| Introduction |
Chaos「混沌」 is a primordial entity that created the world, the major races and even the gods. It is described by Merlin as an impure being of darkness that Demons fear and a pure being of light that Goddesses worship,[2] while the Lady of the Lake has described it as the "will of power" born amidst ancient stars.
After being sealed away by two of its creations, the Demon King and the Supreme Deity, it came to exist within a transient form known in legends as the Mother of Chaos「混沌の母」, with all monsters having been born from her. In this form, Chaos also appeared in the legends passed down by the Celestial Clan, as a being known to them as the Great Oshiro「オシロ様」 who gifted them the Winged Sword.
Following the Demon King's destruction, the balance of light and darkness he maintained with the Supreme Deity to keep their creator forever sealed was broken, thus allowing Merlin and the Lady of the Lake to free Chaos from its mossy prison and allowed it to return to the world in a new vessel: Arthur Pendragon, who therefore became the King of Chaos and allowed the entity to reawaken once again.
Appearance
Chaos itself is a will, therefore it does not have a physical form.[3] However, it has assumed physical existence through its creations which each have inherited part of its power, thereby serving as proxies.
Despite not being a physical entity, in Merlin's description of Chaos, it is depicted as a humanoid figure, shining as bright as a star.
Personality
Almost nothing is known about its personality, except that it was disappointed with its creations prior to making humans due to them not living up to its expectations. However, it saw humans, despite being much more flawed than the other races, as its greatest creation due to them being the ones closest to mirroring the will of Chaos itself.
The entity seemed to have shown conflicting traits upon dividing itself into every one of its creations. Most noticeably, it displayed loyalty and trust as Hawk Mama, destructiveness and sadism as Cath Palug, rigidity and adherence as the Demon King and Supreme Deity, respect and kindness as the Sacred Tree, and lastly wisdom and intelligence as the Lady of the Lake.
Cath Palug describes Chaos as a "mindless will" or a "will without a will", always acting on instinct to protect its physical incarnation, as the loss of a vessel would render it without a place in the world.
History
Said to be born amidst ancient stars that were far away, Chaos created the world out of nothingness before creating three godly creatures known as the Demon King, the Supreme Deity and the Sacred Tree, who would go on to create their own realms and the creatures who inhabit them, each reflecting the nature of their creator: the Goddesses, the Demons and the Fairies.
Afterwards, Chaos created the Giants but was disappointed because they were extremely savage and slaves to their power who knew nothing other than inflicting pain. It then decided to create the Humans by putting all emotions into them such as kindness, bravery, love and beauty as well as cruelty, cowardice, hatred, and beastliness. Despite being the most fragile and shortest lived of all the races, humans were the ones that came closest to embodying the true nature of their creator and thus the entity favored them as its greatest creation.
Both the Supreme Deity and Demon King were filled with jealousy and apprehension of Chaos, fearing that the love and respect that their own races had for them would be stolen by their creator due to its superior power as the true origin of light and darkness. Thus, the two gods joined together and betrayed their creator by sealing Chaos away, allowing them to be the two rulers of the world and believed to be the most powerful entities in existence.[4] Yet, due to Chaos not being a physical entity it was not truly sealed, but came to exist within a moss shell that would be known as the Mother of Chaos and later, Hawk Mama.
At some point, it created both the Lady of the Lake, an all-knowing entity trapped within Lake Salisbury; and Cath Palug, a cluster of Chaos' destructive will who desired to take its creator's power for itself.
Eventually, at some point, Chaos chose Arthur Pendragon to become its human vessel, leading both Merlin and the Lady of the Lake to work towards achieving this goal by breaking the seal placed on Chaos by the two gods, so that the entity could be set free and end the reign of the gods by instead beginning the "Age of Chaos" where humans would be the dominant force in Britannia.
Plot
King of Chaos arc
After the Demon King was destroyed by the Seven Deadly Sins, thus disrupting the "balance" between light and darkness maintained by him and the Supreme Deity, Merlin finally saw her chance to revive Chaos.
