deadly Sins has the Eighth Doctor encounter seven powerful people who devote their lives to one of the sins, and making them experience a story from his past related to the sin.
The Star Trek short story collection Star Trek: Seven Deadly Sins ties each of the sins to a Planet of Hats. The Klingons are Wrath (specifically, in this case, taking the form of racial hatred between crested and non-crested Klingons, and the violent rage the tensions awake in them). The Romulans are Pride (with a tendency to under-estimate the other races due to their arrogant assumptions), the Mirror Universe is Lust; the Ferengi are Greed; the Cardassians are Envy (both as a society in general, as their worlds are resource poor and their neighbours have far more, and in the specific case of the protagonist, who feels her commander was promoted above her unfairly); the Pakled are Sloth (the title, Work is Hard, says it all); and the Borg are Gluttony (overconsumption in general, rather than overeating).
Piers Anthony based the characters in his novel Ghost on this trope.
An incomplete example (with one replacement) in Scorpion Shards.
Four of the seven deadly sins can be paired with worlds in Vorkosigan Saga. The warlike, uptight Barrayarans would be wrath. The Betans with their Free-Love Future would be lust. Jacksons Whole which is ruled by system that resembles The Mafia and where anything can be gotten for money would be avarice. Cetagandians the traditional enemies of the Barrayarans are obsessed with a genetic engineering program to convert themselves into Space Elves. They would be pride.
In Michael Flynn's In the Lion's Mouth, Donovan observes that a smuggler's library is designed to cater to at least five of the seven deadly sins.
Live-Action TV
Top Chef and Americas Next Top Model have each had challenges associated with the seven deadly sins, where each contestant (at the stage where there were seven remaining) was assigned a sin to represent through cooking or modelling, respectively. (Disappointingly, neither person assigned Sloth had the chutzpah to say "I'm representing Sloth by not doing anything at all.")
Masterchef Australia did it as well. The guy who had Sloth was lazy and did a half-arsed job. Intentionally.
An episode of Supernatural had the protagonists fighting seven demons who were the deadly sins personified. They don't get much in the way of characterisation, with the exception of Smug Snake and Large HamPride.
"Here's Johnny!" "Let me guess. You'd be Pride."
Wikipedia lists the Rogues Gallery of the Philippine superhero series Lastikman to each represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins, with the Big Bad representing Greed.
An episode of Charmed had a demon hitting residents of San Francisco with concentrations of the Seven Deadly Sins; those who got infected pursued said sin with ever mounting concentration. Needless to say, the main cast got hit, with Phoebe getting Lust, Piper getting Gluttony, Leo getting Sloth, and Prue getting Pride.note It's very possible that, given Shannon Doherty's high-maintenance demeanour on set before she ultimately got McLeaned, this was a Casting Gag on the writers' part.
Pride had a very clever twist to it. The way to purge the sins is to defy them; Prue couldn't get rid of Pride because any attempt to do so was only because Pride was pushing her to show off how selfless she could be (itself a sort of pride).
The never-aired The Muppet Show pilot featured personifications (Muppetifications?) of the seven sins for a pageant, and the host receives a call asking if they're interested in an eighth—Wearing Funny Pants to a Funeral.
It was aired—this troper watched it on broadcast TV long ago.
Inside Gilligan's Island, written by the show's creator, indicates that each of the seven castaways represents a different sin. The Professor is Pride, Ginger is Lust, the Skipper is Anger, Gilligan himself is Sloth, and so on. A popular Epileptic Tree is that Gilligan also serves as the Devil figure, since he keeps everyone else stuck on the island, but this has never been confirmed.
The History Channel did a documentary series on these, including some interesting facts about how medieval people perceived them (e.g. their definition of "Sloth" encompassed what would be called "clinical depression" today).
Referenced throughout the Smallville episode Masquerade as part of Desaad's attempts to corrupt his victims. He didn't have much success with Chloe; with help of illusions, he used Clark to seduce her (lust), used Oliver to convince her to escape from the battles of a hero (sloth), used Lois to taunt her with her stable relationship with Clark (envy), tries to goad her into stabbing himself (wrath), but she had some difficulty with his illusion of a version of herself that says she is above all of his tricks (pride). It helped that she realized what is happening around the third sin. When she repels the last one, he says she is now useless to him (without going through greed or gluttony), but Clark saves her. Oliver, on the other hand, is instantly corrupted by wrath when Desaad claims Chloe screamed for him as she died.
