I'm so glad someone else can see Malleus fitting lust! People would get mad at me for pointing it out because they get caught up in the sm*xual aspect of it and ignore the definition that I apply to it in his case.
I define lust as the selfish desire to impose your will on others for your own pleasure regardless of their feelings. That doesn't have to be sm*xual desire. In Malleus' case he lusts for companionship in a more general sense. He wants others to care about him, friends and family, which on it's own isn't bad, but he imposes his will to create scenarios that suit his needs without thinking about the other people he's involving. The second Halloween event is the perfect example of this. He stopped time and kidnapped students, even allowing some of them to be possessed, just to show an extra party because he wasn't ready to end Halloween. It didn't even occur to him to talk to anyone besides Lilia about it and he was genuinely shocked that everyone was upset by what he did. He wanted to throw a party and forced people to come to get what he wanted even though his intentions were fairly innocent.

To add on to the Leona section, it's implied that Leona has chronic depression. In the light novel, he beats himself up about how worthless, stupid and numb to everything he is. He believes that nothing he does matters, so he stopped trying. Being king would allow him to change things for the better and stop the unfair judgement by those in the palace, but that will always be out of reach. It comes off to me that his plan was somewhat of a last ditch effort to mean anything to someone, being somewhat suicid@l. Even if he can't ever be king, he can make the lives of his younger classmen better by giving them a better tomorrow and get back at Malleus while he's at it. In that way, Leona is actually rather selfless and caring.

I think this what fuels the Ruggie overblot theory. Leona is gifted at understanding ancient incantations and curses. It's possible that he either made a deal with Azul or casted a spell on himself in secret to transfer Ruggie's blot over to himself, which is how he overblotted with one spell.

I love the constant use of Rollo for this! Like he is judging the NRC boys 😂
I always love to see people's take on this topic! 😖💞
Edit: I'm still watching the video, but I felt the need to comment or I'm risking forgetting what I have to say.
(At this point, i'm writing this comment for the fourth time as youtube finds it really funny to keep getting out and deleting all of my long text. 😁 I'm pretty sure i'm doing this for some good minutes by now)
But we preserve.
I think you did a great job relating each housewarden with a sin. Like I said before, I really enjoy this topic but I always had trouble sticking with only one answer, admittedly I haven't much thought myself, as I haven't finished book 6, but your reasoning and especially the description you chose of each sin to help determined it really helps to see the full picture. I also love the character analysis, especially for Vil, Kalim and Riddle (I'm in Riddle's at this moment). Choosing the housewardens instead of the OB boys was definitely the right call. I still hear a lot of doubt around Vil's motivation and book 5 in general, and now this leads me to think that the translation from book 4 to book 5 might be partially to blame for. Coming from a story where the resentment is directed to a person (even if the whole system is at faults, Jamil's resentment is directed at how oblivious Kalim is to his and others people suffering) Which make different from the resentment Vil build of Neige, as it's more what Neige represents, or the obstacle he proves to be in Vil's path, instead of Neige himself. I'm sure book 4 and 5 are this order because you're supposed to see the connections, but it's different may have stayed somewhat overshadowed because of it. I could relate to you in Riddle's part. We know there's a reason and a good intention behind it, but that doesn't excuse his actions and it's hard to deal with. I also love the correlation you did with The nightmare before christmas event. I played book 3 yesterday, couldn't be in the live this time cause I didn't want spoiler before I played myself and I haven't watched the vod either, but I record my own gameplay, do the voices and all just for myself and during it I made the same correlation of "Thinking what you belive to be the correct way of doing things" for him and Skully. I personally have struggled with that same way of thinking in the past and it was intresting to me see it from the outside.when I played Book 1 I was different person than I am now, and I'm proud of seeing much clearer now the patterns. Skully metions at the beginning that he has always been excluded in his life, and book 3 of the event made me question how much of that it's actually his fault for not respecting others and not allowing anyone to have a different opinion than his.