When Merlin decides to carry out Arthur's awakening, she teleports to Lake Salisbury along with the Sins and Elizabeth. Upon putting herself over the lake, Merlin removes Arthur's body still pierced by Excalibur from the Boar Hat. So, thanks to all the magical power that the lake had accumulated in the battle against the Demon King, Merlin and the Lady of the Lake manage to awaken Arthur as the King of Chaos.
When Meliodas reproaches Merlin for using the Seven Deadly Sins to revive a being that may not even exist, the Lady of the Lake disproves this claim by telling them that Chaos indeed exists and that they have already met it many times before. When no one seems to understand, the Lady of the Lake reveals that they have been traveling upon it and that all that time she has been waiting for her resurrection; leaving everyone shocked to see that she refers to Hawk Mama as the imprisoned form of Chaos. The Lady of the Lake says that Chaos itself is a will, so it doesn't have physical form and that "Hawk Mama" was just a provisional form in which the two gods sealed it. There, Hawk Mama is revealed to be a moss shell whose essence, Chaos, is now inside Arthur. Merlin states that Chaos has chosen to coexist within Arthur, which proves that he is indeed the true "King of Chaos".
When Cath shows itself happy to see Arthur, the Lady of the Lake is alarmed by its presence and tells Merlin not to let it approach Arthur. Cath then devours one of Arthur's arms and when it transforms into a monstrous state, the Lady of the Lake tells them that they must retrieve the arm or they will know how powerful even a fragment of Chaos is. After transforming, the Lady of the Lake reveal Cath's true identity as a monstrous and tyrannical monster that once challenged Chaos for its power but easily lost and was later sealed by the Goddess Clan for its misdeeds. Arthur asks Cath himself about this to which Cath fully admits it to be true and that he only clung to Arthur until he became the new host of Chaos so the beast could devour him. He attempts to devour Arthur, along with the Sins, Hawk, and Elizabeth in a dimension using the fragment of Chaos' power it devoured, but Arthur uses Excalibur to cut Cath Palug in half, destroying its body and seemingly killing it.
After sending the Sins back to Liones, Merlin brings Arthur into one of the castle towers he created unconsciously and is overcome with joy upon seeing only a mere glimpse of the power of Chaos, just as Arthur awakens as is glad to see her in a better mood. She asks him why he is not angry with her as she only revived him for her own desire but Arthur says that despite Chaos' origins and how powerful it is, as long as the one controlling it has good intentions, it could be used to make the world a better place, his positive emotions reflecting that onto Excalibur.
Suddenly, the tower begins to shake and a voice calls out to Arthur, saying it is not done playing with him yet. Arthur and Merlin both recognize the voice belonging to Cath Palug, who survived Arthur's attack and has further transformed into a more powerful and stabilized form. Arthur is shocked, believing he had destroyed him but Merlin claims she will not let Cath get to him as she goes outside and attacks him, claiming she will be its opponent. Merlin struggles against the monster, who still possesses a fragment of Chaos from Arthur's arm as he says that she is not the one he wants to play with, only for Arthur to appear and saying he shall do it for her. He cuts the monsters into pieces and says it is his fault he allowed Cath Palug to get this far and claims it is his responsibility to defeat it, but the monster keeps regenerating and says cutting it will not kill him, but Arthur claims he will do whatever it takes as it is his job to protect Camelot and its people.
Cath Palug mocks him claiming he does not realize he is already lost them and explains, to Arthur's horror, that Camelot was destroyed in the fight between the Seven Deadly Sins and the Demon King in Meliodas' body and despite Arthur's initial disbelief, Cath says he can prove it by using Chaos to see and Arthur's fears are realized upon seeing that his kingdom was wiped off the face of Britannia. Merlin tries to tell him that he can rebuild Camelot and that most of the people were evacuated to Liones, but Arthur is griefstricken upon realizing the people in the underground vault were killed. Cath then takes the opportunity to attack Arthur, only for a barrier to form around him and is attacked by Merlin who Cath then attempts to kill with a breath attack, only for Meliodas to appear and use Full Counter to save him, much to her shock.