In Game of Thrones, many of the Houses and Organizations of the setting embody the Seven Deadly Sins in some form or another: the Starks embody Sloth in their refusal to behave "dishonorably," even if it would have been the right thing to do under the circumstances; the Lannisters all represent Pride in one form or another- Tywin's perfectionist standards, Jamie's vanity in his appearance, Tyrion'spride as self-defence; the Baratheons' frivolous spending habits and wastage of resources makes them Gluttony, especially in the case of King Robert and Joffrey (even though he's actually a Lannister); the Greyjoys are a clear representation of Envy, what with their piratical lifestyle and Badass Creed of taking what they want instead of earning it; the Freys are Lust, given Lord Walder's habit of taking on so many new wives and mistresses; the Targaryen's represent Wrath, what with Viserys' constant temper-tantrums in pursuit of his crown and Daenerys' habit of wreaking terrible vengeance on those who've wronged her. Finally, the Thirteen of Qarth embody Greed: most of them hoard their wealth and resources, refusing to help anyone unless they can offer something in return; however, council members Xaro Xhoan Daxos and Pyat Pree plot to take over the Council to feed their own Greed- Daxos for control over Qarth, Pree for the magical power offered by the Dragons.
Music
In the Flogging Molly song "Seven Deadly Sins", the sins are personified as pirates tempting people to sail away with them and be free.
The page quote, which appears at the beginning and end of Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
"The Gift from the Princess Who Brings Sleep", by Miku for Sloth.
And from "Clockwork Lullaby 4", we know that:
The song for Wrath is going to be sung by Gumi.
In Sound Horizon's 7th Story Album Märchen, there's a conductor going around and assisting people in carrying out revenge against someone who's wronged them. There are seven targets of revenge, each having committed an act that corresponds to a sin. And in case the theme wasn't already noticeable, the sin in question is announced at the start of the track it shows up in.
Committed? Heavens no, they are the VICTIMS of the seven deadly sins.
Maria Kanellis's song "Seven Sins" has her singing about the sins in general with the lyrics "seven sins, seven sins/which one will pull me in". She does mention lust quite a bit as well.
Dream Theater's "The Root of All Evil" goes down the list of most of these.
Panic! at the Disco's first album, "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out," features several songs that can easily be pegged as exemplifying these sins:
London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines as Pride,
Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off: Lust
But It's Better If You Do: Gluttony
I Write Sins Not Tragedies: Wrath
I Constantly Thank God For Esteban: Sloth
There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet: Envy
Ironically, their third album is called "Vices and Virtues."
Music Videos
The videoclip for the Pet Shop Boys song It's a Sin has a bunch of actors personifying the Seven Deadly Sins. Particularly noticeable is Geena Davis playing Pride as a Rich BitchWoman in Black with a huge peacock fan.
Dustin Runnels (fka Goldust) was hired by WCW in 2000 to play a character called "Seven", apparently an Expy of The Undertaker that would punish wrestlers based on their sins. However, after his father Dusty Rhodes was fired after 20 years with the company, Runnels crapped all over the gimmick in his debut, killing the gimmick. Fortunately, Standards & Practices had already complained about a promo where he was standing outside a child's window (but not doing anything) and were worried that he would be mistaken for a child molester, so they probably would've had the gimmick killed anyways.
Shortly before he was fired by WWE, Raven was supposed to begin an angle based on the movie se7en.
In the New World of Darkness, all characters have a Vice, selected from one of the seven deadly sins. By fulfilling their Vice, the character can gain a point of Willpower (a vital resource) due to gratifying their ego. (A character with Greed as a Vice, for example, can fulfill it by screwing someone over for a quick buck.) However, acts that fulfill Vices are usually going to damage the Karma Meter, so the player has to weigh the cost against the gain. In contrast, characters also have Virtues (such as Charity or Faith), which take much more work to fulfill, but fully restore Willpower when pulled off.
