Nakaba's armor designs are definitely a highlight of the series and it would be nice to see the KotA wear some. Unfortunately full suits of armor are quite demanding to draw which is the opposite of what you want for the main characters of your manga who you'll have to draw thousands of times. This is why the Sins mostly just wore theirs in the occasional flashback and when they finally did decide to armor up properly Nakaba quickly got tired of it and proceeded to undress everyone. The KotA will probably get the same treatment eventually. Nakaba will design some cool sets for them, perhaps colored ones corresponding to their Four Horsemen inspirations and by extension those of the Perils, before putting them in a tough fight that results in everyone's armor getting demolished.
Sure, sure, that would be more than enough for me, as long as the 4 of them at least appear together in their armor at some point, I don't expect them to keep them for long, I imagine that, as you say, drawing them must be a pain. In my opinion, regarding the armor, Nakaba is doing a much better job in this sequel than in the original series, so it would be a shame if that good work wasn't properly reflected in the protagonists. As for the colors, the one I imagine best is Lancelot's, red, both inherited from his father and as a reference to the war rider, always associated with red. Of the rest, Percival maybe green (although that would be too green hehe), but I couldn't say for Tristan and Gawain, especially because of the duality that both represent Goddess/Demon (White/Black) and Sunshine/Wizard (Gold/Violet?).
Lancelot's weapon doesn't have to be better than the others. Dubs creates weapons fitting the user. Shirojika can withstand his power but Lancelot is better with spear and bow. In the other potential designs for him he either has a spear or a bow. I think he might get something with the ability to change shape, similar to a Spirit Spear.
I agree with
@Redpercy that the ST could indeed be the most powerful. Enough focus and emphasis has been given to Lancelot's future weapon since the beginning of the series to expect that something big is coming. Add to that Dubs' shuddering reaction when he hears about Lancelot's peculiarity and it points even more to it, that was the icing on the cake.
I agree that in the end the concept of the ST is to adapt to the user and his magic, the idea is perfectly represented in this last chapter with Percival describing his sword as an extension of himself. That is why it is almost impossible to establish a power scale between the STs of the 7DS, one was not stronger than the other, they simply squeezed out the potential of the user for whom they had been designed... Meliodas could not do anything with Merlin's Aldan, King could not do anything with Ban's Courechouse or Gowther with Diane's Gideon; But if you had to put one on the top... can we agree that it would be Chastiefol? Couldn't we then accept that on this occasion the top ST is Lancelot's, without breaking the rule that in the hands of another it is not powerful because it doesn't take advantage of its potential? Also, if this ST is designed to withstand the power of an ability as powerful as Hazy Moon, this deserves to be a top ST.
And I take advantage of the idea you said about "with the ability to change shape, similar to a Spirit Spear". The Spirit Spear, which I consider to be the most powerful ST of the 7DS, is precisely the only one that Dubs made, if not it is the fruit of the Sacred Tree, what if Dubs manages to create an "artificial" Spirit Spear? More reasons to think that it is his masterpiece, by recreating a Spirit Spear. Furthermore, this idea plays very well with Lancelot due to his fairy heritage (and not just any fairy, but Elaine, the fruit of the Sacred Tree, that is, the possessors of the Spiritual Spears). On the other hand, I also quite liked the idea of a bow-spear that you propose, which also fits with that artificial SS theory.
Speaking of the ST, what are the chances that Tristan's ST could possibly end up being the Dragon handle of Eternal Darkness itself?
Seriously? Not at all! I think that idea is pretty cheesy, it seems even worse than Gawain with the sword Rhitta. In my opinion Tristan deserves a more worthy ST, like the rest of KoA.
Tristan will get his ST once they regroup and leave Annwfyn for sure. Should still be a pair of swords. He is ambidextrous with PoD and Ark.
