Goddess Clan

The Goddess Clan is one of the five major races in the world of Nanatsu no Taizai.

Overview
According to the Lady of the Lake, the Goddess Clan and their realm were created by the Supreme Deity, after she was created by Chaos, alongside the Demon King and the Sacred Tree.

3,000 years ago, the Goddess Clan constantly clashed with the Demon Clan. Similar to the latter's Ten Commandments, this clan has their own elite unit, the Four Archangels, who even the Ten Commandments must be wary of, according to Monspeet. Despite often battling, most goddesses acted gentle towards humans and considered killing demons as a way to save them. However, the two legendary clans were largely evenly matched and thus a tentative balance was created. At some point in time, they broke a treaty with the Demon Clan, and even slaughtered many women and children they were holding as prisoners of war.

However, when Meliodas had betrayed his own people for his alliance and relationship with the Supreme Deity's daughter Elizabeth and severely crippled their strength by killing two members of the Ten Commandments, the rest of goddesses seized the opportunity to finally defeat the Demon Clan and instigated the Giant Clan, Fairy Clan and humans against them, starting the great war.

As a result, the Demon Clan was ultimately defeated by the Goddess Clan and their allied clans and sealed away in the Coffin of Eternal Darkness for many years, realizing it was the only way to win after losing their strongest fighter Mael. Despite their victory, they lost much of their power and the ability to maintain their physical forms in order to seal the Demon Clan for hundreds of years. The souls of the Goddess Clan came to inhabit within objects, only being able to manifest themselves in the physical world taking the body of another being as a vessel.

According to Jelamet, a majority of the goddesses apparently inhabit places called Sky Palaces, where they lay dormant, as she made use of the gate in the altar to bring the remainder of the Goddess Clan to invade and control Britannia.

An unknown goddess tried to communicate with humans to find more about Meliodas, but what happened to her after her object's destruction is unknown. Other few goddesses escaped the battle after realizing some of the orders they received were wrong and became the leaders of the Druids, who worship the Goddess Clan.

In the present day with Hendrickson unleashing the Ten Commandments by incompletely breaking the seal, the Four Archangels "revived" to join the reincarnation of Elizabeth, the Seven Deadly Sins and the other races against the Demon Clan, now facing a new Holy War. However, two of them lost their physical bodies again while it was revealed that the Archangel Mael is still alive and turned into one of the Ten Commandments. After the return of Mael, the leader of the Archangels also loses his physical form at the end of the new Holy War, making Mael the last "survivor" of the Four Archangels.

Following the defeat of Cath Palug, Orlondi is seen breaking out of the underground bunker in the ruins of Camelot and is seen helping Nanashi bring out the people where most were saved by Nanashi, as it is revealed he is actually a Goddess but for some reason there are four scars on his back where his wings used to be and claims it to be an old story as he was now nothing more than a wandering swordsman with no master.

Appearance
Members of the Godess Clan appear entirely human other than one pair, or more, of angel-like wings. Some Goddesses has been shown to have more divergent features, like Tarmiel, who possess multiple heads.

Higher ranking Goddesses are distinguished by their multiple pairs of wings. The number of wings and its size are indicators of a Goddess' power.

Whenever a Goddess inhabits a physical vessel or whenever they use their magical powers, their eyes become orange and manifest a triskelion symbol.

Powers and Abilities
The Goddess Clan is an extremely powerful race able to stand on equal ground with the Demon Clan, although it required the cooperation of the fairies, giants and humans to seal them away after losing their strongest fighter. Despite their power, they needed physical forms to actually affect the world by their actions. According to Ludociel, they aren't actual Gods like the Demon King or the Supreme Deity, despite their massive power. Members of the Goddess Clan share several common abilities:


 * An archetypal magic technique of the Goddess Clan that creates light particles, often envolving the target in a dazzling sphere of light that breaks apart their body. It mostly counteracts darkness by disintegrating, though it also can cause physical damage.
 * A technique that erases "abominable" souls, such as vampires and demons. This technique was passed down to the Druids.
 * Resurrection: Ban sought out the Goddesses to resurrect Elaine, believing that something like that should be easy for them. One of them said that resurrection of a single fairy is an easy task. Although, Mael, one of the Four Archangels and their strongest member used a technique that allows deceased souls to reincarnate in a new life with their memories of their past life intact, rather than resurrect them, the veracity of the statement has to be proven still.
 * Healing: This is the natural ability that all Godesses have allowing them to heal any living creature, even Demons if controlled enough, healing any injuries and diseases.
 * By chanelling their healing power trough Ark, Goddesses can counteract negative effects, such as severe injuries either caused physical damage or miasma, to even strong poisonous acid. It can also recover health and stamina or clear a mind full of intense negative emotions such as hatred and madness. This power has the opposite effect on Demons when not controlled enough, hurting them and repelling their power.
 * By raising both their arms, a Goddess can create a purifying mist strong enough to expel centuries-worth of demonic miasma out of the target.
 * A spell that only a high-ranking Goddess could use. The user gathers light in their palm to create some kind of symbol and blowing it over their desired target, with those affected get a magic power boost. The Demon Clan refers to this technique as because it is also a brainwashing spell that turns the targets into fanatical zealots loyal to the Goddesses with no regard of their injuries and keep on fighting until they are broken and dead.
 * Possession: With the consent or forming a pact with another being, Goddesses are able to take their bodies as vessels and use them as their own, being able to use all his/her abilities through their vessel, despite not being so strong that with their original bodies. However, the vessel (especially humans) may have difficulty hosting high-ranking Goddesses, leading their bodies to undergo transformations. The compatibility between the vessel and the Goddess can affect its overall strength.
 * Flight: Given the nature of their wings, this allows the Goddesses to fly. The stronger ones even have the strength enough to carry a giant.
 * Time Regression Spell: A spell that allows one to send the soul of another being towards the past. This spell can be taught to members of other races, mainly the Druids.

Four Archangels
is an elite unit composed of four of the strongest and highest-ranking members of the race, outclassed only by the Supreme Deity herself or her children.


 * Ludociel (Leader)
 * Mael
 * Sariel
 * Tarmiel

Divine Lance Corporal
are Goddesses who serve the Four Archangels within the Divine Militia and are of higher rank than Divine Soldiers.


 * Nerobasta †
 * Jelamet

Divine Soldier
are Goddesses who serve the Four Archangels within the Divine Militia and are ranked below a Divine Lance Corporal.


 * Jenna (Formerly)
 * Zaneri (Formerly)

Trivia

 * Female members of the Goddess Clan can be based on the Valkyries of Norse Mythology, while male members can be based on the Angels of the Bible.
 * Despite being named Goddesses which referes to female deities, there are in fact males among them and they are confirmed to not be actual gods.
 * The symbol in their eyes resemble a triskelion, a symbol that represents the drawing of the three powers of maiden, mother, and crone. It also can be a reference to the Holy Trinity.
 * All the members of the Four Archangels have their name end in "-el", which is the Hebrew word for "God." It is also used at the end of the names of each Archangels of God in the Bible.
 * As shown with Nanashi, a Goddess' wings can be removed as his back left four scars where his wings used to be but was still able to use the power of healing.