Then, in Werewolf: The Forsaken, you have the Maeljin — powerful spirits that embody abstract concepts that twisted in upon themselves until they just became wrong. Needless to say, the Seven Deadlies are well represented.
In Dungeons & Dragons the Spell Compendium has a Domain for each of the Deadly Sins.
In The Book of Fiends, a third-party Sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition from Green Ronin Publishing, the embodiments of Neutral Evil, the daemons, are ruled by the Exarchs of Gehenna. These seven near-godlike daemons each represent one sin: Tyrexxus for wrath, Ulasta for envy, In'nassi for lust, Viasta for sloth, Yungo for gluttony, Myrtaxx for greed, and Gravicarius for pride.
The Gods of Chaos from Warhammer/40k fit the Deadly Sins very well, altough since there are only four of them, you'll have to assign some Gods with more than one Sin.
Khorne: Wrath (obviously)
Nurgle: Sloth (specifically, despair), his entropic aspects have some qualities of Gluttony.
Slaanesh: Lust, Greed (s/he represents excess and many of his followers fit the vain aspects of Pride archeotype very well), Gluttony (specifically the excessive consumption aspect).
Of note, Slaanesh is said to live in a palace designed in circles, where each circle tests its visitor in one of the deadly sins.
Tzeench: Envy, Pride (technically he's hope, but envy and pride are essentially the dark sides of hope)
In the backstory of the first adventure path for Pathfinder, "Rise of the Runelords", each of the seven runelords of ancient Thassillon are associated with a Deadly Sin. The Runelord of Gluttony consumed the souls of his servants, the Runelord of Pride has an army of enslaved angels, and so on. The master villain of the story arc is Karzoug, the reawakened Runelord of Greed, who wants all the world for himself.
Originally, they were known as the Seven Virtues of Rule and focused on their positive aspects but were eventually corrupted as the Runelords gained power and influence over their own emperor. The Seven Virtues of Rule, and what they were corrupted into, were Wealth (Greed), Fertility (Lust), Honest Pride (Boastful Pride), Abundance (Gluttony), Eager Striving (Envy), Righteous Anger (Wrath), and Well-Deserved Rest (Sloth).
Theatre
The doomed characters in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street can be taken to represent the seven deadly sins: Todd is Wrath, Mrs. Lovett Avarice, Judge Turpin Lust, Pirelli Pride, the Beadle Envy, and the citizenry of London generally Gluttony. Arguably Toby could also represent Gluttony given his gin-addiction.
Sloth could be the Beggar Woman Sweeney's wife who "just lay there in bed" and hasn't really bettered herself since the "incident" (but really, can you blame her?).
If you want to add "Ignorance" as a sin, Anthony could qualify for being woefully Wrong Genre Savvy.
In Halo ODST, Mombassa looks like hell. The ODSTs are referred to as "Hell jumpers". There are 9 levels. Data Hive has 9 sub-levels. The city seems to have 9 sections. There are 9 circles of audio story. The AI'S name is Vergil. The first chapter of Dante's Inferno is called the descent. The game opens with the rookie descending into the city. [1]
In Overlord, the fallen heroes who serve as the bosses are each themed for a sin, having fallen into decadence after their grand victory. For the first five bosses there is also a moral choice themed around the sin.
Melvin Underbelly (Gluttony): A small halfling whose appetite ran out of control when fame went to his head. His subjects raid human villages to gather the massive amounts of food needed to feed the now morbidly-obese Melvin. Hidden in his lair is a massive store of food. You can return it to the starving villagers or use it to feed your minions.
Oberon Greenhaze (Sloth): An elf who fell into an endless sleep, depriving his people of the hero they needed when dwarfs razed the kingdom. Then, just to top things off, Oberon's nightmares started manifesting while he turned into a giant tree-weed slowly consuming his forest home. Deep in the forest is the last untainted grove, filled with enemies and loot. You can fight each enemy to retrieve the treasure or take the easy way and burn it down.