All of the KotA will get STs for sure. Tristan could theoretically even get two since he's a dual-wielder, but that might be a little unfair for the other three. Another issue is that such an approach could clash with what Tristan is supposed to represent. As you mention, he's not just someone with both demon and goddess powers but specifically a fusion of the two, i.e. a nephilim. Giving him two separate weapons wouldn't really get that message of unity across very well, so it would probably be better if his ST were a single weapon in two parts similar to Nasiens's gloves. I expect Tristan to eventually be able to properly fuse together the two sides of his abilities so perhaps something like that could be done with his ST as well, think paired swords that could be combined into one to form something new like a bigger sword, a twinblade or perhaps even a bow.
An old idea I've had based on the silhouettes you posted is some kind of a lightsaber-type weapon for Tristan since the sword he's holding is entirely made of energy with the exception of the hilt. Such an effect could perhaps also be accomplished with an elemental enchantment, but I think the weapon only being a hilt that can project a blade of either light or darkness out of it would be cool. It's basically what Cusack did with his swords, with the difference being that Tristan has access to a second element. Using opposite elements on each blade and then performing an X-shaped slash could even allow him to trigger the Annihilation effect with a melee attack. He wouldn't need to worry about shattering the blades with that because they'd be non-physical and thus easily reformed.
I'm on fire to the idea that Tristan will have double ST, as we've seen so far with the Mael/Estarosa swords, and it's not necessarily unfair, if you see it as a single ST, Gowther also has double ST and that's fine. I've even come to think that his current swords were already forged by Dubs and hence their magical peculiarities, if I remember correctly, the last time we saw Dubs was in Liones at Meliodas and Elizabeth's wedding, he could have been there for a while and given these swords to Tristan as a gift (although it doesn't fit much with Dubs' method that measures the user's physical parameters), and now my theory has been completely dismantled when I read that it was Thetis who enchanted the weapons... if they were made by Dubs they wouldn't need an enchantment from her. However, I don't think the concept is too far off, they will be two twin blades, one of light and one of darkness, each one empowering their halves of him, with the ability to merge as they will eventually do with their two inheritances, and I insist that I think it will be when they meet Mael himself, the only one who can come to understand what it is to gather the power of Goddess and Demon.
I am still disappointed by Gawain's ST. I think it'll look kinda silly when she transforms considering her build and fighting style but it seems it'll be final considering the color page and the fact that she lives with Dubs.
I expect Gawain's ST to be reforged at some point maybe as her story progresses.
I completely agree with you that Gawain should get an ST upgrade. The nod to Escanor is nice especially since he's the only Sin who's not present in the sequel to wield his ST himself, but there are a multitude of problems with the weapon. The design is underwhelming compared to basically all the other STs we've seen so far aside from maybe Ban's staff. The rest either look very fancy with a lot of ornamentation or are quite unusual like Gowther's energy bows and Merlin's crystal ball. Gawain's sword doesn't have any extra details on it except for the hilt which is not even visible when she's holding it. It's a far cry from the majesty of its axe counterpart. Another issue is the special ability. Escanor's power was dependent on the time of day so storing energy and releasing it on command was a game changer for him, but Gawain is already able to do that by default with her magic since Dawn works differently from Sunshine. Rhitta thus offers very little for her muscle form and seemingly nothing at all for her mage form.
It seems reasonably likely that Gawain will eventually get an ST upgrade. My preferred weapon for her would be a really large sword like the one Nakaba used for the her KotA silhouette. In NnT both Diane and Escanor used big heavy weapons that were a bit slow but packed a punch. In the sequel there's nobody like that in the main cast and I would really like for Nakaba to change that. The problem with Gawain's weapon is that her two forms are basically polar opposites, meaning that any weapon that's appropriate for one is not a good fit for the other. The best way to get around that issue would be a weapon that also has two distinct forms it can take. I mentioned Cusack's swords earlier when talking about Tristan's ST and here I'm going to bring up Chandler. He was a mage/warrior hybrid before Gawain and his cane staff had the ability to turn into a sword when he wanted to switch to melee. A similar weapon would be ideal for Gawain as well. I'm picturing a big sword whose hilt doubles as a staff for casting spells, with a gem or something at the other end. In her mage form she would only use the hilt staff but in her muscle form she'd have access to both on the fly just by flipping the weapon around.