Elizabeth and the rest of the Sins appear and claim that Merlin needs to take responsibility for unleashing Chaos, and as her friends, need to let them carry some of the responsibility by protecting her and Arthur from the monster, to her gratefulness. Cath reforms again, annoyed at Meliodas and the other's interference and tells Arthur to simply give up as nothing will last forever, but Meliodas, Ban and the others refuse to give Arthur up to the monster cat who begins its charge and uses the fragment it stole from Arthur to show them visions of a possible future of their own desires but Meliodas manages to break free and Cath mocks them, saying they cannot kill him as he now trascends life and death, but Arthur realizes there is another way to defeat him.
Arthur states that since he can not destroy Cath, he will simply devour him instead and absorb him, much to Cath's amusement as he attempts to devour Arthur and the others by using the fragment of Chaos to manipulate the environment, but Arthur creates an even large vortex which manages to free everyone from their visions as he asks Cath why he wants Chaos so badly, only for Cath to reveal itself as an incarnation of the destructive will of Chaos that only wants to destroy anything and everything and tells Arthur that it will not matter even if he rebuilds Camelot as it will only fall again and his subjects that he failed to save are probably cursing him in death for being a failure.
However, Arthur counters this by saying despite what others may or may not think of him, as long as he can make them safe and happy, it is fine if they laugh at him or talk about him behind his back as he claims he will make an everlasting kingdom where nobody has to suffer or feel fear; Cath finds his notion ridiculous as it is a contradiction and realizes that he fell into Arthur's trap by saying those words. The dimension Cath created then devours the monster into himself, causing Arthur to declare himself as the "King of Chaos". After absorbing Cath into himself, the dimension it created disappears and they find themselves back in the normal world during the night and Merlin explains that by absorbing Cath, Arthur has regained the full power of Chaos and the young king is shocked to see Excalibur transformed again, now in its final form. Meliodas admires Arthur for both his new power and promise to make an everlasting kingdom.
However, this proved to be a mistake on Arthur's part, as over time Cath Palug was able to devour the power of Chaos from within Arthur, slowly corrupting and taking control of him. Upon discovering this, Merlin was able to separate them before Cath Palug could completely seize Chaos. However, having taken almost all of it, Cath Palug usurped Arthur's identity as well as the throne of Camelot.
Sistana arc
The power of Chaos is shown again sixteen years later, when "Arthur" uses it to punish Ironside for his failure, at the latter's request. As the knight is tormented by the warped reality created by his king, Arthur explains his intention of "freeing" Britannia for mankind as they have suffered at the hands of the other races for thousands of years, therefore he seeks the protection of the everlasting kingdom of Camelot, where no human will have to know sadness, pain, or threats and calamities of any kind from the others races ever again.
Chaos in Liones arc
Chaos manifests itself in the middle of the fight between Arthur and Lancelot, making the knight take quite a hit. Arthur explains that Chaos acts to protect him, its vessel, regardless of Arthur's will, which prevents Lancelot from anticipating the entity despite his Heart Reading.
Annwfyn Gladiator Festival arc
Arthur reveals that he granted fragments of Chaos to two of the Four Evils, Beltreipe and Worreldane, which turned them into beings that transcended the limits of humans. He calls the other two members, Pellegarde and Ironside, and convinces them to accept the same power in order to become strong enough to match both the Seven Deadly Sins and Four Knights of the Apocalypse. However, the pact came with the cost of them all losing memories of their loved ones to make them truly obedient to Arthur and their kingdom.
However, as the seal in their memories is broken by their forgotten loved ones, they end up entirely consumed by their fragments of Chaos. The Four Evils adopt a Chaos Form that gives them a monstrous and inhuman appearance, while significantly increasing their powers, allowing them to nearly kill three Knights of the Apocalypse with immense ease.
When Lancelot defeat the Four Evils, the essence of Chaos within them is expelled and takes the form of the deformated head of Arthur.
Abilities and Equipment
Chaos is the most powerful entity in the series, far surpassing both the Demon King and Supreme Deity, two of its creations, in power alone and transcends physical existence as a sentient will.