Either way, I want to go watch the rest of the video now, but I wanted to do a quick psa before continuing about Rook's Labwear vignette you comment on. I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed how jealous he was, I know even Rook teases Vil about it, and it does seem pretty obvious, but as I also ship this two I was worried my vision of their canon relation could be clouded by that, even if I try my best to separate them when I'm analyzing the characters.

Another thing about envy is that since they're too focused on what they don't have, they forget to look at the things that they DO have.
Vil literally has a lot of fans and followers on his magicam account. Not only that, he literally has rook who is his BIGGEST supporter and even epel, not to mention his other dorm mates too. But he's too focused on neige and what he has to actually see what he has instead.

Loving the use of Rollo throughout the entire video and yeeeeeaaaaaah especially after rereading Playful Land land, as much as I adore Kalim he REALLY emulates the sin of gluttony very well

Pride aligned Idia Shroud is such a good point.

So glad this wasn't a Malleus as Pride type of video as well, because all the points you put out is what I usually do for points in Idia's favor.

On a surface level as well, Idia also knows himself as a degenerate and a degenerate (while it's meaning has diluted itself when it becomes slang) is someone who runs through a topic to one's own satisfaction as well. Pridefully, even, when you dub yourself things. You give yourself a title, even if it's truthful to bad behaviors like not going outside or eating properly (a "degenerate" or "Otaku"), and you still act the way you do?

Great video! 🎉🎃

Also i noticed how Azul and Kalim act between the spectrum of: Old money and New money.

Kalim family is probably has history but kalim splurges and spends like new money the ''Neuveah Rich'' if you will, it used to be old money but the younger generations like kalim are acting like new money.

While azul is techically starting out he's technically acting like within the: Old money mindset he's actually methodical and never wasteful with any opportunity and silver lining he's given.

Honestly Lust is really well explained here. It is the sin more associated with smexual desires but it is actually more about earthly desires than just the pleasure of smex.
You can lust for smex, for knowledge, food, companionship, power, acceptance, etc etc etc. It is the need to sate your own earthly desires without a thought to anyone around you or how it affects them or the world around you.

I agreed with every one of your points! I've seen so many people try to do with this with the Overblot boys, which makes it way too complex since Jamil isn't as clearcut. Kalim makes it a little bit easier (I'm sure there's a metaphor in there somewhere). I might've swapped Leona and Idia myself, but I liked your explanations and thought they made a lot of sense! Great work as always!

Currently I’m most convinced of this lineup:

Wrath: Riddle
Sloth: Leona
Greed: Azul
Envy: Jamil
Pride: Vil
Tristitia: Idia
Lust: Malleus
Gluttony: Grim

Hear me out: Idia as gluttony
He plays video games excessively and eats nothing but junk food to the detriment of his health. Indulging in quick fixes to block out his grief and constantly try to fill the void.
AND what's more gluttonous than the curse he bears? It constantly eats up blot, and when it can't get it, starts eating away at his life force. Always hungry, never satisfied.

THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT THE GLARING FLAW IN LEONA'S PLAN.  I didn't notice it at first, but when I read that part in the manga I was like "... wait.  WAIT.  Malleus can fly.  AND teleport.  Why would he let himself or his people get crushed?"

All I'm going to say is that Maleus IS definitely lust with how much he tries to rizz up Yuu XD

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I do have a theory about Kalim's behavior. Mostly when it involves other people, even those that are clearly trying to hurt him, or just want to be left alone (poor Idia). I think it's a truma response. I think he's fawning.

Kalim might not even realize it, but he could be operating under the thought of being liked, and having friends, will keep him safe. If someone is his friend that he gives all this wealth and good food to, why would they hurt him?

It could also explain why, when Jamil betrayed him so blantly and obviously, he still insisted that because Jamil is his friend that he will not be hurt by Jamil.