Sir William the Black (Lust): Abandoned his fiancée and knightly ways to house a succubus queen, founding a cult dedicated to carnal pleasure (sheep in the brothel anyone?) and letting the succubus transform the hapless citizens of his city into a zombie horde. Locked away in the castle is your second choice of mistress, the very sensual Velvet. You can choose to remain faithful to Rose or claim Velvet as your own.
Goldo Golderson (Greed): A gold-hungry dwarf who razed the elven kingdom to steal their treasures and used the survivors of the elven race to mine gold in his own kingdom. Deep in Goldo's collapsing castle are two treasures: A mountain of gold and the last elven women. You can save the elves or the gold before time runs out.
Jewel, the Thieving Hero (Envy): Kleptomanic thief, constantly steals things other people want. It doesn't matter what it is or if she can use it; if somebody wants it, it has value and she'll take it. On her defeat you recover the stolen statue. You can return it to the elves or claim it as part of your fortunes.
Kahn the Warrior (Wrath): A massive warrior easily overwhelmed with rage for even the most minor issues. Only Jewel could calm him, and after you kill her, well... Meanwhile, your "loyal" subjects in Spree betray you to save their own hides from Kahn's fury, you can decide if you want to let this go or give in to your anger towards them and butcher them all.
The Wizard (Pride): A man who dedicated his life to defeating the previous Overlord only to be possessed by his foe's spirit. He was responsible for the downfall of the other heroes and attempts to usurp (well, reclaim) the player's position as overlord. Sure in his ability to reclaim his position, he was defeated by the very pawn he had empowered to achieve his ends. This last one seems a less obvious aesop as the others, until the final battle where he gloats how he personally corrupted each of the original heroes one by one throughout the entire fight; pride comes before the fall.
Devil May Cry 3 uses the seven deadly sins to represent both the standard scythe-bearing enemies and various bosses. In a subversion, Pride is the weakest of the normal enemies.
Shadow Hearts: From the New World features a dungeon called "Purgatory" where the monsters and bosses are all themed on the seven deadly sins. The most powerful is envy.
The Four Masks from the first Shadow Hearts are, according to their monster information, based on four of the seven deadly sins. And more obviously, on the four suits minor arcana of tarot, and by extension the four Western Elements. Because just one numerical theme isn't enough!
In the Worlds Of Power book based on Castlevania II, Simon Belmont instructs his companion to hit him any time he acts out any of the seven deadly sins, as Dracula can claim his soul if he is not virtuous enough.
The Seven Deadly Sins are skills one can buy and learn from Hey Deze in the special "Bad Moon" difficulty of Kingdom of Loathing. Each one gives an advantage and disadvantage, but you can strategically cancel the disadvantages out with each other.
The Blavious Kloop familiar drops an item that lets players access the Suburbs of Dis, where they can fight a series of boss monsters that are parodies of Dr. Seuss characters themed around the seven deadly sins.
Each of the Demon Lords of Nil in Lusternia corresponds to at least one deadly sin. Gorgulu represents Gluttony and Sloth, as he's a mindless Body Horror-riffic blob who exists only to devour. Ashtorath represents Wrath and Envy, as he is jealous of Luciphage but too brash, brutish and impulsive to effectively usurp him. Nifilhema represents Lust, as the corset-wearing Combat Sadomasochist she is. Baalphegar represents Greed, voraciously pursuing hidden and forbidden knowledge irrespective of the cost. And Luciphage represents Pride, as the Chessmaster who rules them.
The little-known LucasArtsworld-building (or, technically, worlds-building) game Afterlife had this as one of its primary game mechanics. As the Demiurge charged with building both Heaven and Hell, you had to construct zones for each of the seven vices or their corresponding virtues (most with Punny Names, and entering Ironic Hell).
Four of the Sins are embodied in Jeanne d'Arc's major Reapers, and Gilvaroth's lieutenants: Superbia (Pride,) Luxuria (Lust,) Avaritia (Avarice,) and Ira (Wrath.) They have thus possessed humans, usually in the upper echelons of power, that have fallen prey to their particular sins. Ira itself manifested when Roger's unmeasurable rage at Jeanne after Liane's death made him go mad, and was only redeemed when the soul of Liane herself helped Jeanne release his heart from the Reaper.