Despite existing only as a will, its power is immeasurable and seems to be capable of creating seemingly anything; it is said in ancient legends to have created the world itself along with the Demon King, Supreme Deity and Sacred Tree simultaneously on a whim, who in turn are so powerful that they are considered to be true gods and each created their own separate dimensions as well as creatures to reside with them, being the Demon Clan, Goddess Clan and Fairy Clan.
Even with their godly powers of light and darkness combined, the Demon King and the Supreme Deity are incapable of matching their creator and were only able to seal it away by incarcerating it into a physical form made from a moss shell, granting the shell sentience and a life of its own, becoming known as Hawk Mama.
Despite its seemingly endless power, Chaos itself lacks physical form and thus requires a host to incarnate itself. After being freed from its mossy prison by Merlin, Chaos took on Arthur Pendragon as its new vessel. However, Arthur himself is initially unaware of Chaos' presence within him and can only use this power unconsciously as he alters the reality around him to his deep, subconscious beliefs, much to his shock.
However, after devouring Arthur's right arm, Cath Palug obtained a fragment of Chaos, which allowed him to the power to transcend life and death, bend time and space to his whim to an extent and trap those around him into visions of a possible future timeline where he can seemingly warp events to his liking. Despite this, he is not undefeatable as Arthur was able to overpower him due to still possessing the majority of Chaos and was only able to defeat Cath by absorbing him after tricking the monster into his own defeat.
Sixteen years later, with control of almost all of Chaos's power, Cath Palug was able to create the new kingdom of Camelot in his own dimension just like the realms of the other races, while also making a barrier that denies entry to anyone who hails from the Giants, Fairies, Goddesses and Demons, though hybrids with human blood or artificial beings such as Tristan, Lancelot and Gowther can enter without permission. This dimension is capable of granting any wish (excluding those on the scale of destroying or saving the world), being able to create anything and maintain it for eternity, including dead people. However, none of these creations can exist outside of Camelot to make sure that anyone who has their wish granted will not wish to go back to Britannia.
Relationships
Humans
Chaos considers humans to be its greatest creation and favors them above all of its previous "experiments", which it has shown disappointment with due to them not living up to its expectations. It views humanity as a physical representation of itself due to them possessing many good and evil qualities, such as bravery, generosity and love as well as cowardice, greed and hatred. Despite this love for humans, they are the weakest and shortest-lived of all other races. The reason for this is unknown, although this may be due to their nature as contradicting and unpredictable as due to them being aware of how much weaker and quicker to perish, they are compared to the other races, they are more likely to act on impulsive emotions such as greed, revenge and love - unlike the serene fairies and warlike giants.
Giants
Before creating humans, the Giants were the first race to be directly created by Chaos. However, unlike humans, Chaos deems the Giant Clan as another "failure", like with the Goddess, Demon and Fairy Clans. This is mainly due to their immense aggressiveness and inability to turn away from war and caring only for strength and glory in mortal combat. They seem to be less likely to form meaningful relationships the way human families do and far more predictable in that they usually only care for violence above all else, knowing usually nothing other than hurting themselves.
Cath Palug
A monstrous, cat-like creature created by Chaos as a manifestation of the destructive side of its nature. Due to caring only for destruction of all things and having a nihilistic outlook on everything in the world, Cath Palug sought to subjugate its own creator to use it as a means to destroy everything that it has created due to the to belief that all things are destined to wither away no matter what and that all things are pointless. Despite this, Chaos easily overpowered its creation and it was left to continue its destructive existence until the Goddess Clan personally felt the need to intervene and banished Cath Palug to Purgatory. Despite this, the creature still sought the power of Chaos to bring absolute annihilation to the world and decided to use Arthur as a means to reawaken Chaos from slumber and devour him in order to make itself the new vessel of Chaos, to which he succeeded in absorbing almost all of the power. Using Arthur's identity, Cath lead a twisted version of the Kingdom of Camelot and its Holy Knights armed with Chaos Staffs, with the Four Evils directly imbued with Chaos as its pawns.