I agree that Kalim represents gluttony. I think there's an argument to be made that Kalim's secondary sin is sloth. Sloth isn't only laziness, though it can take on that form. It's not caring about what you should. It can take on the form of willful ignorance, idleness and apathy. While all that minus the willful ignorance fits Leona to a tee, I think it also fits Kalim.

One of Kalim's biggest flaws is the fact that he chooses personal comfort over confrontation. He’d rather maintain his sunny image, and avoid facing anything that challenges his worldview or expressing his negative emotions, even when it means ignoring injustices happening right under his nose. There are a couple vignettes where people tried to bring up that one of his own immediate family members might've tried to kill him in the past and Kalim pretends like he didn't hear them.  It's pretty obvious that Jamil is facing systematic oppression of some kind whether that's kafala, the caste system or something else completely. The Viper's at the bottom of it while the Asims are at the top. This whole mindset leads him to sit by and do nothing as Jamil's family are clearly suffering under what his own family is putting them through.

I don't blame Kalim completely. This is clearly a trauma response, understandable to some extent and Jamil does clearly baby him a lot. None of that is an excuse for his behaviour. Jamil shouldn’t have to be the one to educate Kalim about the suffering his family faces, especially when doing so could result his own family hurt or punished. Jamil’s parents’ fear during his flashback, and their warning for him to “dim his star” so Kalim can shine, imply that Kalim’s father might be abusive toward his staff or at the very least is willing to kick them out on the street if they upset him. That includes forcing his staff to baby Kalim. Under those circumstances, Jamil’s silence is understandable in that sense.

Kalim, on the other hand, has the power to break the cycle with little personal risk, yet he doesn’t. Even after the events of Book 4, when he knows what Jamil has been through, instead of vowing to free the Vipers once he's in charge, he just goes back to the same dynamic. While he does put in the effort to change a little, it's still not enough.  It’s honestly frustrating. I get that the writers probably kept things that way to preserve the game’s status quo due to it being a gotcha, but it still reflects poorly on Kalim. He benefits from the system, knows it’s hurting people he claims to care about, and will always choose to look away. It's only in Book 7 that he started expressing his true emotions. That’s sloth in its purest form, not the absence of effort, but the refusal to care when it truly matters.

As always, amazing video! I think if Jamil was in the mix instead of Kalim it wouldn’t have been as clear cut. Jamil has a mix of greed, envy pride. He greeds after power, but only because it leads to freedom (that is arguable though). He envies Kalim for obvious reasons. And while he has always put others before himself, over time he didn’t believe that was valid anymore, so technically he had some pride in himself. This can be said for all the overblotters though, all their cases are quite twisted and unique.

I was having these exact same thoughts the other day. I was like "Seven houses....seven sins..."

I think Gluttony can apply to Jamil and Scarabia as a whole as well! After all, the reason Jamil overblotted was because he wanted an overindulgence in power— he got cocky and tried to take control over Azul. Jamil isn’t always showing Gluttony traits like Kalim, but it was definitely the reason he overblotted. Greed and Gluttony are closely related to each other, I believe, so it makes a lot of sense given his relationship with Azul after all! Although he’s not usually like this, during chapter 4, Jamil was hungry for power.

I always saw Vil’s resentment towards Neige not towards the person, but what he represents, the unattainable standard and the lack of choice in the industry, you are scouted, not auditioning, and Neige is always chosen for the role of the hero, Vil is never considered, no matter how much he wants it, and what Neige represents is the role Vil never got to play because he was simply too perfect, and the envy being so raw and real just makes him too perfect for the role of the villain, but that’s just how I interpreted it

As someone who's always adored the Seven Deadly Sins as a narrative concept, it's always quite refreshing when someone has a take on Lust that's completely divorced from the typical connotations that most people go to. Some of your takes in this video in general are a fair bit different from what even some of my (somewhat obvious) answers to who's what would be. I was expecting Idia to align with Sloth, since he's always gaming when he's not tinkering with Ortho or other electronics and code, or because his room is about as much of a disaster as mine was at that age. But the Pride angle does seem to suit him far better, methinks.