Many of the enemies in the Flash game Grey Matter are named for the Seven Deadly Sins, albeit in Latin like the Jeanne d'Arc example above: the exception is Gluttony, which is inexplicably named in English.
7 Sins. The entire game is about this. You play a Ladies' man/porn star/criminal (well, you get 7 different jobs actually) and you have to build up your reputation and become successful, and you do so by committing sins.
Here's a breakdown of how each sin is represented:
Envy: The first chapter has the player working as a clerk in a department store (SUKS) to earn money, while being presided over by his overweight, lecherous, and greedy boss who quite obviously doesn't deserve his wealth. In the final chapter "The Dream" the player is confronted with various nightmare figures who force him into a series of mini-games related to 6 of the 7 sins. In Envy, the player has to steal expensive paintings from his former boss. Throughout the game the player can steal money from various places, adding to the sin meter for both Envy and Greed.
Pride: In Chapter 2, the player signs a deal for a reality TV show called "French Kiss" in which he seduces and sleeps with various B-grade celebrities. In "The Dream" the player has to face off against a former rockstar by proving how popular he is. In gameplay, the player must reduce their Stress meter by committing acts of Pride such as encouraging himself in the mirror, or bragging about his wealth to other people.
Lust: In Chapter 3, the player infiltrates a Masquerade Fetish Club in order to unmask various prominent figures and subsequently blackmail them. In "The Dream" the player must photograph various women, then sleep with them. In-game the player has a Lust meter that fills whenever the player interacts with attractive women (or men). The player can empty this meter through various acts of Lust such as groping, ogling, or just getting down to some good, clean fun.
Wrath: Chapter 4 has the player attempting to join a Martial Arts club to protect himself from people who are angry at his newfound success. In "The Dream" the player must battle 7 martial artists. Along with the Lust and Stress meters is the Wrath meter, which fills whenever the player interacts with someone who is particularly irritating. If filled, the player will attack the nearest NPC before fleeing the building. To sate your wrathful impulses the player can commit smaller acts of violence such as peeing on insects, or shouting abuse at passersby.
Gluttony: The 5th chapter has the player managing a restaurant on the night that the head chef has invited all of his worst enemies. The player must seduce several of the guests with the aid of various drugs supplied by the chef. In "The Dream" the player must eat tray of dessert pastries and chug a gallon of beer before throwing up on the chef. In-game, acts of gluttony slightly reduce all 3 of the meters by stuffing himself from vending machines or binge-drinking.
Greed: In Chapter 6 the player is now the head of Trust Corp and must seduce both a female banker (to secure a billion dollar loan), and the head of another company (to convince her to sign a merger agreement). In "The Dream" the player must negotiate with his employees in order to cancel their Christmas bonuses. In-game acts of Greed provide extra cash by stealing from lockers and safes, and/or pickpocketing.
Sloth: Does not have a level or a dream challenge, although it could be argued that the whole game embodies this sin as the main character forgoes hard work in favour of seducing people to do the work for him. In-game the player can take naps to slightly reduce each of the 3 meters.
Shin Megami Tensei if... featured the main characters being transported to the realm of Hell, with each dungeon being based off of a specific sin.
Only five of them. But Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey gives us a complete set with the first four sectors, each of which reflect a different aspect of human destructiveness:
Antlia: Wrath — A war-ravaged, burning city.
Bootes: Lust and Sloth — A red-light district and pleasure house.
Carina: Greed and Gluttony — A supermarket.
Delphinus: Pride and Envy — A miserable, polluted garbage dump.
The trailer of the Sam And Max Freelance Police game "What's New, Beelzebub?" evokes the Seven Deadly Sins hilariously. In the game itself, the Sins are represented as motivational posters in Hell LLC.
In Superhero City, the Seven Deadly Sins are villains that your hero character fights, with characteristics that give meaning to their names. For example, Pride constantly puts updates about himself on his Twitter account.
The seven playable characters in the game Whacked are modeled after the seven deadly sins. Otto is Sloth, Lucy is Lust, Lucky is Wrath, Lance is Pride, Eugene is Envy, Charity is Greed, and Toof is Gluttony.