Ok, I'm relieved to see that I wasn't the only one who didn't like Gawain's weapon, the sword Rhitta, the main thing was its design, but also that feeling that it's not up to par with being the ST of one of the 4KoA. The only good thing, as I said, is the nod to Escanor's legacy.
But the truth is that I share
@Demonspeed 's (somewhat less) lack of optimism about obtaining a new (true) ST, at least compared to the expectations I have with Tristan's, which I think are higher. It may be nonsense, but the fact that he shared the
cover with Gawain right next to Percival and his ST, makes me think that sadly he could stay
. Even though there has been a batch of weapons courtesy of Dubs and Gawain has not updated his arsenal. However, I see certain chances... if we understand the series as the arc where the "immature" protagonists grow and acquire their powers (including ST's), compared to NNT where we are situated at a time after that scenario, where all the protagonists already had that evolution, well in that case, for Gawain he still has to go through that moment and obtain his official ST.
But it is also true that the concept and design must be complicated, Nakaba is faced with a challenge to design an ST that perfectly adapts to Gawain's style as we have seen with Percival, or as he already did with the 7DS, and as will probably happen with Lancelot and Tristan. He must combine the improvements of a tank warrior and a sorcerer, or in other words, combine Rhitta and Aldan. Although it also depends on what the function of her Dawn magic is, which seems to have a more magical character than Sunshine.
@Vortigern 's proposal seems curious to me, although I don't know if I'm just convinced by a sword-staff, I don't remember Chandler using his weapon with that double use, so I'll take a look at it.
For what it's worth, in Japanese the Four Horsemen are referred to with the same word as knight so the distinction only really exists in English. I assume knight was chosen as the translation for either copyright reasons or because it makes the name different enough that it doesn't get drowned out in search engine results.
Horses are unlikely to play much of a role simply because they don't really serve any purpose in the setting. In the real world they can travel much faster than humans and carry heavy loads, but it would be very difficult to find a horse faster and stronger than the KotA. They'd also need to be ridiculously tanky to survive anything more than a mean stare from any relevant character. Even Purgatory creatures like Sleipnir don't make the cut so pretty much the only way to make a horse viable in combat would be to use Chaos magic to cover for its weaknesses.
Ooooh I had no idea! That could be good news, if the original Japanese title does use the term riders, that could bring us closer to the idea that they will have real mounts at some point :O
As for them being weak, it is not so much of a problem, you can always cast an enchantment on them, with Chaos as you mentioned, or with any other magic, from Thetis or Gawain, as has been done previously with Sylvan/Escanor's wings, or Sylvan's reformed appearance, although these were minor changes. If this were done and the author worked on it, they could even acquire quite imposing forms.
But yes, I am aware that the idea is quite remote, as I said, for Lancelot and Gawain who can fly, it is quite unnecessary, I for one wish for it for pure fanservice, all hope is not lost xD
I don't see them getting more horses. Escanor is the pet of the Tristan Platoon and Sylvan the pet of the Percival Platoon.
What if will be pets instead of horses?
Mini percival
Sin
and a white and black mascot for tristan and gawain
Meeeh... it could be, but I'm not really interested in it, and as Demonspeed says, the current horses almost do that job... sadly.
Anyway, what I was looking for was to have the concept of authentic horsemen, they don't really need pets hahaha
I just wish Gawain and Tristan's calamities were shown, especially if Tristan's current calamity is Annihilation then all that's left is Gawain's calamity
By calamity do you mean what they represent? Like Percy the Death or Lance the War? Or what exactly?