Lady of the Lake
A wise and polite entity created by Chaos to inhabit Lake Salisbury, the Lady of the Lake differs from her "siblings" in that she has a far more positive outlook on her creator, in that she doesn't wish to use its power or fear it out of her own oblivious adherence, but instead simply wishes to free her creator so that it may once again return to the world. To this end, she secretly worked with Merlin due to them having an alignment of interests in wanting to break the seal placed on Chaos by the Supreme Deity and the Demon King. This seems to extend to Arthur Pendragon, whom Chaos chose to become its physical vessel in order to reawaken, as the Lady of the Lake referred to him as her and Merlin's master. This loyalty towards her creator further manifests in her hostility towards her "siblings", such as the two gods for sealing their creator away out of fear and ingratitude or fear of Cath Palug due to knowing full well how he desired the power of Chaos for his self-nihilistic agenda.
Supreme Deity
One of the first creations of Chaos, the Supreme Deity was created to be an incarnation of Chaos' power over light and was given by Chaos a mission after being wrought from the entity to maintain a "balance" between herself in the Demon King, this manifesting in what became the Holy War. Despite seemingly being loyal to her creator due to carrying out this directive, the Supreme Deity has shown ingratitude and treacherous intent towards Chaos by instead viewing her creator's wishes for her as a "game" for herself and her antithesis, due to their self-adherence and belief that they are higher beings. Ultimately, the Supreme Deity feared Chaos above all else due to the realization that all of her divine control over the powers of light and creation were only a lesser manifestation of the power granted to her by her creator and was worried that the love and reverence the Goddess Clan, her own spawn, gave to her would be lost should they realize there is her power over light is derived from a higher entity, thus leading her to form a truce with the Demon King to betray Chaos and trap it in a prison that it can't break free from.
Demon King
Along with his antithesis, the Demon King was first created by Chaos immediately after it created the world as an incarnation of Chaos' power over darkness. Given a mission by Chaos to maintain a "balance" between himself and the Supreme Deity, this would ultimately become known as the Holy War and despite following this directive, the Demon King did so not out of actual loyalty or gratitude towards his creator, but instead due to his own self-adherence and viewing it as a "game" with the belief that he is a higher being that knows not fear nor pain. Due to his worries that the worship and fear that his spawn, the Demon Clan gave to him would be stolen by Chaos should they learn that his power over darkness was only granted to him by a higher being, the Demon King plotted to betray his creator by working with his rival to trap it indefinitely, in a prison of moss that it could never break free from on its own, allowing him to secure his place as a "true god of death".
Sacred Tree
Created alongside the Demon King and the Supreme Deity immediately after the world was born, the Sacred Tree has shown to be far less arrogant, self-conceited and less petty entity than the two gods, instead being a far more benevolent entity that acted as an incarnation of nature, showing to have no intent or feeling of what is considered "evil", especially to humans. Despite knowing its power of nature were simply granted to it by Chaos and that it wasn't truly a perfect incarnation of nature, the Sacred Tree never harbored any disloyalty or anxiety towards its creator and simply lived alongside its own creations, the Fairy Clan, acting as a neutral entity in the grand scheme of things, especially concerning the Holy War.
Trivia
- Chaos is likely based off the concept of the same name from ancient Greek mythology, which is said to be a void state that existed before the world itself and was said to have spawned the primordial gods out of nothingness, similar to how Chaos did the same with the Supreme Deity, Demon King and Sacred Tree.
- The name Chaos may just be a title given to the entity due to it not having a real name, just as the Demon King, Supreme Deity and Sacred Tree seemed to be more titles than actual names. The name was likely given to it by those who knew of its existence from legend, due to its contradicting nature as a being that personifies both light and darkness simultaneously.
- It is implied that Chaos, despite appearing as a force, is a sentient entity that has its own will. According to one of its creations, Chaos was disappointed with all races prior to creating humans, whom it viewed as its greatest creation due their nature reflectings its own. During his fight against Lancelot, Arthur claims that as the vessel of Chaos, it will act independently to protect his life regardless of his own intent as he claims it to be a "will without a will", further implying that Chaos does have its own secret agenda that is hidden even from its own host.