Dragon Quest VI doesn't hit all the sins in the final area, but it manages several. The first town is Sloth, interesting in that it hits BOTH definitions; the villagers are almost all too overcome with despair to do anything about their situation, and anyone who actually seeks out the cave that leads back to the real world has to pass through a supernaturally relaxing spring/swamp. The second town is corrupted by Greed and hosts the second casino of the game, and the jail and final dungeon represent Wrath, with the villain seeking the destruction of all life and cruelly killing people in the jails just to placate them. Naturally, the protagonists have to liberate all the areas from the villain's influence, though they fail to save everyone in the jail.
In Wild ARMs 5, the "Memory Birds" that serve to save the game's progress make seemingly pointless remarks about the seven sins.
The seven playable characters in Party of Sin are the seven sins working together to escape Hell and get revenge on Archangel Michael for interrupting the renewal of their Contract with Satan causing them to be branded as traitors.
In The Cave, the seven playable characters turn out to each represent a different Sin. The Time-Traveler, who's looking to assassinate the ancestor of a smug co-worker who was chosen over her to be Greatest Employee of All Time, represents Envy; the Adventurer, a glory-hound willing to betray her companions so she can keep all the fame and fortune for herself, represents Gluttony; the Scientist, who built a super-weapon that lead to the deaths of millions all for the sake of money, represents Greed; the Hillbilly, whose obsession with winning over his "true love" drove him to burn down a carnival when his advances were rebuffed, represents Lust; the Monk, whose frustration with his own failures sent him on a murderous rampage, represents Wrath; The Knight, who is actually a peasant in stolen armor who shuns the responsibilities that come with his feigned position, represents Sloth; and the Twins, who are selfish hellions who try to murder their kindly but strict parents out of a misdirected desire to be free, represent Pride.
Webcomics
In Devil Bear, each of Bearalzebub's female assistants, called Daivas, have jobs representing a different deadly sin.
Jack beats that record. The title character is Wrath, as well as The Grim Reaper.
It also avoids the usual "hot chick" depiction of Lust in that the personification of Lust is a serial rapist/murderer with a mutant penis. An excellent example in that it shows how it's not lust itself that's bad, it's what it can make you do.
In addition, vanity replaces pride.
A Zig-Zagging Trope in 8-Bit Theater's "Castle of Ordeals" arc, wherein each warrior has to face a personification of their own personal sin.
Thief, whose sin is Avarice, does not actually face his ordeal, as Black Mage stumbles into the room and kills it for him.
Fighter, whose sin is Sloth (for not seeking to hone his swordsmanship, and instead relying upon what he already knows). The personification then explains that he must learn to use his brains instead of his brawn, prompting Fighter to slay him on the spot because his "brain said this was faster."
Red Mage's sin is Pride, because he severely lacks humility, demonstrated by his Munchkin trait as he changes his character sheet to say "Humble + 2000". Eventually realizes that he cannot argue his way out of the ordeal, and submits. He passes the ordeal. He then proceeds to gloat about his mind working on levels he isn't consciously aware of.
Black Mage's sin is Black Mage.
This is because There is nothing more evil than Black Mage. NOTHING. This compounded by the fact that he absorbs the evil that his 'sin' had, in order to get around the fact that he had killed his own evil.
The seven main characters of Snowflakes each represent one of the sins. Greg is Greed, Enzo is Envy, Glory is Gluttony, Lu is Lust, Priti is Pride, Sloan is Sloth, and Wray represents Wrath. Their names are far too similar to the sins for this to be a coincidence.
The Greatest Gift has the Big Bad of the 'What Happens In Haygas' story arc, Venus. It's mentioned that the three hearts in her Cutie Mark contain the colors representing greed, lust, and envy, which fit her perfectly.
Web Original
In The Gamers Alliance, the seven elite demon infiltrators of the Eastern Horde have nicknames linked to the seven sins, and each one's dominant trait is based on the sin in question, e.g. Lust is rather promiscuous and tends to unleash uncontrollable passions in other people.
SCP-434: A table that, when there is a subject and eight chairs, causes seven correspondingly "sinful" clones of the subject to appear; if they "clones" are killed, that aspect of the subject's personality is destroyed (IE the death of Sloth destroys the ability to sleep).
SCP-1215: (Actually eight sins — Pride is divided into Vanity and Hubris) Its an illuminated manuscript that causes people to self-destruct with a deadly sin theme, except for Vanity where the danger is acting so irritating other people attack you.
SCP-1133: An IV stand that can extract or inject fluids pertaining to the seven sins; injecting sloth makes one lazier, while extracting it makes one more productive, for example.
Bogleech.com's Mortasheen univese not only contains a set of seven sin-themed avian monsters, but also goes a step beyond by including devil birds of delusion, cruelty, ignorance, hate, despair, paranoia, cowardice, lies, knowledge, horror, and...this... thing.
Western Animation
Treehouse of Horror XVIII: Heck House, the third segment in this installment in the TOH series, depicts all seven sins in the Church of Springfield by Ned Flanders to scare Bart, Lisa, Nelson, and Milhouse.
Lust: As they were listening to "In the Garden of Eden", Homer whispers, "Hey Marge, remember when we used to make out to this hymn?"
Gluttony: Moe says the deep fat fryer "will flash fry a live buffalo in 45 seconds." But Homer wanted it now.
Greed: Reverend Lovejoy counting money.
Sloth: Bart and Milhouse slacking off cleaning the organ.
Wrath: Moe snaps at a little girl for complaining about her drink.
Envy: In his dream, Bart envies the other kids for having souls.
Pride: Bart feels particularly proud of himself for making five bucks.
According to Word Of God, the seven main characters of Spongebob Squarepants are all modeled after one of the sins. Patrick is Sloth, Squidward is Wrath, Mr. Krabbs is Greed, Gary is Gluttony, Sandy is Pride, Plankton is Envy, and SpongeBob is Lust.
In the case of Spongebob, remember that Lust doesn't simply mean sexual gratification but any form of pleasure; Spongebob strives to be happy and cheerful at every moment, thus he seeks pleasure, making him Lust.
This is an interesting case, as Pride is generally considered the worst sin, yet Sandy is by far the nicest character on the show.
Gluttony: Beezy eats nearly everything (except maraschino cherries), and thinks that an allowance of 15 solid gold bars and an assortment of precious gems is not enough to live on.
Greed: Lucius owns everything in Miseryville, and openly admits that his company's products are intentionally overpriced, plus the aforementioned allowance thing.
Lust: Beezy is strongly hedonistic, doing whatever gives him the most pleasure at the moment, regardless of the safety of himself or others.
Pride: Lucius considers himself the ultimate harbinger of misery, despite many people actually being happy under his rule, and generally being less competent than his predecessors.
Sloth: Beezy is extremely lazy, and even once cryogenically froze himself so he would never have to stand up or do anything again.
Wrath: Let's just provide a quote:
Lucius: I count SEVENTEEN scoops! And HOW MANY scoops do I always get? Samy: E-eighteen, sir. Lucius: Exactly. RELEASE THE LIONS!
Recently a survey was done to see which sin is committed most among men and women. Apparently, men are most likely to commit Lust (big surprise) and women are most likely to commit Pride (again, big surprise).
Several psychological disorders could fit nicely with the Seven Deadly Sins as well:
Addictionsof allkinds are Gluttony (they involve taking more than your share of something).
Clinical Depression is Sloth (Sloth's initial meaning being despair, and a trait of depression being lethargy, hopelessness, and losing interest in things you used to enjoy).
Cats. They were once worshiped as Gods and tend to crave attention (Pride), love eating (Gluttony) and napping (Sloth), they tend to get very...intimate with people and each other (Lust), they don't like sharing (Greed), they are ferocious when angry and actually kill for fun (Wrath) and tend to get annoyed when people start paying attention to others/when someone has something they want (Envy).
Many Real Life dictators have one or more of these as a prominent trait:
The Magnum ice cream brand marketed a range based on the seven deadly sins though with Pride replaced by "Vanity", Envy replaced by "Jealousy" and Wrath replaced by "Revenge" (we're not sure why), complete with seven commercials depicting a different woman committing the sin as she ate the ice cream.
